[Izulde]

Philadelphia 76ers receive
C Nenad Krstic

New Jersey Nets receive
Philadelphia 76ers 2012 1st round pick

What this means for the 76ers
Krstic is a nice 10 point, 10 rebound type C, but won't give you much more than that. He plays respectable defense and he fills a gaping hole, taking over as the starting C for Philadelphia, who also finally got smart and are starting Stephon Marbury at PG. Krstic comes with a cap-friendly deal for the next couple years as well and at 28, he's in his prime.

What this means for the Nets
Their season is already over, so it make sense to stock up an extra draft pick, even if it's a late 1st rounder.

Advantage: Philadelphia
The 76ers need Krstic far more than they need the late 1st round pick and he helps them more than the 1st rounder will the Nets.

A 1st round pick that they later traded to us.

Indiana Pacers receive
C Patrick O'Bryant

Utah Jazz receive
PG Dan Johnson

What this means for the Pacers
Indiana -finally- gets a legitimate starting center. O'Bryant won't dazzle on the scoring side of things, but he's a very good rebounder and a solid defender. He's precisely what the Pacers need to make some noise in the playoffs.

What this means for the Jazz
Johnson's a second-year PG with no appreciable skills and the 23 year old isn't likely to get any better any time soon. A tanking move more than anything else it looks like.

Advantage: Indiana
This is the big body they need to challenge the Raptors.

Houston Rockets receive
PG Kyle Lowry

Utah Jazz receive
PG Patrick Cooper

What this means for the Rockets
Lowry is one of those all-around players who does a little bit of everything, but doesn't do anything exceptionally well. That said, he takes over as the 6th man and gives the Rockets some more backcourt depth.

What this means for the Jazz
See note on Johnson for Cooper.

Advantage: Houston
It's a bit of a shame in a way though, as Mackel Greenleaf has considerable potential, but now will get a lot less time to develop as a result of this deal.

So much for the new-look Pacers. We beat them 109-96 as Ben Gordon scores 29, Mehmet Okur doubles with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Chauncey Billups follows suit with 24 points and 10 assists. Paulinho Buboltz scores 10 and I'm thrilled when Jamaal Scruggs not only gets major minutes, but goes 7 for 10 for 14 points off the bench! This is still a damned good Indiana team though and they look -much- better with O'Bryant out there.

The romp continues with a 117-97 win over the Clippers. Ben Gordon leads the charge with 32 points and Paulinho Buboltz adds another 18 from the bench. Joakim Noah even channels Caron Butler as the starting SF and scores an amazing 20 points.

For the first time in ages, we beat the Trailblazers. It's close, of course, at 100-96, but I'll take it. Ben Gordon does his usual magic with 27 points and Mehmet Okur is simply amazing with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Double-header up next and we drop the first one to San Antonio 106-98 on the road. Six players with 11 points or more, Joakim Noah doubling with 11 points, 11 rebounds and Paulinho Buboltz putting in 14 off the bench, but nobody hits 20 points. We get the draw in crushing the Suns, though, as Caron Butler and Paulinho Buboltz make their returns to the starting five. Butler celebrates by scoring 27, Mehmet Okur and starting at C again Joakim Noah both double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 16 points, 10 rebounds respectively. Chauncey Billups has no problems as the 6th man, scoring 14 as a reserve. Final: 115 Denver 90 Phoenix.

Ben Gordon singlehandedly takes out the Bobcats with 36 points and Paulinho Buboltz assists with 12 points and 10 assists as we beat Charlotte 106-91. Always good to see one of our extra picks tack on another loss. Even better when we're one the ones doing the damage.

Another game against the Clippers, another win, this one good for 110-89 on the strength of Ben Gordon's 26 points, 13 points and 12 assists from Paulinho Buboltz and a surprising 14 bench points from Luther Head. Unexpected, but we'll take it.

Milwaukee beats us 109-98 to end our win streak. Ben Gordon scores 32, but no one else comes to play and the Bucks have all five starters in double figures, the most impressive of which is Andrew Bogut with 18 points and 25 rebounds.

Things go from bad to worse as the Wizards destroy us by 21 points. Once again, it's all Ben Gordon with 33 points as we have a 40% shooting night, which a couple guys having 0 fors. Names won't be mentioned to protect the guilty.

As if that wasn't enough, Chauncey Billups gets a nasty bruise on his calf, which is going to hamper both him and us because we don't have the safety net of Javaris Crittenton anymore.

The losing streak stretches to three games with a frustrating 103-97 loss to the Lakers. Ben Gordon leads us with 29 points, Paulinho Buboltz puts up 12 points and 10 assists and Luther Head contributes a nice 14 points off the bench, but we still lose.

We scratch out an 86-72 win over the Kings to snap the cold streak. Joakim Noah gets 14 points and 10 rebounds and Luther Head continues to play well in Chauncey Billups's absence with 13 sub points. We needed this victory to get our confidence back.

Phoenix just can't seem to beat us as Ben Gordon goes absolutely ballistic for 38 points, Luther Head goes on a scoring spree off the bench with 19 points and Leroy Wright just misses out on a double-double with the reserves at 8 points and 12 rebounds in the 115-105 win.

We need every single last one of Ben Gordon's 35 points, Mehmet Okur's 12 points and 13 rebounds and Leroy Wright and Tyson Chandler's 10 bench points a piece and I mean that literally, because we only beat the Jazz by a point. 103-102 is the heartstopping final score.

A doubleheader concludes March and as expected, we lose to the Spurs. What wasn't expected was the 79-68 final, nor Ben Gordon's 7 points, his lowest ever in a Nuggets uniform. We snap back with a 109-92 win against the Trailblazers however, keyed by 14 points and 12 assists by Paulinho Buboltz and 16 reserve points from Leroy Wright.

Five and a half games separates us as division leaders from the Timberwolves with ten games to go. The Lakers have already locked up the #1 seed with a 57-15 record. The Rockets are currently second at 49-24, followed by San Antonio at 48-25 and us with a record of 47-25.

Toronto has the East sewn up at 52-20, as the second-best team is the 44-28 Bobcats, followed by the 43-29 Pistons and the 42-29 Pacers. Come on, Charlotte! Tank as much as you can! On a pleasing note, the 76ers really fell apart in March and are now 37-35, damning them to a likely 7 or 8 seed, depending on if the 36-36 Atlanta Hawks can kick it in gear.

Ten games to go in the season and I'm just going to ride them all out.

Two doubleheaders kick off the last set of ten. Chauncey Billups scores 17 in his return, but it's spoiled by a 94-88 loss to the Grizzlies, who are actually a pretty dangerous team with Pau Gasol and superstar rookie Chris Gearheart. We make a beaut of a recovery the next night to stomp all over the Hornets 113-90. Ben Gordon heads the pack with 27 points, followed by a double of 17 points and 10 rebounds from Caron Butler and a dazzling 23 reserve points from well-rested Chauncey Billups.

Game one of the second doubleheader is the most critical of the four-game set, because it's against Minnesota. We respond with a heartbreaking 105-103 loss to the Timberwolves, even as Joakim Noah has 12 points and 13 rebounds and Leroy Wright tops the benchmen with 13 points and 10 rebounds. The difference-maker? Chauncey Billups going 0 for 5. Irony, I am your bitch. The next night is an easy 99-83 win over Seattle, but Ben Gordon's 31 points and Paulinho Buboltz's 15 points and 13 assists seem hollow, Chauncey Billups's 10 bench points downright cruel.

My sense of gloominess continues with a 106-99 home loss to Golden State. Ben Gordon scores 28, but as sometimes happens with this infuriatingly inconsistent team, everyone else takes the night off.

Luckily the Hornets come to town and improve my mood with a thrilling shootout, which we win 136-125. I'm gleeful at Ben Gordon (33 points), Caron Butler (11 points, 14 rebounds), Mehmet Okur (19 points, 16 rebounds), Paulinho Buboltz (10 points, 13 assists), Chauncey Billups (21 bench points) and Leroy Wright (19 bench points and a career high in scoring). It's a delightful way to get our 50th win of the year and even better, it means the best the Timberwolves can do is tie us for the division. Four more games to go. We need just one win to clinch the division title.

Two double-headers, all four games brutal contests against teams that can and have beaten us soundly in the past. Buoyed by the enthusiasm of our 50th win, however, we go out and ravage Memphis 119-69 in the most lopsided win I can remember.. It's positively delicious as Mehmet Okur thunders for 25 points and 11 rebounds, Ben Gordon lightnings for 25 points and 10 assists and Chauncey Billups pours on the rain of 19 points from the bench. It's so satisfying to clinch the division that I don't mind the 105-98 road loss to the Rockets the next night.

We finish strong in the second doubleheader, setting the Suns down 110-97 behind Paulinho Buboltz's highest-scoring game ever: 24 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals. How someone 5'11 pulls off 3 blocks in a game, I'll never know, but he did it. Chauncey Billups played an excellent second with 16 reserve points. The sweep comes 112-84 over the Trailblazers, Ben Gordon the man of the match with 31 points, Paulinho Buboltz vital with 13 points and 12 assists, Chauncey Billups the supersub with 17 points.

Our final regular season record is 53-29, four games ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves, good for fourth record-wise in the conference behind the Lakers (66-16), Rockets (57-25) and Spurs (54-28).

The eight teams representing the West are the Lakers, Rockets, Spurs, Nuggets, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Grizzlies and Kings. 43-39 was the final ticket punched to the dance by Sacramento. Feels weird not seeing the Suns in the playoffs, but so it is.

The defending champion Raptors take the top seed in the East at 59-23 and I'm disgruntled to see the Bobcats second at 51-31. Oh well, there's five teams in the West with better records than Charlotte (Dallas the other one at 52-30).

We'll see the Raptors, Bobcats, Pistons, Bucks, Celtics, Pacers, Hawks and 76ers represent the East in the postseason. Philadelphia, I'm happy to report, has the 8th seed at 41-41 and we'll have the first non-lottery pick in next year's draft. Can you say trade ammunition? I knew you could.

Lebron James just missed out on the 30 point per game average at 29.8. Allen Iverson was ironically second at 27 points a game. I have a sinking feeling we're really going to miss AI in the playoffs. Ben Gordon finished 10th with a 24.8 point average.

After the dust cleared, three passers had double-digit assists: Chris Paul (10.9), T.J. Ford (10.8) and Baron Davis (10.1). Paulinho Buboltz took 17th with 7.2.

Greg Oden took the rebounding title with 14.7 boards. Andrew Bogut and Kelvin Moody were tied for 2nd at exactly 12.

Andrei Kirilenko -just- missed taking his 4 blocks per game to a 5th consecutive season, finishing with 3.9 rejections. A damned shame, but he should still have Defensive Player of the Year sewn up. Kelvin Moody was second with 3.1.

Gerald Wallace was the lone 2 steal a game man. Chris Paul and Rudy Gay were just behind at 1.9. Three Nuggets averaged 1.5 swipes or better, Caron Butler, Paulinho Buboltz and Ben Gordon. Butler led the team with 1.6.

Chris Gearheart, who I would've taken with the #1 overall pick, ran away with the rookie scoring title for the Grizzlies, averaging 16 points a game. Kyle Hoiberg was second at 13.9. This is an absolutely stunning scoring class as I've said before. [b]Six players averaged double-digit points in their first season. Gearheart, Hoiberg, Tim Davis (12.8), Vince Murray (12.7), Durko Jagr (12.4) and Ron Collier (10.5).

Underwhelming in the assists category though, Chris Gearheart and Durko Jagr the top players with 4 and 3.5 averages respectively.

Ryan Sweetwyne led in rebounds with 8 per game, the second man Tim Davis with 6 a contest. This is really looking a class with great scorers, but blah in everything else.

Vince Murray and Chris Gearheart add to that impression as the top blockers at 0.8 per game, though they do their class credit by tying for the steals lead as well with 1.2 swipes per game. Kyle Hoiberg averaged exactly a steal a game.

We're given the #4 seed in the playoffs and draw a familiar foe chomping at the bit for revenge from last season.

The Dallas Mavericks.