The Good, the Bad, the Kitchen Sink

Terry Brown
Monday, February 23
Updated: February 23
2:13 PM ET

Still can't figure out how the Orlando Magic can give up 127 points to the Bucks on Tuesday and then only 77 to Jazz on Wednesday as Tracy McGrady hangs 84 on the scoreboard in less than 24 hours.

The Good
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Bryant
Week's work: 4-0, 33.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 7.5 apg, 2.5 spg, 0.7 bpg, 59.7% shooting
With court dates, fuzzy injuries and a free-agent agenda, the Lakers knew all along that they weren't going to be getting Kobe in quantity this season. Last week, they certainly got him in quality and there wasn't anything Warriors, Sixers or Suns could do about it. Now, let's see what kind of drama awaits with the Kings and Nets on back-to-back nights this week.

Elton Brand, Los Angeles Clippers
Week's work: 2-1 record, 29.6 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2 spg, 4.6 bpg, 55.7% shooting
If this were the Major Leagues, this guy would be an MVP candidate and fitted for pinstripes already.

Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
Week's work: 3-0, 27 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3 apg, 0.6 spg, 1 bpg, 59.1% shooting
At halftime of last Saturday's game against the Nuggets, Wade had already chalked up 12 points when the Miami scoreboard flashed a commentator saying how much better Wade was than Carmelo Anthony. Twenty-four minutes of game time later, Wade scored another 16 points on 8-for-14 shooting in the second half and Kevin Frazier was booking a flight for Vegas.

James Posey, Memphis Grizzlies
Week's work: 3-0, 21.3 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 apg, 2.3 spg, 0.6 bpg, 56.2% shooting
You don't make the playoffs in the Western Conference without a bona fide superstar unless you've got seven guys nearly averaging double-digits. And you don't get within two games of home-court advantage unless one of those guys just so happens to be your defensive stopper as your team goes on an 8-1 February tear.

The Bad
Steve Francis, Houston Rockets

Francis
Weak work: 2-1 record, 11 ppg, 6 rpg, 7.3 apg, 2 spg, 0 bpg, 30.2% shooting
Sure, the Rockets won two games last week but you can thank Yao Ming, Cuttino Mobley and Clutch the Bear before patting Francis on the back. In their first win against the Wizards, he was the fourth-highest scorer on the team with five buckets to go along with four turnovers. In their second win against the Hawks, he was the fifth-best scorer after going 1-for-10 from long range. And, believe it or not, it gets worse. In their one loss this week, Francis finished with six points in 38 minutes.

Tayshaun Prince, Detroit Pistons
Weak work: 1-3 record, 5.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.7 bpg, 21.2% shooting
The only reason this kid made it back into the starting rotation was because the guy supposedly putting heat on him, Darvin Ham, spent 44 minutes on the floor in three games and scored a total of two points, which makes Prince's 7-for-33 week a bonus. But that was before the Pistons picked up a pair of Air Force Ones that could play both forward positions as well as center.

Antonio Davis, Chicago Bulls
Weak work: 1-2 record, 3.6 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.6 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.6 bpg, 17.8% shooting
His Chicago numbers are nearly identical to those in Toronto this season, but not the expression on his face and it's showing.

Carlos Arroyo, Utah Jazz
Weak work: 1-3 record, 9.7 ppg, 3 rpg, 3.2 apg, 0.5 spg, 0 bpg, 32.5% shooting
Two years ago, as a rookie, this kid scored a total of 30 points all season. The fact that he scored 39 points last week alone and still make the bad side of this list is, perhaps, a bigger compliment than if we were to ever place him on the good side for nearly averaging double-digits.

The Ugly
The Denver Nuggets just lost to the Orlando Magic, the worst team in the NBA, by four and then the Miami Heat, a team seven games under .500, by 16. And that was the easy part of their schedule.

Their next seven games are all against teams that are currently playoff qualified, including the defending champion Spurs, Eastern-leading Pacers, red-hot Nets, Lakers and Pistons. And right after that, six of their next seven games are on the road.

Currently, the Nuggets are the eighth-seeded team in the West and are five games ahead of the Blazers and Jazz in the win column. It gets real ugly, though, when you consider that the both of those teams are fighting to reserve playoff runs that extend to 21 and 20 seasons, respectively.

The Kitchen Sink
RETURN OF THE KING
Everybody's been watching Sacramento's Brad Miller while waiting for Chris Webber that we almost missed Vlade Divac coming within three measly rebounds of averaging a triple-double in last week's four-game set.

And if the 41 points, 37 rebounds and 40 assists weren't enough to get your attention, then the eight blocks and six steals should have been. For the year, the 36-year-old who blew out candles on Feb. 2 is averaging a career-high 5.9 assists a game (14th in the league) to lead the Kings and all non-guards in the NBA.

For the month, he is averaging 8.3 assists per game which, extended out over an entire season, would place him third overall in the NBA behind only Jason Kidd (9.7 apg) and Stephon Marbury (8.6 apg).

FAST EDDIE
Recently released Eddie Griffin didn't play a split second for the New Jersey Nets but still collected a $125,000 check from them because back on Dec. 4 of 2000, he recorded the first triple-double in Seton Hall history against Norfolk State and we can't get the thought of a 6-foot-10 kid who also averages more than an NBA 3-pointer a game out of our heads.

AINGE INQUISITION
We know new Celtic general manager Danny Ainge is trying. But for which team? Since deciding that Boston needed to be a more offensive-orientated team, Ainge has made several trades and chased off former head coach Jim O'Brien. The result has been a definite increase in point production. Before the purging, a typical Celtic game consisted of about 190 points on the scoreboard with the Celtics losing by an average of 1.2 points after scoring 94.2.

Now, a typical Celtic game consists of about 199 points. The problem, though, is that Boston's average margin of defeat is now a whopping 7.7 points per game after scoring 95.5. And that's because Ainge's new team is giving up an astonishing 103.2 points per game over the last eight under interim head coach John Carroll.

Last week alone, they gave up 442 points in four losses and that was after surrendering 107 points to a Chicago team that averages 89.5. And in those four most recent losses, the opposing teams shot a combined 50.3 percent from the field. To put that in perspective, the Minnesota Timberwolves are currently leading the league in that category at 46.8 percent.

A-B-Z
Paul Silas tried to make it as simple as possible for his center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Play better defense and play more minutes. Well, prior to the month of February, Z averaged about 1.9 blocks per game. In February, he's averaged a hefty 3.3 blocks per game to bring his season average to 2.2 and 10th in the league.

And Silas has made good on his promise. After averaging 27 minutes per game in January, Z is now at 36 for February. And in the Cavs last two games, he played 82 minutes, scoring 47 points and grabbing 27 rebounds on 60 percent shooting. And not so coincidently, he also tallied five blocks and two steals in those wins against the Spurs and Knicks.

AN APPLE A DAY
The New York Knicks are currently the sixth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Miami Heat and 1½ games ahead of the Toronto Raptors. Just behind them are the Sixers (2½ back of NY), Celtics (3½ back of NY) and Cavs (4 back of NY). The scary thing for New Yorkers, though, is that 15 of their remaining 25 games are on the road. Miami and Boston have only 11. Philly has 12 while Toronto and Cleveland have 13.

SNUBBED
Stephon Jackson, since the All Star Break
24 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2 spg, 0.2 bpg, 48.5% shooting

Ricky Davis, since the All Star Break
19.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.2 bpg, 58.3% shooting

EN FUEGO SPECIAL
New Jersey Nets (34-20) versus Minnesota Timberwolves (40-16)
Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004 in Minneapolis at 8 pm EST on NBALP

The Nets, currently the hottest team in the league, should be on a 14-0 run by the time they touch down at the Target Center where the Timberwolves, formerly the hottest team in the league, will still be smarting from that two-point loss at home to the Spurs.

The End
"There's a plate and a couple of screws -- they took the screws out of my head and put them in my hand."

Jalen Rose after finding out he had four broken bones in his left hand but still not sure if his career-low 38 percent shooting this season is a mental or physical problem.