Bucks 83, Knicks 67
After the deadline, the Knicks played with a lot of energy in their first game, against the red-hot Thunder. Well, that energy was absent in this one as the Bucks beat the Knicks pretty handily. Rather than bash the Knicks for sucking, I think most can agree to chalk this up to dealing with new players getting used to each other and Coach D’Antoni’s system. It also didn’t help New York that Andrew Bogut had 24 points and 20 rebounds. Tracy McGrady had a solid 15 points, …

Mavericks 95, Magic 85
The Dallas Mavericks haven’t been about defense since the 80s – one trade later, they may have that mentality back.
The old Wizards tandem of Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood combined with the rest of the Mavs to play a heck of a defensive game after the Magic came out hitting everything in the first quarter. Orlando only scored 52 points in the final three quarters, including only 16 points in the fourth – a quarter that Dallas used to come back and take the game.
Butler scored 16 …

The Bobcats were looking for front court help and it looks as though they’re going to get it. Charlotte will be shipping the expiring contracts of Flip Murray and Acie Law (in addition to a first round pick) to Chicago for Tyrus Thomas. The Bobcats are currently in the playoff hunt, and were looking for front court stability to put their team over the top.
Chicago has a solid young core as well, but they are trying to remain in the playoff hunt, while also positioning themselves nicely for the offseason. …

Wizards 108, Timberwolves 99
Gilbert Arenas: suspended indefinitely for his “prank.”  Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood: traded to the Mavericks for Josh Howard, Gooden (Who they already traded), and James Singleton.  Antawn Jamison: traded in a three way deal to the Cavs for Big Z and Al Thornton (Clippers).
Four of the five projected starters this season for the Washington Wizards are now no longer with the team, but that was not a problem tonight for the new look WizKidz.  Andray Blatche, a last second starter after the Jamison trade, responded by …

Hornets 104, Bobcats 99
I’m starting to think the Bobcats are taking their winning ways for granted. That sounded really lame, but seriously, after being up by 10 points at the half the Hornets outscored Charlotte 36-21 in the third quarter.
Wait a second – Charlotte? Remember a team that used to play there?
Grandma-ma does.
Wow, I really don’t know where I’m going with this.
Back to the game…. The Hornets won for the first time since Chris Paul was sidelined with his knee surgery. Darren Collison led the way for the Stingers with …

Weekly podcast from the NBAtoday.net staff featuring G, Shooter, and The Ref!
Topics covered this week include: teams on the rise and decline around the entire NBA, and as always, previews of this week’s best games!
Have your voice heard!
Send your questions for the weekly mailbag session of our podcasts to podcasts@nbatoday.net or our twitter @nbatoday !
Weekly Preview Standings
26-17 The Basher
25-18 Shooter
24-19 The Ref
22-21 G

Bulls 108, Hornets 106 (OT)
The Chicago Bulls are over .500 – this is after an amazingly disappointing start that left Vinny Del Negro at the absolute cusp of being fired. And the weirdest thing about it is that they are winning away from home!
On Friday in Narleans, the Bulls overcame a horrendous fourth quarter to pull off a road win over the Hornets. Luol Deng dropped 26 points, including a putback that avoided a disaster with only 0.2 seconds left in regulation. The overtime period was not quite as exciting …