THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: On Opening Night at the Wells Fargo Center, the Philadelphia 76ers debuted “Big Bella,” which is not a new mascot but in fact the world’s largest T-shirt cannon. Who said American ingenuity was dead?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, almost caught off guard by a silly question from a New Orleans TV crew at a shootaround prior to his season opener (props to Jeff McDonald of the Express-News):
“Is this the end of the first quarter?”
LINE OF THE WEEK: James Harden, Houston at Atlanta, Nov. 2: 40 minutes, 14-19 FGs, 2-4 3-pointers, 15-17 FTs, seven rebounds, two assists, five turnovers, 45 points in a 109-102 win. 
Sometimes, a player with a good game earlky in the week gets bumped from this section by a player with a better one. Harden debuted with 37 points and 12 assists Wednesday, then bumped himself.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Nicolas Batum, Portland vs. Oklahoma City, Nov. 2: 37 minutes, 1-11 FGs, 1-5 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, one rebound, two assists, one steal, one turnover, four fouls, three points in a 106-92 loss. Matched up with Kevin Durant, Batum was outscored by 20 and outrebounded by 16.
TRILLION WATCH: God bless Phoenix forward Luke Zeller and New Orleans guard Xavier Henry, who each registered a 3 trillion over the weekend and pushed Golden State’s Brandon Rush – whose torn ACL saddled him with a 2 trillion – out of the “top” spot. Honorable mention to Dallas center Bernard James, who had a solitary foul that busted a 9 trillion Saturday vs. Charlotte.
GAME OF THE WEEK: San Antonio at LA Clippers, Nov. 7. A reprise of last season’s Western Conference semifinals in which the Spurs embarrassed the Clippers with their postseason savvy. This will be an early test of whether the Clippers have added enough in the offseason.
GAME OF THE WEAK: Detroit at Sacramento, Nov. 7. As of this writing, a pair of winless clubs with the worst scoring margin in their respective conferences. Can’t wait.
TWO MINUTES: Hornets coach Monty Williams stirred the pot Saturday when he criticized the NBA’s concussion protocols that prevented top draft pick Anthony Davis from traveling with the team after he suffered a mild concussion Friday.
The trivia answer is actually incorrect. Joel Anthony is a Canadian national and has played for their national team.
CMS,
That is a great job by you and an awful job by me, which I will explain when I give you a shout-out in my column next week. The correct answer is in there now. Thanks for reading.
CB
This article is poorly written for a few reasons; the most glaring one is the premise that the Princeton offense relies on constant movement and thus is a bad fit because the Lakers have older players. All good offenses have good player and ball movement. All…without exception in other words, function based upon ball and player movement. To suggest a team shouldn’t run an offense because there is too much movement is silly. Especially considering just last year Nash played in a system where they ran every possession and he used 3 to 4 pick and rolls per game. I would say that using ball screens continuously and pushing tempo as a PG is tougher than what the Lakers are asking him to do. Also, to suggest that Dwight is away from the basket and it minimizes his effectiveness is not looking at the offense as a whole. He may start on the elbow but they run actions that allow the ball to be swung with Dwight ceiling his man on the reversal. The issue with the Lakers is not offense. Kobe is shooting 60% from the field. Dwight is getting dunks and layups at will. Artest looks rejuvenated. The issue is they cannot guard anyone. The talk and focus on the offense has been too much and the excuses as to why it hasn’t worked has been ignorant at best. All offenses work when executed correctly and where belief remains. No one will remember this silliness when the Lakers have won 60+ games.
Should read Nash uses 3 to 4 P&R’s per possession.
Cornelius,
Thanks for reading. I did say it was a simplistic view, but I just don’t think it’s what’s best for the Lakers and their star personnel. I think there is a difference between movement and constant movement; my HS team runs a Read and React which involves constant movement and conditioning is a HUGE part of our season prep. Yes Nash ran constant P/R in Phoenix; he also was limited to 32 minutes per game and was an absolute mess when he played more. And while Dwight is not a disaster at the elbow (he often started there in Orlando’s sets), I think Pau is more suited. I do think all of this will have an adverse effect on the other end, which you and I both mentioned is an issue with this team. Having said all that, these are really good veterans who will figure out something to get between 55-62 wins. The panic is in LA, not in this space. CB