Kyrie Irving, Nate Robinson and Maya Moore stars in a new Uncle Drew ad.

WELCOME BACK, NBA. MISSED YOU.

Jeff Green takes flight at the Jamal Crawford Pro-Am.

Even in other player's mix-tape, Kyrie Irving shines above the rest. Can the season start already?

Kyrie Irving shammgods defender at the Jamal Crawford Pro-Am.

FILTHY. Don't reach, young blood.

Kyrie Irving and Nate Robinson goes head to head at Nike Pro City.

Kyrie Irving finished with 47 points and got the W. Nate Robinson scored 44 points and won the hearts of every short person ever. Summer league defense is still the greatest.

Kyrie Irving's NBA Live 14' cover and my tragic story.

I still remember it vividly, the last time I played NBA Live was in 07', I was using the Phoenix Suns (because at that time, the Steve Nash to Shawn Marion fast break alley-oop combo was nearly unstoppable even on the highest difficulty), and was playing against a friend who was using the Miami Heat. The game was close mostly due to the fact that neither of us could play defense (or hit any free throws), and it went down to the wire. Up 2 with merely 3 seconds left, I thought I had the my bragging rights in the bag and I was ready to go all up in his ear too. But 2 seconds of choppy animation later, video game Shaq launches a half court shot, wins the game, ruins my life for the next two weeks, and that was the last time I ever played a NBA Live video game. To this day, I still haven't forgotten the animation of a grieving Steve Nash, pounding his chest in pain. It broke my little Canadian heart.

Anyway, as you can see, Kyrie Irving is on the cover of NBA Live 14' and he looks super old.

Here's a video of his introduction to the game.

Hate you, NBA Live.

Kyrie Irving visited Montclair State University for a pick-up game.

Oh, so that's the difference between normal people and a NBA All-star. Don't reach, young blood.

Via: Reddit

Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and NBA players mic'd up at the All-Star weekend.

Coach Pop would be the coolest grandpa ever. The NBA needs to stop teasing us with these all access videos, just mic everyone up already. Can't you take a hint? We want to give you all of our moneys.

Bonus: NBA dads and their kids hanging out.

CP4 > every kid in the world.

The Round Up - February 20th, 2013.

Stats Rundown

David Liam Kyle/NBAE/Getty Images

Buzz Kill: Once again, Kyrie Irving had to drag his deadweight of a team to another rare victory. The All-Star sophomore went off for 20 of his total 35 points in the 4th quarter to take down the New Orleans Hornets. Irving shot 59 percent from the field, grabbed 5 boards and handed out 7 assists to "improve" the Cavs to a 17-37 record.

Frenemy: In the third reunion between ex-teammates, James Harden led his Houston Rockets over the Oklahoma City Thunder. In their last 2 meetings, the Rockets have lost both games to the Thunder by a margin of 20+ points. However history did not repeat itself last night, as the Beard explodes for a career high 46 points on 14 of 19 shooting (7 of 8 from three), 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Jeremy Lin added 29 points (12 of 22), 6 rebounds and 8 assists. Kevin Durant finished with a second career triple double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Russell Westbrook chipped in 28 points (8 of 20), 10 boards and 8 dimes.

Man on Fire: James Harden gets buckets.

Montenegrin Monster: Nikola Pekovic of the Minnesota Timberwolves had 27 points on 9 of 16 shooting and 18 rebounds in the victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers have now lost 7 of their last 8 road games. They are 1-8 on the road in the month of January and February.

Early Pace: The Indiana Pacers are now 4-1 against the top 2 teams of the East (Miami and NY) with this win against the New York Knicks. The Pacers got off to an early start, scoring a ridiculous 72 points in the first half. Paul George paved the way with 27 points (11 of 19) and 8 rebounds. The Knicks never once took the lead in this game. Carmelo's shooting slump continues as the leading man scores 15 points on 21 shots.

It is save to say that Mike Woodson wasn't too pleased with his team's effort. (Via: @TheKnicksWall)

Blocklyn: After a thrilling overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, the Milwaukee Bucks looked to exact revenge on their home floor last night. Larry Sanders threw his 4th straight block party, rejecting 5 shots to go with his 13 rebounds and 12 points. Brandon Jenning led the way with 31 points on 12 of 18 shooting, and 11 assists. Despite giving up a 9-0 run in the last minute, the Nets somehow managed to hang to their lead to defeat the Bucks for a second consecutive time. Deron Williams scored team-high 23 points and dished out 8 assists.

Singed Feathers: Down 10 at the start of the 4th quarter, the Miami Heat went on a 40-17 point run in the last 12 minutes to comeback for a 13 point victory over the Atlanta Hawks. LeBron James's 24 points (8 of 15), 6 rebounds and 11 assists (8 of which were dished out in the 4th) snaps his 7 straight 30+ point game streak. Al Horford of the Hawks shot for 12 of 15 from the field for a game-high 27 points and also snagged 9 boards.

Historic Rivalry: The Los Angeles Lakers pulverized the Boston Celtics at home in first game since Jerry Buss's death. It was memorable night for Steve Nash, who passed Magic Johnson for 4th in the NBA for the most assists in history. Dwight Howard had 24 points (10 of 13) and 12 rebounds. On the Celtic's side, after going off for 23 points in the first half, Paul Pierce was rendered to only 3 points for the rest of the game.

Worst Dressed: Looks like Walt and Dwight decided to match, while Dwyane Wade cuts off the circulation in his lower body with his skinny camo pants.

Highlights

Condiment Hustle: OJ Mayo does not give up on plays.

Wild Garbage Time: Sam Who?

Bonus link: Fan heckles Kevin Garnett.

Kyrie Irving got his handles from practicing with a basketball inside a plastic bag.

Excuse me while I go outside to dribble a basketball inside a plastic bag. The next time you will see me, I will be in the NBA, crossing everyone up. It's been real, this whole blogging thing has been fun but the league calls. Don't worry, I will never forget you guys. I love all of you. Thank you for your support.

Hey LeBron, I know the news of my sudden announcement for the 2014 draft sends you trembling into the ground, I just hope you will be ready to defend your title, if, you happen to win it this year.

NBA All-Star Saturday Wrap Up.

Coming into this NBA All-Star Saturday, expectations were high, especially for the dunk contest. Unfortunately, the fans were left a little disappointed once again. It's alright though, the point of the All-Star weekend was to have fun and despite the minor complications with the new scoring system, the night was still entertaining. For those of you that missed it or were unable to catch the festivities, here's a short recap.

Terrence Ross, 2013 Slam Dunk Champion. Via: Instagram

Sears Shooting Stars: Usually, this event is a snooze fest, but as you all know, anything Chris Bosh is in, automatically becomes the most interesting contest of the night. In the first round, Russell Westbrook's team advanced into the finals with the fastest time among all of the squads. For the East, it was Chris Bosh's team that continued to the next round, where they would come out on top and become the eventual champions. Chris Bosh, of course went insane. (Via: SB Nation)

Taco Bell Skills Challenge: This always comes to down to the player that tries the hardest. And this time it happened to be Damian Lillard, who defeated Jrue Holiday in the finals with a time of 29.8 seconds. Tony Parker, the defending champion finished with the worst time of the night. Dude was totally tanking so he won't get invited back for next year.

Foot Locker Three Point Contest: After a whole month of campaigning for Matt Bonner, the Red Rocket, now Mamba has left me utterly devastated. He led the first round with a score of 19. but would only improve to 20 in the finals against Kyrie Irving. Irving caught on fire in the second round, scoring 23 points, 2 short of tying the record in the victory. If only Matt wore his custom Red Mamba warm-ups, then maybe he would have won. (Via: @cjzero)

I am still mad at Kyrie.

Sprite Slam Dunk: You would think that with all the hype surrounding this event, the dunk contest would actually meet expectations for once. Actually this never happens. Every year we fall into the trap of thinking the dunk contest will be a spectacular event, but it never changes. Thanks a lot, Vince Cater. You really ruined this competition for the future contestants.

Anyway, this wasn't the prettiest of all contests, it started off slow and picked up a little at the end. It definitely didn't help that almost every dunk required more than 5 attempts until completion. In the end, it was Terrence Ross of the Toronto Raptors, who took home the trophy for probably being the only one that finished his dunks with the least attempts. Defending Champion, Jeremy Evans was the runner up.

Here are the night's best dunks from each of the contestants.

Gerald Green: The former dunk champion started off great, but just couldn't pull off the difficult stunts he planned.

James White: The man who once dunked from the free throw line, while putting the ball between his legs failed to show up on the biggest stage. That is what you get for not practicing your dunks and doing them on the fly. So much for that guaranteed win.

Kenneth Faried: To be fair he is every definition of an in-game dunker.

Eric Bledsoe: Nice try, little guy.

Jeremy Evans: It was close, at least you pulled off a dunk, no one has ever done. You didn't have to brag about your painting skills though.

Terrence Ross: How can you not win when you dunked over the son of the CEO of Twitter.

Oh, by the way, if you were keeping count, I was completely off with all of my predictions. None of them were correct and I will now return in to the sad, dark corner of my room and weep until the sun comes up.

NBA All-Star Friday Wrap Up.

If you tuned into the festivities of NBA All-Star Friday, it is likely that you were left disappointed. But there were still some fun parts, and for those who missed it, I will catch you up to speed.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game: Imagine if you were watching a bunch of out of shape dudes playing at your local YMCA. This game was exactly that, except those dudes were famous (some obviously more than others, because I had no idea who half of them were) and they played with a couple of WNBA and retired NBA players who never bothered to try. It was as ugly as a game of basketball can get. No team scored over 60 points, the game was never close and Kevin Hart was just flat out annoying. The antics (yelling at refs, verbally harassing other players and flopping around) was funny at first, but it got to the point where it was unbearable. You could hear him say something stupid in every possession. Anyway, the West (Hart's team) coached by James Harden defeated Russell Westbrook's east squad 58 to 38. I am not going to post stats because it would mean sinking to a new low in my life and I can't possibly afford to go any lower after spending 2 hours of my time to watch this. Kevin Hart took home the MVP award and the satisfaction of beating Usain Both in a foot race.

This was what Russell Westbrook wore for his first coaching gig. For our future's sake, please never let him coach another game. (Via: Facebook)

James Harden's outfit wasn't any better. He wore pink socks with his black and white snake-skinned shoes.

Since we are on the topic of fashion, here are some of the worst from last night.

Carmelo wore a Trinidad James inspired all gold shirt. (Via: nyknicks)

Chandler Parsons wore his dad's suit from the 80's. (Via: @ChandlerParsons)

Blake Griffin, his friend/fellow NBA player had a few words for the sophomore.

To which Parsons replied with an attack on one of Griffin's KIA commercial.

And then we have the worst of them all. Craig Sager really knows how to put clothes without caring how they actually look. I am really glad he made a career out of it, I would have given up and burned all my clothes if Kevin Garnett ever told me to do so. (Via: @jose3030)

Okay, moving on.

BBVA Rising Stars Challenge: Remember when this game used to be a dunk contest, where guys just kept throwing lobs to each other until the clock expired? I did and was not slightly pleased when this challenge turned into a 3 point shoot out from the start. The heavy favorite Team Shaq, led by Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard were crushed by Team Chuck's Kenneth Faried and their 17 three pointers. Team Chuck shot 64 percent from the field and knocked down their threes at a ridiculous 53 percent. If they didn't get a dunk, a three will fall through the hoop. Yea, the defense, as you can tell was obviously in game 7 lock-down mode. The contest was relatively boring until Kyrie Irving happened, but it could have been way better, had they not a launch a three at every single opportunity. Kenneth Faried took the MVP trophy home. He had a game-high (unofficial career high) 40 points on 18 of 22 shooting and 10 boards. He is doing big things for the dread lock movement and I am really looking forward to see more players don the look. The final score was 163-135 in favor of Team Chuck. Their score of 163 shattered the previous record for the most points scored by a team in 2007, where the Sophomores finished with 155 points.

Highlights

Yesterday's Special: Served by Dion, the Waiter.

Fancy: Ricky Rubio still won't throw a normal pass.

Russian Air: Alexey Shved is way more athletic than we all thought.

Kyrie Irving broke all of Brandon Knight's ankles on a crossover.

You didn't miss much if you didn't catch the BBVA Rising Stars game yesterday. Team Chuck completely dominated Team Shaq and it was over in the first half. For those of you that turned it off early, you did however, miss the most exciting sequence of the game. Out of no where, down 25 points, with less than 6 minutes to play, Kyrie Irving decided to take it upon himself to make things more interesting. Guarded by fellow sophomore Brandon Knight, the former Rookie of the Year initiated a game of one on one between the two and boy, did it get crazy.

These two went at each for a few more possession after that, but Kyrie, despite losing the game, came out on top as the real winner. I really hope there is an ice pack and a counselor in the locker room waiting for Brandon. Dude will need some serious help to get over this. Especially now that there is this thing called the internet, where everyone is just a click away from watching the assassination of his ankles.

Kyrie Irving accepts Byron Scott's 3 point shooting challenge.

Getty Images

Sometimes when you are on a losing team, times are going to get rough, but you can still have fun with it. The Cleveland Cavaliers are a horrible basketball team, if it weren't for Kyrie Irving, this team probably wouldn't break 20 wins. Kyrie is a special player, if everything does go accordingly, he will become one of premier superstars of the NBA. Selected to his first All-Star game and to the Foot Locker 3 Point contest, the duke product has his hands full this weekend. His coach, also a former 3 Point Contestant wanted to prepare his best player for the competition, so he challenged him to a shoot out after practice on Tuesday (today). It was suppose to be a friendly contest, but Kyrie, as competitive as he is, had some trash talk ready for his coach.

"I just read something today where coach Scott unofficially challenged me," Irving said ... "That's something a third-place winner would do, go behind my back and challenge me... I'm looking forward to it. I'm getting up early and doing my pushups."

Irving, who will take part in the 3-point shootout during All-Star Weekend for the first time, was referring to Scott's third-place finish in the contest in 1988. Scott came in last in his first appearance in 1987. 

Whoa, shots fired. I wouldn't recommend doing push-ups before shooting, Kyrie. Even though, you will likely come out victorious, it is not much of an accomplishment beating a 51 year old ex-NBA player. Chances are that Byron won't be able to finish shooting his shots anyway, his back will probably lock up on him and he will end up needing all of the ice packs for the arthritis acting up in multiple body parts. Save yourself the trouble.

The Round Up - February 9th, 2013.

Stats Rundown

No big names, just some fun basketball.

Sacramento Kings fans deserve to have their team.Via: @GrantNapearShow

Crowned against the Mountain State: The Sacramento Kings snapped their 4 game losing streak in the victory over the Utah Jazz. The starting line up of the Kings outscored the Jazz 82 to 40. Led by Isiah Thomas's 25 points and Jason Thompson's 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting and 7 rebounds, the Sacramento fans receives a win for their support on their "Here We Buy" night.

Dallas Lumberjacks:

Mavs with Beards MArk Via: SB Nation

Promised to not shave until they are at .500, the Dallas Mavericks starts shaking the foam can in the blowout win against the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors have lost their last 4 games by an average of 20.4 points. Their defense has looked less than spectacular and not enough 3 pointers were fired at the rim. Shawn Marion had a game-high 26 points (11 of 16) and 11 rebounds. OJ Mayo pulled off an incredible save and Mark Cuban won't be filing any complaints today.

Boards: In the place of the injured Thaddeus Young, Lavoy Allen grabbed a career high 22 boards (11 of each) to go with his 14 points on 7 of 16 shooting. The Philadelphia 76ers hands the Charlotte Bobcats their 7th straight loss. Ramon Session went for 20 points (6 of 16). Jrue Holiday had 20 points and 7 assists for his respective team.

Gold Rush: With this W in Cleveland, the Denver Nuggets extends their winning streak to 9. Before holding the Cavaliers off for the win, they had their hands full with Alonzo Gee in the first quarter. Gee dropped 15 of Cav's 17 points in the first 12 minutes of the game, shooting a perfect 6 of 6 from the field. Despite the hot start, Gee would only finish with 20 points, while still remaining a perfect 8 of 8. Kyrie Irving added 26 points (10 of 24), 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

Goal-tending: Javale escapes one.

New Acquaintances: In his fourth game with the Detroit Pistons, Jose Calderon erupts for 23 points on 10 of 13 shooting. He shot 3 of 4 from three, grabbed 5 boards and dished out 10 dimes in the victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Tied at 100 points each with 15 seconds to go, Charlie Villanueva hits a three pointer to get the lead over his former team. The shot would eventually go on to become the game winner, as Brandon Jennings mismanages the time and chucks up a half court shot, which he would miss and cost his team the game. Jennings finshed with 26 points on a horrible shooting night, he went 8 of 27 and had 7 assists.

Kyrie Irving scored 13 points in the last 3 minutes of the 4th quarter to defeat the Thunder.

This dude is unreal. He carried his team in the final stretches of this game by just attacking the paint relentlessly. Most guys at his position will usually settle or pull up for jump shots. But he opted to get into the heart of the defense, slicing through defenders and making ridiculous lay ups. Cleveland struck gold again, hopefully they will do the right thing this time and give him a good supporting cast.

Just a question for the Thunder, why are you switching on every single screen? Do you seriously think Kendrick Perkins can take Kyrie? Because if you did, you fell right into their trap. There is no place for Perk if the opposing team doesn't have an offensive threatening big man, so stop it Scott Brooks. Enough.

The Round Up - February 2nd, 2013.

Stats Rundown

Tony Dejak/AP Photo

One Man Team: In his first game without the mask, Kyrie Irving dragged his lottery bound team to a hard fought victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Dynamic Duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 60 points, but it was no match for Kyrie's 35 points (12 of 23). In the fourth quarter, with less than 3 minutes left in the game clock, the unmasked sophomore scored 13 points to take the win over the second best team in the West.

Hot Hand: Coming back from another ankle injury, Stephen Curry showed no signs of rust, dropping 29 points on 6 of 10 shooting from the three, while dishing out 8 dimes. Harrison Barnes tied his career high with 21 points (9 of 11), and 8 rebounds in the Warriors' fourth straight win.

Horns: Without Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Kirk Hinrich, the Chicago Bulls still somehow managed to defeat the Atlanta Hawks by 17 points. Luol Deng led the team with 25 points (10 of 21), 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Taj Gibson added 19 points and a career high 19 rebounds. Of course both of them would play for more than 40 minutes, because you will never expect anything less from Coach Thibs.

Domination: The New York Knicks crushed the Sacramento Kings 120 - 81 at the Madison Square Garden. There is not much to say. Carmelo Anthony scored his 17,000th point, but snapped his 31 game streak with 20+ points when he finished with only 9 points on the night. Tyson Chandler grabbed 20 rebounds to become the second Knick to do it in two consecutive games since 1985-86'. Amare Stoudemire came off the bench for a perfect 10 of 10 from the field for 21 points and 6 rebounds. J.R. Smith went 7 of 14 from the three for 25 points to add to the total 19 threes that the Knicks made.

In summary:

This is the Knicks (Via: @TheKnicksWall):

And this is the Kings (Via: @TheKnicksWall):

The never ending loop of struggle faces.  

Rookie Watch: At this point, the ROY award already belongs to Damian Lillard right? The rookie from the Portland Trail Blazers had a game-high 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting, and 8 assists in victory over the Utah Jazz.

First Beard: James Harden recorded his first career triple double last night against the Charlotte Bobcats. He went for 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in the W. Patrick Patterson dropped in 24 points, as did Chandler Parsons, who also grabbed 10 boards. Some bad news for the Bobcats, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist took a hard during this game, he had to be carried out on a stretcher, it is reported that he has suffered a concussion.

Sneaky: This is what happens when you don't box out, folks.

The Houston commentators just compared Chandler Parsons to Michael Jordan, showing thier extensive knowledge about the NBA. 

Highlights

Ricky Rubio everything.

Always Fancy: Ricky Rubio still can not make a normal pass, and we love him for that.

Skyscraper: Everyone benefits from Ricky, even Dante Cunningham, who went for a franchise high, 9 for 9 from the field (most FGM without a miss) in the win against the New Orleans Hornets.

The Round Up - January 26th, 2013.

Stats Rundown

Bomber: Just when you thought the Toronto Raptors learned something about close games after beating the Orlando Magic on a buzzer beater, they dropped another again. The man responsible? Kyrie Irving, had a game-high 32 points on 13 of 26 shooting, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, a 100 body twisting lay-ups and the game winning shot from long distance. This sophomore has now scored more than 30 points in 4 of his last 5 games. Also this was his 5th game winner, in his 85th career game. Way to make your fellow 20 year olds feel bad. I am super jealous.

 

Shutdown: The Philadelphia 76ers held the New York Knicks to only 35 percent from the field and 4 of 27 from the three in the win. Both J.R. Smith and Jason Kidd failed to register a single point in this game. For the Sixers, Jrue Holiday dropped a career high 35 points (16 of 25), 5 boards, and 6 dimes to show the world why he deserves to be an All Star.

Honorable Mention: To Tony Parker's 31 points on 13 of 17 shooting, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals in the victory over the Phoenix Suns. If he didn't play for the Spurs, he would be more than just an All Star.

Flipping the Script: The Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards and Charlotte Bobcats all won last night. It is a miracle.

The Washington Wizards defeated the Chicago Bulls to go 7-3 in their last 10 games. Surprisingly 5 of the wins actually came from projected playoff teams.

Despite shooting a rare 50 percent from the three, the Minnesota Timberwolves would fall to the Charlotte Bobcats. Led by Kemba Walker, who had 25 points (8 of 17), 8 rebounds and 8 assists, the Bobcats managed to keep to game close for Gerald Henderson to hit the game winner to snap their 16 game home losing streak (2nd longest in NBA history).

What a crazy possession.

Your Mighty Beardness: James Harden is doing pretty well as a Rocket. He had 29 points on 7 of 15 shooting, and 7 assists to weather Deron Williams's hot first quarter, where he dropped 20 points (7 of 7). But it didn't matter, because DWill would only score 7 points in the next 3 quarters and Houston would come out on top.

Don't Call it a Comeback: The Portland Trail Blzers went on a 10-0 run late in the game to comeback to beat the Los Angeles Clippers. Nicholas Batum got his second career triple double with 20 points (7 of 15), 10 rebounds, and 12 assists. Blake Griffin on the other hand, got 24 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and one of the most spectacular in game dunks in NBA history.

Highlights

Aerial Assault: The Denver Nuggets can run really fast, and score 28 more points than the Sacramento Kings.

Hot Potato: The Blazers shares the basketball very well.

Barnes and Poster: Harrison Barnes did this, shot 2 of 3 from the field and Mark Jackson still only gave him 13 minutes of playing time. Stop clipping the wings of the Black Falcon.

The Round Up - January 22nd, 2013.

Stats Rundown

The first half of the 2012-2013 NBA season is officially over, and if the second half resembles anything like the first, the postseason will be insane.

Masked Man: Kyrie Irving has been nothing but incredible for the Cleveland Cavaliers. For a guy stuck with a horrible cast, he has managed to repeatedly drag his team to victory. He went for a career high 19 points in the first quarter, to finish with a game-high 40 points on 16 of 24 shooting, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in the victory over the Boston Celtics. After starting the new year with a 6 game winning streak, Boston has fallen into a 4 game losing streak as of late.

Speaking of the Celtics, this Rajon Rondo assists stat padding is getting out of control. He is even going out of his way to help his opponents for assists. Someone needs to tell him, that basketball doesn't work like that.

Gunning: Ersan Illyasova is still occasionally able to fill up the stat sheet, the Turkish man had 27 points (10 of 17), 16 rebounds (7 Offensive), 2 assists and 3 steals. Brandon Jennings dropped 25 points (8 of 17), 7 dimes and 3 steals in the win against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers allowed the Bucks to shoot 52 percent from the field, no wonder they lost even after three of their players scored 20+ points. Evan Turner led the team with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Spencer Hawes had 21 and 12. Lastly, Nick Young came off the bench for 20 points and a dunk to put the NBA leader in blocks, Larry Sanders to shame.

You can't always get them all, Larry.

Automatic: In his first start of the season, J.J Redick went off for 26 points on 9 of 10 shooting, including 5 of 6 from the three in the victory over the Detroit Pistons. His teammate, Jameer Nelson added 14 points and 9 assists to pass Penny Hardaway for 6th place in the Magic all time scoring list.

Best of the West: Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder took down the Chris Paul-less Clippers last night, with a 32 point (12 of 19), 5 of 6 three point shooting, 7 rebound and 7 assist performance from the potential MVP candidate. His spontaneous partner in crime, Russell Westbrook chipped in 26 points on 9 of 19 shooting, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. As for the Clippers, everyone except Blake Griffin, who had 31 points (11 of 19), 11 rebounds and 5 assists, failed to show up in the loss last night.

Random Notes: Serge Ibaka likes to play defense with his face and Blake Griffin should really leave the passing to Chris Paul.

Reincarnation: Just when Lamar Odom was starting to get a hang of this NBA thing, Kevin Durant flies in and just shatters every piece of Odom's confidence.

Highlights

Block to Block: Avery Bradley will not allow free dunks in transition, Dion Waiters.

OH-EM-GEE: Kevin Garnett just saw his life pass before his eyes.

NBA Christmas Carols - Cleveland Cavaliers Edition.

This one is a little late, but I promised to upload every single NBA Christmas Carol in 2012. If you treasure your hearing and would like to keep one of your most important 5 senses in proper form, please click away now. For those who are like me and love to watch professional basketball players embarrass themselves, continue on.

Let's be honest, these guys are terrible. I am just glad that one of them can play basketball, instead of haunting the streets with that voice. In terms of their ranking, I would put them in 7th place, ahead of the Lakers, but then I heard Tristan Thompson sing again, so they drop to the bottom the list.

If you still care, this is the current standing of the NBA Christmas Carols Power Rankings: 1. Dallas Mavericks, 2. Houston Rockets, 3. Brooklyn Nets, 4. Minnesota Timberwolves, 5. Denver Nuggets, 6. Golden State Warriors, 7. Los Angeles Lakers, 8. Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Round Up - January 5th, 2013.

Stats Rundown

(Mark J. Terill/AP Photo) Blake Griffin makes really ugly in game faces.

The Point God has landed on Earth and all we can do is watch. Chris Paul went for 27 points on 10 of 12 shooting, knocking down 5 of his 6 three point attempts, to go with his 9 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal in the shaming of the Golden State Warriors. Oh, and he did all that in 28 minutes.

Honorable Mention: Despite the loss to the Houston Rockets, Kyrie Irving was an unstoppable force. The sophomore carried his dead beat of a team with 30 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. He was so good, we can just forget that the 8 turnovers ever happened.

Dishin': Rajon Rondo isn't taking my criticism too well, he looks like he is try to stop at nothing to prove me wrong. Well, if a triple double doesn't rid the doubters, I don't know what can. His 14 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals shot the Atlanta Hawks out of the sky.

Time Machine User: Paul Pierce came out of half time on a mission, he vanquished the 15 point lead the Atlanta Hawks had in the first, and led a 33-9 third quarter that would later decide the game. The Truth had 26 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists without any athleticism, Paul Pierce basketball never makes sense.

Twinsies: Wesley Matthew and Nicholas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers scored 26 points each in the victory over the Minnestoa Timberwolves. They combined for 52 points on only 26 shots.

The Orlando Magic starting back court of Jameer Nelson and Arron Affalo both scored 29 points in the tough loss to the New York Knicks. It takes a lot more to outscore Carmelo Anthony when he drops 40 points (14 of 29 shooting) and grabs 6 rebounds against you. Also doesn't help that you let him score 16 points in the 4th quarter.

Highlights

Transition Games: I think Andre Iguodala has a pretty good grasp on Denver's high octane offensive concept.

The Man with Two First Names: Just a heads up, Paul George is really good at dunking.

Lob Airgeles Clippers: Isn't it fun to play with a guy that can catch anything you throw up. Must be great, but have you ever thought about how the basketball rim feels. It must be in pain from the constant pounding (Haha).