Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your tacos.
Steve Politi, The Star-Ledger: "An arena official approached the Julianos and told them [their 'End Ratner's Reign of Error!' sign] was against arena rules. Dave Juliano asked, if it was against the rules, why were they allowed to bring the sign into the building in the first place? No one had an answer to that. Richard Singleton, the security official who instructed the sign to come down, said it had nothing to do with the message, only the size. 'If it's too big,' he said, 'it has to come down.' Maybe there is such a policy, it sure wasn't enforced on the other signs in the building. Nor was it back a few years ago, when Jason Kidd(notes) — here as a cruel reminder of the good days — led this team to back-to-back NBA Finals. There were all sorts of enthusiastic signs in the arena then. Juliano has a right to be furious. He is the rare paying season-ticket holder — one of just 1,500, according to one executive, if you combine all the full and partial plans. Why buy tickets? The team gives away more freebies than the Salvation Army. The Julianos pay $85 a seat for 41 home games — nearly $7,000 for the season. They drive in from New Rochelle every game, across the George Washington Bridge, in rush-hour traffic. Forget holding up a sign. They should be able to coach the team."
K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune: "As he was so many times
during his five-season Bulls career, Ben Gordon(notes) proved right on target
with his prediction that he would hear more boos than cheers Wednesday
night. [...] Playing his first game as a visitor at the United Center,
Gordon returned from a two-game absence with a sprained left ankle to
come off the bench midway through the first quarter to a mixture of
boos and cheers. From then on, boos rained down consistently on Gordon,
who finished with 18 points in 31 minutes. 'It's not like I won a
championship while I was here or anything,' Gordon said. 'We just had a
couple of good years. So I wasn't surprised at all.' Luol Deng(notes),
Gordon's 2004 draft classmate, was. He also wasn't happy. 'Honestly, I
didn't like that at all,' Deng said. 'When BG was here, he played hard
and really committed to the game. I know he's not here. But he didn't
do anything bad to the organization. I thought they were going to cheer
for him. He played hard. I was disappointed in that. He should have
gotten a better reception than that.'"
George Thomas, The Plain Dealer: "In the end, Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) didn't want the pomp and circumstance of an in-game ceremony to mark the fact that he broke the Cavs' record for playing in the most games. He just wanted to celebrate with the fans who'd been there for his 11 NBA seasons. 'That was one of the coolest things I experienced in my life and also the closest I've come to tears on the basketball floor,' he said. But like any human being, he said that not playing in Saturday's game against the Dallas Mavericks, which would have represented the record-breaking moment, disappointed him. Considering the fact that he lost his starting job and graciously moved to the bench without any qualms, it's easy to see his point. Ilgauskas didn't take questions from the media Wednesday, which leads one to believe that there's a lot more to what happened in this situation.'"
Tim Povtak, NBA FanHouse: "A strange season for the New York Knicks is getting stranger by the game. No one really expected the Knicks to win in Orlando Wednesday night — not after they played Phoenix on Tuesday — but they did expect to see what mighty-mite Nate Robinson(notes) could do against Dwight Howard(notes). Didn't happen. And no one wanted to say why. We could only assume. Robinson scored a game-high 24 points last week in New York against the Magic, including 22 in the fourth quarter when he led a failed comeback, but he never got off the bench Wednesday. It looked like his shorts were nailed to his seat. He may have averaged 22 points in four games last season against the Magic. He may have led the Knicks in scoring in three of the last four games, but coach Mike D'Antoni had no interest in playing him Wednesday at Amway Arena. 'Coach's decision, that would be the reason,' D'Antoni said after his Knicks were spanked, 118-104, at Amway Arena. 'There's always a reason. I'm not going to stand here and explain it. We're just trying to find a winning formula. If he's conducive to winning, then he'll obviously get back into the lineup.'"
RealGM/Philadelphia Daily News:
"Philadelphia coach Eddie Jordan is looking for a way to fit Allen
Iverson(notes) into the team's starting lineup. 'We're looking at a couple
options,' Jordan said of how Iverson will fit with the 76ers. 'One of
the options we're looking at is obviously, I would like him to start. I
haven't talked to the team about it, but it's a thought process. When I
make that decision I will talk to the team first and then will tell you
guys. I'm really looking to see if he can fit into our starting lineup,
but it's not etched in stone.' Iverson is expected to begin his second
tenure with the 76ers on Monday night against the Nuggets."
Ken Sugiura, AJC: "Wednesday night at Philips Arena, the Hawks mauled Toronto with an all-out ambush the likes of which the arena had never seen. The Hawks won 146-115, scoring the most points in a game since the 1992-93 season. They did it despite no player scoring more than 24 points, center Al Horford(notes). Nine different players reached double figures for the Hawks, which hadn't happened since the 1987-88 season. 'We were simply outclassed,' Toronto coach Jay Triano said. 'They just destroyed us.' The 12,272 at Philips Arena were witness to something of a perfect storm. The Raptors were on a four-game losing streak, playing their fourth game in six days and second in as many nights and are a weak defensive team. The Hawks had two days of rest and were ready to wash away the residue of an embarrassing loss on Sunday to Detroit and eager to return to the form that won them seven in a row. Combined with the Hawks' comfort at Philips, a strong first quarter for the home team and one of the worst games of All-Star forward Chris Bosh's(notes) career, the Raptors had little chance."
Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star: "Maybe Sam Mitchell was bored: On the eve of the one-year anniversary of his firing as Raptors coach, Mitchell spent his Wednesday night watching his former team play his hometown Hawks. He found out soon enough that little has changed for the better since he left. With the former coach sitting in the second row across the court from the Toronto bench, the listless, fight-less Raptors lost their fifth straight game in a blowout, 146-115. Meanwhile Mitchell's successor, Jay Triano, awoke Thursday morning on the one-year anniversary of his promotion to head coach facing his first public crisis on the job. After an unconscionable defensive effort that saw the Raptors surrender the second-most points in franchise history, more than one player openly criticized the coach's schemes in the game's solemn wake. And more than one veteran voice said Triano is failing to call out the players who are making the most egregious defensive mistakes. 'Every time something happens it's always, 'It's okay, it's all right.' It's not all right,' said Jarrett Jack(notes), the reserve guard. 'Problems go by without attacking them or challenging them or bringing them to the forefront and getting them solved. We can't keep keep putting them to the back of the bus and just saying, 'That's okay.' It's not all right.'"
Marc Stein, TrueHoop: "Raja Bell goes in for a wrist operation Thursday that's kind of a big deal. Especially if you like to follow the trade market. Only by having surgery can Bell and the Golden State Warriors learn the severity of the torn ligament in the 33-year-old's left wrist. Bell has been advised by experts in the field that a full-blown repair will sideline him at least four months and potentially the rest of the regular season. In the best-case scenario, though, Bell could be back in a month. Which would almost certainly put him right back on the trade market. I'm told that a few contenders have already registered their interest by making inquiries about Bell's availability even though he just got to Golden State on Nov. 16 in the Stephen Jackson(notes) deal. Makes sense, too. What contender couldn't use a wing defender of Bell's stature who can also drain the weak-side 3 and who happens to be playing on an expiring contract valued at a reasonable $5.3 million?"
Terry Foster, The Detroit News: "Let's officially launch the 'Bring Chris Kaman(notes) to the Pistons' campaign. Kaman, the 6-foot-10 low post center from Central Michigan, is exactly what the Pistons need. He has no chance of winning a title — OK, winning at all — with the L.A. Clippers. And how's this for trade bait? Tayshaun Prince(notes), when he gets healthy. Prince is from Compton, Calif., so he'll be going home. And Kaman is from Grand Rapids. Makes sense. Still, you might have to find a third team to make it work or wait for Kaman to become a free agent in 2013. So, how would Kaman feel about the proposal? 'That would not be bad,' he said last week when the Clippers were at The Palace. 'I have always thought about it, but I thought it might be a nightmare with ticket requests for every game.'"
Paul Flannery, WEEI: "In his seventh season, [Kendrick] Perkins has established himself as one of the NBA's best interior defenders. By now most people have caught on that the Celtics often match him up with the opposition's best offensive big man, which frees up [Kevin] Garnett to be a superior help defender. That should get Perkins votes for the All-Defensive team this season. If he can continue developing his offensive game, Perkins could earn All-Star consideration. Orlando's Dwight Howard is clearly the best true center in the game, but Perkins is among a handful of players in the East who could emerge for a second spot. It's still a longshot at this point, but he deserves to be in the conversation."
Mike Wells, Indianapolis Star: "Indiana Pacers coach Jim O'Brien did everything he could to let Brandon Rush(notes) keep the starting shooting guard spot. He stuck with Rush even though Dahntay Jones(notes) had clearly outplayed him in the early part of the season. O'Brien tried running plays to get Rush going early in games. He publicly applauded Rush when he did the little things well — which hasn't been often — like rebounding and defending. None of that sparked Rush out of his funk, so O'Brien finally pulled the plug on his second-year player. In a move that has been expected for a couple of weeks, O'Brien not only yanked Rush out the starting lineup, he took him out the rotation."
Tim MacMahon, ESPN Dallas: "Mavericks center Erick Dampier(notes) revealed that the medical condition that required him to be rushed to a Michigan hospital Nov. 15 was numbness in his arm. Dampier experienced the symptoms while warming up before the Mavericks' win over the Detroit Pistons and was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. He stayed overnight in the hospital and sat out eight games while doctors ran a series of medical tests. [...] 'Obviously, I'm a lot better than I was,' Dampier said during an interview on the ESPN 103.3 postgame show after Wednesday's win over the New Jersey Nets. 'We ran some tests just to make sure everything was OK. I just had a little numbness in my arm, but it's a lot better now. I haven't had any problems since and hopefully don't have those problems again.'"
Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "For a decision to be based on something so simple, the question of when Tracy McGrady(notes) will play basketball quickly grew complicated. After all the drama of his declared target date now two weeks past and insistence that he is ready, McGrady has returned to Rockets practices and continued to travel with the team, hoping for his chance like so many players on the fringe of a roster. Rockets coach Rick Adelman said again on Wednesday that there is 'no timetable' for McGrady's return. There is, he said, one criterion to meet for McGrady to make his season debut. McGrady, Adelman said, must be ready in Adelman's estimation to help the Rockets win. As uncomplicated as that seems, however, the decision seems more about basketball than health considerations, with the Rockets wanting McGrady to improve in private workouts and team practices, rather than to move his next step of rehab to actual games. McGrady's most recent prediction about when he would return had him playing by the Rockets' current road trip. That now seems unlikely."
The most heated debate in college basketball the past two days has been whether Kansas should remain No. 1 despite its loss to Oklahoma State or be pushed down to No. 2 in favor of Syracuse. 
The guy with the worst physique in sports has reached the pinnacle for MMA prospects. Roy Nelson, the pre-show favorite on season ten of "The Ultimate Fighter," made it to the final but his opponent was a bit of a surprise. Brendan Schaub, a Jackson's Submission Fighting camper, made it all to the final by pulling off an upset against the massive Marcus Jones. 
Midway through the first Nelson stunned the showboating McSweeney with a huge right and scored a takedown. Once on the ground, "Big Country" made it look like child's play. He quickly got side control and pinned down McSweeney's right arm. He unloaded 23 unanswered punches and bloodied McSweeney's nose, forcing referee Steve Mazzagatti to stop the fight at the 4:11 mark of the first.
