Hated missing the Celebrity All-Star Game last night, even if it was dominated by the East. But I saw Kevin Hart throwing his shoes after a "bad call," that was funny.

When Rose plays, the Bulls are excellent. When Rose is injured, they're very, very good. Gotta love the Bench Mob.

After a 23-point fourth quarter lead was squandered down to 5, the Mavs hold on to beat the Jazz, 102-96 behind 40 from Dirk, to snap a four-game losing streak.

I was looking at the standings earlier tonight, and seven teams in the Eastern Conference have winning percentages below .400. You have seven winning teams, the Knicks somewhere in the middle, than the other seven. I think it's pretty clear which teams are going to the playoffs in April.

Still? It seems like there's been an Eastern & Western conference imbalance in the NBA for a long time now. I can't explain it.

A bunch of surprises this season. How about the T-Wolves two games over .500 and currently at the #8 seed in the West? Is that more surprising than the fact that the Memphis Grizzlies are the third seed!?

Ugh, you just can't switch the names of sports franchises; it's totally bush-league. Sports mascot names are not an exact science, and there is no grave injustice of names like "Utah Jazz" or "New Orleans Hornets" or "L.A. Lakers". It's not fair to the fans who spent all that time & money invested into the teams & gear to have some outsider say "Oh, we don't like your team name, so we're changing it.". I wouldn't appreciate it if it was one of my teams. If the Hornets were going to change their name, they should have done it when they moved to New Orleans - but they didn't because the Hornets had brand recognition behind the name & wasn't some lame new expansion team. Quite frankly it sounds like to me Benson wants a piece of the huge cash grab that comes with new gear.

I couldn't tell you who was the worst of the worst. All I know is 9-73 would match the 1972-73 76ers for all-time worst.

I can't say who was worse only because I wasn't around for most cases besides the '09-'10 Nets and the 15-67 Heat of however many years ago it was.

The had a chance to end their 18-game losing streak today when they took an eight-point lead into the fourth when they hosted Memphis today, but were outscored 28-15 in the final period.

Kind of sums up their entire season.

They have a game at Washington but I don't see them winning vs. Sacramento or New York, or at Orlando.

My first round playoff picks:

Chicago over Philadelphia in 5. The biggest mismatch in the quarterfinals. The Bulls are a team of destiny, the Sixers "think" they're cupcake compared to Miami.
Miami over New York in 5. Another potentially ugly series. The Heat's Big 3 and strangling defense will be too much for Melo, Amare, etc.
Indiana over Orlando in 5. The improved Pacers are already making T-shirts saying "No Superman? No problem!" The wounded Magic don't deserve to be here.
Boston over Atlanta in 7. Finally, a real series! The Shamrocks' aging core will make a hard push against an inconsistent, uninspired Hawks squad.

San Antonio over Utah in 5. Yet another open-and-shut case. The Spurs have the deepest bench in the conference; they can beat the upstart Jazz with any possible combo.
Oklahoma City over Dallas in 7. This could go either way. The Thunder will miss Harden but still have Durant, and an aging Mavs core would do anything for a second title.
LA Lakers over Denver in 7. In my opinion this is the series to watch, and not because of the history. The Nuggets' O is ridiculous, but Kobe is Kobe.
LA Clippers over Memphis in 6. The playoffs are where heroes are born, and it might be Blake Griffin's time to shine. Don't rule out the Grizzles if they learn how to rebound.

I think they are all very accurate predictions especially for the east. Knicks, Magic, 76ers are lucky to be there, it would be an upset should any of them win their series.

For LA, it'll be interesting to see how the Staples center is going to accommodate all 3 teams playing in the same arena for a whole series each. Has this ever happened before? I can't remember there ever being an arena that has 3 different teams in the playoffs at the same time.