Lionel Hollins points backwards (Getty Images)

Sometimes these stories just write themselves. The Memphis Grizzlies are coached by a notoriously anti-advanced stats Rudy Gay fan in Lionel Hollins. The team’s front office is composed of two men in Jason Levien and John Hollinger that tend to shockingly pay as much attention to actual numerical production as to what they see on the court as they copiously watch game after game. Their interests coincided with an upcoming luxury tax burden that would afflict the Grizzlies should they retain all of the team’s most prominent players -- Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, and Rudy Gay -- beyond this year.

The new front office decided to part with Gay, citing his inefficient scoring and impact (shot selection, and number of shots) in turning the Grizzlies into the worst fourth quarter team in the NBA. Rudy Gay was much-loved by both teammates and coaching staff that don’t have to figure out how to build a winner while working around a luxury tax in one of the NBA’s smallest markets, and the team has done nothing but pout while losing two of three since the deal.

Following Tuesday’s embarrassing loss to the Phoenix Suns, coach Hollins decided to rant about his team’s supposed lack of center depth in the wake of deals sending Marreese Speights to Cleveland and Hamed Haddadi (since waived by the Raptors) to Toronto. As he vents, he makes little sense. From the great Memphis Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins:

Explaining the loss, Hollins twice pointed out that when Gasol got in foul trouble, he couldn't put in another big to match up with Luis Scola and Marcin Gortat.

"One of the issues that I have is that neither Darrell or Ed (Davis) are fives. We don't have another big guy. We weren't able to play big and have two bigger people across the board because we don't have a bigger guy to put in the game."

Complete and utter twaddle.

Samuel Dalembert puts it all together (Getty Images)

So, Samuel Dalembert put together one of the better statistical lines of the NBA season on Tuesday. You may not have seen it, and you may not understand it, but Sam Dalembert managed 35 points on 17-21 shooting with 12 rebounds in only 27 minutes per game off the Bucks bench. He didn’t turn the ball over and had two assists. Denver, in the tough win, was rightfully gobsmacked. Sometimes literally smacked, in the case of Mike Dunleavy. Luckily, we have video to prove it all happened:

There’s no proper way to explain the explosion from a big man who didn’t play a single minute between Dec. 14 and Jan. 8. Though the Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman, as is often the case, does as good a job as any:

"At center, Tiago Splitter ..." (Getty Images)

Tiago Splitter’s per game stats this season won’t blow anyone away, and his per-minute numbers actually haven’t shown that much improvement in comparison to the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. The eye test tells a different story, though. Though Tiago’s San Antonio Spurs are just as potent in this regular season in comparison to the last (the team has won 38 of its first 49 games and once again boast the best record in the NBA), Splitter seems like a better and calmer fit on these Spurs.

It could be because he’s started 27 of those 2012-13 contests, after getting the opening nod just eight times in his first two seasons. It could be because coach Gregg Popovich has dimmed the behind the scenes criticism a bit. Or it could be that Splitter, at age 28, is just confidently working through his prime. Whatever the influence, Splitter is enjoying himself, and the Spurs are grateful for his fantastic play on both ends.

From NBA.com’s Ken Rodriguez’s fantastic feature on the Spurs big man:

The difference between this season and the last two? Splitter uses an illustration to explain. After arriving from Europe, Splitter felt like an occupant in a stranger’s house. A little tight. Seldom relaxed. After two seasons adjusting, Splitter feels like he’s back in Spain. In familiar surroundings. Comfortable.

“Like when you are in your own house,” he says.

Allen Iverson at the Wells Fargo Center, May 2012. (Jeff Fusco/Getty Images)

Just one week after declining an invitation to join the Dallas Mavericks' D-League affiliate as he continues his thus-far unsuccessful pursuit of a return to the NBA and days after a family court judge lambasted his parenting during divorce proceedings, former All-NBA guard Allen Iverson has now reportedly lost his Atlanta mansion to foreclosure.

The grim news comes, as it so often does, from TMZ:

Iverson allegedly defaulted on a $1.2 million mortgage which sent the $4.5 million home into foreclosure. He briefly fought off an auction ... but ultimately, he couldn't stop it.

Sources close to the sale tell TMZ ... Iverson's bank purchased the mansion [Tuesday] for $2.5 million.

This isn't the first time a mansion owned by Iverson has gone into foreclosure. Back in March 2011, the six-bedroom, nine-bathroom, 6,848-square-foot mansion he'd purchased in Cherry Hills, Colo., while a member of the Denver Nuggets "slip[ped] into foreclosure" after Iverson quit paying a mortgage on which he still reportedly owed $2,572,914. Iverson also met with some strife when parting with the six-bedroom mansion in Villanova, Pa., he'd owned while a member of the Philadelphia 76ers; it sat on the market for three years after he listed it at $6.3 million before eventually selling for just $2.6 million in 2010.

[Also: Kobe Bryant delivers dunk for the ages]

Iverson's personal finances have long been a matter of inquiry — since his last NBA stint with the 76ers ended in February 2010, there have been reports that, despite earning more than $154 million in salary over the course of his 14-year NBA career, plus plenty more in endorsements, the 2000-01 NBA Most Valuable Player is broke.

David West pumps his pinstriped fist as the Pacers down Atlanta (Getty Images)

The Indiana Pacers are in the midst of an NBA rarity. On Wednesday night the team will play its third game in three days, a statistical quirk that hasn’t happened in the NBA this year and usually is only a feature of lockout-shortened seasons. The workload would be a damning thing for most teams, but the Pacers appear to be thriving. When they take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, the team will attempt to sweep the triptych and win its fifth game overall. If the struggling Chicago Bulls lose to Denver on Thursday, the Pacers will boast a 1.5 game lead over Chicago in the Central, despite not featuring scorer Danny Granger all season.

What the team has been allowed to feature is All-Star Paul George, and former All-Star David West. West fell just short of making his third All-Star team when opposing coaches left him off of this year’s roster (and the NBA chose Brook Lopez to take the injured Rajon Rondo’s place). I thought West was deserving of a nod full stop, a few hours after posting this I regretted choosing Al Horford over West to my picks. The Pacers, including guard George Hill, think it’s a full slap. From the Indianapolis Star:

"We're atop our division and only got one player in (the game)," he said. "That's kind of a slap in our face. It tells you what (others) really think of us."

The problem is that few think of the Pacers in the first place enough to showcase a lack of respect for the team. West is anonymous as stars come, an efficient sturdy scorer and rebounder that features textbook fundamentals while truly never taking a play off. He’s perfect for sportswriters like me that adore his game, but hardly a big sell to the crowds that tune into TNT or ABC contests.

Lakers head athletic trainer Gary Vitti tends to Pau Gasol. (Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports)

On Tuesday afternoon, NBA observers were discussing Pau Gasol's recent suggestion that he could ask the Los Angeles Lakers to deal him this offseason and affirmation that he would not request such a move before the Feb. 21 trade deadline. On Tuesday night, the 32-year-old Spaniard suffered a worrying injury that could render any trade-deadline prospects moot, and also take yet another L.A. big out of the lineup for some time.

With just under 4 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Lakers trailing the Brooklyn Nets 77-76, Gasol rose up to attempt to block a shot by Nets center Brook Lopez ... and then went down in a heap:

Gasol went down holding his right foot and stayed down for a while before getting up and moving gingerly down court on the ensuing possession. He fouled Lopez on the Nets' next trip down the court, then immediately went back to the locker room and did not return; he finished with 15 points on 6 for 16 shooting, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Gasol was diagnosed with a strained right plantar fascia after the game, and will undergo an MRI on Wednesday after the Lakers arrive in Boston ahead of their nationally televised Thursday night matchup with the Boston Celtics.

[Related: Kobe Bryant delivers dunk for the ages]

The Lakers went on to win, 92-83, thanks to a late-fourth run sparked by a turn-back-the-clock slam by Kobe Bryant. But in the aftermath of L.A.'s third straight win, its sixth in its last seven outings and a big road victory without frontcourt starters Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, Gasol's injury cast a pall over the proceedings, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:

Bellissimo. (Garrett Ellwood/NBA/Getty Images)

Just one week ago, Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari made one of this season's more ridiculous shots, a running, flailing, heading-out-of-bounds, end-of-the-shot-clock heave that splashed through for two during the third quarter of a Denver win over the Houston Rockets. Late in the fourth quarter of Tuesday night's matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, though, the 24-year-old Italian outdid himself, sending the Pepsi Center crowd into hysterics, the Bucks careening toward defeat ... and, perhaps, many Coloradans toward making a Wednesday afternoon run for the border.

Our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute captured the shot in all its absurd glory:

The Houston Rockets put on a historically great shooting performance on Tuesday night, defeating the Golden State Warriors 140-109 at home. Houston tied an NBA record with 23 3-pointers on 40 attempts, with three players making at least four triples and no one on the roster making less than half of their long-range shots. It was amazing to behold.

Of course, it might have been even more impressive if not for certain actions by the Warriors in the final minute. With 34 seconds remaining, Warriors forward Draymond Green committed a flagrant-2 foul on Rockets guard Patrick Beverley as he lined up a long 2-pointer from the corner. That foul earned Green an automatic ejection. It also came after a dunk and a taunting technical foul for Beverley just 30 seconds before. Suddenly, the end of the game wasn't so routine.

Beverley sunk both foul shots, but the festivities were far from over. The Warriors intentionally fouled Beverley on the Rockets' last two possessions, forcing Beverley to the line for four more free throws and ensuring that Houston could not attempt to beat the record for made 3-pointers in a game.

[Related: NBA Power Rankings: Little movement at the top]

Above, take a look at all the Warriors' late-game fouls. After the jump, check out the post-game aftermath complete with quotes, as well as a clip of Houston's barrage of 3-pointers.