South Beach Showdown

As 4 of the top 5 scorers in the NBA took the court last night in South Beach, it was definitely going to be a game that would be determined by the last few seconds of the game.  The New York Knicks were in South Beach and wanted to use last night as a "Statement game" in the words of Carmelo Anthony.  The game started out with a constant back and forth and eventually leaned in the hands of the Heat in the 1st quarter of the game.  Although the Heat only had 4 fast break points in the 1st, they led the Knicks 34-23 at the end of the quarter after having great defensive rotation throughout the quarter and 3-4 from the 3 point range while the Knicks were only 0-2.  In the 2nd quarter the Knicks still struggled from the 3 point range, going 1-13 from behind the arc with less than 5 minutes left in the 2nd quarter.  Although they struggled in 3 point attempts the Knicks ended the half on a 16-0 run which included a 3 pointer at the buzzer that put the Knicks on top of the Heat 52-51 at halftime.  After the half, James ended the Knicks scoring run and the Knicks had 7 turnovers within the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half.  Miller helped the Heat regain the lead going 3-4 in 3 point attempts in the 3rd quarter.  Even with the great defensive movement in the beginning of the game, the great attempts beyond the arc and leading at one point by 15, the Heat were unable to hold off and the Knicks defeated the Heat 91-86.  Anthony led the Knicks in scoring with 29 points and James led the Heat with 27 points.  The Knicks hit the court again tomorrow against the Magic and the Miami Heat has a few days off as their next game is Thursday also against the Orlando Magic.

Also Sunday in the NBA:

• After a shocking lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers right before All Star Weekend, the Lakers are now on a 4 game winning streak since the All Star break as they defeated the OKC Thunder yesterday 90-87.
• Grant Hill dropped 34 points in the Suns overtime thriller against the Pacers, the Sun held off to defeat the Pacers 110-108.
• Dallas Mavericks are now 21-8 on the road as the defeated the Toronto Raptors 114-96.
• Dwight Howard had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the Orlando Magic 100-86 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Top 2 NBA East Teams Fail

After a interesting day of trades occurring by the NBA trade deadline, the top 2 teams in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat failed to deliver as they both lost Thursday night.

Miami/Chicago
With a possible match-up game for the playoffs the Miami Heat went into Chicago hoping to take down the Chicago Bulls after watching all of the changes that were happening around them in the league.  Even with Lebron James scoring 29 points (10 rebounds) and Dwyane Wade scoring 34 points the Heat were still unable to hold on falling to the Bulls 93-89.  Bosh had no contribution going 1-18 for the night and only scoring 7 points.  Rose had 26 points and Deng had 20 in the victory over the heats.  The game came down to the very last seconds as the Heat was down by 3 with 0:36.8 seconds left in the game and James were fouled while making a jump shot, making his free throw the game was now tied at 89.  Deng then went down and scored a 3 pointer with 16 seconds left in the game, putting the Bulls back up by 3.  James followed Deng with a 3 point attempted but and the Heat were forced to foul Korver who made one of his free throws putting the Bulls over the Heat 93-89.  The Heat bounced back tonight with a terrific game by Wade with 41 points in the 121-113 victory over the Wizards.  James also had 25 points and 9 rebounds in the win over the Wizards.  Chicago's next game is tomorrow against the Milwaukee Bucks.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Boston/Denver
With both Denver and Boston have new looks on their team after Nuggets traded Anthony to the Knicks and the Celtics traded Perkins and Robinson to the Thunder.  The Nuggets topped the number one team (Celtics) in the East 89-75.  Pierce had 17 points in the defeat and Garnett had 14 points and 13 rebounds.  Martin led the Nuggets in scoring with 18 points followed by Wilson Chandler, whom the Nuggets got in the trade for Anthony, with 16 points.  The Nuggets are currently playing against the Portland Trailblazers and the Celtics next game is Saturday against the LA Clippers.

(AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

For more on each game check out:
www.nba.com

Beating the Deadline

As the NBA trade deadline was rapidly approaching (3:00 pm ET) some major trades were made today in the NBA.  Below are a couple of trades that occurred around the league today:

Atlanta/ Washington

Atlanta gets:

Kirk Hinrich

Hilton Armstrong

Washington gets:

Mike Bibby

Jordan Crawford

Maurice Evans

2011 1st round draft pick

Cleveland/Clippers

Cleveland gets:

Baron Davis

2011 1st round draft pick

Clippers gets:

Mo Williams

Jamario Moon

Boston/OKC

Boston gets:

Jeff Green

Nenad Krstic

OKC gets:

Kendrick Perkins

Nate Robinson

Golden State/New Jersey

Golden State gets: 

Troy Murphy

2nd round draft pick

New Jersey gets:

Dan Gadzuric

Brandon Wright

Utah/New Jersey

Utah gets:

Derrick Favors

Devin Harris

Two 1st round draft picks

Cash considerations

New Jersey gets:

Deron Williams

Nets Coach Avery Johnson on New Jersey getting Deron Williams:

"Rarely are you able to trade for somebody that's one of the top players at their position.  We knew we had to give up a lot to get him, but we felt it was worth it." ~Avery Johnson

For a complete list of the NBA trades throughout the season check out:

http://www.nba.com/news/transactions/2010_11/

Photos: 'Melo's Debut With Knicks

In his debut game with the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony had 27 points and 10 rebounds in the Knicks 114-108 victory over the Bucks.  After being traded Carmelo Anthony stated, "I think New York needed a moment like this.  When they got A'mare, it brough some excitement back to the city," Anthony said.  "Now, as A'mare said, New York basketball is back.  Will we win a championship this year? Who knows? That takes time.  But this team is headed in the right direction. ...It's a dream come true for me and I'm ready to rock."

'Melo Drama Has Come to An End

Getty Images

February 16, 2011 was Carmelo Anthony's last time suiting up as a Denver Nugget and as of late yesterday Melo will not be suiting up for the Nuggets tonight as they take on the Memphis Grizzlies. After a long drawn out process and lots of acquisitions and assumptions Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks.  Melo had made it clear over the past year that he wanted to be in New York and the deal was made late Monday coming just a little over 2 days left until the trade deadline. Throughout the trade process the New Jersey Nets had taking themselves in and out of the talk of acquiring Melo but the deal seemed to go downhill for them when Melo made it clear that he would not sign a contract extension with the Nets or the Nuggets. It will get pretty interesting to see how the east competition gets turned up now that Melo is a Knick.  The New York Knicks are currently in 7th place in the Eastern Conference. Let's see if Melo helps them move up some spots in the standings.  Below is a chart of who the Nuggets and the Knicks got:

Knicks get:

G Chauncey Billups

F Renaldo Balkman

F Carmelo Anthony

C Shelden Williams

Nuggets get:

G Raymond Felton

F Danilo Gallinari

F Wilson Chandler

C Timofey Mozgov

$3 million in cash

2014 first-round pick

2012 second-round pick (originally Warriors' pick)

2013 second-round pick (originally Warriors' pick)

Break's Over

With All Star Weekend over the NBA teams now have to get back to work and finish this stretch of the season.  With a lot of shocks and great competition right before All Star Weekend, including the Lakers losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers, in which the Cavs team now holds the longest-losing streak in NBA history, the break came at a much needed time for a couple of teams.  Some teams only get a one day break, today, before hitting the court again after their fun-filled weekend.  Miami, Boston, Lakers, Atlanta and Denver are just a few of the teams that return to the court tomorrow.  With all the teams fighting for playoff positions down this stretch the rest of the season could get really interesting.  It will also be interesting to see if Carmelo Anthony will return after the break as a Denver Nugget.  The current standings for the Eastern and Western Conferences are below:

Eastern Conference
1. Boston Celtics (40-14)
2. Miami Heat (41-15)
3. Chicago Bulls (38-16)
4. Orlando Magic (36-21)
5. Atlanta Hawks (34-21)
6. New York Knicks (28-26)
7.  Philadelphia 76ers (27-29)
8.  Indiana Pacers (24-30)
9.  Charlotte Bobcats (24-32)
10. Milwaukee Bucks (21-34)
11. Detroit Pistons (21-36)
12. New Jersey Nets (17-40)
13. Washington Wizards (15-39)
14. Toronto Raptors (15-41)
15.  Cleveland Cavaliers (10-46)

Western Conference
1. San Antonio Spurs (46-10)
2. Dallas Mavericks (40-16)
3. Los Angeles Lakers (38-19)
4. OKC Thunder (35-19)
5. Portland Trailblazers (32-24)
6. New Orleans Hornets (33-25)
7. Denver Nuggets (32-25)
8. Utah Jazz (31-26)
9. Memphis Grizzlies (31-26)
10. Phoenix Suns (27-27)
11. Golden State Warriors (26-29)
12. Houston Rockets (26-31)
13. Los Angeles Clippers (21-35)
14. Sacramento Kings (13-40)
15. Minnesota Timberwolves (13-43)

Photo: 60th NBA All Star Weekend

60th NBA All-Star Game

After a fight by Lebron James and the East during the 4th quarter Kobe Bryant and the West were able to hold off and defeat the Eastern Conference All Stars 148-143.  With a 37 point, 14 rebound game Kobe Bryant was voted by the fans as this year's All Star game MVP, winning is 4th MVP.  Being voted MVP has tied Kobe with Bob Pettit in winning the most All-Star Game MVP in NBA History.  Some of the other All Stars with a great performance last night includes Kevin Durant (34 points), A'mare Stoudemire (29 points), and Lebron James whom had a triple double (29 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists). Below are a few pictures from the All-Star Game:

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

NBA All-Star Weekend: Saturday's Events

Haier Shooting Stars

Winners:  Team Atlanta (Al Horford, Coco Miller, and Steve Smith)

Taco Bell Skills Challenge

Winner: Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors

Footlocker Three-Point Contest

Winner: James Jones of the Miami Heat

Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

Winner:  Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers

For more pictures and information on NBA All-Star Weekend Saturday's Events check out:

http://www.nba.com/allstar/2011/

NBA All-Star Celebrity Basketball Game

Just a few pictures from the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in which the East defeated the West 54-49.  Some of the celebrities that participated in the All-Star Celebrity Basketball game included Tamika Catchings, Justin Beiber, Rick Fox, Scottie Pippen, Trey Songz, Common, Nick Cannon, Jalen Rose, Rob Kardashian and Romeo Miller to name a few.  The two teams were coached by two legends with the East being coached by Bill Walton and the West being coached by Magic Johnson.  Justin Beiber was voted by the fans as the games MVP.

Cavaliers Continue to Struggle

After losing tonight to the Dallas Mavericks the Cavaliers losing streak continues.  Cleveland are now on a 25-game losing streaks passing the all time record of the longest losing streak of 23 games held by the 95-96 Vancouver Grizzlies and the 97-98 Denver Nuggets.  The Cavs last victory was on December 18, 2010 against the New York Knicks. Since then the Cavs have struggled to win a game landing them in last place in the entire league with a 8-43 record.  It's easy to see that the team, management, and fans of the Cavs are beginning to become frustrated about the continuous downward spiral of the team since their franchise player decided to join the Miami Heat.  Cleveland's next game is Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons.

Lebron James drops 51 points

Marc Serota/Getty Images

In last Thursday's game against the Orlando Magic, the Heat's King James scored 51 points in the 104-100 victory.  The 51 points are the most points a player has scored in a given game so far this season, which was recently 47 points by Kevin Durant.  James also had 11 rebounds and 8 assist which led him to have the most assist out of both teams and also tied with Heat's Miller for the most rebounds for both teams as well.  Over the weekend the Heat went on to defeat the Charlotte Bobcats 109-97, and the LA Clippers 97-19 and are now on a 6 game winning streak.