1. Numbers Game
Chris Webber officially signed with the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday and will be paid approximately $650,000 this year on a prorated contract for the veterans minimum, but that’s wasn’t the odd part of the press conference. The head scratcher came when C-Webb held up a Pistons home jersey with the number 84 stitched onto it. The unusual number was chosen for Uncle Chris by one of his nephews. Now, Webber joins Gilbert Arenas (0), Ron Artest (93) and the league’s most notorious weirdo of all time, Dennis Rodman (91), with some of the more abnormal numbers. But regardless of the digits he wears, Webber will be a valuable asset to the Pistons this season, despite what his first game might imply (17 minutes with 2 points on 1 for 5 shooting).
2. Packin’ Jackson
There were some rumors floating around that Mike Dunleavy Jr. could be joining his old man in Los Angeles on the Clippers, but those rumors can be squashed now that Dunleavy Jr. was involved in an eight player deal that sent him to the Pacers along with Troy Murphy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod. In return, Golden State picked up Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Josh Powell and the problematic Stephen Jackson. The Warriors were desperate for another complimentary player to line up beside Baron Davis and if they are willing to put up with the headaches, this could be a perfect fit for Golden State. And should Harrington ever live up to his potential, this trade could be a giant step toward making noise in the playoffs for the Warriors.
3. Party Pooper
A man is walking down the street with a 2 ft. by 2 ft. birthday cake in his hands at 1:45 in the morning wait, is this a gag? Nope. It might sound like the set up to a shoddy joke but it’s not. Close to 2:00 a.m. on Saturday, Alexander Martinez left his birthday party with a $190 cake and ran into Lakers forward Ronny Turaif who agreed to pose for a B-Day photo. About that time, Kwame Brown walks out of a club, grabs the chocolate cake and throws it at Martinez before leaving the scene in a white limo. Further down the street, Martinez ran into Lamar Odom and confronted him about Brown’s behavior but a man believed to be Odom’s bodyguard shoved Martinez into the street and yelled at him to stay away from Brown. A police report was filed 12 hours later but Brown has yet to comment on the incident. Now it’s obvious why Gilbert Arenas didn’t invite Kwame to his 25th birthday bash.
Wednesday’s Player of the Day: Kobe Bryant @ San Antonio 36 min, 34 pts (FG: 12-19, 3FG: 0-2, FT: 10-11), 6 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl
Thursday’s Game to Watch: Los Angeles Lakers (25-13) @ Dallas (32-8) The last time these two teams met up was in Los Angeles on January 7, when the Lakers put an end to the Mavericks 13 game win streak. But this time the Lakers won’t have a home crowd to take advantage of. The Mavs are currently riding an eleven game home winning streak as Dirk Nowitzki continues to make his push for the M.V.P. Dallas is probably one of the last teams anybody wants to play in the second game of a back-to-back, but that is exactly the situation L.A. is facing after winning against the Spurs last night, 100-96.
Buzzer Beater: Just when it looked like Tracy McGrady was healthy again and back to his former high-scoring self, he misses another game with soreness in his back. Since returning from a stint in December where he missed seven games because of back spasms, T-Mac had averaged 26.8 points per game with eight games over 30. Tuesday night, McGrady lit Dallas up for 45 in a 109-86 loss. With the loss of Yao Ming already hobbling the club, McGrady’s pain in the back is becoming a serious pain in the butt of Jeff Van Gundy.
