Milwaukee 99, New Jersey 85

Down seven at the half, the Bucks probably looked at the in-game box score that was handed out in the locker room. Noticing the names "Rafer Alston," "Trenton Hassell," "Josh Boone," and "Bobby Simmons" among the particulars, the Bucks then likely decided to act their talent-level and start the second half on a 15-0 run.

Then the Bucks, and this much is documented, actually went out and started the second half on a 15-0 run.

The Nets missed 29 of 38 attempts in the second half, and they're just terrible. The team does try, and executes as far as I can tell just up to the point where they have to make a shot. Then they miss the shot. That's not me being flip. This is New Jersey's offense.

The team features one good-to-great player in Brook Lopez, and he can't get the ball. Alston (1-10 shooting, one assist and one turnover in 33 minutes) should be a third point guard right now, at best. Guys like Boone and Hassell are only passable as rotation guys on very, very good offensive teams. Because they're zeroes, offensively.

Instead, they start. And some people still can't understand why the Nets haven't won in 12 attempts. They haven't won, people, because they're terrible. They're not owed a win or two just because they're an NBA team.

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Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your spinach and artichoke stuffing.

RealGM/The Washington Times: "Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas was frustrated after the team's latest loss on Tuesday night. [...] 'I don't know what the hell is going on around here. I don't know if some old player put a curse on us back in the day. I have no idea,' Arenas said. 'It's frustrating because we feel we're better than the teams we've been losing to. We're just going through scoring teams, going through these things where we're scoring 13 and 14 in the third and the fourth. It's frustrating, you know.'"

Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald: "The Celtics had played 384 minutes this season entering last night's game against the Utah Jazz, but Brian Scalabrine had been a participant in just 30. A sprained ankle in the team's penultimate preseason game forced him to miss the first four games of the regular slate. The reserve forward believes that injury led to a back issue that cost him last Friday's loss to Phoenix and last night's contest. [...] As you can imagine, 'The People's Choice' is more than a little frustrated. But he's not cursing bad luck. He's ticked at the person who began this entire mess. The ankle was sprained when he went to make an inbounds pass after a Knicks hoop and stepped on a cameraman whose foot was over the designated line at Madison Square Garden. 'This is the first time I've ever sprained my ankle in my entire life,' Scalabrine said. 'I watched the film. He was 6 inches over the line, 6 inches that I needed to take the ball out of bounds. We're trained to use the space that we are allowed. I've taken the ball out of bounds probably 10,000 times in my life, and as long as you're behind that line I won't hit you. But if you're over that line, we're trained to use that space. I went back to pivot and go, and as I went back, his foot was right there.'"

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After meticulously wading through numerous qualified (and some not so qualified) entries, Ball Don't Lie is positively thrilled to announce the winner of our free NBA League Pass broadband account contest.

Unfortunately, our BDL panel of judges couldn't come to a consensus on which "must watch game" entry we liked best, so the six finalists' names were dropped into a bowl to let good ol' Lady Luck do her thing.

Below are the six best submissions, as well as some amateur photographic proof of our lucky winner.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest. There were many interesting (and hilarious) answers, and I appreciate the effort that went into writing all of them. Cheers!

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Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your baked macaroni and cheese.

Scott Cacciola, Memphis Commercial Appeal: "Rookie center Hasheem Thabeet suffered a ridgeline fracture in his mandible — a bone in his lower jaw — when he appeared to collide with Zach Randolph's head going for a rebound late in the first quarter. Play was stopped with 57.4 seconds remaining as Thabeet rolled around near the basket in obvious pain. He will not make the trip to Houston for the team's game against the Rockets tonight, but his status will be day-to-day after that."

Tim Reynolds, AP: "Rest a bit easier, Miami fans. Heat owner Micky Arison says he has 'every indication' Dwyane Wade will be starring in South Florida for many years to come. While acknowledging Tuesday he was disappointed the Heat couldn't agree to a contract extension this past offseason with their franchise player, Arison quickly added he believes there are signs Wade won't be leaving when he gets the chance next summer. 'I have every indication from Dwyane this is where he wants to be,' Arison said. 'He loves Miami. He'd like to spend his whole career [here]. But the reality is, I don't have a signature on a contract. Obviously, we talked about an extension this summer. I was disappointed that we couldn't come to an agreement, but that was Dwyane's right. He's worked hard to have his own flexibility. [...] And as you know, we can pay him more money than anybody. So financially, it's not going to be an issue.'"

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Los Angeles Lakers 103, Houston 102

I really loved watching this game. Such fun. Such flow.

Yao Ming and Pau Gasol are two of my favorite players, absolute favorite players, and they couldn't take part. The Lakers played the night before, and played 53 minutes the night before, so they weren't working at peak efficiency. The Rockets want some shots back, maybe some calls back. It wasn't perfect.

But, damn ... I watched 12 hours of basketball on Sunday, six on Monday night, six on Tuesday night, and six on Wednesday night. That's not even getting into the afternoon watching, just me as a fan, with nothing to write about. Nearing the end of a ten-game Wednesday run, even in the first week? This is burnout time.

These two teams, though? Perfection. Absolute perfection. Staved off burnout. Staved off ennui.

It wasn't the perfect back and forth. Shots didn't go in, rotations were missed, poor decisions were made, tongues were dragging, 7-footers were missing. Didn't matter. It just didn't matter.

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Sacramento 127, Memphis 116

Out of nowhere, both Sacramento and Memphis came through with an early season big-top blowout. Full of fun, huge hoops and fair play, the Grizz and Kings went at it hard from the beginning, pushing the ball and looking to find the open man.

Grizzlies and Kings, and the phrase "open man." I promise.

They didn't always get the rock ahead to that open man, but the effort was there. The Grizzlies even had more turnovers (21) than assists (17), and 17 assists in a 53-minute game is pretty poor, but the attitude was on point. For most of the game. We'll get to when it wasn't, later.

The Kings won, with just one starter in double figures, but ... how?

The Grizzlies kept it close, despite being outperformed in every conceivable area, but ... how?

Memphis had scorers everywhere, going at it in the face of a Sacramento perimeter defensethat was pretty porous. Sure, there were hands in faces at times, but to a lot of these Grizz, that hardly matters.

The Kings had Kevin Martin go off for 48 points, but the first four men off the Sacramento bench played significantly better than the other four starters around Martin (who sat for a total of 33 seconds in the 53-minute contest).

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Once again back is the incredible ... Ball Don't Lie's NBA previews, outlining offseason moves, projecting win totals, spinning tracks and much, much more. It's a fun, hot mess. Right now, the Los Angeles Clippers.

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OK, we know the first decade of the 21st century doesn't really end until 2011. We think. But we also know there have been 10 full NBA seasons played since the phrase "Y2K" was on all of our lips (1999-2000), and here at Ball Don't Lie we've decided to use this as an offseason excuse to rank some of the best and not-so-brightest of the 10 campaigns in question. The result? Why, top 10 lists!

Bob Pettit more or less created this one.

Big forwards can be rebounding specialists. They can be shot-blockers. They can, and have, been role players. But if you have a starting power forward plugged in to just sop up minutes and get out of the way, then your team is in trouble.

Because this is the position that needs to score. We'd like to see the position player in question do it all — score, rebound, defend, pass — but scoring is of paramount importance, especially while that 7-foot lunkhead you line up with every night is struggling to run and chew gum at the same time.

So, for your consideration, the 10 finest power forwards of the last decade.

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Rebounding. It's not just made of screams and funny faces. Kevin Love'll learn that, as he moves along.

And it's not just about raw rebound totals, either, or the per-game type. We're interested in rebound rate, which measures the percentage of available rebounds a particular player pulls in while he's on the floor. Seems simple enough, right? 20 percent, and you'll likely lead the league. 12 percent, and you're Eddy Curry. 23 percent, and you're Dennis Rodman. My man retired with the highest rebound rate in NBA history.

What follows is a list of the 10 best rebounders of the last decade.

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