Inspired Performances

There were 13 games on the NBA's docket yesterday (Jan. 17, 2010) and a remarkable number of stellar performances from players all across the league -- led by Los Angeles Clippers rookie Blake Griffin, who had a career-high 47 points and 14 rebounds against the Indiana Pacers. Yesterday, of course, was a national holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., who championed equality and civil rights in the United States. The NBA stars, it seemed, celebrated Dr. King's legacy with their inpired performances. A total of 12 players scored 25 points or more while two registered triple-doubles.

Here are the players and their outstanding lines yesterday:

Blake Griffin, 47 pts., 14 rebs., 3 asts., 1 blk. (LAC def. IND, 114-107)

Amar'e Stoudemire, 41 pts., 6 rebs., 1 blk. (NYK lost to PHO, 121-129)

LaMarcus Aldridge, 37 pts., 12 rebs., 2 stls., 2 blks. (POR def. MIN, 113-102)

Joe Johnson, 36 pts., 5 rebs., 6 asts. (ATL def. SAC, 100-98)

Kevin Martin, 36 pts., 4 asts. (HOU def. MIL, 93-84)

Dwight Howard, 33 pts., 13 rebs., 3 asts. (ORL lost to BOS, 106-109)

Dirk Nowitzki, 32 pts., 5 rebs., 5 asts. (DAL lost to DET, 89-103)

Russell Westbrook, 32 pts., 5 rebs., 12 asts., 2 stls. (OKC lost to LAL, 94-101)

Vince Carter, 29 pts., 12 rebs., 4 asts., *reached 20,000 career pts. (PHO def. NYK, 129-121)

Deron Williams, 28 pts., 11 asts., 2 stls. (UTA lost to WAS, 101-108)

Monta Ellis, 26 pts., 9 asts., 5 rebs., 3 stls. (GS def. NJN, 109-100)

Boris Diaw, 25 pts., 11 rebs., 11 asts. (CHA lost to PHI, 92-96)

Derrick Rose, 22 pts., 10 rebs., 12 asts. *his first career triple-double (CHI def. MEM, 96-84)

Troublesome Trade

ESPN.com aptly called it, "Melo Drama", to describe the complexities which the expected Carmelo Anthony trade out of Denver have taken on. As of this writing, the proposed three-team deal would send Melo and Chauncey Billups of the Nuggets and Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons to New Jersey, which would send Devin Harris, Anthony Morrow, rookie Derrick Favors, Quinton Ross, Ben Uzoh, Stephen Graham and a couple of draft picks back to Denver. The Nets will also be sending Troy Murphy and Johan Petro to Detroit. Broken down, this proposal essentially hopes to provide New Jersey with enough talent around Anthony to win now, Detroit with enough salary relief (Murphy has a $17 million contract expiring this season) and Denver enough resources to rebuild and remain competitive with.

For New Jersey, the gamble is that the trade will turn them into a decent playoff contender with which Melo will want to remain and build a career upon. The free-agent-to-be had previously expressed a desire to play for the New York Knicks but with no progress made by the Nuggets in that direction, Melo seems amenable to a deal to neighboring New Jersey. The Nets, under new owner Mikhail Prokhorov's stewardship, have plans to move the franchise to Brooklyn in a couple of years and they are hoping that that scheme (along with the Russian billionaire's charms) would be enough to get Anthony to sign on their dotted line.

Money, though, is not Melo's primary motivation for moving -- at least, not according to Melo. He wants to be on a team which can contend for the NBA championship soon. That is why, presumably, the Nets have configured the deal to secure former backcourt-mates Billups and Hamilton. But, pundits opine, how much better would the Nets really be with the 34- and 32-year old Billups and Hamilton (respectively) as the starting guards? The pair may have parlayed that winning combination into a World Championship for Detroit -- but that was almost seven years ago (2004) when the two were in the prime of their careers. It is forseeable that the Billups, Hamilton and Melo "Big Three" will steer New Jersey (currently 10-27, 13th in the East) into the Playoffs this season but title contention? Not with Miami, Boston and Orlando ahead of them in the Conference.

Meanwhile, Denver is looking to cushion the impending loss of their franchise star as much as possible. Seeing and learning from the Cleveland Cavaliers experience -- a team which has fallen to the bottom of the NBA following the messy departure of LeBron James -- the Nuggets are trying to collect as much assets as they can in exchange for #15. In fact, the hitch supposedly holding the current deal up is the Nuggets now wanting Al Harrington included in the trade. Experts figure Denver wants to relieve itself of Harrington's remaining four years and $28 million to increase its financial flexibility for the future. This latest addendum was reportedly what kept the deal from going down last Sunday (Jan. 9) -- much to the disappointment, they say, of Nets management.

Nuggets officials reportedly countered by alleging that the Nets as well as other involved figures (agents and Melo's advisers) are leaking information to the press in order to pressure them into signing off on the deal immediately. Allegedly, Denver was so upset with the latest round of "leaks" that they threatened to trash the New Jersey deal and send Melo to the Knicks instead.

All this time, though, Melo and his team aren't exactly sitting pretty, waiting for their prom date. With a lockout looming in 2012 brought about by CBA (collective bargaining agreement) negotiations which promise to reduce the league's astronomical player salaries, Anthony would undoubtedly prefer to sign a guaranteed $65 million today than risk a post-CBA contract that could make him $10 to $15 million less. To get maximum coin, Melo needs to get in on the sign-and-trade, in which Denver hands him the max contract before dealing him to a new destination. All this needs to get done by the NBA's Feb. 24 trade deadline too or it won't get done at all, and Melo and his advisers (CAA and Wild Wild Wes -- the same team that advises LeBron) may not be shown the money.*

*UPDATE and CORRECTION: Melo could also choose to sign his extension with the Nets (or whichever team acquires him in trade) but indications remain that he prefers to go to the Knicks. His option here would be to wait the season out, become a free agent this summer and then sign with the Big Apple. This may be the less-complicated route for Melo -- who could join a winning team which need not give up any significant pieces (like Danilo Galinari or Wilson Chandler) in trade. And it will pair Melo with 28-year-old star Amar'e Stoudemire, who is proving to be the stud (and MVP prospect) that everyone thought he could be. The trade-off here is that he'll probably have to sign for much less money as the Knicks do not have as much salary cap flexibility as the Nets.

But while everyone in the Melo deal tries to avoid duplicating the disaster that was the LeDebacle this past summer, it seems that they are all making an even bigger mess. A proper trade, insiders say, will now take much more time to fashion and it's not inconceivable that the drama stetches all the way to mid-February. No one wants to be on the losing end in this one -- and that may be the problem.

When Did You Know?

I wasn't more than 7 or 8 years old at the time and my family was still residing in our old house in Quezon City (the Philippines). It was the Christmas break for my brother (who was no more than 12 or 13 years old) and I, who were home one day while our parents were out at work. Playing alone in the guest bedroom, I climbed into the back closet which our parents used as storage space and filled with knick-knacks. I probably had a few Matchboxes and building blocks with me and was exploring the closet like a city engineer looking for new roadways to 'pave' for my toys.

Pushing deep past a few old hanging coats and clothes I stumbled upon a nest of new toys, attractively shimmering in their colorful plastic and carton packaging. These would be the toys, I discovered a few days later, which Santa Claus would carefully wrap up and gift to my brother and I for Christmas eve.

That was the moment I realized that Santa wasn't the white-haired, big-tummied Caucasian fellow in the red suit who flies all over the world delivering toys on Christmas eve. But instead of getting disappointed, I cherished that moment and saved my little 'secret' of knowing 'Santa's' real identity (I don't remember sharing that secret with my brother -- at least not immediately -- but he probably knew years before I did). It was exciting to have this secret ... particularly while my parents still did not know that I already knew.

A few years later, when I had a regular allowance to collect and save, I found myself hiding Christmas gifts from my parents (and my brother) too. And although my parents never revealed themselves as Santa to me they had a knowing smile that Christmas eve I gave my first presents to them. The gifts weren't much (in fact, I don't remember what they were anymore) but the smile on my parents' faces was priceless. They were my Santa. And at that moment, I was theirs. :-)

What about you? When did you know who Santa was?

File Under: Being an Ass Isn't a Crime, but ...

Let me begin by admitting that I am no fan of Lakers head coach Phil Jackson. I find him arrogant beyond my spare tolerance. Most of the greats are, in my opinion, one shade of arrogant or another. They are great at what they do, win more than most and, while standing atop the world, often let others know just how great they are. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant ... they all had / have their mean streaks which found them regularly staring down the competition. And sports fans, as we are wont to be, generally accept the cockiness (and some off-court transgressions) so long as it's backed up by (on-court) excellence.

Without a doubt, Jackson has earned the right to be cocky. World championships 11 in all won coaching the Chicago Bulls (6) and Los Angeles Lakers (5) make him the winningest bench tactician in NBA history and gives him respect accorded only the best of the best. But all that jewelry don't make him the president of personnel operations for the Miami Heat. A few days ago however, in an ESPN radio interview, Jackson speculated on the future of Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra by suggesting that Spo will lose his job to team president and former head coach Pat Riley soon if Miami does not pick up their game.

"The scenario that sits kind of behind the scene, is that eventually these guys that were recruited - (Chris) Bosh and (LeBron) James - by Pat Riley and Micky Arison, the owner, are going to come in and say, 'We feel you (Riley) can do a better job coaching the team. We came here on the hopes that this would work,' and whatever, I don't know," he said. "That's kind of my take on it, is that eventually if things don't straighten out here soon, it could be the Van Gundy thing all over again."

Jackson was referring to Miami's 2005-06 Championship season in which then Heat coach Stan Van Gundy resigned following a disappointing 11-10 start -- despite the fact that the talented team featured rising star Dwyane Wade and veteran superstar Shaquille O'Neal. Riley stepped down from his front office post, stepped into the coaching trenches and steered the Heat to its first-ever NBA championship. Pundits, however, saw Riley's substitution of SVG as contrived -- a move which beefed up Riley's career title haul at Van Gundy's expense.

But that was not the case, insists SVG, who currently coaches the Orlando Magic. "To second guess another coach and comment on a situation he knows nothing about -- it's inappropriate. And it's also ignorant," Van Gundy said. "I don't mean that commenting on Phil's intelligence. He's obviously a very smart guy. I mean it as ignorant (in that) he doesn't know what the situation was and he doesn't know what the situation is now.

"I don't think, unless their relationship has changed drastically, that (Jackson) and Riley talk on a regular basis. So I doubt he would have any information whatsoever on what's going on in Miami."

So what does Jackson know about what's going on in Miami? Probably not a whole lot. But Jackson, dubbed by his supporters as the 'Zen Master,' does know a thing or two about psyching out other people to suit his needs. Recall last April when Jackson suggested that first round Playoff opponent Kevin Durant (of the Oklahoma City Thunder) was getting a lot of calls and going to the line a lot for free throws. Jackson was drawing attention to both Durant and the referees and making them seem -- to the media, at least -- like they were getting or creating unfair advantages. For that statement Jackson was fined by the league.

It wasn't the first time Jackson stirred a hornets' nest. But each time he does, a veiled agenda never seems to be too far behind. In undermining Spoelstra's efforts, the Zen Master perhaps is trying to break Miami's psychological well-being. Already struggling with high expectations created by the fantasy-like union of Wade, LeBron and Bosh in South Beach, the Heat have their hands full trying to win games amid league-wide scrutiny and acrimony (not to mention all the injuries). By questioning Spo's work, Jackson is kicking a team that is already down (8-7 in their first 15 games) and getting deep into their heads.

Nice work, Phil.