Livaso

that was a great game. 30 and 23 for Dwight Howard holy moly.They made it interesting. If they played defense on the Suns in the first 3 quarters they might have taken the lead in the third. They look like the real deal.

LeBron James is going to average a triple double at some point in his career. A nasty one too like 35-15-10 or some such non sense. Also the game against Detroit answered the "Lakers without Kobe, Cavs without LeBron, which is worse?" question once and for all.

A pulled groin kind of sucks but I'm optimistic that he'll still be a useful body for this weekend. If LeBron doesn't play against us on Friday, I'd give him the day off or limited minutes. As for Bargnani's knee on knee, that's a pisser but if it were the playoffs and a close game he'd have come back. I might be overly optimistic but it doesn't seem like huge big time injuries. Plus Ford will be back and probably in the second string. I'd love to watch Eric Snow try to stay in front of TJ. I was away so couldn't comment on Moon's 15(?)pt, 9 rb, 3 steal and 6 block game.Its fathomable for him

Dwight Howard is a beast. Both in performance and physique. He looks like Shaq before Shaq realized he only needed 1/3 the effort to still be unstoppable.Also Dwight's a really nice guy. Just like Kevin Garnett. You're glad to see them do well.

Ford's averaging 13 ppg and 8 assists so far. Kidd could take the other guard spot maybe but until Wade is in full swing and Arenas starts playing better I think Ford should be there. I consciously picked Alridge over Duncan because he's having a good year so far and Duncan could be doing better.But I forgot about Yao

Its early but luckily you can vote more than once so these picks might change by the time of the all-star break.Mine:EASTF - Bosh (homer pick, LeBron is having a great year)F - GarnettG - FordG - RichardsonC - Howard [shaq will win it no matter what]WestF - AnthonyF - BoozerG - McGradyG - KobeC - Aldridge

I think Marion + Barbosa is better than Kobe in term of Phoenix's dynamics, especially since Barbosa sort of gives instant offense off the bench. And that doesn't solve Phoenix's problems with San Antonio. But people don't really ever seem to look at it that way.Edit: The more I think about it though, Kobe + anybody is enough to be one of the best teams in the entire league. He would definitely improve their defense.

It has some tight competition.

Every player in the world would want to play under Rasheed Wallace.

At this pace, if Kevin Garnett can keep toiling off these kinds of minutes without injury, 60 isn't a stretch.

Jamario Moon is all of a sudden a fan favourite in Toronto. He's a former globetrotter so I hope they put him in the slam dunk contest. I imagine ex-globetrotters have a significant advantage in that department.Also everybody watch this, its pretty funny:http://youtube.com/watch?v=ECV0N19xRaA

I said already how I like the Hornets this year but the Nets should still be beating them.Its a wrap if Carter is out for too long.

He's a shoe-in for the 6th man award with the kind of numbers he's putting up.

Anybody remember that movie with Dan Akroyd and Damon Wayans where Larry Bird is like "I hate you fair weather fans"You're making Larry Bird angry. Don't make Larry Bird angry.Last years team wasn't shitty. Al Jefferson was incredible and fun to watch and an all around nice guy much in the vain of Kevin Garnett. Not in style but in work ethic.They just lost a bunch and tanked for Oden. If they had scrapped hard like Portland did maybe they'd have been in Portland's spot of the lottery. The whole thing was pretty ironic and great at the time, really.Also, don't blame Kevin McHale (well blame hi

I hear the weather in Boston if fair this time of year

Having now watched the Kobe chants on TV, I find them to be tasteless and insulting to a very very good young core. None the less 45 points through 3 quarters? sitting both Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon for the entire second half?Scott Skiles doesn't seem to care.

Well now don't I feel silly.He put up good numbers against the magic once he got going but he started the game a little slow.He's officially coming off the bench again. They're just starting out sooo slow and that's what's hurting them. 3 games in a row now where they've shot under 30% in the first quarter. that's got to change and having the bigger Nesterovic on the block to start the game will at least open up some inside-outside movement even if he doesn't put up any numbers

LeBron is currently petitioning the NBA to give him a special waiver that allows him to do dunks instead of shooting free throws.

They're giving Noah too many minutes. He's a bust everyone knows this. Corey Brewer at least has a good excuse for struggling out of the gate. He's on a bad team but Noah is making his team bad by wasting a 5th position on the court.

Shooting Guard A belongs to the Bulls Center B belongs to the Heat.etc.I think that's how it works at least.

I'm surprised with the play of Atlanta. But we all remember how they started last year and how fast they came to earth. They'll be a good team this year but not the team Hollinger predicted they'd be.The Hornets are going to be the surprise team of the year in my opinion. They're in the hardest division in basketball but they might beat out the clippers or the Lakers for the 8 seed if Kobe goes. Charlotte is looking good too. I'm so excited about basketball this year. There's not too many easy win games anymore.

Ray Allen just hit the three to win it in OT as I type this.It was a messy game and Celtics defense was incredible on the Raps. Considering they were able to do what they did with nothing falling for them is impressive.The Raptors stood toe to toe with the team who was supposed to win the east before their first game and pushed it to the last shot. Hopefully the basket looks a mile wide after this game and they go on a nice run of wins

Mostly the literal one.

He still sucker punches guys then runs away Just kidding though. I respect that in athletes (the working hard part not the sucker punch part)

Celtics-Raptors on CBC in an hour.This is a good barometer for Toronto. Bosh may be the only person athletic enough to play Garnett one on one and vice versa. Hopefully they take each other out of the game and Toronto's depth can nudge its way through.If the Raptors lose nobody would be surprised but if they win they'll have to be taken very seriously in the East.