ROUNDBALL

The Cavs have been making all of the headlines this year, with their enormous losing streak. They aren't the only team stinking it up though. Their northern neighbors, the Toronto Raptors have been pretty terrible as of late themselves. Last night was no exception, as the Atlanta Hawks handed them their thirteenth loss in a row.That's a baker's dozen! The Raptors have been outscored by about ten points a game during the losing streak. However, if you take out a forty point blowout to the Magic, the average drops to around eight points per contest. That tells me that unlike the Cavs, these Raptors have at least kept a lot of these games respectable. Plus DeMar DeRozan is having a pretty decent second season, nearly doubling his scoring average from 8.6 in his rookie season to 15.4 a game this year. So there is at least one bright side for the Raptors. Last night, the Cavaliers did have a chance right until the end against the Indiana Pacers. They were unable to get it done though, eventually losing 117-112 to the Pacers. That makes it 2-0 in the Frank Vogel era for the Indiana Pacers. He asked to see some freakin movement and he got it! In two games under Vogel, Hibbert has been averaging 18.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and two blocks per game. Now let's see if he can keep his post presence established in the games leading up to the all star game.

Jrue Holiday had his first career triple double last night, as the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the New Jersey Nets 106-92.

The Dallas Mavericks went into the Garden last night to defeat the Knicks. Amar'e Stoudemire did not score in the second half, after putting up 21 points in the first half. Carmelo Anthony would certainly relieve some of the workload he has been carrying this season. They will need something to get them over the hump in the east. Carmelo Anthony probably wouldn't even be enough.

Kevin Durant led the Oklahoma City Thunder with 43 points last night, as they defeated the New Orleans Hornets. He also had five threes in the victory. This Thunder team is going to be great for years to come. David West took advantage of Emeka Okafor's absence and helped my fantasy team with 15 rebounds.

The Phoenix Suns beat the Milwaukee Bucks by fifteen last night and the Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Pistons by ten points. It is great to see Tracy McGrady still getting some run in this league. I really thought his career was over last year. Hopefully Michael Redd will be able to comeback like that. It doesn't look likely though.

My Rockets were able to sneak into Utah and steal one from an injury depleted Utah Jazz team. This season, I will take any wins the Rockets are handed. I wish this team could just keep Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Chuck Hayes Luis Scola, Pat Patterson, Jordan Hill, and ChaseBud at the end of the season. Then start with a clean sweep. I'm officially off the Aaron Brooks bandwagon. I've always thought of him as a good player, as evidenced in the 09 playoffs. But with Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin, there is really no use for an Aaron Brooks. That and I would like to see an upgrade over him and Lowry at point guard. The Jazz clearly need Deron Williams back. They also need him to be a high volume scorer, since Al Jefferson has proved he has no shot at being one in this offense.

The Memphis Grizzlies won their fourth game in a row last night. I highly doubt we'll be seeing much of OJ Mayo there again this year. This team could be priming themselves for a first round playoff upset. It would be nice to see Zach Randolph finally succeed in the NBA. He only barely tasted the playoffs at the beginning of his career. I didn't see this coming when the Grizzlies traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers three years ago. Good for them though. As had been talked about for a couple days, Jason Williams will be returning to the Memphis Grizzlies. The White Boy spent five of his prime years there, helping the Grizzlies get swept two out of the three times they were knocked out of the playoffs (all in four games). Williams is expected to back up Mike Conley. He will likely split time with Grievis Vazquez. OJ Mayo's bags should be packed and ready to go.

The Nuggets easily defeated Blazers last night, 109-90. Carmelo Anthony still continues his consistent 2010-11 campaign, in the midst of all the trade rumors. There's a couple juicy Carmelo Anthony rumors going around the wire today. I doubt either of them will see fruition at the end of the day though. The first involves the Dallas Mavericks. Of course, I hate the Mavericks and would hate this more than anything, except.... THE LAKERS??? Now of course both of these are merely speculation. So let me speculate for a minute here. The Houston Rockets have plenty of good assets to throw to the Nuggets in a trade, with or without Yao Ming. Let's also remember what a savvy GM Daryl Morey has been since he's been in Houston. He did acquire Kevin Martin and Jordan Hill at the deadline last year. Anyway, if the Nuggets were looking to take on Yao's expiring contract (and possibly resign him to a low risk/high reward contract next season), Houston would only need to throw in Aaron Brooks, Courtney Lee, Chase Budinger, and a few draft picks. That way, the Nuggets are left with three up and coming players, two good picks (Knicks '11 first rounder), and the possibility of the re-emergence of Yao Ming. Houston also Patrick Patterson and the aforementioned Jordan Hill to mix and match in possible deals. The only reason I don't think this would work for Houston is because of the fact that Carmelo Anthony is unlikely to sign an extension there. Either way, they will have money for a high contract player in the offseason (Anthony, Zach Randolph, Nene, David West, Wilson Chandler, Jeff Green, Jason Richardson, Steve Nash, Andre Miller, Samuel Dalembert, and Tony Parker.)