FanHouse Tony Parker

Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash presented the 2nd annual "Showdown in Chinatown" charity soccer event on Wednesday in downtown New York City. The game benefited the Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna Foundations, and was an 8-on-8 match filled with NBA and soccer greats. Predictably, NBA stars Chris Bosh and Grant Hill didn't fare as well as the likes of Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids. However, international hoopsters, Nash and Tony Parker, definitely held their own on the pitch. Okay, now I'm just name-dropping. Check out FanHouse's look at what was a fun, if not somewhat awkward, game of soccer. The video is below.

San Antonio needed a major infusion of offensive talent this season, and it appears the team has found it. Multiple league reports indicate the Spurs have traded for Milwaukee's Richard Jefferson, sending away only bit players Bruce Bowen (age 38), Kurt Thomas (age 36) and Fabricio Oberto (age 34), according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Jefferson has been in Wisconsin for one year, following last June's draft day trade which sent Yi Jianlian and others to New Jersey. Jefferson has always been a moderately efficient scorer, and he should provide some relief for Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in the Spurs starting line-up. He's not quite an ace defender, but he played hard for Scott Skiles last season and hasn't missed a game in two seasons.

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FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

After two putrid drafts, the NBA returned to form in 2001 -- but not right away. This draft will forever be known as the day Michael Jordan transformed from the greatest player on Earth to a below average general manager. With the No. 1 overall pick, Jordan held the fate of the Washington Wizards in the same hands that dunked on many of opponent, and he had a rich variety of players for which to don the savior of the franchise.

And he chose Kwame Brown. It really wasn't Kwame's fault. He was the victim of an amazing workout that impressed Jordan so much -- was this thing on video? -- that Air was convinced Brown would emerge as an All-Star. The brutal truth is that this prep player from Georgia faded into one of the biggest busts in draft history, hanging out in the same club as LaRue Martin, Joe Barry Carroll and Michael Olowokandi.

There have been many debates over the MVP award over the last few years -- from Kobe v. LeBron to the merits of Steve Nash's back-to-back awards. You can debate all you want about who should have won each year's MVP, but it is clear that a particular season's MVP is no longer likely to have playoff success.

With LeBron James' elimination at the hands of the Orlando Magic, this season marks the eighth time this decade that the MVP hasn't won the championship, and the sixth time that the MVP hasn't even made it to the NBA Finals. Compare those numbers to the 1990s, when the winner of the MVP award made the NBA Finals seven times and the won the championship five times.

We should have seen this coming. Shame on everyone who wasn't paying attention.

So caught up in the amazement and wonder over LeBron James – greatest player in the game today – we forgot history and crowned King James a little prematurely.

History would have told us he really doesn't have a chance this year.

There are four teams remaining in the hunt for the 2009 NBA title – all good teams, too – but only three of the four have the essential ingredient that champions have had throughout the last 30 years.

It feels strange to even type it, but it's true: the Spurs have been eliminated in the first round, losing to the Mavericks on Tuesday night 106-93 and ending a streak of eight consecutive seasons in which the Spurs won at least one playoff series.

At least there's no confusion about what the Spurs need to do this summer: get deeper. This team never bounced back from the loss of Manu Ginobili, as even huge games from Tim Duncan (30 points, eight boards) and Tony Parker (26 points, 12 assists) weren't enough to keep this game competitive.

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One question for the San Antonio Spurs: Now what?

Sure, it's possible the Spurs can put together a nice effort on their homecourt in Game 5 on Tuesday night and push their series against the Mavericks to a sixth game in Dallas.

And maybe the Spurs could even follow that up with an unlikely Game 6 win on the road and make their first-round series a seven-gamer.

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It's an argument that's been around for a little while. Which would you rather have: a great point guard or a great big man?

It's a legitimate debate and a strong case can be made for each position. But this year, point guards are winning the matchup.

Yes, if this postseason has proven anything it's that you better have a pretty good point guard – or at least a point guard playing very well – if you hope to do any damage. And if you don't have one, then you better be sitting with one of the league's true stars.

Spurs lightning bolt Tony Parker ripped through the Mavericks Monday night on his way toward 38 points on 72 percent shooting and, of course, a Game 2 victory. Given the defensive backcourt struggles Dallas has had all season, this is not a surprise. Heck, in the first half of Game 1 Parker had his way with Jason Kidd!

But enlightened Mavericks center Erick Dampier has a solution for Thursday's Game 3 in Big D: beat the snot out of the Frenchman.

Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.

Everyone's eyes were on Bulls rookie Derrick Rose heading into Monday's Game 2, and in hindsight that worked out perfectly for the Celtics. On the heels of his 36-point, 11-assist explosion in Game 1, expectations and accolades had skyrocketed out of control.

How did Rose handle the pressure? On the surface, not very well: he finished with just 10 points and seven assists.

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