THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Milwaukee forward Drew Gooden, who wore out his welcome in a brief stint in Chicago, offered tickets to Monday’s Bulls-Bucks game to any of his Twitter followers who sent him a picture of a Bulls jersey in a toilet.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott, after his team managed just 78 points in a home loss to Phoenix:
“Andy Varejao was fantastic. Everyone else sucked.”
LINE OF THE WEEK: Kevin Love, Minnesota at Sacramento, Nov. 27: 44 minutes, 8-17 FGs, 2-8 3-pointers, 5-6 FTs, 24 rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block, 23 points in a 97-89 win. Love took the protective glove off his healing right hand and posted a league season high in rebounds. He also flipped in an off-balance 15-footer to beat the shot clock and seal the win with 26 seconds to go.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Blake Griffin, LA Clippers vs. New Orleans, Nov. 26: 25 minutes, 1-9 FGs, 0-1 3-pointers, 2-3 FTs, six rebounds, three assists, one steal, four turnovers, six fouls, four points in a 105-98 loss. It was the worst game of Griffin’s career – his all-time low in points, a refusal to step out and prevent Ryan Anderson from raining 3-pointers, and a Dairy Queen exit.
TRILLION WATCH: Weekly honors were shared by Cleveland’s Donald Sloan on Tuesday and Portland’s Sasha Pavlovic and Cleveland’s Samardo Samuels on Friday, all notching 3 trillions. But you have to combine their lack of effort to get anywhere near season leader Josh Childress of Brooklyn and his 8 trillion on Nov. 15.
GAME OF THE WEEK: New York at Miami, Dec. 6. The Heat should have revenge on their minds after their 104-84 loss at Madison Square Garden just over a month ago. The Knicks play the previous night in Charlotte and two nights later in Chicago, but don’t expect Mike Woodson to rest Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith.
GAME OF THE WEAK: Cleveland at Detroit, Dec. 3. The race for the bottom of the Central Division, by far the worst bracket in the league. Both teams enter the week tied for the most losses. And for you masochists out there, they do it again at The Q five days later.
TWO MINUTES: We have been watching this game for a long time, but the score early in the third quarter at Oklahoma City on Monday night – Thunder 79, Bobcats 25 – is the highest we have ever seen where the loser’s total is being tripled. In that game, Thabo Sefolosha played 21 minutes and was plus-45, while Brendan Haywood played 24 minutes and was minus-39. … In 
addition to leading his team and all NBA reserves in scoring, Clippers guard Jamal Crawford has made 44 straight free throws. … Here’s the NBA definition of stubborn: The Bucks trailed, 78-51, with 2:49 to play in the third quarter Monday at Chicago when coach Scott Skiles went with a lineup of five reserves – Ersan Ilyasova, Mike Dunleavy, Ekpe Udoh, Beno Udrih and rookie Doron Lamb. Skiles never went back to any of his starters – not when that group cut it to 80-63 entering the fourth quarter, not when the subs tied it, 82-82, with seven minutes to go, not when he called timeout at 88-88 with 2:24 to play, and not even after a 20-second timeout when they had trouble inbounding under Chicago’s basket with eight seconds to play and a 93-92 lead, ultimately turning it over. Milwaukee held on to win. “I never thought of putting the starters back in,” Skiles said. “There was a noticeable uptick in our pressure and we weren’t giving up offensive rebounds, and we got off on the break with that group that was in there.” The Bucks, who play their reserves more than any team except the Wizards, are second in the NBA with 42.1 bench points per game. … On the flip side is the Blazers, who play their bench less than any team and get a paltry 13.9 points per game from their reserves, almost 10 points less than the next-worst team (Lakers, 23.4 ppg). Portland already has had seven games this season where its bench has provided 10 points or less. In Saturday’s double-overtime win at Cleveland, Blazers coach Terry Stotts went to little-used Joel Freeland (7 DNPs), Luke Babbitt (6 DNPs) and Nolan Smith (7 DNPs), who combined for 18 of their 29 bench points. Portland has four starters in the top 13 in minutes, all averaging more than 37 per game. No other team has more than two playing that much. … The Heat were favored over the Spurs by six points until Gregg Popovich announced four of his starters would not be playing, which catapulted the line to 13 points. The Spurs actually covered the original number, losing 105-100. … The Mavericks’ signing of Derek Fisher means they are replacing a 39-year-old point guard with a 38-year-old point guard. When Jason Kidd left via free agency in the offseason, the original plan was a tandem of Darren Collison and Delonte West, but the latter was waived after more of his off-the-wall behavior. That left the job to Collison, whose numbers (12.4 ppg, 6.4 apg) belie his ineffectiveness; he actually was benched in favor of Dominique Jones, who can’t shoot. Fisher started his debut Saturday and played 18 minutes. Collison played 27 minutes and Jones was a DNP-CD. … When the Grizzlies faced a 69-62 deficit entering the fourth quarter of Monday’s eventual home win over the Cavaliers, it marked the first time this season they had trailed after three quarters. … What Brooklyn’s Jerry Stackhouse did this week was nothing short of phenomenal. In consecutive games against divisional rivals New York and Boston, the 38-year-old swingman scored 31 points on 10 shots, making 9-of-11 3-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws. Nearly all of that production came off spot-up 3-pointers from the corner, but in Saturday’s loss to Miami – after a night off in Orlando, to avoid the strain of back-to-backs – Stackhouse scored 11 points with no 3-pointers, schooling Mike Miller with a pair of post turnaround jumpers and taking LeBron James to the rack with a fountain-of-youth first step for what might have been the greatest poster of all time had James not fouled him (it’s at the 1:25 mark of this video). Stackhouse has been so good he is keeping MarShon Brooks – 15 years his junior – anchored to the bench. … One of the rumored Dwight Howard deals over the summer 
was a multi-team trade that had the Cavaliers getting Andrew Bynum and shipping a package of players and picks to the Magic with Anderson Varejao as the centerpiece. Regardless of its record, Cleveland looks pretty smart right now for not making that deal, because Varejao is by far the best center in the Eastern Conference this season. The Brazilian is averaging 15.1 points, a league-leading 15.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals and has pulled down at least 15 rebounds in eight straight games. “The way Anderson is rebounding the ball right now, the only comparison you can make is to Dennis Rodman,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. By the way, Varejao needs just 178 more consecutive games with 15-plus rebounds to tie Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time record. …
Trivia Answer: Randy Smith. … Happy 27th Birthday, Robert Swift. … As a disciple of Gregg Popovich, Jacque Vaughn said he will rest his three stars as soon as his GM acquires them.
Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
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