Oh Shit! Magic get Gilbert Arenas from Wizards for Rashard Lewis.

In seperate trade Magic sends Vince Carter and C Gortat to Phoenix

for Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu. My thing is is Van Gundy gonna

change the offense to accommodate the shooters are is the offense still

gonna revolve around Howard.

Good trade for the Magic, getting Hedo back. He was better for them than Vince.

Is the second part of this deal confirmed?

uPtoWnNY said:

Is the second part of this deal confirmed?

Yes.

uPtoWnNY said:

Good trade for the Magic, getting Hedo back. He was better for them than Vince.

GREAT that they got rid of Vince, plain and simple. It was time. Good that they got rid of Lewis, too, who seemed to be playing soft with so much of the offense going through Howard. I love everything about this for the Magic... except Arenas. Dude has been on a downward spiral in Washington for so long that I'm not sure what to expect from him. I think Van Gundy and Howard will be able to keep him in check, though. I still think of Hedu as a Sac King, but it'll definitely be nice to see him back in Orlando. He wasn't fitting anyplace else.

MIAMI (AP)—The streak-busters of the NBA hail from Dallas.

And for whatever reason, unless there’s a championship at stake, the Miami Heat simply cannot beat the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki(notes) scored 26 points, Jason Terry(notes) had all of his 19 in the final 11 minutes, and the Mavericks held LeBron James(notes) scoreless in the first half on the way to ending Miami’s 12-game winning streak with a 98-96 victory on Monday night.

It was Dallas’ 14th straight regular-season win over the Heat, and the Mavericks had been the most recent team to beat Miami this season, too. Dallas has snapped six opponent winning streaks of at least five games this season— including a pair of 12-gamers, against San Antonio on Nov. 26 and now Miami’s.

Congrats to the Mavs on being streak busters but none of that matters

come playoff time. Until the Mavs get to the finals again, i will always

consider them to be a regular season team. With Dirk this team has lost

twice in the postseason in the first round to very low seeds including 8th

seeded Golden State a few seasons ago.

phunkdaddy said:

Congrats to the Mavs on being streak busters but none of that matters

come playoff time. Until the Mavs get to the finals again, i will always

consider them to be a regular season team. With Dirk this team has lost

twice in the postseason in the first round to very low seeds including 8th

seeded Golden State a few seasons ago.

Dirk is not a REAL leader. The one year they made it to the finals was the year they did Steve Nash dirty who was the heart of this team and Dirk's BFF. We woulda SOOOOO won that year with Steve Nash. Ironically, he was the MVP that season. I'm still mad at Cuban for that shit.

SCNDLS said:

phunkdaddy said:

Congrats to the Mavs on being streak busters but none of that matters

come playoff time. Until the Mavs get to the finals again, i will always

consider them to be a regular season team. With Dirk this team has lost

twice in the postseason in the first round to very low seeds including 8th

seeded Golden State a few seasons ago.

Dirk is not a REAL leader. The one year they made it to the finals was the year they did Steve Nash dirty who was the heart of this team and Dirk's BFF. We woulda SOOOOO won that year with Steve Nash. Ironically, he was the MVP that season. I'm still mad at Cuban for that shit.

phunkdaddy said:

SCNDLS said:

Dirk is not a REAL leader. The one year they made it to the finals was the year they did Steve Nash dirty who was the heart of this team and Dirk's BFF. We woulda SOOOOO won that year with Steve Nash. Ironically, he was the MVP that season. I'm still mad at Cuban for that shit.

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

SCNDLS said:

phunkdaddy said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

Maybe Mark Cuban's been telling him you better win me a damn title or

i'm gonna kick your ass.

[Edited 12/21/10 13:42pm]

phunkdaddy said:

SCNDLS said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

Maybe Mark Cuban's been telling him you better win me a damn title or

i'm gonna kick your ass.

[Edited 12/21/10 13:42pm]

I dunno, but his "handlers" include a couple of psychiatrists and sports psychologists, since Day 1 and they're still here with him all the time PLUS both his parents. It's odd.

SCNDLS said:

phunkdaddy said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

Some crazy chick took his money last year or something.

He need to go hang out in Oak cliff.

SCNDLS said:

phunkdaddy said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

If I was into chicks who looked like Luis Guzman, I'd see a shrink too.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

SCNDLS said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

Some crazy chick took his money last year or something.

He need to go hang out in Oak cliff.

Wasn't no crazy chick. She was his live-in fiance of 6 months, wit a phat ass ring and he gave her his credit cards. The issue was that she was using a fake name and had warrants out. But he fell for her hook, line, and sinker.

uPtoWnNY said:

SCNDLS said:

Dirk is a GREAT player but something's way off with him emotionally. He's been seeing a psychiatrist his entire career here. And his family and handlers still coddle him like a baby. It's the weirdest thing.

If I was into chicks who looked like Luis Guzman, I'd see a shrink too.

His new black girl is mad cute, and I think a medical student in Europe. But she sho nuf a sista.

Regardless, the Mavericks are puttin' on muhhfuckas this season, thus far. Tyson Chandler may be the big man they've been waiting for for 20 years. I'm just glad I don't have to see Eric Dampier anymore.

[Edited 12/22/10 5:33am]

SCNDLS said: Regardless, the Mavericks are puttin' on muhhfuckas this season, thus far. Tyson Chandler may be the big man they've been waiting for for 20 years. I'm just glad I don't have to see Eric Dampier anymore.

[Edited 12/22/10 5:33am]

To go deep in the playoffs, rebounding and defensive stops at money time are a MUST. If the Mavs can do that, they can be a threat to the Lakers and Spurs.

uPtoWnNY said:

SCNDLS said: Regardless, the Mavericks are puttin' on muhhfuckas this season, thus far. Tyson Chandler may be the big man they've been waiting for for 20 years. I'm just glad I don't have to see Eric Dampier anymore.

[Edited 12/22/10 5:33am]

To go deep in the playoffs, rebounding and defensive stops at money time are a MUST. If the Mavs can do that, they can be a threat to the Lakers and Spurs.

Tyson gives us that. I think if he can stay healthy they may do well in the playoffs. But like I've told you before, I've witnessed too many heartbreaking endings to successful regular seasons to get too excited.

WTF happened to the Lakers last night? It was my Sisters birthday and the first night of the season that I haven't watched any ball. How in the WORLD did that get shat upon by the Bucks, without Jennings?!

Larry Brown is O-U-T as Charlotte's coach.

uPtoWnNY said:

Larry Brown is O-U-T as Charlotte's coach.

Maybe Michael should go with him.

phunkdaddy said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Larry Brown is O-U-T as Charlotte's coach.

Maybe Michael should go with him.

Isiah Thomas laughs at Jordan.

uPtoWnNY said:

Larry Brown is O-U-T as Charlotte's coach.

He was pissed since last week when they lost by like 40 or something and said they didn't try.

Larry Brown is never effective for more than a couple seasons. Players just don't like the guy.

Cerebus said:

Larry Brown is never effective for more than a couple seasons. Players just don't like the guy.

He's a crybaby, a whiner and a drama queen, but he is a HOF coach who turned around a lot of teams. Even made the Clippers a playoff team. Took Allen Iverson and a bunch of B-list players to the finals in '01. And if it wasn't for Rasheed Wallace's bonehead play, he would have had back-to-back titles.

uPtoWnNY said:

Cerebus said:

Larry Brown is never effective for more than a couple seasons. Players just don't like the guy.

He's a crybaby, a whiner and a drama queen, but he is a HOF coach who turned around a lot of teams. Even made the Clippers a playoff team. Took Allen Iverson and a bunch of B-list players to the finals in '01. And if it wasn't for Rasheed Wallace's bonehead play, he would have had back-to-back titles.

I enjoyed him as a coach the most with the Sixers. He and AI seemed to balance each other out a bit. And there is no denying he gets teams to the playoffs (even teams that probably shouldn't be there). But he's still the Bill Parcels of the NBA. He has rarely stayed with one team for anything close to resembling a long period of time.

Cerebus said:

I enjoyed him as a coach the most with the Sixers. He and AI seemed to balance each other out a bit. And there is no denying he gets teams to the playoffs (even teams that probably shouldn't be there). But he's still the Bill Parcels of the NBA. He has rarely stayed with one team for anything close to resembling a long period of time.

That's because he wears thin on players AND management. Shit, he was negotiating with Clevland while coaching the Pistons. McCloskey had every right to be pissed off.

Surprised no one's talking about the five Christmas Day games. Lots of great basketball except for the Lakers getting their asses handed to them.

uPtoWnNY said:

Surprised no one's talking about the five Christmas Day games. Lots of great basketball except for the Lakers getting their asses handed to them.

It's early yet but maybe I was wrong about the Heat. They look pretty darn good right now.

I can't figure out the Magic. We'll have to see if these last couple games are an indication of how good they really are.

I don't think the Celtics have it in them any more, but they're still better than most teams.

The Spurs and Mavericks are, IMHO, the class of the West. And to think Jeff Van Gundy picked the ROCKETS to win the West! Heck, we're only the third best team in our state, much less the Western Conference.

That changes if we decide to rent Mello for half a season, or more accurately, if Mello decides to let us rent him. But I heard he doesn't want to play here.

uPtoWnNY said:

Cerebus said:

Larry Brown is never effective for more than a couple seasons. Players just don't like the guy.

He's a crybaby, a whiner and a drama queen, but he is a HOF coach who turned around a lot of teams. Even made the Clippers a playoff team. Took Allen Iverson and a bunch of B-list players to the finals in '01. And if it wasn't for Rasheed Wallace's bonehead play, he would have had back-to-back titles.

And without Larry Brown, we would never have been treated to THIS: