Yes, another Tuesday post even though I said I wouldn't be able to do these this season. I was afraid that if I didn't post omething, Blake Griffin and LeBron James might simultaneously dunk on my ass, resulting in all life as I know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in my body exploding at the speed of light.

Big news, you guys. Darryl Dawkins is apparently now on Twitter. I didn't realize they got Internet service all the way out on Lovetron.

Worst of the Night in Pictures:



All The Games:

Celtics at Cavaliers, 7:00pm: (looks at watch impatiently as Kyrie Irving scores another bucket) So when the hell is Rajon Rondo coming back?

Nyets at Pacers, 7:00pm: Actual Avery Johnson quote after the Nyets lost to the Craptors the other night: "I DIDN'T SEE THE SWAGGER." You can hear that being screamed in his voice right now, can't you? It's making you smile, isn't it?

Hawks at Craptors, 7:00pm: If the Hawks win tonight, it'll be the first time since 1968 that they've won at least four games in a five game roadtrip. But of course they're the Hawks and impossible to predict so they're probably going to score 78 points and get annhiliated by the rollerskating velociraptors or something just to make me look bad for even bringing up that statistic.

Pistons at Knicks, 7:30pm: The painful "clank clank clank" sounds of bricked jumpers will echo through the entire state of New York tonight.

Nuggets at Grizzlies, 8:00pm: Lionel Hollins has been brought to the point of calling out his team's effort after dropping four consecutive games. If he really wants to motivate his team, he should just show them his hand and threaten "You'll end up like this if you don't play hard tonight."

Kings at Warriors, 10:30pm: Do we have coaching revenge game possibilities here? This is the first time Keith Smart is facing his former team since getting dropped at the end of last season.

Bobcraps at Lakers, 10:30pm: This is the last Lakers home game until Valentine's Day. And we all know the Lakers struggle on the road, so this game is pretty much a must-win. But also, it's against Charlotte, so that in and of itself makes it a must-win.

Labels: Bawful After Dark

Kendrick Perkins: RIP

Thanks to Javi for the lead pic.

The Late Kendrick Perkins: The only word for this is "wow." It's the closest I've come to seeing a man murdered in cold blood on live TV. I heard they're still scooping bits of Perkins out of the smoking crater left by Blake's dunk. On the bright side, Perk's family will save money, because they won't need a casket. There probably isn't enough left of him to fill a chum bucket.


By the way, no disrespect to LeBron's jam over John Lucas III, but slamming the ball over a 5'11" point guard with his back turned isn't as impressive as throwing it the hell down over a seven-foot tough guy center who's trying to stop you.

Just sayin'.

The Orlando Magic: The Philadelphia 76ers shot 37 percent from the field, missed 11 of their 15 three-point attempts, bricked nine free throws, and scored only 74 points. At home.

But they won anyway. 'Cause they were playing the Orlando Magic.

As Michael Ray Richardson would stay: The ship be sinking. The Magicians managed a feeble 69 points on 33 percent shooting. They also missed 12 free throws in the five-point defeat. If was their fifth loss in six games, a fail streak that includes a 93-67 setback to the godawful Hornets.

Meanwhile, Dwight Howard -- who went 6-for-17 from the field, 5-for-13 from the line, finished with a game-worst plus-minus of -14 and missed several shots down the stretch -- has been rippin' on his teammates while his trade demand lingers around the team like a stale fart.

Said Howard: "It's not the first time I've called them out. As a leader, you've got to do things that people don't like. People hate what they don't understand. My teammates understand why I said what I said. They all agree. It's not like, 'Oh, Dwight's wrong with what he said.' But that's with anything. My job is to challenge my teammates and challenge myself to go out and play every night."

Challenge NOT accepted, Dwight.

Added Howard: "We're still a great basketball team, we're just going through a tough stretch. That's it. There's no need for us to complain or point the finger or for anybody to panic. We're going to be fine."

Wait, Dwight. You called out your teammates. Isn't that the text book definition of finger pointing? And, hey, you're demanding to be traded and have essentially said you're not gonna re-sign with the team if you aren't traded.

Why worry?

The Washington Wizards Generals: After Derrick Rose lit his team up for a season-high 35 points -- including 13 points in the first quarter and then 15 points in the third as the Bulls built a 22-point lead -- Washington's Trevor Booker said: "Sometimes I caught myself spectating. Some of those shots were unbelievable."


The New Orleans Hornets: They let a 12-point lead become a 27-point deficit as the Heat caught fire (get it?!) from the field (55 percent shooting) and controlled the boards (39-25). So, naturally, New Orleans coach Monty Williams wanted to complain about the officiating.

Said Williams: "It's hard to play the kind of basketball that you need to play when you're not getting what you feel is a fair call at times. I thought our guys got beat up a little bit tonight going to the basket. ... Take nothing away from Miami. That is a championship-contending team. Their effort showed that tonight."

I dunno. I'm not saying the Heat didn't have a few calls and non-calls go their way. But when you fall behind by almost 30 points, it's more than just the officating.

Just sayin'.

The Houston Rockets: The Minnesota Timberwolves came into Houston and dropped a franchise record 42 third quarter points on the Rocketeers, which ended up being the NBA equivalent of a Game Over screen. Minny finished the game with 120 points on 58 percent shooting. Hands? Faces? Anyone?

Said Houston coach Kevin McHale: "It was just like we were sitting there and we could never find any kind of rhythm defensively. We never got many consecutive stops, we never really dug in and got things. Just felt like one of those games when we were stuck in the mud."

Huh. "Stuck in the mud" is probably the best way to describe the Rockets these days.

The Detroit Pistons: The Pissed-Ons are already the second-worst team in the NBA. Last night in Milwaukee, they were minus Ben Gordon (sore left shoulder), Charlie Villanueva (sore right ankle) and Will Bynum (strained right foot). So their 103-82 loss to the Bucks was only surprising in that they didn't lose by 30.

Lawrence Frank, quote machine: Regarding Mike Dunleavy Jr.'s 20 points: "Dunleavy was dominant."

I never, ever, ever thought I'd see those words strung together in English or any other language.

Mike Dunleavy Jr., quote machine: "In Vegas, I'm a blackjack guy. Numbers, they always come back. You can start off and be getting crushed by the house and losing all your money, but if you stick around the tables long enough, you'll make it back."

Oooookay.

The Memphis Grizzlies: The Care Bears scored only 73 points (on 37 percent shooting) in a home loss to the Spurs. Throw in a 46-37 rebounding deficit (including 14-8 on the offensive glass) and their 17 turnovers, and you've got a team that's sucking.

Said Memphis coach Lionel Hollins: "Did you see effort out there? That's the problem. We're not working. First effort, second effort, third effort -- when we give effort, it's just for a few seconds, and then we let up."


Rudy Gay, quote machine: On finishing with 1 point on 0-for-7 shooting: "I don't think it was too much about what (the Spurs) did. It's about me finding the spots to make shots. I will take responsibility for that."

The Phoenix Suns: Free Steve Nash. That is all.

Chris' Lacktion Ledger:

Bulls-Generals: Chris Singleton fouled and bricked twice each to earn +4 in 7:36.

Hornets-Heat: The ancient Juwan Howard fabulously bricked it up in 4 minutes, also taking a rejection and fouling for +3. Fellow South Beacher James Jones struck gold with a 3.7 trillion (3:44).

Spurs-Grizzlies: San Antonio's Cory Joseph fouled once in 26 seconds of Koopa hunting for +1 and a Mario.

Meanwhile, Josh Selby bricked once from the Sterick Building and also fouled in 7:57 for a +2.

Wolves-Rockets: Derrick Williams fouled, bricked, and had a rejection for a +3 in 6:46, and fellow puppy Brad Miller scrapped out a treasure worth 1.7 trillion (101 seconds)!

Frail Blazers-Jazz: Elliot Williams got a Game Boy as a gift from Paul Allen, spending 24 seconds blowing dust off the cartridge for a Mario.

Thunder-Clippers: Nazr Mohammed made two blocks in 5:46, but only managed a turnover otherwise in a non-lacktive 1:0 Madsen-level Voskuhl.

Meanwhile, 79 seconds was all that was needed for Donald Sterling to gain two new real estate speculators (Trey Thompkins and Solomon Jones with 1.3 trillion each) on his roster, and one suck differential (+1 via brick for Eric Bledsoe)!

Labels: RIP Kendrick Perkins, Worst of the Night

Sorry for my lack of a weekend BAD post and getting this one posted late. I've had to work a little overtime at my Clark Kent job, plus I had a very busy weekend so I couldn't get anything done Saturday or Sunday. And when it came down to writing a blog post or going on a date Friday night... sorry, guys. No hard feelings? Group hug??

This is pretty much the definition of basketbawful: a DeSagana Diop free throw attempt gone horribly wrong. Somewhere, Ben Swanson sheds a single tear. (h/t Basketbawful reader grizzly)

Also, as noted by our friends at Hardwood Paroxysm, this is mandatory reading.

Worst of the Weekend in Pictures:


Nationally Televised Games:

Bulls at Wizards Generals, NBA TV, 7:00pm: You know, if the Generals played the Bobcraps every game, their record would be pretty good.

Thunder at Clippers, NBA TV, 10:30pm: Here's something surprising I read when examining this game. "The home team won each of the four games in last season's series, with the Thunder shooting 20.0 percent (8 for 40) from 3-point range and 39.5 percent overall in two defeats at Staples Center." And that's against last year's sad sack Clippers! Not this year's Super Clippers.

All The Other Games:

Magic at 76ers, 7:00pm: Over the last seven games, the Magic are averaging an abysmal 81.1 points per game. When did they secretly trade their entire roster for a mix of Pistons and Bobcraps players??

Hornets at Heat, 7:30pm: The Hornets are dead last in fast-break points against per game. The Heat exist solely to demoralize you with fast-break scoring. I don't need Mr. T here to tell you the prediction for tonight is pain. But you know what? I'm gonna give you Mr. T anyway, because that's what I do.


Timberwolves at Rockets, 8:00pm: The Rockets have been winning even without Kevin Martin the past couple of games. So basketball is just like real life I guess. K-mart is kinda unnecessary these days.

Pistons at Bucks, 8:00pm: The Pissed-Ons are starting a three-games-in-three-nights road trip. I'm sure this will go well. (And then they play Milwaukee again Friday night, just for the record.)

Spurs at Grizzlies, 8:00pm: Well. I guess the Spurs' starters will be well rested after last night's game...

Mavericks at Suns, 9:00pm: Jason Kidd is out for tonight's game (and possibly a week or so) with a calf injury. Why oh why can we not get a healthy point guard to play against the Suns anymore to make things fun??

Trail Blazers at Jazz, 9:00pm: Portland hasn't been a terribly good road team this season, but this is still a very intriguing game, especially since the Blazers did win both of their games at Utah last season.

Labels: Bawful After Dark

Wait...what?
The Orlando Magic: Seriously, Orlando Magic? Seriously? This game was so ugly for the Celtics I stopped watching in disgust part way into the third quarter when Paul Pierce and, like, three Celtics I barely recognized were running around like little, headless chickens. Later, I texted a friend something along the lines of "Fuckin' Celtics" and receilved the following reply:

Celtics won.

(Actually, the reply said "Clerics won." Thank you, Autocorrect.)

I was stunned beyond words. And so were the Basketbawful faithful:

You wanna talk bawful? Orlando has blown a 27-point lead and is now down 3 with 7:33 to go, to the Boston Geezers-I mean, Celtics. Can the Magic successfully turn this into a loss, and snatch wretched defeat from the jaws of a blowout? Stay tuned! Glen Davis is currently building his CV, he apparently is interested in switching careers from "professional cryer/eater" to "master bricklayer".
--The Other Chris

This is a truly auspicious and magnificent bawfulcomplishment by the Magicians. Their last possession featured Hedo "Ball" Turkopoopoo dribbling around aimlessly for a while, almost turning the ball over, and then getting his terrible 20-footer blocked as the shot clock expired. The Celtics defence is fantastic, but ye gods the Orlando offense is.. well, offensive.
--The Other Chris (again)

The Celtics were behind 58-37 at halftime. They proceed to dominate in the fourth quarter 27-8, with Orlando only scoring 5 points for the first 11:15 of the 4th. No, none of these are typos. And did anyone else witness that great moment in inbounding with about 30 seconds left? :D
chris

Oops I Did It Again should become the Magic's official team song.
--Bing

Magic are up 27 points Vs. the Celtics and end up losing by 8. I'm sure Dwight is just itching to sign a long term deal with them after this crap. And oh yea, guess Kryptonite isn't the only green thing that can stop Dwight Howard.
--Sturla

Magic's FG% was way too high this game. If they really want to out do their previous bawful effort, they need to suck for full 48 minutes instead of pretending to play for first 2 quarters. Seriously though, sad Orlando is sad.
--JJ

You wanna talk bawful fail of epictacular proporations? Boston ripped off a 15-1 run to start the fourth quarter. During that montage of crap, Orlando shot 0-for-7 from the field, went 1-for-6 at the free throw line, and bumbled the ball alway three times.

That 27-point choke was the Magician's biggest gag-job since losing a 22-point lead to the Mavericks...back in 2001.

Did I mention that the Celtics were still without Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen? (And Jermain "The Drain" O'Neal for that matter.) Or that Boston rookie E'Twaun Moore scored as many points (16) as Dwight Howard?

Said Stan Van Grumpy: "Their pressure, again, really pushed us sideways. We got frustrated with the officials and we got totally off our game."

Frustrated with the officials. Despite a 31-19 free throw advantage. And Boston's last eight FTAs were forced fouls. I'm just sayin'.

More facts from ESPN Stats and Information:

The Boston Celtics overcame a 27-point deficit to beat the Orlando Magic on Thursday, the largest deficit the Celtics have overcome and the largest lead the Magic have blown in any game in the past 16 seasons (as far back as we can go).

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, NBA teams had won their previous 282 games in which they led by at least 27 points, dating to December 21, 2009.

This comes three nights after the Magic scored a franchise-low 56 points on a franchise-low 24.6 percent shooting -- in another loss to the Celtics. Orlando scored 58 points in the first half alone on Thursday, but the second half more resembled Monday’s awful performance.

Elias tells us the Celtics allowed only 45 second-half points over their past two games combined: 20 on Monday and 25 on Thursday, both against the Magic. That’s the fewest second-half points allowed over a two-game span in the NBA’s shot-clock era. The previous low was 46 second-half points allowed over a two-game span by Detroit in 2003-04.

Orlando led 32-16 after the first quarter, but scored fewer points in each successive quarter, tallying just eight in the fourth. That’s the fewest fourth-quarter points they’ve scored in the past 15 seasons.

The Magic are averaging just 69.5 points per game in two games against the Celtics this season and 97.3 ppg in their other 16 games.

Lastly, Elias tells us that it’s just the third time in the shot-clock era that an NBA team scored more points in the first half than they did in the entire game in their previous matchup against that team that season.

Said Howard: "We thought it was going to be easy after the first two quarters."


And this is also why you fail:


Kevin Garnett, quote machine: Two words: Bar fight.


The Memphis Grizzlies: Let's see:

35.7 percent shooting? Check.

Giving up 24 points off 17 turnovers? Check.

Yeah, that'll earn you a loss on the road against the Clippers.

Said Care Bears coach Lionel Hollins: "We couldn't get any stops down the stretch. We were within three, and every time they came back down, they got it back to five. We never got a stop where we could get a chance to take the lead."

Huh. I guess I see what he's sayin'...but when your team shoots less than 36 percent from the field and gives the opposition a quarter of their points by throwing the ball away, your down-the-stretch defense is probably the least of your problems.

Rudy Gay, "I'm not givin' the other guys any credit" machine: "None of it was their defense. It was us. I mean, they do have some long athletic big men that alter a couple of shots. But for the most part, we were getting good shots and just weren't knocking them down."



Chris' One-Line Lacktion Ledger: Greg Stiemsma barely assisted with Boston's big comeback, putting up a paltry assist and two blocks in 7:18 that were easily countered by a turnover and four fouls for a 5:0 Voskuhl.

Labels: Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Worst of the Night

Just for the record: Bawful texted me this morning that he didn't have time to write up a WOTN post today. I suggested he just throw up a picture of the Bobcraps logo and call it a day. "Hm. Good point."

Also, bad news for all the Hornets fans (all five of you)... Eric Gordon's out 3 to 6 more weeks thanks to his bum right knee.

Late addition: Derrick Rose is pissed, you guys. Check out this quote after last night's loss:

"I'll never forget how they celebrated just from winning this game. I can't wait to play them again."

Yeah, we'll have to keep that one in mind next time these two teams go to battle.

Worst of the Night in Pictures:





Nationally Televised Games:

Celtics at Magic, TNT, 8:00pm: If this isn't a revenge game for the Magic, Dwight Howard will demand a trade. Oh, wait...

Grizzlies at Clippers, TNT, 10:30pm: I'm pretty sure Clippers players were still getting technical fouls called on them last night when they climbed into bed after the game.

Labels: Bawful After Dark

Head over to quickmeme and join our underground campaign to free Steve Nash from from the fiery pits of hell the Phoenix Suns.

Thanks to BadDave for starting the meme.

Labels: Free Steve Nash, quickmeme

First things first: happy trails, Flip Saunders. I'll miss your amazingly fun name, terrible hair and goofy expressions of frustration. Someone, please hire Flip ASAP.

Oh, plus there's this: "Will most miss Flip Saunders' postgame quote sheet, which was often must-read. As close as you'll get to seeing 'I hate my team' in print."

Beyond that, I am going to give you some extra bawful tonight. There were so many great Monday night game pictures I missed posting yesterday that I needed to share them tonight. I'm sure you won't mind.


Worst of Monday Night in Pictures:

Worst of Last Night in Pictures:



Nationally Televised Games:

Pacers at Bulls, NBA TV, 8:00pm: The Pacers are one of the better defensive teams, and one of the best rebounding teams. They're fresh off a loss to the Magic and probably ready for a little justice. The Bulls might have their hands full here. That being said, the Bulls are the best defensive team and second in rebounds per game to only the Pacers. I'm excited for this game, guys.

Clippers at Lakers, NBA TV, 10:30pm: THE BATTLE OF LA. OMG OMG OMG! THIS GAME IS IMPORTANT. SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING.

All The Other Games:

Knicks at Cavaliers, 7:00pm: Nothing like delivering an absolute ass-whupping to the Bobcraps to get you out of a funk, right? The Knickerbockers might actually show up for this game. (Emphasis on "might." I make zero guarantees with this team.)

Nyets at 76ers: If there's a better way for the Sixers to start a home stand, I don't know it. Well, I take that back. I guess they could start the home stand against a team of elementary school kids. But barring that, this is a pretty good substitute.

Bobcraps at Wizards Generals, 7:00pm: Dead coach bounce alert!! Dead coach bounce alert!!

Heat at Pistons, 7:30pm: I'm looking at the Pistons news feed on ESPN.com right now. If you feel like being depressed, go read it for a few minutes. Brutal. Can someone please help turn this team around? I miss their excellent team play when they won the title just a few short years ago. I remember some people complaining about them being boring, but I liked them and they were actually competitive.

Bucks at Rockets, 8:00pm: A nice little stat for you. This 7 game winning streak the Rockets are riding is the longest since their ridiculous franchise record 22-game run in 2008. Good times.

Hornets at Thunder, 8:00pm: The Thunder have won a nice nine out of their last 10. But they lost to the friggin' Generals. So I have no expectations for this game.

Timberwolves at Mavericks, 8:30pm: The Mavs have won two straight without Dirk. Wounded Tiger theory? Or just favorable scheduling? (Hint: it's the latter.)

Hawks at Spurs, 8:30pm: A moment to put things into perspective: Tim Duncan is having a pretty awful year compared to his standards. But he's still averaging 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds. Respect.

Craptors at Jazz, 9:00pm: Well, the Craptors got their one novelty win out of the way last night. Time to go back to rollerblading down stairs, right? (Seriously, Toronto fans. I don't hate your team. I just love that video of your mascot failing so, so hard.)

Nuggets at Kings, 10:00pm: The last time these two teams met on January 6th, the Nuggets bench scored 62 points. Their bench outscored the entire Magic roster's total against Boston the other night. Could Excremento show up looking for a little revenge? Or will it not matter because they're Excremento?

Trail Blazers at Warriors, 10:30pm: Fun stat of the day: Jeremy Tyler's PER in the 1.3 minutes of playing time he's averaged in six games? Negative 8.3. We salute your commitment to being bawful, Jeremy.

Labels: Bawful After Dark, pictures galore

"No more jumpers, Tyrus. Do you hear me? Tyrus? Hello...?"
The Indiana Pacers: One night after the worst offensive performance in franchise history, the Magic blew out of the Pacers in Indiana. In the process, Dwight Howard becamse Orlando's all-time leading scorer.

Said Pumaman: "It's a humbling experience. It does mean a lot. Not too many players in this league can say that they were their franchise's leading scorer."

And even fewer players can say it happened while they had an outstanding "Trade me the hell out of here!" request with said franshise.

As for the Pacers, they shot 39 percent, went 3-for-11 from downtown and committed 19 turnovers. But remember: They are, according to Roy Hibbert, the NBA's best kept secret. So we should assume this all part of the team's plan to remain shrouded in a cloak of mystery.

Said Paul George: "We just have to take this loss and move on. It's a long season. We must continue to grow and help each other."

Good luck with that, Paul. You check the schedule lately? Your next three games are at Chicago tonight, at Boston on Friday and at Orlando on Saturday. I'm just sayin'.

The Charlotte Bobcraps: The good news: Charlotte held Carmelo Anthony to a career-worst 1 point last night...and that single, solitary, sad point was scored via a technical free throw. So it's safe to say his ass got shut the hell down.

The bad news: The Bobcraps lost by 33 points anyway. In Charlotte.

Charlotte shot 33 percent and made Tyson Chandler (20 points and 17 boards) look like Dwight Howard.

Said Byron Mullens: "It's a (self-) check. I didn't come out to play. Tyson Chandler had 17 rebounds. That can't happen. I'll take full responsibility for that."

Said Bobcraps soon-to-be-fired coach Paul Silas: "I didn't like our softness. Eight offensive rebounds? That says we didn't play hard or tough. If I'm a 7-foot guy, do I let a guard push me under the basket? I tell these guys, 'You're coming out if you do that again.' There's not much else to say.

"We just didn't have enough. We had really two players that played tonight, that's Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson. I think Brown scored a little bit there at the end but that was it. When Carmelo Anthony goes 0 for 7, come on, you know? We should at least be in the game."

Carmelo Anthony: Here's some historical perspective on 'Melo's 1-point outing courtesy of ESPN Stats and Information:

From Elias: Carmelo Anthony did not make a field goal yet his Knicks won by 33 points. It's just the 5th time since the ABA-NBA merger in which a player was 0-7 from the field and that player's team won by at least 33 points:

Gerald Wallace SAC 0-9 2001-02
Johnny Davis POR 0-9 1976-77
Carmelo Anthony NY 0-7 Tuesday
Troy Hudson MIN 0-7 2004-05
Scott Meents SEA 0-7 1990-91

Melo went 0-7 from the field, the first time in his career that he's played more than 2 minutes and made no field goals. He's had one other game without a field goal, when he sprained his ankle 1:09 into the game in a 101-92 Nets win over the Nuggets on November 28, 2005.

Carmelo Anthony was held scoreless in the first half. It was just the fifth time in 607 career games that Anthony failed to score before halftime.

The Cleveland Cadavers: Dwyane Wade was out, LeBron James had a bad night (8-for-21 with 5 turnovers), and the Cadavers had a legitimate chance of pulling off a win against the cHeat in Miami. Then...Chris Bosh happened:


The RuPaul of Big Men scored 17 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter. He went 10-for-16 from the field and 14-for-14 at the line. It was the third-highest fourth quarter explosion of his career and the 35 points represents his highest scoring output since joining the Nazgul in Miami.

Cleveland lost in part because they were in such a giving mood.

Said Kyrie Irving: "We kind of beat ourselves tonight. We had 22 turnovers and we lost by seven points."

Added Cadavers coach Byron Scott: "Stayed in the game for 48 minutes. And the only thing I'm disappointed in is the fact that we had 22 turnovers. That's killing our young team."

I'm not saying the 22 turnovers didn't hurt. I'm not. But allow me to provide some perspective: Miami committed 18 turnovers and Cleveland scored 22 points off of them. Meanwhile, the Cadavers gave up only 13 points off their 22 turnovers. So, you know, I'm just sayin'.

The Phoenix Suns: Free Steve Nash for fuck's sake! Free him! For the love of God! Please! Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!

Okay. So here's the deal. The Craptors showed up in Phoenix with an eight-game losing streak and one of the bawfulest rosters in the league. What's more, Toronto hadn't beaten the Suns since February 10, 2004, a losing stretch of 14 games.

It looked like that fail streak might reach 15 until the Craptosaurs outscored the Suns 31-19 in the third quarter. Andrea Bargnani, in his return from injury, dropped 18 points over that 12-minute span. Bargs finished with a season-high 36.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix starters combined for five free throws. Total. And Marcin Gortat had all of them.

Said Nash: "Obviously we were struggling for energy, and I think that was the key, especially in that third quarter. They beat us on all the second-effort plays. They made a lot more of the plays, hustling for loose balls or running the floor, little things like that."

Nut-crushing reality: This was Toronto's first win over the Suns since Captain Canada joined the team.

Said Channing Frye: "We're professionals and we have to figure it out, take the criticism and keep moving forward."

In possibly related news, Frye went 1-for-7 from the field.

Added Suns coach Alvin Gentry: "We've got to continue to work. We've got to continue to be united. We've got to continue to try to get better. That's the only thing as a coach that I know how to do.

"There's nobody that's going to quit. We're not going to let anybody quit. We'll continue to try to figure it out and try to turn our season around. Nobody is going to throw in the towel, I know that."

The Minnesota Timberwolves: According to the AP game notes for the Craptors-Suns game: "Entering the game, the only active win streaks longer than the Suns-Raptors were Portland's 16 straight over Minnesota and the Los Angeles Lakers' 15 in a row over Minnesota."

The Memphis Grizzlies: So much for that seven-game winning streak. The Care Bears shot 38 percent from the field and made Marcus Camby (22 rebounds plus 5 blocked shots) look like the second coming of Bill Russell.

It took the Griz more than nine minutes to hit a shot to start the second half, going 0-for-12 during that span of time.

Said Memphis coach Lionel Hollins: "When you're a little bit fatigued, it's hard to keep attacking. You want to settle, and we did settle too much."

Chris' Lacktion Ledger:

Magic-Pacers: Louis Amundson amounted to very little, despite five boards in 13:11 - three fouls and turnovers each led to a 6:5 Voskuhl. Fellow Indiana resident Jeff Pendergraph cashed in after just 85 seconds for a 1.4 trillion!

Cavs-Heat: Ryan Hollins negated a three-point performance in exactly 12 minutes with a quartet of fouls for a 4:3 Voskuhl.

Raptors-Suns: Robin Lopez laid an egg from the field in 3:46 and added two fouls for a +3 and a 2:0 Voskuhl!!

Labels: Worst of the Night