Fantasy, Anyone?

SECAUCUS, N.J., Dec. 4, 2007 -- I'm not one to brag (wink), but when it comes to fantasy sports, I'm known as "The Blueprint". Send me your e-mail address and I'll get you a copy of my championship-winning resume.

Maybe that is why my brother and his friends decided not to include me in their fantasy basketball league, which drafted this past weekend (yes, a full month after the season began). Is it really that difficult to find 10 people to be in a fantasy league?

Even though I'm not in their league, it got me to thinking. How would the first round of a fantasy draft play out at this point in the season? I'm sure if owners got a do-over, they probably would draft a little bit differently.

LEAGUE BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

No	Team	Selection
1	Team Defending Champs. This owner is the guy who has the championship trophy from last year sitting on his desk in his cubicle.	LeBron James, Cavaliers. Regardless of when the draft is held, LeBron should be the first pick. Before he was injured, he was filling up the stat sheet in ways not seen in the league in a long time.
2	Team Looking For A Friend. This owner knows nothing about hoops, but you needed another person and he needed something to do.	Dwight Howard, Magic. This guy shoots at a high percentage and he is a stud when it comes to getting points, blocks and rebounds.
3	Team Shutup: This owner says "nice pick" after each selection of the draft.	Carlos Boozer, Jazz. The scoring system in my league rewards players for double-doubles and Boozer is a double-double machine.
4	Team Pay Attention: This owner is the guy who always picks someone who was taken two rounds earlier.	Baron Davis, Warriors. Baron is an injury risk, but when healthy, he does it all. So far this season, he has been healthy.
5	Team Adult Beverages: You know the guy who has too much to drink during the draft and ruins his squad.	Yao Ming, Rockets. He didn't mess up here, taking the Rockets big man midway through the first round. How can Kevin Garnett, who has been the first pick of my real league the past five years still be on the board?
6	Team Make Check Payable To. This owner won't be setting his lineup by the midway point of the season. If your league has an entry fee, be sure to get his loot up front.	Kevin Garnett, Celtics. The trade from Minnesota to Boston hasn't hurt KG's numbers that much.
7	Team Stop Calling Me. This owner must not accomplish much at his job because he spends all day on the phone calling owners trying to make a trade.	Jason Kidd, Nets. So much for Kidd slowing down because of age. He is still a triple-double machine, even though the Nets are struggling.
8	Team He's My Favorite Player. Regardless of who is on the board, this owner will take his favorite player or a player from his favorite team.	Allen Iverson, Nuggets. Although he is scoring less, Iverson is still putting up big points and setting up his teammates for buckets. I guess he can share the ball with Carmelo Anthony.
9	Team I Love Kobe. No explanation needed here.	Kobe Bryant, Lakers. I'm sure a lot of people selected Kobe first or second in their drafts this year. Although his numbers are fine, I'm sure more was expected. With KB24, that is always the case.
10	Team Lame Joke. This owner will have something smart to say i.e. "He's still in the league?" after each pick.	Steve Nash, Suns. He is a two-time MVP, who is playing like he is trying to earn a third MVP award in four years.

Results Of 4th December

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Pistons	33	24	30	19					106
Hawks	26	22	13	34					95

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Suns	38	31	27	25					121
Pacers	29	35	26	27					117

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Jazz	35	21	21	30					107
Kings	27	26	21	43					117

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Nets	19	28	27	26					100
Cavaliers	22	21	16	20					79

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Lakers	30	32	24	30					116
Timberwolves	24	22	22	27					95

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Bucks	18	18	28	23					87
Clippers	26	23	15	14					78

source : NBA.com

Pistons Find Balance Against Hawks

Detroit 106, Atlanta 95


ATLANTA, Dec. 4 (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons are playing like a dominant team, even when the final score is deceptively close.

The Pistons led by 26 after a lopsided third quarter and coasted to their fourth straight victory, beating the Atlanta Hawks 106-95 on Tuesday night.

The Pistons won with balance, with seven players scoring in double figures, led by Tayshaun Prince's 23.

"It was good, man,'' said Chauncey Billups, who had 10 points and 10 assists. "We got a lot of guys rolling.''

Detroit won with a strong inside presence, taking a 10-0 advantage in offensive rebounds in the first half.

"I was really impressed with the job we did on the glass,'' said Pistons coach Flip Saunders, adding he considered offensive rebounds "the Hawks' forte.''

The Pistons also won with defense, blocking 10 shots and shutting down the Hawks' top scorer, Joe Johnson, who had only five points. Johnson's scoring average dropped a full point from 21.7 to 20.7. It was the low total for Johnson since he had five at Memphis on April 2, 2006.

Johnson called the Pistons "a great team'' but added he also had a bad game.

"I'll give them credit, maybe a little bit of both,'' Johnson said. "It's just tough fighting against double teams.''

The Hawks couldn't come close to matching the Pistons' scoring depth. When Johnson was shut down, the Hawks had no backup plan. Josh Smith was held to 13 points, four below his average.

"Our main core guys, they just didn't have it tonight,'' Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "There are nights like that in the NBA. I just hope we don't have many more nights like that.''

Saunders credited Richard Hamilton with leading the defensive effort on Johnson.

"Rip has done a pretty good job on some people lately,'' Saunders said.

Johnson and Smith sat out the fourth quarter.

The Pistons put away the game by outscoring the Hawks 30-13 in the third quarter after leading 57-48 at halftime.

"They were able to make defensive stops and get out and push the ball and get easy shots,'' Smith said. They knocked down all their shots.''

The Pistons made 11 of 14 shots from the field and were 6-of-6 on free throws in the third quarter.

"They hit us tonight,'' Woodson said.

"If they hit you, you've got to hit back, and I don't think we did a good job with that.''

Billups made two free throws with 1.4 seconds left in the third period, giving Detroit an 87-61 lead with a full period left.

The Philips Arena scoreboard, perhaps unable to keep up, was blank for the start of the final quarter.

At one point in the third quarter the posted score was Hawks 75, Pistons 0. That fiction was as close as the Hawks came to holding a lead.

Atlanta native and former University of Georgia star Jarvis Hayes had 17 points in 17 minutes for Detroit. Hamilton had 14 and Jason Maxiell added 13.

The Pistons' average margin of victory in the first three wins of their streak was 28 points. They led the Hawks by 28 before turning the game over to his reserves.

"It's good to be able to rest guys in a game like this,'' Saunders said.

Josh Childress, who paced Atlanta with 18 points, led a mini-comeback in the final quarter, when both teams relied heavily on reserves.

Salim Stoudamire had 15 points, all in the fourth quarter. Rookie point guard Acie Law, in his second game back from an ankle injury, and Marvin Williams each had 11 points.

Rookie center Al Horford grabbed the Hawks' first two offensive rebounds on the team's first possession. His second rebound led to his basket.

Prince blocked a shot by Williams and scored on the other end to give Detroit a 64-52 lead, forcing Woodson to call a timeout less than 3 minutes into the half.

Woodson had to ask for another timeout with 4:19 left in the third period after a fast-break layup by Maxiell pushed the Pistons' lead to 73-57.

The Pistons scored eight straight points after the timeout, pushing the lead to 81-57.

source : NBA.com

Stoudemire Scores 42 To Push Suns Past Pacers

Phoenix 121, Indiana 117

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 4 (AP) -- For much of the fourth quarter, the Indiana Pacers were beating the Phoenix Suns at their own game.

In the end, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash showed the Pacers how it's done.

Stoudemire scored 42 points, and Nash had 18 points and 17 assists to lead the Suns to a 121-117 victory over the Pacers on Tuesday night.

"It was just a relief that we could make the plays down the stretch and get the stops when it counted, but not a very gratifying win,'' Nash said.

The Suns rallied in the final minutes. Nash made two free throws with 1:11 left to cut Indiana's lead to 117-115, then he made a 3-pointer with 42 seconds remaining to give the Suns a 118-117 lead.

Indiana's Jamaal Tinsley missed a spinning shot in close, and the Suns rebounded. With the shot clock winding down, Stoudemire's mid-range shot bounced up, then in with 6.5 seconds left to give the Suns a 120-117 advantage.

Indiana's Danny Granger missed a 3-pointer that could have tied the game, and the Suns rebounded to clinch the victory.

Phoenix's quick shots gave the Pacers the chance to overcome a 12-point deficit in the second half.

The up-tempo style the Suns have helped popularize in recent years worked against them in the second half. The Pacers entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the league in scoring, so were equipped to make the comeback.

"You go up 15, and the way you got up there is also the way they're going to get it back,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "So you just have to kind of put your seat belt on and ride through it.''

Stoudemire bailed the Suns out, but he almost didn't get the chance. He committed his fifth foul with 6 minutes left, but D'Antoni kept him in the game.

"He did a good job,'' D'Antoni said. "That's kind of why I keep him in there. Normally, we would take him out if it was a playoff game, but he has to learn how to do that.''

Stoudemire shot 15-for-24 from the field and 12-for-13 from the free throw line. He also had 13 rebounds.

"I felt real good, felt strong,'' he said. "I just played my game. I took whatever the defense gave me, whether it was a jump shot or an easy layup or two. I just played my style of game, and the team did a great job of playing Phoenix Suns basketball.''

Shawn Marion added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns (14-4), who have won three straight.

Indiana nearly made the Suns another of their top Western Conference victims. The Pacers already had beaten Dallas, Utah, Denver and New Orleans.

Jermaine O'Neal scored a season-high 30 points on 14-for-20 shooting for the Pacers (9-10). Mike Dunleavy scored 22 points and Tinsley had 19 points and 12 assists for Indiana.

O'Neal was playing in just his third game since sitting out with knee and shoulder injuries.

"My knee is getting stronger,'' he said. "At least I'm getting back to where I can compete at the level that people are used to me competing at.''

Stoudemire scored 23 points to help the Suns take a 69-64 lead at halftime. The Suns led 66-51 in the second quarter, but the Pacers closed the half on a 13-3 run.

Phoenix led 96-90 at the end of the third quarter after leading by 12 points midway through the period. The Pacers led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we had a lot of letdowns,'' Nash said. "Whether it was missing layups or having mental lapses defensively, it's frustrating when we had a game that we could have possibly put to rest almost at halftime, and then all of a sudden, we're losing.''

D'Antoni said he doesn't care how the team wins.

"We had about two or three games out there, it looked like. We played well, they played well, and we played well,'' D'Antoni said. "It ended up on a good note.''

source : NBA.com

Wolves Coach Wittman To Miss Game Due To Surgery

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 4 (AP) -- Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman is preparing for back surgery and will miss Tuesday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Wittman is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday, and the team said it's unclear when he will resume his duties. Assistant coach Jerry Sichting will coach the Wolves in Wittman's absence.

In a news release, Wittman said his condition has been getting worse and that doctors advised him to have the surgery as soon as possible so that he can coach for the rest of the season.

source : NBA.com

Jefferson Scores Season-High 36, Nets Rout Cavs

New Jersey 100, Cleveland 79
CLEVELAND, Dec. 4 (AP) -- The Cavaliers looked lost without LeBron James, and Richard Jefferson took advantage.

Jefferson scored a season-high 36 points, Vince Carter added 19 and the New Jersey Nets beat Cleveland 100-79 Tuesday night.

James missed his third straight game because of a sprained left index finger.

"Whenever you get an opportunity to play against this team without him, you have to make sure you go out there and get it done,'' Jefferson said.

He and Carter led the Nets on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter, opening a lead that the Cavaliers were incapable of challenging.

"Richard obviously was really, really good tonight,'' Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.

Jason Kidd didn't even play the fourth quarter, finishing his night early with seven points, six assists and 10 rebounds.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, who rarely jumps on his team publicly, expressed disgust with its performance.

"I want to see them fight,'' Brown said. "I didn't see any tough or any grit as a team out there.''

The Cavaliers have lost four straight and are 0-3 without their superstar forward, falling to 9-10.

"Tonight, I felt we gave in as a team,'' Brown said. "We gave in to whatever they were doing and we didn't fight back until late. I'm disappointed that we gave in the way that we did.''

Drew Gooden agreed with Brown's assessment, saying the team has to find a way to compete without James.

"We can't just sit back and wait for him to get back and say we will be all right when he gets back,'' Gooden said. "We have got to do something now.''

Brown wouldn't comment before the game on whether James' injury is taking longer to heal than first anticipated. He was hurt Wednesday in a loss to Detroit, when Nazr Mohammed slapped at the ball as James began to shoot.

New Jersey bounced back from a 118-95 loss at Detroit on Sunday and improved to 5-3 on the road behind Jefferson, who shot 11-for-18 from the field and 13-for-15 from the line.

Jefferson downplayed his scoring output.

"I'm not too concerned about that. I'm more concerned about us being consistent as a team,'' he said. "We had a nice win tonight, but 48 hours ago we played (poorly).''

Carter, who was 7-for-13, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, hurt his lower right leg in the third quarter, but returned. He didn't think it was serious.

The Nets shot 51.5 percent and even got some offensive production from Jason Collins, who had a season-high seven points.

Shannon Brown got the start in place of James and sparked the Cavaliers early with some hustle.

He drove to the rim on a fast break, scored and took a hard foul, bringing James, wearing a light gray three-piece suit, to his feet courtside.

Brown finished with a career-high 20 points and four assists.

He replaced Devin Brown, who was ineffective starting in James' place the last two games, going scoreless in 21 minutes in Sunday's loss at Boston.

However, the result was the same for Cleveland.

The Cavaliers took a seven-point lead on Daniel Gibson's 3-pointer midway through the second quarter. But they couldn't keep up with the Nets and fell behind 47-43 at halftime.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas was a non-factor, shooting 1-for-6 with seven rebounds. Sasha Pavlovic was 1-for-9 as Cleveland shot 34.6 percent.

The Cavaliers could soon get some help from high-energy big man Anderson Varejao if they elect to match a three-year offer sheet the restricted free agent signed with the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday. Varejao has held out all season waiting for a new deal.

source : NBA.com

Sixers Replace King With Nets’ Stefanski

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 4 (AP) -- The 76ers fired general manager and team president Billy King on Tuesday and replaced him with New Jersey Nets general manager Ed Stefanski.

King, who had been with the franchise since June 1997, had said he was using this season as the start of a three-year rebuilding plan. The Sixers are 5-12 and in last place in the Atlantic Division. After reaching the NBA finals in 2001, Philadelphia has missed the postseason three of the last four years and King traded former MVP Allen Iverson to Denver last December.

"We have a good plan in place, but we needed a fresh approach in the leadership of the franchise,'' Sixers chairman Ed Snider said.

Stefanski served as New Jersey's general manager since 2004.

"He's been a big part of our success here the last seven years,'' Nets president Rod Thorn said. "He's a wonderful guy. Very competent. I'm sure he'll do a great job there.''

King, who was in the final year of his contract, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Even with the Sixers in last place in the Atlantic Division, the timing comes as a bit of a surprise. Snider had never publicly wavered in his support for King and let him make both the Iverson trade and select three first-round draft picks last June.

No decision was immediately announced on the status of coach Maurice Cheeks, who also is in the final year of his contract.

King tried everything from changing coaches, making blockbuster trades and signing players to overpriced contracts to transform the Sixers back among the elite, but nothing worked.

He gave Jim O'Brien a multiyear deal to coach in 2004, then fired him after a playoff appearance. A blockbuster trade that brought Chris Webber to Philadelphia backfired and the disgruntled former All-Star was bought out of his contract last year. They also haven't seen the desired results in their record as Samuel Dalembert, Kyle Korver and Willie Green have not lived up to the hefty contract extensions signed under King.

The Sixers failed to reach a contract extension with leading scorer Andre Iguodala before the season started.

King said in the preseason he wasn't concerned about his lame-duck status.

"I really don't worry about that because I have a job to do,'' King said. "You could have a multiyear contract and that doesn't mean anything in terms of job security. I just worry about the job I have to do. I know what our goal was, what our plan was to do and I think we're headed in that direction.''

King started with the 76ers as vice president of basketball administration in 1997 and was promoted to general manager less than a year later. He was named president in 2003.

The Sixers reached the Eastern Conference semifinals under coach Larry Brown in both 1998-99 and 1999-2000, lost to the Lakers in the finals in 2001 and made it five straight postseason berths in 2002-03.

They've been mired in mediocrity or near the bottom of the East ever since that five-year run. They lost 88-79 to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

So they've turned to Stefanski, a Philadelphia native who played basketball at Penn, in the mid-1970s under future NBA coach Chuck Daly. Stefanski teamed with Rod Thorn to reshape the Nets and is known as a sharp talent evaluator who helped bring in Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson.

Stefanski also worked as the team's senior vice president for basketball operations for one year and director of scouting for four years. Before joining the Nets he was a college basketball color analyst for ESPN for 11 seasons.

Thorn said Tuesday he had assembled a list of candidates to replace Stefanski but didn't expect to make a decision for a few days.

source : NBA.com