FanHouse Samueldalembert

PHOENIX -- The Sixers almost came back from an 18-point deficit in the final eight minutes on Friday against the Suns, but the guys usually on the end of Phoenix's bench -- Dan Dickau, Carlos Powell, et al. -- were able to hang on just enough to secure a two-point victory.

Marreese Speights, a second-year player who averaged just under eight points and four rebounds a game last season, was a big reason for the Sixers' strong comeback. He scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the fourth quarter, while also finishing with 12 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Even though this is the preseason, it was still a career game for Speights, and one that you'd think his new head coach, Eddie Jordan, would be excited about. But that wasn't exactly the case.

After Dwight Howard connected with an elbow to Samuel Dalembert's temple in Tuesday's game, you might have thought that Dalembert would come into Thursday's game looking for retribution. Instead, he apparently came looking to make peace -- whether Hedo Turkoglu wanted to or not.

Dalembert and Turkoglu got tangled in the paint in the fourth quarter, at which point Dalembert apparently decided to plant a kiss on Turkoglu's forehead. In lieu of apparently non-existent YouTube footage, I advise you to check out the series of pictures taken by Gary W. Green of the Orlando Sentinel, which captures the odd incident frame by frame.

CHICAGO -- To all the prejudices and biases that complicate our tangled world, today we add "oafism." Rajon Rondo, as you probably know, all but defaced Brad Miller in the final frenetic seconds of Game 5 in the Best NBA First-Round Series Ever Played. Rondo leaped, popped him in the mouth, drew blood when Miller's tooth cut his lip, forced him to get a stitch job and left him so woozy that his eyeballs were peeking out of his eardrums.

We showed you the play from Game 5 where Dwight Howard threw a clearly intentional elbow to the head of Samuel Dalembert, after which it was assumed that the act would warrant a suspension.

And in fact, it has. The league wasted little time in reviewing the play, and announced that Howard will be suspended one game without pay for the incident.

Dwight Howard helped carry the Magic to a 3-2 series lead over the Sixers on Tuesday, but it's likely his teammates will be on their own for Game 6 in Philadelphia on Thursday.

That's because of an elbow that Howard threw -- and landed -- to the head of Samuel Dalembert less than three minutes into Orlando's Game 5 victory.

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FanHouse previews the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

Is there a series in the 2009 Playoffs -- outside of Lakers v. FearMongers Jazz, that seems less likely to end in an upset? Because I'm pretty sure the answer is "no." (See our predictions, if you don't believe me.) I'll justify the other sweeps like this: Detroit is still Detroit, Boston doesn't have Kevin Garnett and we're all to scared to pick against Dwyane Wade. Of course, a certain post-powered, caped-crusader is the same reason that I'm not even contemplating a Philadelphia win, so maybe it evens out.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Jason Kidd was once a very good point guard, but it's not controversial to say that he is now just a shell of his former self. Proof of this came Thursday night when matched up against Deron Williams. Williams absolutely gave Grandpa Kidd the business, scoring 34 points (on 20 shots) and dishing 11 assists. He also blew by Kidd all night with speed, quickness, and some sick cross-over dribbles. There's no way Williams does that to Kidd pre-2004. But that's life. Even the great ones have to slow down at some point.

FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.

HEADLINER
San Antonio at Denver, 9PM ET

Veterans of the 2007 playoffs might roll their eyes, but quite simply your Nuggets are dead. Denver Today might not be up to San Antonio's long-extant standard, but it's closer than ever before.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

New Doing Lines rule: if you're a rookie who tosses up 24 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks, you get the highlight.

New Jersey's Brook "THIS IS SO BORING" Lopez did just that against the ailing Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night. Opposing center Samuel Dalembert wasn't expected to play with a sprained ankle; as it was, Sam played only 15 minutes. In sub work, Elton Brand was a bit awful, inefficient and saddled with foul trouble.

What began as a neat, almost inspiring story of gratefulness has turned into an ugly power struggle in which no one looks particularly classy. Samuel Dalembert, a Haitian refugee who spent a chunk of his formative years in Montreal, rushed through the procedure to become a Canadian citizen two summers ago in order to help his adopted home nation qualify for the Olympic basketball tournament. Canada didn't make it into the field during 2007, so the pre-Olympic qualifiers in Athens this July would be the only path.

During the tournament, Dalembert had a spat with coach Leo Rautins over something or other, possibly the presence of Dalembert's girlfriend and brother in Athens, or the fact the Canadian team's dinner plans didn't fit into Dalembert's gameday diet. Then, all of a sudden, Rautins kicked Dalembert off the team as Canada floundered. No Olympics for Sam, no Olympics for Canada.

And now Dalembert says if Rautins remains head coach of the team, the Sixer won't play for the nation again. From Michael Grange of the Toronto Globe & Mail:

"I will say no," Dalembert said yesterday when asked if he would play for Rautins again. "You never know. You get one slap; you don't know when you're going to get another slap again. I'm not ready for that."

Rautins still has a job. After watching Canada a little in July and back in '07, I imagine Rautins will not have a job for long. Without knowing the full details of the spat, it's impossible to know if it's the right result. But based on what we have, Rautins seems more like a cocky Alpha coach than Dalembert seems like a diva.