(The picture is for anyone who enjoyed 30 Rock last night.)

Houston
at San Antonio

Matt
Moore already called Philly/Indiana, that’s his, and I don’t blame him.
Even if Danny Granger plays for the Pacers tonight, that should be a fun one,
even if it’s the first game where we see the 76ers really turning the corner.

The Hawks in New Jersey should be really good, the Nets will
be competing all year in spite of talent limitations, and I’m curious to see
how the Hawks bounce back after what could be (it’s up to them) a
draining loss in Boston on Wednesday night.

Portland in New Orleans scared me for a second, because I
got a glimpse of the preview page and didn’t see a TV channel. The League Pass
listings, however, assure me that subscribers will get the game. Whew. Still,
kind of slow for my tastes.

Milwaukee/Memphis would have me intrigued had Scott Skiles
not brought the Bucks’ pace to a screeching halt on Wednesday against San Antonio. Skiles has
proven that he can let his teams run, but he’s still starting Luke Ridnour over
Ramon Sessions, and this is getting ugly. Still, it’s Memphis. I have to watch.

(By the way, that’s two contradictions I’ve set myself up
for, if you’ve been paying attention.)

Denver and Boston? Too angry.

Orlando and Dallas? Too ineffectual.

Lakers and Pistons? Too one-sided.

Phoenix and Sacramento? Too obvious.

Houston and San Antonio? The matchup that used to give me
the shakes? One that screamed "78-75!"? Boring, droll, half-court basketball?

Yes, please. There’s something about it. I think San Antonio plays over
its head tonight, and I think the Rockets are putting something big together.
Even a 20-point for the Rockets, right now, is worth watching for me, because
this could be a sustained start of a championship run. I mean that. Especially
if Aaron Brooks mixes it up right as a starter.

Comment away down below, and enjoy the weekend, cats.

Houston Rockets: 5-3, 89.5 possessions per
game (24^th-most in the NBA), 103.3 points scored per 100 possessions
(20^th in the NBA), 100.7 points allowed per 100 possessions (7^th).
This Is Music.

San Antonio Spurs: 2-5, 85.8 possessions per game
(29^th), 106.8 points scored per 100 possessions (12^th)
(!), 111.1 points allowed per 100 possessions (26^th) (!!). Slide Away.

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A look around the league and the web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: 3 Shades of Blue. Want to test David Stern? Vote Stephon Marbury in as an All-Star starter!
PF: Hardwood Paroxysm. Twelve games tonight. Better consume this excellent 15 Footer in advance.
SF: The FanHouse. Did Joey Crawford justly eject Kenyon Martin? Watch the video.
SG: NaismithLives.com, via ShareBro Goat. Top 50 Basketball Commercials of All-Time.
PG: Indy Cornrows. Jarrett Jack: the NBA’s answer to Indianapolis Colts safety Bob Sanders.
6th: 48minutes.net. Boomshakalaka! Who would be on your current NBA Jam teams?
7th: Rufus on Fire. Only eight teams can win the NBA Championship in 2008-09. Can you name ‘em?
8th: Lake Show Life. 007 and the Los Angeles Lakers of California.
9th: Rumors and Rants. J.J. Redick is complaining about playing time. Again.
10th: Rip Hamilton’s Yahoo! Sports Player Profile. Matt Watson explains Rip’s mystery beard: "He grew it over the summer, kept it for media then shaved it off (keeping his regular goatee) before the official first day of training camp. I always thought that was silly of him since all the promotional pics and videos they shot at media day have him with the great big Amish beard, but maybe he got a kick out of doing that." There you go, J-N-Z.

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NBA tats seem to be all the rage right now, and with the number of blogs posting photos and videos of the ink, it’s no wonder there’s a buzz. Today, Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace proudly explains his new back piece. Unlike some NBA players — I’m looking at you, Marion — it sounds like a lot of thought actually went into this.

A big BDL head nod to Alana G for the tip.

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According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (via Fanster), Matt Barnes, Steve Nash and Rafer Alston have all received suspensions for their role in Wednesday’s lame Phoenix Suns-Houston Rockets shoving match.

Barnes and Alston will miss two games for starting the third quarter scuffle, while Nash will miss just one for slipping on an imaginary banana peel. In addition, Shaquille O’Neal was fined $35,000 and Tracy McGrady was fined $25,000 for their roles in the altercation.

No word on whether Ron Artest was given a shiny gold sticker for good behavior.

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After nearly half of our Euroleague games, I’ve finally gotten a feel for what it takes to succeed over here. It takes more than a jumper and knowledge of the zone defense to be a true Euro baller. In fact, I think I’ve figured out some of the basic things it takes to not only survive, but thrive as a Euroleague player.

1. Grow
The Euroleague has opened my eyes to a whole new kind of human being. I never imagined seeing actual living people the size of Monstars. I mean, I guess there’s Shaquille O’Neal, who is one of the largest people ever, but there are others out there roaming the planet, being signed to European teams, lurching, lumbering from one end of the court to the other.

There was one guy from Zalgiris who was about 7′3", and close to 400lbs. I’m pretty certain that the people watching on TV thought that there were only three and a half players from my team on the court when really, he was eclipsing nearly half of the guys. The crazy thing is, he was one of three players on his team over 7′2".

2. Keep the trash talk to yourself
Nobody understands you anyways. On the flip side, you can pretty much say whatever you want with no consequences. Should I choose to cleverly insult my 400-pound counterpart — as long as I smile while I do it — he may take it as a compliment and not snap me in two.

One game I dropped the "check the scoreboard" line on someone who had the trash-talk-face (a face only given when instigating trash talk). He asked me to repeat what I said, so I repeated it, clearly. He still didn’t understand.

3. If there are numerous police officers who escort you into the gym and onto the court, do your best not to make the fans angry
Upon arriving at one gym, nearly 50 policemen were waiting for us. I knew it was a sign of possible danger, especially since I saw a 7/11-like store nearby that had automatic weapons in the window.

As my teammate explains in part of the video below, it’s not uncommon for fans to throw things at the players during the game.

4. Know your surroundings
The streets look the same. I don’t speak the language of any country we’ve been. I can’t pronounce the name of the hotels we stay at. The best thing to do is keep a business card of the hotel with you.

I can’t even adequately describe things if I ever did get lost. For example, I thought that most of Poland looked like Mexico, but with grass. I thought that the rest of Poland looked like Harlem, but with no black people. How in the world would I describe my grassy Mexican non-black Harlem hotel to a cabby?

5. Get ready for traveling
I’m not talking about boarding a plane or a bus; I’m talking about every sweep move I’ve come to love over the first 24 years of my life that is now called a travel in my 25th. Maybe I should just retire the sweep.

6. Be prepared to see some odd things
As you’ll see in the video below, there were heaters in the gym in Poland that blew hot air right across the court in two places. The outside of the arena was surrounded by weird shops and neon lights that made it look like a shopping center.

There you have it. When I figure out some more things, I’ll let you know.

Rod Benson
is a Cal grad and former D-Leaguer who plays for SLUC Nancy, the reigning French league champion. When he’s
not busy traveling, he blogs one or two times a
week on Ball Don’t Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

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