[Izulde]

No trades in the first month of the year and the moment's passed for reviewing the draft deals.

Most of my guys aren't trade eligible yet, but I notice the Bulls have Luol Deng on the block. Something to think about, maybe.

Danilo Galinari goes off for 32 points in our 121-110 win over the Raptors to open December. Steve Nash picks up 21 points and 17 assists and Amare Stoudamire hammers home 24 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.

The win costs us [b]Josh Howard, who breaks his ankle and is out for a month and a half/b]. Not cool. He's been extremely solid for us, averaging 8.3 points and playing good defense. We sign swingman Antoine Wright as injury cover. He's averaging 15.5 points and shooting 50% in the D-Leagues.

Finally back over .500 after whipping the Cavaliers 107-88. Amare Stoudamire with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals, Steve Nash with 20 points and 12 assists, and Paul Pierce with 22 points.

A couple nights later we go to Cleveland and win again, 108-103. Paul Pierce tears them up for 34 points, Steve Nash hands out 10 points and 20 assists, Danilo Galinari scores 21 and Ben Wallace gets 10 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks off the bench.

Now Antoine Wright gets hurt, but it's only a wrist sprain, so he'll just have to suck it up.

No victory yet for the Suns after we douse them 118-95. Fun game to watch with 4 Knicks with 20+ points. First up, Steve Nash with 20 points, 17 assists, and 7 rebounds. Then Danilo Galinari with 22, Paul Pierce with 21 and Amare Stoudamire with 20. Oh and all five starters scored 13 points or more.

Indiana ends our winning streak in a hard-fought 117-114 game. 23 and 20 points from Amare Stoudamire and Danilo Galinari just didn't do it and nor did Steve Nash's 14 points and 12 assists.

The very next night we're in New York, knocking out the C's 111-99 on Amare Stoudamire's 25 points and 16 rebounds and Chris Duhon's ridiculous 6/6, 4/4 from 3 point shooting, for 18 points in just 15 minutes.

A nice little break ensues before beating the Bucks 121-113 via Amare Stoudamire (27 points), Danilo Galinari (28 points), Steve Nash (22 points, 15 assists) and Ben Wallace's 10 bench points.

The Bucks return the favor when we go to Miwakee, a 109-88 loss that marks the first time this month we've failed to score 100 points in a game. I quit watching this one early.

We rebound on the backend of the doubleheader to squish the Wizards 108-91. Steve Nash the hero with 20 points and 10 assists, although Chris Duhon's 15 bench points sure helped.

118-87 romp over the very good Bulls is keyed by Paul Pierce's 27 points, Amare Stoudamire's 23 points and 11 rebounds, and 13 and 10 bench points from usual suspects Chris Duhon and Ben Wallace.

Defense carries us in a 96-89 road win in D.C. That and 19 points, 11 assists out of Steve Nash, 13 points, 17 rebounds from Amare Stoudamire, and Ben Wallace's 14 bench points.

Doubleheader? doublewin as we complete the back end by bouncing the Pistons 101-78. All five starters with 10+ points, led by Amare Stoudamire's 28 points. Chris Duhon sparked the second team with 13 points.

The holiday season's good cheer continues with a 109-104 victory in Toronto. Amare Stoudamire does his thing with 20 points and 15 rebounds, Danilo Galinari tops scoring with 27 points, Steve Nash doubles my favorite number with 16 points, 16 assists, and Chris Duhon, who is well earning his $3 million paycheck, chips in 13 bench points.

Portland ends the merriment just before New Year's. 110-98 trouncing and Amare Stoudamire's pair of 16s in points and rebounds are pretty poor alongside Chris Duhon's 15 bench points. We didn't play D at all that game.

To make matters worse, Danilo Galinari breaks his elbow and is out 2 months. Now this is a very serious injury. Gallinari is our third leading scorer and ballthief, not to mention our most disciplined starter by far.

Unfortunately, it looks like the free agents all have a Day 90 rule attached to them, so we can't make a move. So we make Chris Duhon the starting SG and sign old as hell Antonio Daniels as a backup.

And because I have to see what this disaster portends, I carry on to our New Year's Day game.

113-105 loss to the mediocre Timberwolves. 26 points from Amare Stoudamire, 11 bench points from Ben Wallace. Sadly, Chris Duhon chucked the hell out of the ball, taking a team high 20 attempts in his nervousness, and making only 7 of them.

Yeah.

18-12 puts us 2nd in the Atlantic, 6.5 behind the Nets, who at 25-6 have the league's best record. We're also currently the #5 seed with homecourt advantage over the lesser #4 seed Southeast leaders, a dead-heat tie between Charlotte and Orlando.

Let's see just how long we can keep this charade up without Danilo Gallinari, though. Hell, we still have two weeks left until Josh Howard comes back.

Quick side note: Amare Stoudamire is 16th in the league in both points and rebounding. Steve Nash is #2 in assists with 11.3, 0.3 behind Chris Paul.