Is Kendrick Perkins too full of himself?

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At 0:20, Kendrick Perkins says, "f**** these fools," referring to the Pistons. Does Perkins act with too much cockiness or is his confidence his greatest strength?

Boston fans taught to 'disagree with refs early'

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Say what you want about Boston, but Celtics fans have character.

Kobe Bryant: "Can't stop me!"

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Kobe delivers a dagger to the Utah Jazz's season.

Jazz fans chant "Refs you suck!"

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Do Jazz fans have a right to complain about the officiating or are the referees being made the scapegoat for Jazz's poor play?

Pierce fouls out...without gang signs

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Paul Pierce can't believe he picked up his sixth foul half-way through the fourth quarter as the Celtics trailed the Hawks 89-95.

Bloody nosed Perkins

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Check out what rookie Al Horford did to Celtics center Kendrick Perkin's nose.

Is Dirk Nowitzki a flopper?

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Tyson Chandler, without question, gives Dirk Nowitzki a shove. But was Chandler's push enough to warrant a technical foul?

Amare = weak -OR- Bowen = dirty?

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Decide this for yourself...Was Amare Stoudemire playing soft or is Bruce Bowen just being his normal, dirty self?

Rasheed Wallace lands 11th technical

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We don't know if Sheed deserved the technical, but the reaction is pretty Sheed-esque!

Kobe Bryant ABC/ESPN halftime feature

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ABC/ESPN busts out some (probably) rar(ish) images of No. 24 from his childhood and adolescence at halftime against the Rockets.

Daily Dime reactions

I tend to agree that Paul is the MVP. You look at what he's done with his team this year, now that he's fully healthy, and you see the tremendous impact he's had. A huge win against the defending champions last night also is telling. The difference between Paul and Garnett is the caliber of team on which they play. The Cs have two other HOF players, the Hornets...none.

LBJ's stats are the best in the League, no doubt. But, yeah, somehow a team's record plays a immeasurable bias in the MVP voting. I totally agree with your assessment that the Cavs need to be first in their division (or at least a close second behind the Pistons) for LeBron to merit any sort of consideration for the award. It's just interesting to see how much record plays a part, especially when one's opinion about it can be so subjective.

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Garnett's production is still the same. He's just playing less minutes...which lowers his overall numbers. Yet, he's still deadly effective when on the court.

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Dirk and Mavs won 67 games. C'mon now...and Nowitzki was playing lights out all seasons long. He was thrown into an early season funk premeditated by his offseason sabbatical and lack of training.

The Celtics are on a similar pace this year. KG clearly is the difference maker and should win the award if the current trends continue. I think Paul's still too young to win the award. I know it's trite to say, but age also seems to play a role -- whether a cat's earned his stripes long enough.

The Cavs need to land a fourth or fifth seed this season, otherwise they have no hope of playing the Celtics for rights in the East. If the Cavs land a sixth of seventh spot (which they probably will), they've got no chance beating Orlando and Detroit to get to Boston in the Eastern conference finals. No chance whatsoever.

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I feel like you all are hating on some of the best players to ever play the game -- Kobe, KG, Dirk? Wow.

For one thing, I'd much rather put the ball in any of their hands than Paul or LeBron at the end of a game because of their massive experience. They all know how to get to the line in those situations and stop the clock. You need to look at their ability to lock it down and Odenize themselves at the times of extreme pressure.

LBJ and CP3 have not proved their ability to Odenize and make the right play when it really comes down to it. They haven't learned how to lead a team with their heart and sole.

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If the Lakers do NOT fade, and play over .500 ball, then there's no question Kobe's the League's most valuable, regardless of how many shots he puts up and how well he shoots. A team without key cogs Ariza and Bynum is nothing, and to carry that on your back for two months is Atlas-esque.

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The only thing the Lakers were predicted to do was trade Kobe to the Chi or trade Bynum to the Nets. Somehow they didn't do either, and overcame all the diversity to become an elite team. What a story. You have to recognize this with an award for Kobe, who was the key person in the 180 turnaround.

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The MVP this season may be the most debated selection in recent history. That said, there's still a half a season to consider after this. How players' team's perform will without doubt play a large role.

That said, here's who I project to be the top three MVP candidates at the season's end: 1) KG, 2) Kobe, 3) Paul

I'm not trying to diminish LeBron's game in any way. I'm just saying that playing .540 ball in the East is not good enough.

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Yes, I think the big three really play as a unit -- helping each other out and complimenting each other's game. Still, Garnett is the piece that makes it all work. There's no saying how good the team would be without Garnett (because they theoretically would still have Ryan Gomes and Al Jefferson...and Gerald Green...and Sebastian Telfair), but I'd wager it wouldn't be anywhere near 60-65 wins at the end of the season.

Garnett's the key to the Celtic's resurgent season. That's why he's the MVP.

***

I'd totally disagree about the career achievement. Steve Nash, when he won his first MVP, was an All-Star, but certainly not deserving of the League's best player award in Dallas. He came into his own when he signed with Phoenix, and the NBA rewarded him for his spectacular performance during those seasons.

On the other hand, I do think a player needs to have played at least a couple years in the League before he wins the MVP. I can't think of an MVP in recent times who's won an the award in his first three seasons. Or am I wrong? I think you have to earn your stripes in the NBA before you can be seriously considered for the award. That's why Paul's not winning anything but an First Team selection this season...which is no chump change by any means.

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Not only are the starters in New Orleans playing more minutes than other teams, they're also young. There's two things going on here, in my mind: 1) They're young and they can handle the burn, and 2) They're young and don't have the experience to "pace" themselves for when it comes playoff time.

It's a long season and I definitely agree that the Hornets most likely will not make it to even the Western Conference Finals. However, if they do make it that far, I'll be leading the NOH bandwagon with the rest of Bayou.

***

The younger a player is, the less likely he'll be given the reigns to a team. The only exceptions would be poor, rebuilding teams who have no other choice but to let their young guns play (I.e. Seattle this season).

However, in those instances, when a young player is a main option, only very rarely will that team also be also a factor in the playoff picture. Most of the time, these young teams don't even make the playoffs.

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If teams are blowing people out the majority of the time (Hornets recently, Celtics not so recently), there's no need to "close out" teams. I guess being a good closer implies that you're not doing enough during the first three quarters to be comfortable going into the final period.

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Howard and Paul are different. Paul's a small guard and very prone to injury. Whereas, Howard is about one of the League's biggest (most muscular) players in the NBA. Howard's never missed a game in his career. Not only that, but he's played one year longer.

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Sometimes I get caught up looking to the numbers for answers to these questions. Still, nothing substitutes for watching a player play the game to really assess how valuable he is.

To be Gilbert, oh yeah!

To be like Gilbert Arenas would be sick.

Yes, sick in all senses of the word.

Not only is he getting paid millions to sit pretty on the bench in super nice clothes, but he’s also a blogger on NBA.com. What a way to boost that readership!

Now, there’s a ton of great NBA bloggers out there. Everyone from Kelly Dwyer on Yahoo to Henry Abott with ESPN are getting NBA love, but there are a couple others who don’t get the same limelight, IMO.

The NBA Box Score Blog is home to a score of bloggers who do a great job every morning of recapping the action and focusing you on the fantasy impacts. This morning, Josh Whitling spoke about my personal favorite WW pickup, Rodney Stuckey.

Stuckey also got some love on the blog earlier when they mentioned he might be one of the few fantasy relavant players to play less than 20 minutes per night. Yes he is. Stuckey’s been big for the Pistons right away, and against some solid teams as well.

The Basketball Jones have a blog to accompany their prolific NBA podcast as well. While I’d recommend the podcast over the blog (especially since you’ll lose money hedging their bets), but at least it’s a solid way to interact with the hommie from Canader sic*.

SLAM magazine, one of m all-time favorites has a world-class blogger in Lank Whittaker in his daily Links column. That’s a definitely one to check out. Plus, there’s a ton of other writers on the good ‘ole SLAMonline that will keep you fresh with information.

Oh! OH!!! And there’s RotoWorld with all their amazing fantasy columnists, who are always on top of the recommendations. “Dr. A” Steve Alexander is the main man on the NBA front over there, and I trust his advise more than any other fantasy expert.

Dude got at me with his Blackberry one evening when I had a desperate quandary as to weather to trade Carlos Boozer for Tim Duncan and Marv Williams. Because of a oh so quick response, I was able to 1) Deal Boozer yesterday for MUCH more, 2) not take on Marv Williams’ NEGATIVE trade value (thanks to Ed for coining that term), 3) Never sweat TD’s lingering injury problems this season.

Those Spurs are going to coast, said Dr. A. And he was right!

All right, that’s all. Check out that news!