Thursday Afterthoughts: McGrady's Superstar Status and the Suns Look Awkward

After the Ron Artest-enhanced defense allowed 62 points in the first half, the Rockets finally got their act together and beat the Mavs in Dallas 112-102.  The former Defensive Player of the Year isn’t bad offensively, either.  He scorched Dallas for 29 points, including some dagger threes down the stretch…

Remember when Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant were mentioned in the same breath, category, whatever?  Those days are long gone.  McGrady rode the pine while Houston sealed the deal in the fourth quarter, finishing with 16 points on 3-for-10 shooting.  If Kobe goes 3-for-30, he’s still on the floor at crunch time…

(On a side note, when I asked my buddy Pierre that same question about Kobe and T-Mac, he said, “The Washington Bullets were still around, weren’t they?”)

Dallas’ starting lineup was Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier, Josh Howard and Antoine Wright.  Which name doesn’t belong?  In a nutshell, Wright’s highlights (no, not Dampier’s…) included throwing the ball away, fouling T-Mac on a 3-pointer, shooting a three over the backboard and missing a fastbreak lay-up…

Howard is coming into his own.  Nowitzki is in his prime.  Kidd is declining.  Stackhouse is done (1-for-6 shooting in 18 minutes).

On offense, Yao Ming is so tall no one can touch his shot.  On defense, Yao probably gets dunked on more than any seven-footer in history.  Brandon Bass was the latest to sign his guest-book to the rim…

Artest gave David Stern a premature Halloween scare when he rushed into a minor disagreement between Yao and Kidd in the second half.  Everyone except Artest and maybe (maybe) Yao thought he was going in to escalate the thing, but he actually pulled his teammate away from the altercation. He still got T’d up of course.  That’s what’s known as a reputation call…

Being an avid fan, I realize that if/when any of TNT’s game crew is gone, the show is not the same.  Ernie brings the class,  Kenny the integrity,  Charles the laughs,  and Sager the suits.  Seriously, when one of them leaves permanently, I’m not watching anymore…

Charlotte got steamrolled by Lebron and Co. 96-79.  The Bobcats are like a great Duke team – phenomenal college players and only a couple solid pros…

The Lakers signed Andrew Bynum (A.K.A. The Missing Piece) to a 4-year $58 million extension.  His pay will increase each year, but on average that's over $14 million a year.  At first that seems a little too much for a center with one decent half-season under his belt, but at least it's not a max deal for almost a decade (see: Nene Hilario...).  If he doesn't pan out, they're clear in four years, right when Kobe's window will probably start to shut...

The Suns looked exactly like everyone thought they would this season while losing to the Hornets last night – awkwardly adjusting.  Shaq looked awkward guarding someone half his size, Nash looked awkward leading the team in scoring, Barbosa looked awkward handling the ball and the hairdo’s of Robin Lopez and Louis Amundson were just plain awkward…

If Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins hadn’t said anything, would you have remembered David West was an All-Star last year?  Yeah, that’s why he burns teams quietly every single night…

Finally, during the half-time show of the Hornets/Suns game, Kenny Smith said Lamar Odom would start for any other team in the NBA, including the Celtics.  Would that mean you bench one of their Big Three, play small, go 6-on-5?  Say your say on what you think...