The All-Star break is next weekend as is the trading deadline.

The Spurs continue to rebound from a seemingly insurmountable start. The Lakers become the first and probably the only team to win in Cleveland as the visiting team on the Cavaliers home court.

A handful of stars on the block most notably Amare Stoudamire of the Phoenix Suns.

The All-Star Weekend is set with the events and all the players announced. Friday Night will feature the Rookie Challenge and the McDonald's Celebrity Game. Saturday Night will feature the usual Shooting Stars, Hoop-It-Up, Three-Point Shootout, and Slam Dunk Contest. And the All-Star Game on Sunday afternoon.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

Elton Brand is out for season ending surgery. I haven't really cared about his role on the Sixers. They hover around .500 without him there.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

But your team spent a fortune on him and the other AI. A $160 million investment in just two players -- granted the Sixers overpaid dearly -- should still turn up at least a winning record if nothing else, especially with all that talent have on their roster. They have way too much talent to be playing only .500 record especially in the Eastern Conference to boot.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

Jimmy has set this up, so that I, the only anti-Cav fan here, can take control. Regarding Sunday's home loss versus the Lakers...people have been calling in saying the fans at the arena did nothing but sit on thier hands. Well what do you expect when you make ticket prices un-reachable for the average or once-a-season fan? Going off sport here to football...$40 will get you a nosebleed seat to the Browns. That same $40 will get you a seat along the first or third base lines at Progressive Field (Jacob's Field). $40 will get you a decent seat to a Cav's game, but don't expect to get seen on television.

Which brings me to tongiht's game against the Pacers. Yes, I saw it. Good game, regardless of the outcome, but please...the last 5 seconds was total, 100% bull hooey. The Pacers scored the go-ahead bucket with 0.8 seconds to go. Dagger? Yes. Cavs call a timeout, get the ball at half court, inbound to LeBron where a Pacer kncoks the ball away. Game over? Nope, somehow, there was a foul. Can someone please show me where? Cavs fans nearby me were whooping it up. LeBron, forgetting the coaching he got from Shaq regarding foul shots, calmly sinks 2 to tie the game and seemingly send it to Overtime.

Not quite. With 0.4 ticks left, the Pacers inbound the ball and get fouled. Cavs fans everywhere groan, but it was the same freakin' call! Both this and the previous call were PHANTOM FOULS! Pacers player sinks one of two to win the game.

So why were the fouls called? Perhaps the one ref had LeBron scoring 50 tonight and wanted to ensure that? The NBA should look at tonight's game and reprimand the officials invovled for two bad calls. The Pacers should have won by 2, not by 1.

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They're 26-24. The young players are giving input as well. I enjoy having Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala there. I've love to see Elton Brand make a presence when he comes back next year cause I sure haven't noticed him this year.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

What is so special about this year's All-Star Game 2009? Shaq? Kobe? Phil? ....on the same team?

For the first (and probably only) time since June 15, 2004, which Game Five of the 2004 NBA Finals was played, Shaq and Kobe are teammates once again and Phil Jackson is the coaching them, but this for the Western Conference All-Stars.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

The dunk contest was a joke. The guy from Portland should have been in the final.

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"For each path you walk down, there are several others you have to bypass. Maybe walking those paths would have made you happy, maybe they wouldn't have. You'll never know. Choose your path, walk it, and make the best of it."

^What the Fernando guy? Wow...behind the back off the back board one handed dunk. Yeah...really excites me. And look, here comes a guy who dons a Superman cape and dunks on a pass off a backboard at 11 feet. Yes, the latter is clearly less impressive than the former. Whatever were those judges thinking? And come on...letting Nate Robinson win the entire thing? I'm sure dunking over Spud Webb last year was nice, but dunking over Howard? Yes, clearly, Fernandez should have won the dunk contest.

Whatever you are smoking, are you willing to share with the rest of us?

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I think Terrell Owens is better at basketball than football...

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Thornton to Heatley all day, every day.

Last year it was Yao, this year it's Tracy McGrady who will miss the second half of the season, although you have to question why he didn't go to the team physicians for an evaluation.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

I don't understand the Bulls. They trade good players for guys who are either old and past their prime or those who they already on the roster years ago. The one thing I'm interested and hopeful for is the trade they made sending Thabo Sefolosha to Oklahoma City for their first round pick. OK. City sucks right now and has the fourth worst record in the league. So with any luck, the Bulls could get a top 5 pick in the draft.

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YOUR HATRED AMUSES ME

Andre Miller is still on the Sixers. We're just a game above .500.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

Jimmy, you should like this:

The New York Knicks' Stephon "Marbury was waived Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009, by the New York Knicks, ending a turbulent five-year stint in which the former All-Star couldn't lead his hometown team to a single playoff victory. Marbury is one of the highest-paid players in the NBA, set to make close to $21 million this season, but has not played a game for new coach Mike D'Antoni.

The New York Knicks are free of Stephon Marbury, and the troublesome point guard is free to join a playoff contender." - Yahoo Sports.


The Sixers lost 3 in a row and are just a game below .500. I read the guards are struggling. Andre Miller is the bright spot though he has been sore.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - Sophomore Original sn: CHILLERLC1
2008 & 2009 TN Coaster Draft Champion
You knew I wanted the other repeat too

The Detroit Pistons have lost eight in a row and below .500 for the first time this decade, yet they are still solid at #6 seed in the East with a record of 27-29.

On the other side, the Dallas Mavericks are on pace for 50 wins and still battling for the #8 seed in the West. Different season, yet the same thing.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

"STAR"-bury has signed a $1.2 million deal with the reigning champion Boston Celtics to help backup starting point guard Rajon Rondo.

Before Christmas Day, Boston was 27-2 .... since then they have gone 19-11.

By the way, the name Starbury has several relevant meanings in reference to Stephon Marbury.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!

I declare shinanigans on the Boston Celtics...again for their salary cap crap.

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Thornton to Heatley all day, every day.

I never understood the deal with Marbury. They paid him so much and didn't even play him. I know there was a lot of drama with him and the team but yet he still must have had some skill and ability left. All that money and the Knicks thought it was best not to let him play at all despite his ridiculously high contract?

At least play him to show ability and maybe try and trade him instead of just wasting all of that money. I don't know of bigger loss that any team has made. It's reasons like this that just make the Knicks look like a joke. But it's Marbury getting the last laugh. The Knicks tried to screw him but he got paid all the same and now he signed with the defending champs and has a chance to get a ring...along with another millions dollars.

Jimmy, what you're saying about the Western Conference is true but it's also easier to win in the West. Look at the East, there are only two, maybe three really bad teams. The West though have six or seven teams that are horrible. At the end of this season, the East will probably have two 50 loss teams and the West will have six or seven. Not to mention a couple of those teams might lose 60 games or more. When the better teams play them, it's almost a certain win.

In the West, I think the only team that has a chance of winning a ring is the Lakers. In the East, both the Celtics and Cavs are to be considered favorites and the Magic is a possibility as well. One last I checked too was head to head matches between East and West, the East has a better head to head record.

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YOUR HATRED AMUSES ME

^ Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni coached Stephon when they were in Phoenix back in 2002 and 2003 and apparently the two didn't coexist. So when Mike went to New York, he informed Marbury that he wasn't going to play for him. I guess probably Stephon didn't fit into Coach Mike's system.

But Marbury gave back two million in his Knicks contract, and accepted a deal with Boston for about just over a million, so he lost almost a million upon switching teams.

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ThrillNetwork Lead Moderator (Originally known as Hurricane)

It's time to play some DEFENSE!