It's the most wonderful time of the year ...

Like my blog friends Hardwood Paroxysm and The Baseline, Ball Don't Lie has, once again, been given a few NBA stocking stuffers to hand out to the people.

Up for grabs: one NBA League Pass Broadband subscription and one NBA League Pass Mobile subscription for the ol' iPhone. (Note: We're also giving away one NBA Game Time App subscription for the iPhone on The Basketball Jones podcast. Click over, fix your hair and fire up the webcam.)

To win the Broadband or Mobile App, all you have to do is answer this question below: Which three NBA players/personalities would you invite over to Christmas dinner, and why? For instance, my holiday dinner table would host John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Jason Kidd to see who passes me the butter first.

The winner will be selected on Wednesday, Dec. 23rd. (Tip: Keep your entries short and snappy.)

Good luck and Felipe Lopez Navidad!

Read More »

Lakers forward Ron Artest gave Tiger Woods his support Tuesday, explaining in a blog post that he has made similar mistakes as the pro golfer.

(Note: In case you've been living under a rock the last three weeks, Woods has dominated headlines in the wake of numerous alleged extramarital affairs.)

Some excerpts of Artest's open letter to Tiger:

"You made a mistake and you admitted your infidelity. I have made the same mistakes. [...] My wife is a much better wife than I am a husband. We still argue and disagree after being together 16 years. [...] I cannot sit here and say the thought to have many women has never crossed my mind. If I were Jesus I could.

"On the way to 2010 we had many ups and downs on the way, mostly my fault. But I really choose to work hard and play ball to support her and my kids. The same reason you are building your legacy.

"I have been disturbed by this because there are many people who are happy that this bad news has come out. There are a lot of sports announcers and regular reporters who are not perfect in their own homes, yet they want to bring you down."

Read More »

Listen to Thabeet, listen to Thabeet, listen to Thabeet.

Ba bop-bop, bad dum-dum.

We're a month and a half into the season, and I just made my first Hasheem Thabeet pun. I was waiting until he came around a bit, and I'm cool with that. Some guys didn't make it past Halloween. Or the Draft.

But I'm just getting warmed up. So, if you want more of that, click on the jump at 3 p.m. Eastern for more of the same.

Read More »

76ers' center Samuel Dalembert holds up Alvins' red sweatshirt during a screening of "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" on Tuesday at the Ritz East Theatre in Philly. Best caption wins Simon's glasses. Good luck.

After the jump, Gordon rides Manu's back.

Read More »

Here's a novel idea: Let's just vote every player into the All-Star Game. We'll play 240-on-240.

Monday to Friday, The Basketball Jones look at the big games and story lines from the night before with a mix of in-depth analysis and irreverent humor. As always, questions and comments are appreciated.

On today's show, Skeets and Tas welcome back Tracy McGrady(notes) to the world of the living. How did he look in his first game? Was he embraced by the Rocket faithful? Is a trade in his future? All that, plus the sudden explosion of Goran Dragic(notes), the sinking Spurs and will Nate Robinson(notes) ever "put 'em up" in NYC again?

This holiday season remember three things:

1. Tell The Score (feedback@thescore.com) you want more Jones!
2. Treat yourself or someone you like to a Jones t-shirt.
3. Wear it to our 500th Episode show/party at The Drake on Jan. 15, 2010.

Subscribe to the video show on iTunes | Download the .m4v directly
Subscribe to the audio show on iTunes | Download the .mp3 directly

"OK, guys, listen up, here's what we're running. Earl, I want you to curl toward the right corner off a high pick from Brendan. When you get there, drop to all fours and start barking like a dog. Yeah, a small dog — real Chihuahua-like. Caron, you're inbounding the ball. When everyone turns to look at Taco Earl, I want you to hit Antawn for the easy bucket inside. Huh? Yeah, of course this'll work. Trust me. Wiz on three!"

No, this isn't a joke.

ESPN Insider is running a contest where you can submit an inbounds play for Flip Saunders and the underachieving Washington Wizards to run during an actual game.

Seriously.

The contest details are straightforward: Send ESPN your best inbounds play by Wednesday Dec. 23, via email, fax or snail mail, and their crack panel of experts will choose the best one, which the Wizards will try to use during a game. (Note the key word: "try." The Wiz will likely turn the ball over and lose by two points.)

Read More »

Forget kids; sports radio hosts say (and do) the darndest things.

According to BDL reader Matt B., a Boston sports radio show is attempting to garner up some 250,000 All-Star Game votes for Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine(notes) in exchange for the pasty white ginger getting a spray tan over the All-Star break.

Why? No idea. Maybe it's because Scal looks great with a tan. Maybe it's because they want him on season two of "Jersey Shore," brah. Maybe it's because they're bored with the C's 11-game winning streak and have nothing else to talk about. I don't know, but Scal has agreed to the deal.

Of course, as is the case with every All-Star ballot-stuffin' story, there's some controversy. Apparently, Scal's write-in votes may not be getting counted! (Does that warrant an exclamation mark? Probably not.) 98.5 hosts Toucher and Rich have had their listeners voting for some time now and many people have been reporting that their votes do not show up after they've voted. They get a confirmation without Scal's name.

But don't worry, NBA media relations are looking into the "lost orange votes." (Yeah, right.)

In the meantime, stop voting for Tracy McGrady, China, and start writing in Scalabrine's name.

Phoenix 116, San Antonio 104

It was borderline shocking to watch the San Antonio Spurs play as if they'd never seen a pick and roll in their lives. As if they hadn't make a habit of shutting down that go-to play (or, at least, putting into a sometimes-workable box that they could deal with overall) for the better part of a decade.

But there the Suns were, just shooting over the top of San Antonio, especially in that first half.

Channing Frye gets a pair of three-pointers because Manu Ginobili fakes help but then decides to not leave Grant Hill at the top of the three-point arc (wha?). Tim Duncan doesn't show properly on Steve Nash. George Hill doesn't fight through anything. The Suns, as brilliant as they are, against the Spurs (who I know have been pretty average this year defensively), drop 67 first half points.

Now, my jaw dropped when I found out the Pacers nearly did that to the Wizards over the weekend. But the Suns to the Spurs?

San Antonio was actually down 20 points a few minutes into the third quarter when coach Gregg Popovich pulled his entire starting lineup save Tim Duncan, and though replacements Hill, Ginobili, and Matt Bonner struggled in the first half, the lineup (with Roger Mason Jr., who did not struggle in the first half, nor in the second) actually got it down to a five point game entering the fourth quarter.

Read More »

Nets point guard Devin Harris was called for a flagrant-2 foul and ejected in Tuesday's night game against the Cavaliers after wrapping his arm around Jamario Moon's face and neck and pulling him to the ground when Moon went up for a breakaway dunk.

LeBron James immediately tried to quiet the incident by bear-hugging Harris.

"At that point, he was just trying to break it up," Harris said of LeBron's involvement. "I don't like too many people grabbing me in a huddle like that, but he knows I ain't trying to hurt anybody. But he has to protect his teammates just like everybody has to do on my team. [...] I wasn't trying to [hurt him.]"

Read More »