Bernucca: Cap Room, Exceptions, Expiring Deals: Who Has What as NBA Trading Season Begins

THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Because attending an NBA game costs almost as much as tuition for private school, now you also have to behave as if you are in private school.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni, after yelling and flailing his arms at his players during a timeout, imploring them to play defense:

“When I’m out of my mind, I just go with it. I wanted to kill somebody at that point. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

TANKAPALOOZA!: A three-game winning streak has elevated the Boston Celtics to the top of the Atlantic Division with a sparkling 10-12 record. Never mind that they have played Milwaukee three times, Charlotte and Orlando twice each and Utah. “(We want to) show everybody that they can kiss our butts about that tanking stuff,” forward Jared Sullinger told the Boston Herald. The Celtics have Brooklyn’s first-round pick, so they could win the division, make the playoffs and still be in the lottery.

LINE OF THE WEEK: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland vs. Oklahoma City, Dec. 4: 38 minutes, 17-28 FGs, 4-4 FTs, 13 rebounds, five assists, two steals, one foul, zero turnovers, 38 points in a 111-104 win. Aldridge lit up Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison – all considered good defenders – for season highs in points and assists. He has been the best power forward this season. Yes, better than Kevin Love. Sheridan has him No. 2 in MVP rankings.

LINE OF THE WEAK: James Harden, Houston vs. Phoenix, Dec. 4: 41 minutes, 3-17 FGs, 0-10 3-pointers, 8-8 FTs, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, four fouls, five turnovers, 14 points in a 97-88 loss. It was just the third game this season with more shots than points for Harden, who also was a team-worst minus-20.

TRILLION WATCH: Minutes after Rockets swingman Ronnie Brewer became the 12th player this season to record a 4 trillion Monday at Utah, Pacers rookie Solomon Hill finally broke through with a 5 trillion at Portland to take the regular season lead. Perhaps Brewer is a believer in quantity over quality as he added a 3 trillion Friday vs. Golden State and a 1 trillion Sunday vs. Orlando.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Miami at Indiana, Dec. 10. The Pacers have made no secret about their goals this season: Get homecourt advantage for the Eastern Conference finals rematch against the two-time defending champions. At a league-best 18-3, they appear serious. But a home loss to the Heat would erase a lot of those good vibes.

GAME OF THE WEAK: Utah at Sacramento, Dec. 11. Unlike the Eastern Conference, which has just two teams that definitively will make the playoffs, the Western Conference has just two teams that definitively won’t make the playoffs. And these are the two.

TWO MINUTES: After a delay of four games over a week due to a rib injury, Hawks forward Kyle Korver tied the NBA record for consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 89 when he buried six vs. the Clippers on Wednesday. What did Korver do while he was sidelined? “I was just not fun to be around the last five days at the house,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t really exercise or do things. The team was on the road so I can’t help them out. I’m just sitting at home watching season one of Arrow.” On Friday, Korver made the record his alone when he connected from deep midway through the first quarter vs. Cleveland. Were his teammates trying to get it over with? “From my vantage point, no,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “The players may say something different.” Uh, yeah. “At the beginning of the game you could see we were all trying to get the ball to him,” guard Jeff Teague said. “I think DeMarre (Carroll) passed up a wide open shot trying to get it to him in the corner, and I did the same thing in transition. We were excited for him to do it.” Korver broke the record in front of family members who were in town for a different milestone. “They came here for my daughter’s birthday, not for me,” Korver said. “She turned 1 (on Thursday) and they happened to be in town, so they got to enjoy it.” Barros made 217-of-491 threes (.442) during his streak; Korver has made 235-of-500 (.470) during his. … Heat forward Shane Battier played 321 minutes this season before committing his first turnover. … Miodrag Raznatovic, the manager for Nets forward Mirza Teletovic, is operating in a misplaced sense of reality normally reserved for debutantes and PGA Tour golfers. Here is what he told the Sarajevo Times this week about his client, who is averaging 5.4 points on 34 percent shooting for a 6-14 team: “I am absolutely certain that he can be one of the top NBA players because he has a shot that other top players do not have. It is up to us to be able to find the right place where he will have a leadership position as he had in the (Bosnian) national team and in Caja Laboral (of Spain).” We know this stuff often gets lost in translation, but this guy is hallucinating. Top NBA players? Leadership? To his credit, Teletovic didn’t stir the pot any longer, which is the last thing the dysfunctional Nets need right now. … Over the last two seasons, Ty Lawson has been Denver’s leading scorer. However, the Nuggets are 9-1 during that span when Lawson doesn’t play. … A paragraph of the 76ers-Bobcats AP recap Friday began, “In a matchup of defensive-minded teams …” Really? You might want to take a look at those pregame notes. The only time the Sixers have displayed any defensive ability this season is when they have been accused of tanking. Philadelphia is last in the NBA at 110.2 points allowed, nearly seven more than any other team. … Boston’s 114-73 win at New York was its biggest road win ever over the Knicks, which is saying something given the history of the clubs. The Knicks are 2-8 at home and being outscored by an average of 7.5 points at Madison Square Garden, a number that includes their 38-point home win over Orlando on Friday. … The Heat take a nightly beating on the boards, which is the acceptable price they pay for playing small ball. Miami is last in the NBA in rebounding at 35.6 per game – nearly four less than any other team – and 29th in rebound margin at minus-4.6. But if you can manhandle the Heat, you have a much better chance of beating them. In Miami’s five losses, those numbers move to 30.6 and minus-12.2. … A close second for Line of the Week was Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who had 23 points – including the game-winning jumper – and 21 rebounds Monday vs. Atlanta. At 37 years, 221 days, Duncan became the oldest player in NBA history with a 20-20 game, surpassing Robert Parish, who was 37 years, 173 days when he did it for the Celtics in 1991. … When you play at the Verizon Center in Washington, you never know which political luminary may show up. On Monday, it was Ryszard Schnepf, the recently appointed Polish Ambassador to the United States. That left quite an impression on Wizards center Marcin Gortat, the lone current NBA player from Poland. “It was the first time actually, that I was able to play in front of the Ambassador here in DC,” Gortat said. “The next five years he’s going to be here. I’m looking forward to building a relationship with him, and with the embassy.” … Utah forward Derrick Favors was minus-40 in 21 minutes of Friday’s loss at Portland. … The Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League won a protest and will have a chance to turn a loss into a win. With the game tied and 0.9 seconds remaining, the Mad Ants called timeout but instead were given a technical foul because they were supposedly out of timeouts. The resulting free throw gave the Texas Legends a 100-99 victory. But the official scorer had incorrectly recorded a timeout by the Mad Ants earlier in the fourth quarter. When the game resumes, Fort Wayne will have possession with the score tied at 99 and 0.9 seconds left. A resumption date has not been announced, partially because Fort Wayne doesn’t play at Texas again this season. How great would it be if the D-League has both teams return to Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco to resume the game, the Legends provide free admission to fans, and the Mad Ants score in the final second of regulation?

Trivia Answer: Rudy Gay at $17.88 million. … Happy 60th Birthday, World B. Free, the pride of Canarsie High in Brooklyn and “The Prince of Mid-Air.” … Mikhail Prokhorov would like Lawrence Frank’s daily reports to include evaluations of Jason Kidd.

Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.