Yes another angle of this picture was in the WOTN, but damnit, it deserves to be seen again
After last night's absolutely unbelievable display of bawfulness, tonight feels like it should be a letdown night. But don't worry -- just look at the schedule! Terrible basketball will happen tonight, folks.

Just for the record, I already hate the Pacers since they essentially are the reason Louisville doesn't have a professional basketball team anymore. But also I'm going up against Chris in the Bawful Fantasy League this week, and he had two Pacers on his team. So yeah, I'm pretty much screwed this week. I know nobody cares about anybody else's fantasy team, but Chris demanded I mention this, so there you go.

Here's some news on Brandon Roy's gimpy knees, which apparently are getting worse and worse. The Frail Blazers legacy continues, sadly. Are we sure Brandon Roy isn't Greg Oden's long lost son?

SI's Jimmy Traina did a nice interview with Shaq (since, you know, it's not like Shaq has anything better to do right now). Among other things, we find out that one of his favorite movies is Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood and one of his favorite TV shows is In Living Color. Okay, so that's pretty cool. Respect to anyone who likes stuff from back when the Wayans Brothers were actually funny. Speaking of In Living Color, want to see Isiah Thomas and Patrick Ewing show up in a skit? Watch this.

BAM!!
Worst of the Night in Pictures:

Photographic evidence of Enver Nuggets _efense in action

Theoretically this was taken last night, but this could be a stock Clippers picture for all I know

"Do I still have any broccoli in my teeth?"

Kinda glad we can't see what Chris Paul is doing back there...

The Pissed Ons continue to make Detroit even more depressing than it already was

Mike D'Antoni doing what he does best

GASOL OVERLOAD

Poor, poor New Jersey
Nationally Televised Games:
Jazz at Magic, ESPN, 7pm: Just a stab in the dark here, but I don't think Paul Millsap is going to go into Beast Mode again tonight.

Clippers at Spurs, ESPN, 9:30pm: Another case of the Clippers being on national television for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend.

All The Other Games:
Bucks at Hawks, 7pm: So much for the 6 game winning streak to start the year. The Hawks are now 6-2, but chin up! The only fearing of deer that will be done this season is fearing they might jump in front of your car while driving at night. (You don't want to know about my story about that...)

Rockets at Wizards Generals, 7pm: To quote Silvio from the WOTN comments, "Tonight Rockets (1-5) at Generals (1-4). And that's even not the bawfulest game of the night..."

Bobcraps at Craptors, 7pm: THIS is the game we are annointing "BawulFest." Ughhhhh. I'm just going to let Homer Simpson do the talking for me on this one: "I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked!"

Also, to finish quoting Silvio's epic rant, "Things like that makes me mad. I mean, there's so much teams that have potential to mimic Nyets 10-72 season (if not "better" it with single digits win), but they're not allowed to fulfill their potential. Why? Because those crappy crap teams play each other night after night after night. Look at Cavs - 3 games winning streak as schedule gave them Sixers, Generals and Nyets. And tonight they get ... Nyets again. Not fair. Not fair that one team is going to get W. Clippers. After Spurs tonight, Clippers host Pissed-Ond and Nyets, travel to Timberpoops and Pacers, then play Knicks at home. They're bound to take some win(s) out of that soft schedule. Yes, even them. There should be some rule like: if both teams play bawful game - neither gets win. Or, winner gets only 1/2 of win. Or something, this way NBA administration is denying those crappy teams their right to have single digits wins season."

Nyets at Cavaliers, 7:30pm: Because, hey, if you didn't get your fill of bad basketball between these two teams last night, you get to do it all over again tonight! The NBA: Where Groundhog Day Without Bill Murray's Charm Happens.

Warriors at Knicks, 7:30pm: OMG this is David Lee's first game in New York since being traded!! Too bad nobody really cares.

76ers at Thunder, 8pm: Hey everyone, remember when the Thunder were good? What happened? Lucky for them the Seventy Suxorz are in town!

Mavericks at Grizzlies, 8pm: Okay, yes, the Mavs lost to the Grizzlies a couple weeks ago. But Dirk cut his hair! There's no way they can lose now!

Timberwolves at Kings, 10pm: Continuing our Darko Watch, he is averaging 4.4 ppg on 28% shooting this year, hitting only 53.8% of his free throws. He's averaging 1.1 assists to 2.13 turnovers and only 5 boards (even though he's 7'0").

Labels: Bawful After Dark, Brandon Roy, Charlotte Bobcats, In Living Color, Shaq, Toronto Raptors

The Washington Wizards: Well, they lost to the Portland Trail Blazers at home last night, which is no shame in and of itself. After all, in case you haven't noticed, the Blazers have quietly won six games in a row and accumulated a 14-6 record...second-best in the West and fifth overall in the league (behind the Celtics, Lakers, Cavaliers and Magic). Still, the loss dropped the Gandalfs to only 2-7 at home and an Eastern Conference worst 3-11. That's right: The Wiz are a full THREE games worse than the Charlotte Bobcats.

But, hey, at least they came within six points of the Blazers and were right there at the end. That's gotta count for something right? Or maybe not. Interim coach Ed Tapscott said: "Close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades, you know?" Well, it also counts in nuke, gunshot wounds...okay, "close" is looking pretty scary, so I'll quit while I'm, uh, alive.

Brandon Roy, going-left machine: "My whole life, guys send me left. I come to the bench, and my teammates are joking, 'Oh, you went left.' I'm like, 'Which way did he give me? He gave me left.' You give me right, I'll take right. But right now they're giving me left, and I do whatever I can to make plays out there." Just so everybody knows: Brandon can score go left.

The Minnesota Timberwolves: Despite forcing 19 turnovers and a 42-31 rebounding edge -- including a 16-3 advantage on the offensive glass -- the Timberpups STILL suffered a double-digit loss to the Magic. Mostly 'cause Orlando shot a season-high 57 percent...despite the fact that their starting backcourt is still out with injuries. Memo to Minny: You have to do more than just hope the other team misses. Sometimes you actually have to participate in a little thing we call "hand in the face." It actually kinda works sometimes. But hey, I'm no expert. Go ahead and keep using the "wish defense" if you like.

Of course, Wolves coach Randy Wittman thinks his team's problem is on the offensive end of the floor. "Through three quarters we got great looks, we just couldn't put it in. You've got to score against this team." And that, Randy, is the kind of attitude that has helped your team earn the league's sixth-worst mark in field goal percentage defense (46.7) and the fifth-worst mark in three-point defense (37.8). You might want to consider leaving the "We'll just outscore the other team" strategy to Mike D'Antoni.

Brian Cardinal: The line: Seven minutes, 43 seconds and zero-for-everything...a near eight trillion. Ben Q. Rock of the Third Quarter Collapse said: "Probably the closest we'll ever see anyone come to Damon Jones' hallowed 12 trillion." Maybe, maybe not. After all, yesterday Basketbawful reader 747 left the following comment: "Though not as epic as the Damon Jones game, on April 2, 2002, my sister's birthday no less, Carlos Arroyo had a 12 trillion." So don't worry, Ben. There's always hope for greater trillions!

The Memphis Grizzlies: Remember how about a month ago the Grizzlies won a few games (two against the Warriors and one against the Kings) and everybody got all excited about how this team was "ahead of schedule" and all that. Okay, "excited" is a strong word, because anybody who can't be referred to as "mom," "dad" or "baby mama" by somebody affiliated with this team is medically incapable of being excited about them. But anyway, all that early optimism has [SHOCK ALERT!!] given way to 11 losses in their last 12 games, including the current 7-game streak of futility. But there's good news: Two of the baby bears' next four games are against the Clippers and the Thunder, and I'm going to go way out on a limb and predict they go at least .500 in those two games. You heard it here first.

Darko Milicic: Nothing's really changed. Darko continues to be one of the most disappointing second overall picks of the last, well, forever. But here's an update anyway: The Dark One played 19 minutes last night, shooting 0-for-1 and finishing with more fouls (4) than rebounds (3) or points (2). He was 2-for-2 from the foul line, though. Just so you understand I can sometimes see that the glass is half full. Of crap.

Maurice Evans: No points in 16 minutes is kind of embarrassing...but shooting 0-for-7 (including 0-for-5 from downtown) is downright shameful. Shame, Maurice! Shame! And I've got a rolled up newspaper with your name on it.

Mario West: Lived up to his name by putting in a 19-second Mario. ADORABLE SAD FACE.

The Klahma City Thunder: Better grab hold of those socks so they don't blow off your feet, but the Thunder showed actual signs of offense last night: The NBA's worst shooting team (at 42.4 percent) blistered the Bobcats with 54 percent sniping. And yet still managed to lose. They are now a league-worst 2-17.

Continuing on with the "glass half full of crap" theme, Kevin Durant said: "Tonight was better than most losses because we did some things well." Huh. Maybe, for the mental health of everybody in the Thunder franchise, the NBA should add a new column in the season standings for "Losses That Are Better Than Most."

Matt Carroll: A big tip of the hat goes out to Carroll, whose 13-second Mario for the Bobcats should make Mario West feel less like a complete human failure and more like an only almost-complete human failure. [Basketbawful realizes Mario West is making $700,000 this season while Matt Carroll is making over $5,000,000...then weeps silently to himself.]

Emeka Okafor: I know what you're saying: Basketbawful, how can you possibly bust on a guy coming off his best two games of the season? (Emeka scored 25 points on 8-for-11 shooting and snared 13 boards last night, while on Monday he scored 24 on 9-for-14 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds.) Well, it's because Basketbawful reader Jacob C sent me the following email after Monday's game: "Are you aware that this man has played 569 minutes this year and has 6 assists? How can those be real numbers? That is only 6 assists more than I have on the season. That's one assist every 90 minutes. I'm pretty sure that those can't be real numbers. Don't you accidentally pick up more assists than that? I realize those 'Cats are not good but that is completely absurd."

True enough, and it only got more absurd last night when Okafor played another 38 minutes without registering an assist. So, the numbers are: 607 minutes, 141 shot attempts, 36 turnovers and only 6 assists.

I relayed this information to my buddy Statbuster last night, and he said, "Wow. Those numbers make Kevin McHale look like John Stockton. Or they make Yinka Dare look like Kevin McHale." (Dare, you may remember, was named Basketbawful's Worst Passer Ever for playing 1,002 minutes in 110 games over a four-year career and dishing out only four assists.) Good times. I guess his given name, "Chukwuemeka," is Nigerian for "Doesn't pass."

Michael Jordan, the concerned owner: Sean May, who had his best game of the season last night (10 points, 11 rebounds), was taken out of last night's game during the third quarter because of extreme out-of-breathness. Fortunately, part-owner Michael Jordan was there to mock him: "Mike said, 'Do you need an oxygen mask?'" May said. "I said, 'No, just give me a couple minutes and I'll be fine.'" I'm surprised MJ didn't ask if May needed a bra for his man-boobage.

The New York Knicks: What can you say about a 36-point drubbing in which Quentin Richardson got himself ejected and Chris Duhon (1-for-9, 4 assists, 6 turnovers) played less like Steve Nash and more like, well, Chris Duhon? If you're Mike D'Antoni, I guess you can talk about how tired your team is. Said D'Antoni: "This is the thing you run into when you run into a good team without any gas in your tank and it showed. Things just unraveled. I think everyone was frustrated. I think you get frustrated when you're tired." You know what else is frustrating? When you suck.

Update! Man love in Cleveland: Basketbawful reader Edgar C found this on TrueHoop: "After the game nearly the entire Cavs team stayed in the shower area for an hour. They were leaning against walls, sitting on counters and enjoying adult beverages all in towels. They were talking, making fun of each other, hanging out. It may seem like normal locker room behavior, but it isn't. Maybe these guys go hang out with each other in groups after the games at restaurants or their houses. But in my six years covering the Cavs I'd never seen that after a game. The season is long, trying times are certainly ahead, but the team is more than just winning, they are enjoying doing it with each other." And the title of the article this came from? "Cavs enjoying each others' company." Oh yes it is. According to preliminary estimates, this event ranked just after Clay Aiken on the Gay Scale.

The Philadelphia crowd: So far this season they've ignored their team, and booed their team, and last night they cheered and chanted "M-V-P!" for longtime Philly villain Kobe Bryant. Ah, sweet Philadelphia, providing the Sixers all the comforts of playing on the road. Of course, it might have helped if their team hadn't let the Lakers shoot 58 percent and beat them by double digits. More details from Wild Yams: "Speaking of Philly, and since you mentioned their crowd chanting 'MVP' for Kobe last night, it should be pointed out that at the start of the game they were loudly booing him every time he touched the ball, and it was only at the end of the game when the Lakers had it in hand and Kobe went off for a couple playground type moves that they started cheering for him. Fickle Philly fans."

Update! Elton Brand: I overlooked this, but Wild Yams didn't: "I'm surprised to see Elton Brand didn't make this list, what with going 1-7 for 3 points in 25 minutes last night. Money well spent there, Philadelphia." Yams, are you suggesting that's not $80 million worth of production?

Ed Stefanski: Philly's team president said before the game that he isn't surprised the Sixers are struggling to adjust to the new roles necessitated by Elton Brand's arrival. But then he indicated heads might be on the chopping block if they don't start adjusting, and pronto. "You'll never hear patience come out of my mouth." So yeah, he expected them to have problems, but he won't stand for them having problems. More Leadership 101.

Phil Jackson, Super Obvious Man: "If Kobe shoots the ball that well, we're going to have a good winning percentage because he's going to take most of the shots." In other news, if you don't drink Drain-O, you won't die from drinking Drain-O.

The Indiana Pacers: A night after their inspirational and hope-lifting win over the Lakers, they lost by 18 to the Celtics in Boston. So, you know, it seems unlikely that the road to this year's championship will be running through Indianapolis.

Kevin Garnett, hyperbole machine: Regarding teammate Rajon Rondo, who notched a triple double by scoring 16 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out a career-high 17 assists: "He was amazing. It was like there was three Rondos. I looked up and it came off the rim and he is grabbing a rebound, then I got back on defense and he beat me back. He was everywhere tonight." Garnett then looked down at his pants only to see Rondo's head pop out from the open zipper, proving that Rajon was, indeed, everywhere.

The Chicago Bulls: Forget the fact that they got only one home game after their circus trip before being forced to hit the road again...no team should let Dan Gadzuric (11 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocked shots) control the paint. Unless you're the Chicago Wheelchair Bulls or something. And even then I'd expect maybe half as many rebounds.

The Milwaukee Bucks: Sure, they beat the Bulls, but according to Forbes, they're the least valuable NBA franchise at $278 million. Chicago is the third-most valuable at $504 million. Suck it, Milwaukee!

The "Phoenix Suns": The "Suns" played without Steve Nash (flu-like symptoms!) and Shaq (resting his weary flab). As a result, the Suns were outrebounded 46-30 (including a season-high 17 offensive rebounds for the Hornets) and outscored by 104-91. But that'll happen when Robin Lopez is your starting center.

Update! Amare Stoudemire: One more addition from Wild Yams: "How does Amare Stoudemire manage to get only 4 rebounds last night when he's only competing with Robin Lopez for boards? When your supposed MVP candidate at power forward has more fouls (5) and turnovers (6) than rebounds, something isn't right. Actually, I should just criticize the entire Phoenix frontcourt for their lack of rebounding last night. Stoudemire, Boris Diaw and Robin Lopez combined for 8 total rebounds in a combined 86 minutes of PT. Matt Barnes off the bench had 7 by himself in 32 minutes of play."

Goran Dragic: He registered a DNP-CD despite the fact that Nash was absent. Wow. How did the Suns not know he was this bad when they signed him?

The Los Angeles Clippers: Now 3-15 and thanking God that the Klama City Thunder are around to distract the world from how truly awful they are. But at least they were competitive. So, you know, put last night's loss to the Rockets in "Losses That Are Better Than Most" column. Particularly since Houston was +23 in FTAs. (What's that smell, you ask? Home cookin'!)

Baron Davis, sick machine: B-Diddy had to sit down for a spell in the first quarter due to what was apparently food poisoning. Said David: "I must have ate something before the game and it didn't want to come down or out." Gah. I wonder where it finally went...? But maybe it's better I don't know.

The Utah Jazz: It looks like all the injuries are finally catching up with them. Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring were all out, and Kyrylo Fesenko strained his lower back during warmups. No, I'm not making that up. The Jazz shot 39 percent, committed 17 turnovers and fell into a 16-point hole before climbing out to lose by only 4. Said Kyle Korver: "We just don't have a whole lot of rhythm right now." I'm sure Jerry Sloan would happily sacrifice rhythm for a few healthy bodies.

Update! Kobe Bryant: He spent almost half an hour in a handicap bathroom stall at the Staples Center while a man confined to a wheelchair sat outside waiting patiently but fighting not to mess himself. The kicker? Kobe didn't even have to go to the restroom. He just wanted to catch up on his text messaging.

Labels: Brandon Roy, Darko, Emeka Okafor, Mario West, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Washington Wizards, Worst of the Night

First, a few belated WotNs...

Amare Stoudemire: From Basketbawful reader Josh: "I was at the Pacers/Suns game when Amare went off for 49. However, Amare, as well as everyone else at the game, believed that he had scored 51, breaking the 50-point barrier along with his career high of 50. This is because the giant player statistics screen at Conseco Fieldhouse showed that Amare had scored 51. At this point, Amare began passing every time he got the ball, seemingly going for a triple-double. He had to be a little disappointed when he go to the locker room and was told that he didn't break 50."

Stat padding? From a guy who once nicknamed himself STAT?! Never! After the game, Sun Tzu said: "You guys here in Indiana cheated me." Now, supposedly he made the comment jokingly, but I'm guessing his laughter was about as sincere as McCain's concession speech.

Steve Blake: Yesterday, Basketbawful reader Austen left the following comment: "Heh, I'm surprised you didn't note that funny moment during the Jazz-Blazers game where one of the players was trying to catch an inbound pass and stuck his right foot out behind him...into Brevin Knight's crotch area. Knight decided to clamp his knees together, so hilarity ensued when that player tried to run in a different direction to catch the inbounds pass. They ended up having to rush the inbound passer back inbonds after the pass just to keep the play going." Austen later added: "It was Blazers player [Steve] Blake who stuck his foot out into Brevin Knight's man region, and got caught with his foot in the cookie jar at 5:19 in the 4th quarter of last night's game." And here's the pictorial evidence:


Elton Brand: Shortly after the Philadelphia 76ers signed Brand to that $80 million contract last summer, Elton said: "I'm prepared to do some big things this year." Last night, those "big things" included scoring 6 points on 3-for-8 shooting in 35 minutes. Brand has been in an offensive slump so far this season. He's scored 20+ points and hit at least half of his shots only once, and it's no coincidence that it happened against the Knicks and Mike D'Antoni's "We play defense for :07 seconds or less" system. Now, mind you, it's not Brand's fault. Part of the reason for his struggles are the fault of...

The Philadelphia 76ers' offense: The Sixers, as a team, are shooting 44 percent as a team this season. And that number would be far worse if the Sixers hadn't hit 60 percent of their shots against both the Knicks and the Kings...two utterly defenseless teams. Philly shot 34 percent in their season opener against Toronto, 41 percent at Atlanta, 37 percent versus Miami and 38 percent last night against Orlando. Right now, the team's spacing is horrible. Brand is getting harrassed by double-teams and nobody seems to know where to position themselves for the kickout. When you have a dominant low post player, you have to provide him with passing angles and capable shooters. Right now, Brand is getting neither.

Andre Miller: I guess he's been watching too much Derrick Rose. Last night, Miller took 24 shots -- and hit only 7 of them -- while dishing for only 2 assists. That's six more shot attempts than the next closest guy (Thaddeus Young was 7-for-18), and 12 more shots than the guy after that (Andre Iguodala was 4-for-12). As I've said before, a 10-to-1 ratio of shots-to-assists is not what you want from your starting point guard.

Dwight Howard: He was limited to only four first-half minutes due to foul trouble and still finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. And 7 of those points and 2 of the blocks came during the fourth quarter, when the Magic where holding off the Sixers' rally. But man, I would feel a lot better about Superman if he could develop a low post move or two. And if he could hit a free throw (he was 2-for-8 last night and is currently at 44 percent for the season).

J.J. Redick: Earned his second consecutive DNP-CD. Remember, he was the sixth man about a week ago.

"Let's finish this up guys. I really gotta pee!"
The Houston Rockets' end-of-game defense: You'd think that a team built on defense would be able to hold a one-point lead with 0.8 seconds left, right? Well, then, you'd be wrong. Brandon Roy dropped a 30-foot atom bomb on the Rockets as time expired to give the Blazers a 101-99 overtime win. Said Rockets coach Rick Adelman: "I don’t know why he got so wide open. We should have had somebody on him. We made a mistake." Yeah, I'd call that a mistake. Man, where's Shane Battier when you need him?

Of course, Roy had to hit that shot to avoid getting a WotN mention himself, since on the previous possession he fouled Yao on a score, which allowed Ming the Merciless (after hitting the free throw) to put Houston up by one point with less than a second on the clock. Actually, you know what...

Brandon Roy: I'm happy for the kid. I am. He hit some clutch shots. But I don't want to see him posing like this unless he's in the middle of some kind of gamma ray-induced transformation.

"Bloargh!"
Yao Ming: When I watched Yao's first shot of the game get blocked by Joel Przybilla -- and it was a smother chicken, no less -- I knew I'd be hearing about Yao from somebody. Sure enough, I received the following e-mail from Basketbawful reader Vinny Gorgeous a few minutes later: "I am writing this with 9:40 left in the first quarter of the Blazers-Rockets game, and I'm ready to nominate Yao for WotN, because DAY-UMN -- the Vanilla Gorilla with a huge rejection. And now Joel's been added to the list of things Yao Ming can't dunk on (along with the rim.) I mean, it's 2 minutes in! His legs can't be tired at this point! And he's getting stuffed by JOEL PRZYBILLA? I don't care if he goes off for 30/20/5 tonight, that's awful."

It's even more awful than you think, Vinny, since -- as I pointed out -- the block you're talking about was the second time Joel had stuffed another brick into the Great Wall of Yao. Oh, and Yao didn't go off for 30/20/5. More like 13/6/1 on 4-for-13 shooting. Oh, and for future reference, Joel is referred to as the Vanilla Godzilla around these parts.

Bonus footage! It's a few days delayed, but here's a mashup of Yao's performance against the Celtics a few days ago:


Ron Artest: He was supposed to help ease the Rockets' scoring woes, but last night he scored a "meh" 9 points on 3-for-9 shooting. He's shooting 34 percent on the season...and only 31 percent from inside the arc.

Update! Tracy McGrady: Basketbawful reader Andrei said: "You have to give T-mac a Worst of the Night for his defense on the last play of the game. He was supposed to guard Roy, but once the play started and Roy bolted towards the ball, T-mac just pointed at him and then casually jogged in that direction just in time to see the a-bomb go off in his face. At 1:08 in these highlightsm just keep an eye on McGrady. Way to delegate Mr. All-Star." Good points, one and all.

John Paxson: Hey, John. I just wanted to let you know that LaMarcus Aldridge scored 27 points on 12-for-20 shooting last night. He also grabbed 9 boards, dished out a pair of assists and blocked two shots. And you swapped him for Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa. Yeah...how's that workin' out for you again? On the subject of the Bulls...

Chicago Bulls drama: One of the reasons the Bulls fell from grace last season was that many of the players had their own agendas and therefore tuned out Scott Skiles. And even after Skiles was canned (on Christmas eve), they didn't exactly kill themselves for interim head coach Jim Boylan. All that stuff was supposed to be ancient history...but it's not: Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are already making subtle criticisms to the press. "Starters have to get off to a good start; that's their responsibility," Gordon said after Sefolosha went scoreless and starting forward Tyrus Thomas had one point against the Cavaliers. "They have to step it up. Maybe Coach needs to mix something up a little bit." Translation: Coach needs to start me.

Deng, on the other hand, seems to think his slow start is the fault of the team's offense. "I still don't feel I'm playing how I want to play. We have to find sets that we're productive from and try to give teams different looks. We stayed with similar sets, especially in the fourth quarter. We have to switch it up a little bit." Translation: Coach needs to call more plays for me.

But Vinny D isn't changing for nobody, nohow: "No, no, no; they're the players, I'm the coach," Del Negro said. "The easiest thing is to look from the outside in and say we should do this or that. But when you go through it, it's a lot different. We're trying to put everybody in the most successful area we can. Sometimes it's not the system; sometimes it is. Sometimes it's the familiarity of everything."

Del Negro then put the onus right back on his players. "It's probably frustration talking. [Deng] got good looks [Wednesday], just like a few other guys. At times I thought we played pretty well moving the ball, but [we're] still shooting the ball too quick. Guys [are] a little bit unsure and thinking too much instead of playing. What happens is, sometimes [players] get a little bit out of sync and they start forcing things and try to do things they're not comfortable with. That hurts them even more. You just have to be patient and understand where you're going to get your shots."

So glad to see that everybody's on the same page...

Update! Kobe Bryant: He cheated to beat his daughters at Candyland. And then he talked trash to them for the rest of the night.

Labels: Andre Miller, Ben Gordon, Brandon Roy, Chicago Bulls, Elton Brand, Houston Rockets, john paxson, luol deng, Philadelphia 76ers, Vinny Del Negro