Reasons to Love the NBA!

Last night's NBA schedule featured returning superstars, quite a few sick plays, amazing stats and of course plenty of great NBA action. There's nothin but love from around the NBA...

TJ Ford returned from his second neck injury. He's been away for quite a bit after that nasty fall he took on the layup against the Hawks. Despite coming off the bench and only scoring 4 points, Ford's Raptors beat the Heat. TJ also had a great highlight with a baseline drive and dunk. Raptors win 114-82.

Corey Maggette and Chris Kaman both returned from cases of the flu to help the Clippers bring the Knicks down with the sickness, 103-94.

Allen Iverson had two top 10 shots, both buzzer beater types. The first was nearly half court, running with time expiring. The second was more crucial as it won the game for the Nuggets in OT.

J-Rich had an amazing dunk as he drove underneath the basket jumped up, cocked the ball and the reverse dunked on the rim. Gotta see it to believe it. Despite the play, J-Rich's Cats were outdone by Phoenix.

Josh Smith had an incredible game nearing a triple double with 17 points scoring. What was most incredible was the 9 blocks and 9 rebounds. According to Rick Kamla on Fantasy Hoops nobody really achieves those stats these days, making Smith one of the most unique players around. Smith also had a top highlight play as he did an around the back dribble move to elude defenders then hit a no look pass to his teammate down low for the score. Hawks rallied to beat the Sixers.

The 4 competitors for the NBA All-Star skills challenge were also announced. D-Wade will defend his title from last year against Jason Kidd, Deron Williams and New Orleans' hometown hero, Chris Paul.

Chris Kamla of NBA TV listed his 5 teams who could play spoilers in the Playoffs:

1)Jazz - last year's playoff run, great inside play
2)Lakers - Kobe, Kobe, Kobe, bench & Pasol
3)Nuggets - AI + Melo = win unless Spurs is the opponent
4)Hornets - Chris Paul continues to excel
5)Magic - playoff experience w/dominant Howard

Check out NBA.com if you haven't seen some of the amazing plays from last night's NBA games!

Ruthless & Toothless

According to The Herald Sun in Australia, the land down under may be home to the next "Shaq" super-sized superstar. Nathan Jawai is the young man's name, and he measures 208cm in height and weighs in at 128kg. He is described as "nimble and quick" in the post position, and also powerful. He recently scored 24 points and pulled down 24 rebounds in the NBL All-Star game, and should be a first round pick in the future. Some say he may grow to be bigger than Luc Longley, Chris Anstey and Andrew Bogut (previous and current Australian players in the NBA). Read more about Nathan Jawai.

Good news in the TJ Ford injury is that he will only miss one week. Al Horford the Hawks player who was involved in Ford hitting the deck, also payed a visit to the hospital to check on the guard. Ford was in attendance for last night's Raptors vs Mavs game in Toronto.

Last night saw some interesting antics prior to and during the Pistons vs. Rockets game in Detroit, and the Jazz vs. Suns game in Phoenix. ESPN featured a rapping Rasheed Wallace as one of its top 10 plays on the Sportscenter countdown. Sheed was entering the arena wearing his headset and decide to start flowing. Rip Hamilton provided the role of backup dancer. Definitely a slow night for sports.

Then there was Steve Nash. The Suns point guard was clocked in the face by Carlos Boozer during the Jazz vs. Suns game, and chipped a tooth. Nash handed the part of his tooth to the team trainer, then gave a silly interviewto ESPN reporter Michelle Tafoya before he hit the locker room.

TJ Ford Hits Court Hard

You may or may not have seen the unfortunate injury of TJ Ford as highlights were shown to open ESPN Sportscenter. In the Hawks vs. Raptors game Tuesday night, TJ Ford was on a fast break with Hawks rookie Al Horford trailing. Ford went for the layup and Horford went for the block. Unfortunately Horford's hand caught Ford ackwardly and Ford came down onto the court in what looked like bad whiplash. Ford's neck/head snapped back against the court, and Ford was taken out from the game on a stretcher in a neck brace. Chris Bosh indicated later it was a relief to see that TJ was moving after the fall.

Horford insisted the play wasn't dirty, but Horford was ejected from the game with a flagrant foul for this. He stated he was fooled by Ford's layup move and when he went to block the ball he caught Ford's head. He later said he's not a dirty type of player and hopes Ford is ok. It's unfortunate for TJ, because he had a previous spinal injury which he was able to recover from. That injury caused him to miss the entire 2004-05 season with neck surgery and recovery. Let's hope this isn't as serious and that TJ is back sooner rather than later.

Read Raptors' Ford takes a hard fall.