Marc Gasol gives Z-Bo a head's up about a fearsome tabby in the parking lot. (Rocky Widner/NBA/Getty Images)

During his 12-year NBA career, Zach Randolph has made it abundantly clear on a number of occasions that he's not scared of anybody on the basketball court. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound Memphis Grizzlies power forward has gone toe-to-toe with some of the league's biggest and baddest dudes over the years, including, most recently, Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins; their November clash resulted in ejections, a $25,000 fine for Randolph and one of the season's great quotes: Z-Bo telling Memphis radio host Chris Vernon, "I'm good with these hands, man. I'm a jackin' dude." (There's also the off-court and past stuff, which only bolster Z-Bo's never-scared bona fides.)

But as a wise man — either Winston Churchill or Jim Carrey in "Me, Myself and Irene," not sure which — once said, just because a man rocks doesn't mean he's made of stone. As he's matured, Randolph has more frequently shown a softer side, engaging in heartwarming charitable endeavors like donating $10,000 last summer to save a pit bull that had been trapped for days in a Memphis drainpipe. Randolph's giving actions and interactions with the rescued pit bull — later named "Little Z-Bo," which is the best — will be featured Saturday on an episode of the Animal Planet reality series "Pit Bulls and Parolees."

[More NBA: Dwightmare II: Wake up, Lakers; trade Dwight Howard now]

But as Randolph told ESPN Playbook's Sam Alipour in an interview pegged to the episode's Jan. 11 premiere, his love for dogs (he owns several and acts as a spokesperson for the Memphis Humane Society) doesn't extend to all furry, four-legged creatures. Nor, it seems, does his fearlessness:

Like you, I’m a dog lover. On a possibly related note, I feel, in my heart of hearts, that cats are evil. Feel me?

Naw, you’re right: You can’t be both a dog lover and a cat lover. I’ve got a crazy phobia about cats. For some reason, I’m always thinking they’re going to scratch me. If a cat walks up, I’m going, “Oh no, this dude about to scratch me — I know it!” Cats scare the hell out of me. I love animals, but I’m no cat lover. Guys usually aren’t.

Everyone loves smiling and laughing. (Randy Holmes/Disney ABC Television Group)

They might not be riding quite as high as they were during their recent 17-game winning streak, but the Los Angeles Clippers have bounced back from a pair of 2013-opening losses to win three straight games, still sport the league's best record and look like one of the favorites to take home this year's O'Brien Trophy. With their 28-8 record — and, of course, the Los Angeles Lakers' continuing struggles — making them the toast of Tinseltown, Clippers stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin paid a visit to ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Thursday night, chatting about their successful start to the season, CP3's son liking Blake more than his dad and more.

The first part of the interview's below; hit the jump for Part 2.

Wesley Matthews had missed five of his first six 3-point attempts on Thursday night, but with his Portland Trail Blazers within striking distance after clawing back from a 13-point halftime deficit against the Miami Heat, he found his stroke just in the nick of time:

The shooting guard's pair of last-minute 3-pointers, plus a 1 for 2 split at the free throw line by Portland power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, gave the Blazers just enough to complete their comeback. A final-second Mario Chalmers 3-point attempt caught rim just as time expired, giving the Blazers a 92-90 win over the defending champs before a sellout crowd at the Rose Garden on Thursday.

Let's take another look at Matthews' triples, courtesy of the Blazers-loving bros at Pinwheel Empire:

Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins has a bad reputation, earned largely through several less-than-ideal relationships with coaches, some suspensions for on-court activity, and a fair amount of incomplete information. Cousins thinks he gets a bad rap, and that he deserves fairer treatment from media, fans, and his employers. He's not entirely wrong, in the sense that expecting anyone to change with no institutional support is a recipe for continued problems.

The problem for Cousins is that he keeps making himself look terrible in public. On Thursday night, with just 41 seconds remaining in overtime of the Kings' home game against the Dallas Mavericks, Cousins committed a flagrant 2 foul by swinging a forearm to the throat of Dallas' Vince Carter after a scrum for a loose ball. The foul was originally called a flagrant 1 and was Cousins' sixth of the night regardless, but an official courtside review upgraded the penalty to a flagrant 2, mandating an automatic ejection. At the time, the Kings were down 113-109; they lost the game 117-112.

Marcin Gortat to Goran Dragic: "Avast! Land ho!" (Christian Petersen/ Getty).

The Phoenix Suns are not having anything close to a good season. After losing franchise talisman Steve Nash to the Los Angeles Lakers this summer, they've dipped to 12-25 (second-worst in the West) and seem to have few potential avenues toward improvement. From this vantage, it looks like that won't come until this June's draft.

Until then, though, the Suns have several more months of this season left to play. Everyone on the roster will have to stay motivated. Veteran center Marcin Gortat, for one, isn't going to quit on the team any time soon — even if he has to say it by describing the team in pessimistic terms. From Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com (via PBT):

There are priorities, and then there are priorities. (AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SB Nation and Sactown Royalty. Tom Ziller dons two different hats — one belonging to a sharply analytical league-wide chronicler who gets why things happen in the NBA in a way few others do, and one belonging to a die-hard fan, team blogger and civic booster who simply refuses to concede the fate of the Sacramento Kings — and we get two fantastic pieces of writing out of it. Throughout a wrenching, ridiculous, years-long farce perpetrated by the Maloof family to the detriment of the entire city of Sacramento, Ziller has been responsive, responsible and insanely good in his writing about the difficult matter of a fan base trying desperately to hold onto its team, and to hold onto hope. We're lucky to have him telling this story. I just wish it didn't so often seem like such a frequently depressing story to tell. (Which is why it's worth reading that second link again, and again, and again.)

PF: Hardwood Paroxysm. As someone who watches, reads about and presumably enjoys the NBA, chances are you're aware that New York Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire doesn't exactly have the most sterling defensive reputation. But do you know why he's a bad defender? Dylan Murphy rewound the tape on Stoudemire's performance in Monday's loss to the Boston Celtics to point out, using helpful still images and video clips, exactly what he does wrong on defense. In short: Most things.

SF: Brew Hoop. We know that Larry Sanders — excuse me: LARRY SANDERS! — has taken a great leap forward as both a shotblocker and an individual defender for the Milwaukee Bucks, but he's also shown softer hands, improved finishing ability and a dedication to attacking the rim in the pick-and-roll this season. So why has the Bucks' offense been significantly better when he's not on the floor? Dan Sinclair takes a closer look at Sanders' on-court/off-court splits in search of some truth for his lyin' eyes.

EDITOR'S NOTE: As the headline suggests, the video below contains an expletive. Viewer discretion is advised.

Hey, Kenneth Faried: You know you played really hard and, as BDL Editor Kelly Dwyer wrote, were a major factor in your Denver Nuggets' 108-105 win over the visiting Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, but did you realize that you were, like, "19 points and 19 rebounds in 36 minutes" major?

Well ... um ... yep. Right!

(Also, as TBJ's Trey Kerby noted, he definitely didn't say "shoot." Nice try, though, Altitude Sports reporter Blake Olson.)

Cursing in a postgame interview ... puking on the bench ... it's still a little too early to tell, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe Kenneth Faried is the contemporary NBA's G.G. Allin. Or, at the very least, a contender for Next Rodman; if he cuts the braids and starts going dyed, don't be too surprised.

Greg Oden considers his future. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

If it seems like a long time has passed since Greg Oden last played in an NBA game, that's because it has — 1,132 days, to be exact. And yet, despite more than three years on the shelf — three years that have included multiple surgeries on both of his knees, his release by the team that drafted him first overall in 2007 and an announcement (in an at-times harrowing interview) that he'd take a step back to rest and rehab after three microfracture surgeries in five years — there's still interest in the 7-footer ... not only in what he might have been, but in what, even after all he's gone through, he still could be.

And we're not just talking fan interest; according to ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst and Marc Stein, there are NBA clubs interested in learning what a post-injury Oden could do, so much so that, after taking the year to get healthy and think about the future, Oden reportedly plans to try his hand at an NBA comeback for the 2013-14 season:

Sources told ESPN.com that multiple teams already have expressed interest in signing Oden before the end of this season to a multiyear deal that would allow him to continue his rehab until he can get back on the court in training camp in the fall.

The Miami Heat are at the front of the line in pursuing Oden, two sources said, and have been keeping tabs as he recovers while also taking classes at Ohio State. [...]

In attempting another comeback, Oden's camp is planning to take a highly conservative approach. So the plan is for him to sit out the rest of this season and summer league to make sure he allows himself the best chance of finally getting healthy.