NBA Season 2012-2013

[master]

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—Kevin Durant stood in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s locker room buttoning up a blue-knit sweater atop his beige corduroy pants. Two spots over, Russell Westbrook sat in a chair with his shirt off and ice under his left leg, poking fun at Durant’s outfit.

Then both took turns teasing teammate James Harden for his sparkling, spiked black shoes.

“See this tension in the locker room?” Durant said, smiling at a small group of reporters inside.

While they might not be the best dressed, the Thunder sure look every bit like the NBA’s top team.

Durant had a season-high 37 points and 14 rebounds, Westbrook dazzled with 28 points and 11 assists and the Thunder started a critical road stretch with a 120-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

Weeks after a reported squabble between the dynamic duo, Oklahoma City (16-3) owns the league’s best record and only seems to be getting stronger.

“If we play the right way and play team basketball, I don’t think there are too many teams that can beat us,” Westbrook said.

Sure seemed that way in the Bay Area.

Harden scored 19 points off the bench and Westbrook added seven steals and six rebounds in the Thunder’s fourth straight win. Oklahoma City pulled away with a 14-3 run late in the fourth quarter to begin a string of nine of 11 away from home.

Dorell Wright scored 23 and David Lee had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors, who pushed another one of the NBA’s elite to the brink. While Golden State already topped Miami, Chicago and New York this season, rookie coach Mark Jackson’s bunch came up short this time.

“They have a different motor. They’re a different animal, and we’ve got to learn how to do that,” Jackson said. “We don’t have the luxury to be able to turn it on when we want. It’s a good lesson for us.”

The Thunder overcame a few second-half lapses before flexing their muscles for good.

Westbrook’s running layup extended Oklahoma City’s lead to 85-77 entering the final period, and the Warriors—in typical fashion—turned back the momentum with a frantic fourth-quarter rally.

Nate Robinson, with the Thunder late last season, shook off a defender with a nifty behind-the-back dribble and pulled up for a mid-range jumper that sliced Oklahoma City’s lead to three. He pumped his chest running back on defense, waving to fans and taunting his one-time Thunder teammates.

The celebration turned out to be premature.

Oklahoma City put away the pesky Warriors with a 14-3 run over the next highlight-filled five minutes. None more impressive than Westbrook’s bounce pass to Harden, who lobbed an alley-oop that Durant finished with a powerful one-handed slam.

Serge Ibaka also had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which plays at the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. The Thunder also held guard Stephen Curry, who had a season-high 32 points Wednesday night against Portland, to 15 points and six assists.

“I like the fact that everybody participated, that everybody was aggressive,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.

The Thunder’s dynamic duo showed no West Coast hangover.

Durant and Westbrook sliced and soared through the middle with ease, shredding Golden State’s undersized perimeter players. The long and lengthy scorers each had nine points in the first quarter to give Oklahoma City a 26-16 lead.

“I was passed due for a big scoring night,” Durant said. “Man, it feels good to score some points.”

The loudest noise of the period still belonged to a former Thunder teammate.

Robinson banked a shot from just beyond half-court at the buzzer, bringing another sold-out crowd of 19,596 in the basketball-starved Bay Area roaring to its feet. He stared back at the Oklahoma City bench for several seconds in the 5-foot-9 guard’s familiar flair, which had some added incentive.

Robinson, a three-time NBA slam dunk champion, was sent from Boston to Oklahoma City as part of the deal that brought center Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder at the trade deadline last year. After a short and unspectacular tenure, the Thunder released Robinson before this season.

The momentum carried over and the Warriors whittled the Thunder’s double-digit lead with some strong contributions off the bench. Rookie Klay Thompson scored 10 of his 14 points in the second quarter and Brandon Rush gave Durant fits defensively.

Monta Ellis’ free throw evened the score at 50 late in the half before the Thunder scored seven straight capped by Westbrook’s jumper to go ahead 57-52 at the break.

“They’ve been together a long time and have grown up a lot together,” Curry said. “They know each other well, they know what it takes to finish out games just with that chemistry that they have. That’s where we’re trying to go.”

Notes: Oklahoma City starting SG Thabo Sefolosha sat out the second half because of a sore right foot. Sefolosha said the injury isn’t serious, but he wasn’t sure if he could play Monday at the Clippers. … Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis was sitting courtside. … The Warriors have sold out six of 11 home games this season. … Brooks grew up about an hour southeast of the Bay Area in Lathrop, Calif.

[master]

With the ancient Celtics having recently exposed the Magic’s lack of heart — not once but twice! — the Bulls and the Heat are currently the only viable contenders to rule the Eastern Conference. Sunday’s game in Miami provides a wonderful opportunity for Chicago to chill the Heat’s championship pretensions.
Meanwhile, the home standing Heat have the opportunity to prevent the Bulls from even dreaming that they can compete on equal terms with the holdover conference champs. Again, in this compacted and bizarre season, every game has an enhanced and disproportional importance.
HOW THE BULLS CAN WIN: Derrick Rose has become the most potent point guard in the NBA. Although his unselfishness and considerable ball-time result in his being one of the league’s leading assist-makers, Rose is really the Bulls’ go-to scorer. That’s because his shooting stroke has greatly improved, he’s nearly as strong as a power-forward, and his quickness and speed are otherworldly. Indeed, where other players are celebrated for the quickness of their first-step, Rose accelerates as he approaches the rim — making his second- and third-steps incredibly unique. Also, players necessarily lose a half-beat when they resort to some kind of crossover dribble, but Rose’s changes-of-direction likewise amp up his quickness. And with Dwayne Wade not at 100 percent, none of Miami’s backcourtsmen can contain Rose.

* Despite Rose’s domination of the ball, his assist:turnover ratio is a sterling 2.69. This careful handling will curtail the Heat’s opportunities to ignite their running game.
* Rip Hamilton sets the standard for perpetual off-the-ball movement. Since Miami’s bigs have to diligently help as Hamilton uses a variety of combo-screens to curl, dive, fade, and/or go backdoor, the Heat’s interior defense will be seriously compromised. The kicker here is that Hamilton’s jumpers have to fall at a much more consistent rate that they have of late.
* Although Shane Battier is seldom out of position, he has lost a step on defense and is no longer a stopper. Another reason why Hamilton could have a huge game.
* At 6’7”, 220 pounds, Ronnie Brewer has the size and the defensive chops to make LeBron James sweat to create good looks. Brewer also hustles in transition, and is an underrated slasher.
* Carlos Boozer is a strong-handed rebounder whose turn-around jumpers are impossible to block. He can also bully Chris Bosh in the low-post and in the battle of the boards. Bosh also tends to wander when playing off-the-ball defense.
* Joakim Noah’s long-armed rebounding, shot-blocking, and pass-deflecting could be critical since he can ignore Joel Anthony’s invisible offense and freely roam the lane.
* The Bulls have a well-rounded and highly effective second-unit: Kyle Korver provides the outside shooting; C. J. Watson pushes the ball and plays scrappy defense; Brian Scalabrine plays more than adequate position defense, can routinely drop treys, and is a savvy passer; and Omer Asik can defend, rebound, throw accurate outlet passes, set massive screens, and commit hard fouls.
* If Luol Deng returns to action, he provides another player besides Rose who can create his own shots.
*When Bosh sets up in an iso-mode, his teammates generally become spectators. Plus, when Bosh post on the right side of the court he likes to take his right hand to the baseline—on the left wing, he looks to shoot his jumper. This predictability plays into the hands of the defensive-minded Bulls.
*Miami’s frequent lack of hustle in transition defense can be torched when Chicago forces turnovers and bad shots. In fact, the Heat average over seventeen turnovers per game, second-worst in the league.
* As extraordinary a player as LBJ is, he tends to force his dribble into rush-hour traffic. He’s thirteenth in assists (7.2 per game), and fourth in most TOs (3.9). Overall, sixty-two players have a better assist:turnover ratio than LeBron’s 1.84. The Bulls have the knack of transforming TOs into easy scores.
* Chicago leads the pack in team-rebounding and are therefore primed to take full advantage of Miami’s inability to adequately command their offensive glass.
HOW THE HEAT CAN WIN: For all his other flaws, LeBron is simply the most talented non-center extant. (Comparing centers to non-centers is as non-productive as comparing pitchers to hitters.) If his bombs are finding their targets, the Bulls defense will be stretched beyond their capacity to seal every lane and every gap. Even more than Rose, James has the chops to simply take over any given game—and he absolutely must convert his free throws.
* Wade’s return will require some time to get him re-integrated into the total game plan, but he does add another electric presence to the offense, thereby taking considerable pressure off of both Bosh and James while greatly increasing the pressure on Chicago’s defense.
* Mario Chalmers has to shoot well and avoid making mistakes with the ball. Ditto for Mike Miller, James Jones, and Norris Cole.
* Battier, Anthony, and Udonis Haslem excel at drawing charges. In addition, Haslem’s mid-range accuracy and aggressive defense off the bench are significant advantages.
* When LBJ is doubled on a wing, either swift reversal-passes or skip-passes always find an open wing-shooter.
* The Heat show terrific defensive rotations on baseline drives.
* Rose frequently over-penetrates and will force shots when bigs collapse in the paint and interfere with his ability to spot open shooters.
* Boozer plays no defense, will fumble his dribble when two-timed in the low-post, has been reduced to primarily a jump shooter, and seldom plays well against elite teams.
* Since Noah can be pushed around in the pivot, strategic screen/rolls can force him to switch on to LeBron — who can simply abuse him down there.
* Since Brewer’s jumpers are questionable, his defender can help elsewhere.
* If Deng is still out, Rose must score points by the dozen. Miami would then be able to focus their defense at Rose with great success.
* Bosh has to nail his mid-range jumpers.
* The Heat cannot rely exclusively on LeBron’s passes to implement the kind of timely ball-movement necessary to overcome Chicago’s stingy defense,
* Both Korver and Scalabrine have limited mobility on defense, and Watson can neither shoot nor avoid forcing shots. Heads up play by Miami’s second-stringers could turn the game in their favor.
* The Heat have developed an unfortunate tendency to play with little or no intensity against weak teams, but they should be ready to rumble from tip to buzzer. Specifically, they must be more physical on defense than they often are.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR
If Wade and/or Deng play, will their rustiness be exploited?
Can Miami’s bigs provide sufficient help to prevent Rose from turning the corner on high screen/rolls?
Since Rose depends mostly on his quickness, his hops, and his sheer talent to play defense, will his lack of fundamentals be attacked and cause him to be saddled with foul trouble?
The outcome could easily depend on which team scores more on the run.
It makes total sense for Noah to guard Bosh and Boozer to stick with Anthony in the endgame. It also makes sense for Miami to follow suit.

[master]

We’ve got a few changes to the KIA Race to the MVP Ladder this week, changes at the top and bottom and elsewhere that will surely raise some eyebrows here at the hideout and beyond.
LeBron James is in at No. 1, taking over from Kevin Durant, who drops to third behind James and new No. 2 man Dwight Howard. Injured Heat star Dwayne Wade, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge and Utah’s Paul Millsap all stepped out of the 10 this week.
The middle of the pack remains largely unchanged, but the bottom three spots are occupied by newcomers this week. Denver point guard Ty Lawson, Memphis forward Rudy Gay and Indiana forward David West have all played their way into the mix this week.

[master]

The Los Angeles Lakers have talked with the Cleveland Cavaliers about possibly acquiring guard Ramon Sessions...
No deal is imminent, but the Lakers view Sessions as a candidate who could help their depleted backcourt.

The Lakers are without injured guard Steve Blake, and have relied heavily on rookies Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris to play behind 37-year-old Derek Fisher.

The Lakers have an $8.9 million trade exception, acquired from the Dallas Mavericks for Lamar Odom, to absorb salary. Sessions makes $4.3 million this season and has a player option for $4.6 million for the 2012-13 season.

Cleveland is interested in stockpiling draft picks in potential deals, sources said. Several teams have inquired about Sessions lately, front-office sources said. The Lakers have a handful of players on short-term deals who can’t be traded until March 1.

Sessions has been a career 45-percent shooter, but has struggled this season in limited minutes behind No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving. Sessions shooting 34 percent and averaging 9.1 points.

After two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Sessions signed a four year, $16 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves prior to the 2009-10 season. A year later, he was traded to the Cavaliers. He had his best season with Cleveland in 2010-11, averaging 13.3 points, 5.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds a game.

The Lakers also worked out veteran NBA guard Morris Peterson several days ago, sources said. As first reported by Hoopsworld.com, the Lakers have discussed the possibility of signing veteran guard Gilbert Arenas, sources said. He’s been working out in Florida, but no one in the Lakers organization has seen him lately to gauge the kind of shape he’s in. There’s significant resistance in some parts of the Lakers’ front office and locker room to signing Arenas, but there’s also a sense it won’t hurt to at least evaluate him.

[master]

Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins doesn’t want to hear anything about Russell Westbrook’s shot count or his drop in assists or his occasional arguments with Kevin Durant. The only thing Perkins sees in Westbrook is an All-Star point guard who has helped lead the Thunder to the NBA’s best record.

“He always gets this label of being selfish,” Perkins said. “He’s not that at all. The one thing about Russ is he’s a scoring point guard, and that’s what we need him to be. That’s why this team has been successful because he does what he does.

“The thing that bothers me … is Derrick Rose is not a true point guard, he is a scoring point guard, but nobody gets on Derrick Rose like they get on Russ.”

While the Thunder have few concerns about Westbrook’s play – they gave him a five-year, $80 million contract extension this month – he was criticized during last season’s playoffs after averaging slightly more than 20 shots a game, including the 30 he hoisted in one opening-round game against the Denver Nuggets. His relationship with Durant and coach Scott Brooks also came under inspection in the postseason when he had brief squabbles with both. The Thunder have always publicly insisted they want Westbrook to be aggressive while running the offense, but that didn’t keep him from becoming a scapegoat once the team was eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in last year’s Western Conference finals.

“When things go wrong they got to find somebody to put it on,” Westbrook said. “That’s fine and dandy. As long as you continue to win like we are playing now, it will be all right.”

Westbrook’s scoring has dipped slightly this season, but his assists have fallen from 8.2 per game last season to 5.8. The Thunder, however, point to the drop as a product of Durant and guard James Harden increasing their playmaking roles.

Westbrook’s “assists have been on the rise the last few weeks and we need that to continue,” Brooks said. “I have made it a priority to become a better passing team. Harden and K.D. are sharing the responsibility of making plays for the team. The process has been moving forward in small increments.”

Westbrook doesn’t hide his emotion when he’s on the court. If he sees something he doesn’t like, he’ll say so. He and Durant barked at each other in a Dec. 29 win over the Memphis Grizzlies after Westbrook criticized Thabo Sefolosha for not shooting when he was open.

“My dad always emphasized growing up that the ball is my only friend,” Westbrook said. “After the game we can jump around and all that. But before and during the game, I’m not going to be joking around with nobody.”

Said Perkins: “The one thing about Russ is he always plays with a serious chip on his shoulder like he wants to prove the world wrong. Every matchup he goes against, he has a personal problem with.”

Durant thinks his arguments with Westbrook have been overblown. When players are around each other “more than your own family, of course you’re going to have arguments and heated discussions,” Durant said. What’s more troublesome for Durant is the ongoing debate about whether he or Westbrook is the better player.

“We’re on the same team,” Durant said. “That’s something that makes him mad, makes me mad. But the perception he gets, as far as what people say about him, is farfetched because he is a great person.”

Brooks admits he’s had some growing pains with Westbrook, but also thinks their relationship has improved since last season. The two recently sat down to watch 15 of Westbrook’s plays and the guard was primarily on the same page as his coach with what he needs to improve. Westbrook says he’s learned from some of last season’s mistakes.

“We fight, no question,” Brooks said. “We have some tough conversations. But I think that’s part of coaching. My job is to coach these guys and I have to put them in a position where they see improvement and there also has to be team improvement. With Russell, he’s stubborn at times. But if you want to be great in this league you have to have that.”

The Thunder describe Westbrook as a fun-loving guy off the court who’s always ribbing his teammates and keeping them loose. Durant wishes fans and media could see that side of his teammate.

Still, Westbrook continues to think much of the public doesn’t have a good opinion of him. Of course, as long as the Thunder are winning, he could also care less.

“Probably the misperception about me is maybe I have a bad attitude,” Westbrook said. “But when the game starts I’m not here to smile and joke around. People that know me know that I’m not that type of guy. Everyone doesn’t have the same type of nature. Mine is built off emotion.

“I’ve been playing with a lot of emotion since I was growing up. That’s how I play. For me to get to the level I want to be at, I have to keep playing like that.”

[master]

No sane human being reacted to Blake Griffin's amazing dunk on Kendrick Perkins with anything less than appreciation. At the very least, it deserved at least one barely pronounceable explanation. Even Perkins acknowledged its greatness, and he was the one who got embarrassed on the play. It's just a normal human reaction.
Sadly, at least one member of the Thunder wasn't so impressed with Griffin's feat. Somewhat surprisingly, it came from Kevin Durant, a player most people acknowledge as totally friendly and in love with basketball in all its forms. From The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry on Twitter (via EOB):
KD when asked what kind of appreciation he has for Blake's dunk on Perk: "I have no appreciation for it at all."
KD: "It was a layup, I think. He threw the ball in and got fouled and made a free throw. So it's three points at the end of the day."
KD admitted he was sticking up for his teammate/team in his response. "If it wasn't against us, maybe I would have said it was a good play."
I asked KD if he was surprised his dunk over Brendan Haywood in last year's Western Conference Finals didn't get more attention.
KD: "I knew that one wasn't going to get attention because we never get attention like that...
"We're not an L.A. team or a Chicago team or a Miami team. So all our plays get thrown under the radar."
Durant is commonly seen as a boy scout, but responses like these make it clear that he has a pathological competitiveness rivaled by only a few players in the league. When it comes to basketball, he's a killer, and any love he has for the sport is related to a need to be better than everyone else at it.
In some contexts, that drive manifests itself as a little ridiculous. When the Thunder lost the Western Conference finals to the Dallas Mavericks last spring, it made sense that Durant didn't feel completely thrilled for Dirk Nowitzki. But not acknowledging the greatness of a dunk like this one? Really? Did it matter that much?
For Durant, it did, because in order to get a psychological edge in a playoff series, he needs to treat everything on the court like it's a personal issue. The same qualities that make him an admirable basketball player don't necessarily make sense in a more normal human context.

[master]

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl was enjoying the last bit of his shrimp salad during a recent off night on the road when some news from the evening’s NBA games piqued his interest.

“ ‘Melo gets one point in 29 minutes?” Karl said. “Did he ever get zero in Denver?”

The answer was no. Carmelo Anthony had scored just one point – a career low – in his New York Knicks’ victory over the Charlotte Bobcats that night. Karl and the Nuggets had seen Anthony two days earlier when Denver won in double overtime in New York, but the reunion was brief and there was little closure between the two parties.

Nearly a year after the Nuggets traded Anthony to the Knicks, the All-Star forward and his former franchise remain linked. Nor will the comparisons between the Knicks and Nuggets end anytime soon. Though Anthony’s trade was supposed to push the Nuggets into a major rebuild, it appears to have instead liberated them, perhaps no one more than their coach.

Karl says these Nuggets are a lot easier to coach than his previous teams. In fact, he’s enjoying coaching as much as he ever has.

“We were on 2½ hours of practice killing them [in training camp], just killing them,” Karl said. “Never heard one moment of bitching. Not one word of complaining, just, ‘What coach wants, that’s what we are doing.’ After six years, we always did something wrong with the old crew.

“It was refreshing but also motivating.”

It’s shown. The Nuggets have had one of the Western Conference’s best records for much of the season and have beaten some of league’s elite, including the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers. Their roster has proven to be deep and balanced: Six players are averaging double figures in scoring.

After the Nuggets sent Anthony, Chauncey Billups and other pieces to the Knicks in a 13-player trade that brought them forwards Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, guard Raymond Felton and centers Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos, two other pieces of Denver’s core group – Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith – left in free agency to sign with Chinese teams. Felton was traded in the offseason for veteran point guard Andre Miller, a favorite of Karl’s. The Nuggets also could re-sign Chandler once he’s free from his team in China.

“We play the right way,” said center Nene, who re-signed in the offseason. “We play like a team.”

Karl and many of the players are just glad to be rid of the daily trade speculation that hung over the team last season after Anthony told Nuggets officials he wanted to be moved.

“I don’t think it was stressful as much as it didn’t have a lot of reason,” Karl said of the constant questioning the Nuggets faced. “ Why are we doing this every day? It’s Ground Hog Day. OK, the same press conference we had yesterday, just different faces.’ It wore on the players a lot.”

Karl knew the trade was inevitable and prepped guards Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo to be ready for bigger roles once the deal was completed. Somehow, Karl kept the Nuggets winning through it all – and also kept Anthony engaged.

“He did an amazing job,” Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri said. “At one point he was almost doing too good of a job. The credit goes to the players, too. But credit George for getting guys motivated to play.”

The Nuggets closed last season 18-7 before losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games in the first round of the playoffs. While the Thunder had All-Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to lean on and make free throws in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets missed their old closers: Anthony and Billups. Meanwhile, Anthony and the Knicks were swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round after Billups missed all but the first game with a knee injury.

“Last year if you take the Oklahoma City game film and cut out free throws, I don’t care what you say, but it’s an even match,” Karl said. “They make the fourth-quarter plays, but they also get two calls in two-point games that, if we get those calls, it can easily be a six- or seven-game series.”

Gallinari, who was given a four-year, $42 million contract extension last month, has emerged as the Nuggets’ leading scorer. Still, it remains to be seen in the playoffs if Denver will again miss Anthony’s ability to take over in the closing moments of a tight game. Karl admits the Nuggets lack a “stud closer,” but he’s also tired of answering questions whether that’s bad for the team.

“Why not run the play through the best matchup through your hottest player?” Karl said. “Why not do it with more than one guy? If you don’t know where you’re going to go, it’s probably difficult for [the other team] to cover it. And, statistically, closers aren’t great. They’re all about the same – but ‘Melo was pretty good at it, don’t get me wrong.”

Anthony’s chance to return to Denver with the Knicks this season was cut by the NBA’s lockout-shortened schedule. He told Yahoo! Sports in late December that he’d grown tired of Karl saying “crazy stuff” and insinuating the Nuggets were better off without him.

When the Nuggets visited New York on Jan. 21, Anthony sought out Karl in the visiting locker room before the game. The two hadn’t spoken since the trade. Karl called the discussion “good,” but said the two would benefit more from talking in the offseason. He said he might meet Anthony in Las Vegas this summer for dinner during Team USA’s Olympic training camp.

“When it first started, I was like, ‘What are we going to talk about?’ ” Karl said of their Jan. 21 meeting. “He mentioned that we hadn’t talked and he wanted to get things on the table.

“I said, “ ‘Melo, in times like this when it’s so emotional, sometimes it’s good to wait. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you. It’s a he-said, she-said thing. I don’t know what you’re really thinking. I’m not going to trust what’s in the paper. I respect you. You’re the best scorer I ever coached. What you did [in Denver] before I got here, and what we did once we got together, is a pretty good run. It doesn’t have a lot of playoff success, but it has a lot of good basketball.’ ”

[funnyview]

The Los Angeles Lakers have done a nice job taking care of business at home.
That hasn't been the case on the road.

The Lakers begin a season-high six-game trip Friday night when they face a Denver Nuggets team coming off an impressive victory in Los Angeles.

With Tuesday's 106-73 rout over league-worst Charlotte, Los Angeles (13-9) improved to 11-2 at home. The Lakers, though, are off to their worst road start in nine years with a 2-7 record.

"I'm excited to get on the road and play," said Kobe Bryant, the league leader with 30.0 points per game. "I'm extremely confident that we'll play much better."

Lakers coach Mike Brown hopes that means a better effort on the boards. Despite having two of the NBA's better rebounders in Andrew Bynum (12.1 per game) and Pau Gasol (9.5), Los Angeles has been outrebounded by eight or more three times while losing four of five on the road.

"There are a handful of things we've got to do better on the road," said Brown, whose team plays three games in four nights. "As of late, it's been rebounding, but it also has to do with execution too."

That definitely didn't happen in the Lakers' last visit to Denver, where they committed 15 turnovers, missed 19 of 23 from 3-point range and shot 39.8 percent in a 99-90 New Year's Day defeat.

Bryant scored 16 points in that game to become the sixth player to reach 28,000, but he missed 22 of 28 shots. It was the fewest field goals made in his career with at least 26 attempts.

The Nuggets (15-7), meanwhile, will try to win for the sixth time in the Lakers' last seven visits as they continue their second back-to-back-to-back set of games this season. Denver avoided a season-high third consecutive loss Thursday with a 112-91 victory at the Pacific Division-leading Clippers.

The Nuggets are scoring a league-best 105.7 points per game, but they can also play a little defense. They held the Clippers - the NBA's fourth highest-scoring team - to 59 points the final three quarters after falling behind by 13.
Denver is 13-3 when holding opponents below 105 points.

"When we come out with this type of energy on the defensive end, it's tough to catch us," said Danilo Gallinari, who hit a season-high five 3s and scored 21 points.

The Lakers lead the NBA in field goal defense at 41.4 percent, but the Nuggets have six players averaging at least 11.1 points, led by Gallinari's 17.5 per contest.

Los Angeles has far less balance, with Bryant accounting for 32.0 percent of its offense. However, the Lakers have received a nice boost off the bench from rookie point guard Andrew Goudelock, who is averaging 11.5 points over the last four games.

"We got a lot of shooters on this team, with our second group especially," Goudelock said. "They can stretch out the floor with Troy Murphy and (Jason) Kapono obviously, and we got Bynum down low, so they can't really double team because if they do, they really have to pick their poison."

Bynum, named an All-Star starter Thursday along with Bryant, leads the Lakers with 47 points and 29 rebounds in two games versus Denver in 2011-12.

Making his season debut after serving a four-game suspension for knocking down Dallas' J.J. Barea in last year's playoffs, Bynum totaled 29 points and 13 boards in a 92-89 win over the visiting Nuggets on Dec. 31.

[master]

Derrick Rose was on his way to putting together a stellar MVP season while Chris Paul was fighting off haters who were suggesting that he couldn’t stay healthy and was maybe being passed up by a young crop of bigger and better point guards like Rose, Russell Westbrook and even Rajon Rondo.
I would love to know what Paul’s haters have to say these days. And after watching he and Rose back-to-back on TNT last night (while chatting with my Hang Time Podcast co-host Lang Whitaker, and yes, we went old school and actually talked on the phone during games instead of just Tweeting and/or texting like normal), the question was raised, “who would you take between D. Rose and CP3?”
My initial response, “it depends on who else is on the team.”
But upon further reflection, that was an extremely disingenuous answer to a legitimate question. The fact is, any team with either one of those men on them starts with whichever one of those point guards — arguably the two finest in the game right now — you want to build that hypothetical team around.
And right now, it seems like an impossible choice to make.
They’re both in ideal situations for their skills sets.
The Bulls have built a grimy, blue-collar crew around Rose, guys who play defense first and know when to get out of the way so Rose can do what he does best on the offensive end (attack). Meanwhile, Paul is orchestrating a symphony of highlights for the Clippers these days (you know a nostalgic Tyson Chandler has to be kicking over a trash can in the Knicks’ locker room watching DeAndre Jordan‘s reenactment of the routine he and Paul did in New Orleans).

So much of this choice is about how you like your point guard to operate, because they both get similar results. And a head-to-head or even raw stats comparison, while interesting, doesn’t really solve the conundrum because this is more about who you’d rather have than who you think is better.
(For the record Paul has the career edge in assists, rebounds, steals and every shooting category while Rose has a higher career scoring average and again is a bigger and stronger physical specimen.)
Again, they are the perfect point guards for the teams they lead right now. I can’t imagine anyone in Los Angeles (Clippers fans, at least) that would trade their point guard for Rose and I’m certain no one in Chicago would give up the hometown kid for Paul.
But if you were choosing for your team, who would you choose …

[funnyview]

What's the news with transfers during All Star weekend ?