THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Knicks players are now imitating their fans. 
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, on his team’s late arrival to Staples Center prior to Monday’s game vs. the Los Angeles Clippers:
“The sunset was great over Santa Monica, so we stayed a little longer.”
TANKAPALOOZA!: Bucks fans have bought a website and a billboard in hoping of convincing the team – currently holding the worst record in the NBA – to continue down that path.
LINE OF THE WEEK: Joe Johnson, Brooklyn vs. Philadelphia, Dec. 16: 30 minutes, 13-20 FGs, 10-14 3-pointers, 1-1 FTs, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block, zero turnovers, 37 points in a 130-94 win. In just the third quarter, Johnson made 8-of-10 threes – tying Michael Redd’s record for threes in one period – and scored 29 points – four short of the record for any quarter.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Corey Brewer, Minnesota at Boston and LA Lakers, Dec. 16 and 20: 50 minutes, 1-16 FGs, 0-6 3-pointers, 7-8 FTs, four rebounds, three assists, one steal, five turnovers, nine points in a pair of losses. Perhaps Brewer felt his 1-of-8 in Beantown wasn’t strong enough to get him top billing here, so he took his act to the Left Coast and dropped an 0-of-8.
TRILLION WATCH: A 3 trillion by Thunder forward Perry Jones III at Chicago on Thursday tops this week’s charts. Honorable mention to Mavericks rookie Gal Mekel, who had a pair of 2 trillions, and Jazz guard Brandon Rush, who took a shot and grabbed a rebound Monday at Miami to spoil an otherwise unfathomable 21 trillion. Pelicans forward Darius Miller still holds the season lead with his 7 trillion.
GAME OF THE WEEK: LA Clippers at Golden State, Dec. 25. This is the last game on the Christmas slate and by far the best one. These teams developed a healthy hatred for each other last season, when Mark Jackson 
called Blake Griffin “a good actor,” Chris Paul accused the Warriors of celebrating like they “won the NBA Finals” and Jackson holding a staredown with several Clippers. The Clippers won this season’s first meeting, which featured a shoving match between Andrew Bogut and DeAndre Jordan.
GAME OF THE WEAK: Oklahoma City at New York, Dec. 25. Unfortunately, to get to the above game you must endure this game, which could get very ugly beyond the sleeved jerseys. The Thunder have won nine of 10 and playing with a chip on their shoulders. The Knicks are 4-10 at home, including three afternoon matinee losses by a combined 80 points.
TWO MINUTES: Hawks swingman Kyle Korver is having one of the best shooting seasons of his career. He is shooting 51.5 percent from the arc this season, second in the league behind Marco Belinelli and second to his career-best and NBA-record 53.6 percent with Utah in 2009-10. Korver’s record 3-point streak is at 96 games and could be up to 100 by the end of the week. Atlanta is at Miami (15th in 3-point defense) on Monday, at Cleveland (23rd) on Thursday, home to Charlotte (20th) on Saturday and at Orlando (26th) on Sunday. … The Sixers are 4-19 in regulation and 4-1 in overtime. … The Kings got younger and more explosive with their acquisition of Rudy Gay, but right now they have a bunch of kids who have no idea how to play defense. After being lit up for eight threes by Korver and a buck-twenty-four by the Hawks, coach Mike Malone disingenuously took the blame, saying, I’m not doing a good enough job of explaining who the players are on their team that can make shots.” Two nights later in Miami, Sacramento gave up seven dunks in the first 15 minutes – including two by 38-year-old Ray Allen – and 122 points, and Malone wasn’t taking the blame anymore. “Every day in practice, every shootaround, every team meeting, every film session, all we talk about is our defense and obviously the message isn’t getting through,” he said. “They’re not accepting it. They’re not willing to accept it. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I have to find five guys … who are willing to compete on the defensive end of the floor.” Malone did admit that his team could use more practice time to get the new players acclimated, but the Kings are 29th in scoring defense, opponents’ shooting, opponents’ 3-point 
shooting and opponents’ points per shot. … Khris Middleton is only Bucks player to appear in all 27 games this season. He played 27 games total as a rookie with Detroit last season. … After the Heat host the Hawks on Monday, they begin a four-game western swing vs. the Lakers, Kings, Blazers and Nuggets before returning home to face the Warriors. Miami has won 18 straight games vs. West teams, two shy of the record set by Boston in 1973. The Heat’s last loss to a team from the West was Jan. 14 at Utah. … The Clippers are 5-0 since making supersub Jamal Crawford a starter. … Pistons big Andre Drummond already is a pretty darn good player who has an extremely high ceiling. But he got a schooling Saturday from Dwight Howard, who lit up the youngster for 35 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. “At the end I thanked him for the lesson,” Drummond said. “He said, ‘Any time.'” … In his last eight games, Knicks starting shooting guard Iman Shumpert is averaging 2.4 points. During that span, he is shooting 6-of-42 from the field, including 3-of-20 from the arc.
Trivia Answer: Bernard King scored 60 for the Knicks in a loss to the Nets in 1984. … Happy 51st Birthday, Jerry “Ice” Reynolds, my former classmate at I.S. 293 in Brooklyn. … Boy, the Thunder are paying Kendrick Perkins an awful lot of money to be locker room bouncer. Does he do anything else?
Chris Bernucca is the deputy editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.