THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Virtually every basketball media outlet – including Sheridan Hoops – confused bombast for brains this week by actually publishing more idiotic remarks from idiotic remarker Dennis Rodman. This time, the Hall of Fame wingnut said Steve Kerr “ain’t coaching s**t” in guiding the Warriors to the NBA’s best record. “Steve Kerr’s having a good time. He ain’t coaching. He’s just having a good time. He just sitting there and letting those kids shoot. That’s all he’s doing, man. He’s just sitting there. He ain’t doing no damn thing.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, on his shorthanded, young team taking on the league-leading Golden State Warriors:
“Ever play Risk? I feel like I’m Macedonia with two people and I’m surrounded by 50 people and have to roll 12s 49 straight times.”
TANKS A LOT!: Count Magic Johnson among those turning the tank into a bandwagon. Johnson, who once coined the phrase “Winnin’ Time,” believes his beloved Lakers need to lose – a lot. “I hope the Lakers lose every game,” Johnson told Newsday. “Because if you’re going to lose, lose. I’m serious. … You can’t be in the middle of the pack. You either have to be great or you have to be bad to get a good pick.”
LINE OF THE WEEK: Blake Griffin, LA Clippers vs. Phoenix, Dec. 8: 43 minutes, 14-24 FGs, 2-2 3-pointers, 15-17 
FTs, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, three turnovers, 45 points in a 121-120 win. Eclipsing 40 minutes for the first time this season, Griffin had a season high in points and got a fortunate bounce on his game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, improving to 6-of-10 from the arc this season.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix vs. Miami, Dec. 9: 36 minutes, 2-11 FGs, 0-6 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, five rebounds, eight assists, zero blocks, one steal, seven turnovers, four points in a 103-97 loss. Coming off his first career triple-double a night earlier, Bledsoe was responsible for a maximum 16 empty possessions between his missed shots and turnovers. Guys who make $14 million a year are supposed to do it every game, not every other game.
TRILLION WATCH: A true hero of zeroes has resurfaced in Thunder forward Perry Jones III, who recently returned from an injury and notched a 6 trillion Friday at Minnesota. Jones has been a fixture in the Trillion Watch over the last three seasons. In the 2012-13 campaign, Jones was the only player with two 5 trillions or better. Last season, Jones was one of three players with two 5 trillions or better and tied for top honors with a 10 trillion. Welcome back, Perry. Honorable mention to Warriors guard Brandon Rush with a 4 trillion Saturday at Dallas.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Golden State at Memphis, Dec. 16. The top two teams in the NBA, with both coming off a day of rest as they continue to disprove misconceptions about what they are. The Warriors, often thought of as a team of gunners, lead the league in opponents’ field-goal percentage. The Grizzlies, considered a defensive team that pounds the ball inside, are third in the NBA in 3-point shooting and have the league leader in Courtney Lee (.550).
GAME OF THE WEAK: Take your pick. Boston visits Philadelphia on Monday, hosts Orlando on Wednesday and hosts Minnesota on Friday. In addition to hosting Boston, Philadelphia visits Charlotte on Friday and Orlando on Sunday. And Utah visits Orlando on Friday. All in all, it looks like a good week for after-work Christmas shopping.
TWO MINUTES: Russell Westbrook deserves an awful lot of credit for quickly elevating the Thunder back into the playoff picture in the West. While Oklahoma City is 7-1 since Kevin Durant returned from a broken foot, the alpha dog is easing his way back into dominance, averaging 20.9 points in 28.4 minutes. In eight games since his return, Westbrook is averaging 27.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 31.8 minutes, playing at his usual breakneck pace. He has had at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in every game, the longest streak of his career. “He’s a walking triple-double,” Durant said. “He passes as good as any point guard. He scores better than any point guard. He rebounds better than any point guard. He plays defense better than any point guard. I don’t see what the debate is.” … Speaking of point guards, new school got the better of old school Friday in Washington, where John Wall came in with an 0-6 career mark vs. Chris Paul but came away with the win. “He isn’t going to tell you that, but I know this kid well enough to tell you that he was waiting for this game, he wanted to win this game,” Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. “And this is the huge improvement from John from day one: It wasn’t about who was going to score more points; who’s going to lead the team to win the game?” Wall wasn’t his recent spectacular self, totaling 10 points and 11 assists while Paul had 19 points and six assists. But Paul also had a season-high six turnovers as Wall made it difficult on him with his defense. “I thought he was into CP most of the game, bodied him, blocked shots,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s a freak athletically, and in the past, I thought he only used to be on the offensive end.” … And here’s some telling info from Paul. During the Clippers’ nine-game winning streak, he had 83 assists and 18 turnovers. In two losses since, he has 13 and 12. … Grizzlies center Marc Gasol notched his fourth 30-point game of the season in Tuesday’s win over Dallas. Prior to this season, Gasol had one career 30-point game, way back in his rookie 2008-09 campaign. Should we mention again that Gasol – still on the right side of 30 – is a free agent after this season? … Hawks forward Kyle Korver, who already has the record 3-point streak at 127 games, is up to 44 straight free throws made, three shy of his personal best and also three shy of the team record set by the scholarly Tom McMillen in the 1978-79 season. Korver has a long way to go for the NBA free throw mark – Minnesota’s Micheal Williams made 97 in a row over two seasons in 1993 – but it would be remarkable if he held both records. … The Nuggets should move to Cedar Point. They started 1-6, then went 8-2 and now are 1-6 since. … The Mavs had four 20-point scorers in Wednesday’s win over the Pelicans. Just four teams this season have had a quartet of 20-point scorers, and Dallas has done it twice, also turning the trick in a double-overtime win at Chicago on Dec. 2. In each game, it was the same four guys – Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, Chandler Parsons and Devin 
Harris. … In Friday’s loss to Brooklyn, Philadelphia shot 11-of-28 from 3-point range – and 11-of-41 from 2-point range. That is a shot-clock era record for the fewest 2-point buckets in a game. … At 23.1 points per game, the Jazz don’t have the lowest-scoring bench in the NBA. That distinction belongs to the Rockets (21.9), who have played considerable chunks of the season thus far without starters Dwight Howard, Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley, which turns a good portion of their bench into starters. But until Derrick Favors went down with an ankle on Friday, the Jazz had been pretty much injury-free, with seven players seeing action in every game and starting shooting guard Alec Burks missing just two contests. And the group of Trevor Booker, Rudy Gobert, Ian Clark, Steve Novak, Jeremy Evans and rookies Dante Exum, Rodney Hood and Joe Ingles has been downright embarrassing. In its last 10 games, Utah’s bench has had four double-digit games, with two of them padded by garbage time blowouts. By contrast, Toronto’s bench had four double-figure scorers in Friday’s win over Indiana and Philadelphia rookie reserve K.J. McDaniels has six double-figure games in his last 10 outings.
Trivia Answer: Nick Collison, Kevin Durant, Reggie Evans, Jeff Green, Luke Ridnour. … Happy 44th Birthday, Lawrence Funderburke. … Apparently, DeMarcus Cousins contracted viral meningitis from Mike Malone.
Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
I’d put the Hawks to finish at #5, barring major injuries in the East. As you pointed out, they haven’t been really tested yet.
Its really ashamed that the Networks are so biased with their TV coverage. Hopefully they will cancel more Knicks (1 was already cancelled), Laker & Heat games.
I gather that Danny Ferry is still, quietly, the GM, despite all the attempts by the media to get rid of him. It wasn’t as though he was reading the “State of the Union” Address – it was supposed to be a confidential meeting of Execs. Also, the media failed to mention that long time friend, Billy King, called him “the furthest thing from a Racist”. May be Danny Ferry deserves lots of credit for putting together that Hawks team, with limited salary. I see that the Hawks website has left out “Front Office” personnel.
It’s good that Hawks are doing well, because it could increase the value of the team, if Levinson does sell team (seems to be taking a long time). Minority owner Michael Gearon Jr., appears to be coming out of that summer incident, unscathed, as he seems to have been the mastermind behind trying to get rid of both Levinson and Ferry.