Weak Eastern Conference may not have enough All-Stars

THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: As if the sleeved uniforms worn by players on Christmas weren’t bad enough, Nets guard Jason Terry wore perhaps the ugliest socks in the history of clothing.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: New York Knicks forward Metta World Peace, on why he wasn’t present when owner James Dolan met with the players:

“I was in another galaxy yesterday with my galactic friends.”

TANKAPALOOZA!: There’s a team which has lost five straight games, including the last two to a pair of the worst teams in the NBA. It is already five games out of the final playoff spot. Its three top players are out with injuries. Its coach has used five different players at point guard and seven different lineups in the last seven games. This team will have a ton of cap room and a first-round draft pick this summer. Kobe Bryant used to play for them. The league is different this season, eh?

LINE OF THE WEEK: Chris Bosh, Miami at Portland, Dec. 28: 39 minutes, 15-26 FGs, 3-3 3-pointers, 4-4 FTs, 10 rebounds, one assist, two steals, two turnovers, 37 points in a 108-107 win. Yes, Atlanta’s Jeff Teague went for 34 and 14 assists with a game-winner to outduel Kyrie Irving. But Bosh went for a season high to pick up the slack for the injured LeBron James. All three of his 3-pointers came in the last four minutes, and he convinced coach Erik Spoelstra to draw up the final shot as a three instead of a two.

LINE OF THE WEAK: Paul Pierce, Brooklyn vs. Indiana, Dec. 23: 15 minutes, 0-7 FGs, 0-2 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, two rebounds, one assist, one block, zero steals, two turnovers, zero points in a 103-86 loss. This was just the second scoreless game of Pierce’s career. The first came in his 1998-99 rookie season. And that one didn’t include a flagrant-2 foul and a $15,000 fine.

TRILLION WATCH: Last season, Thunder forward Perry Jones III was the only NBA player to register at least a 5 trillion more than once. This season, Jones clearly has decided to go for quality instead of quantity, as evidenced by his 10 trillion Friday vs. Charlotte – the first double-digit trillion of the season. Jones blew past Pelicans forward Darius Miller, the previous clubhouse leader with a 7 trillion Dec. 15 vs. Denver.

GAME OF THE WEEK: Portland at Oklahoma City, Dec. 31. The first meeting this season between teams battling for the NBA’s best record – and the Northwest Division lead. The Blazers and their 12-3 road mark will have played the previous night in New Orleans. The Thunder and their 13-1 home record will be rested but without Russell Westbrook, who had been driving their recent hot streak.

GAME OF THE WEAK: Milwaukee at Utah, Jan. 2. There is no TNT doubleheader this Thursday, and perhaps this is the reason why. In addition to the worst teams in each conference rolling their tanks toward each other, the schedule also includes Orlando at Cleveland and Philadelphia at Sacramento.

TWO MINUTES: Kyle Korver’s 3-pointer streak is up to 100 games. Despite a somewhat ordinary 13-of-33 (for him) showing from the arc this week, Korver leads the NBA in true shooting percentage at .685. Here are the current streaks of some of this season’s better 3-point shooters: Damian Lillard, five games; Ray Allen, nine; Jose Calderon, nine; Wesley Matthews, nine; Klay Thompson, 12; Kevin Durant, 16; Stephen Curry, 20; and Ryan Anderson, 25. The second-longest current streak belongs to Portland’s Nicolas Batum, who is at 41 games dating to last season. … Since their first two-game losing streak of the season, the Pacers have won four in a row by an average of 22.3 points. … After the Warriors used dirty play to bait Blake Griffin into a pair of technical fouls and an ejection – which the NBA later admitted was unwarranted – in their Christmas win over the Clippers, Griffin accused Golden State of “cowardly basketball.” Andrew Bogut, whose jersey grab resulted in Griffin’s second tech, retorted, “We’d rather be called cowards and come out with the win.” As childish as that may sound, Bogut is right, because it doesn’t matter what any opponent says about a team’s style of play. Griffin may have found the proper response to the rough stuff in Saturday’s win over Utah, in which he scored 40 points, but more importantly was 14-of-17 from the line. He is at 70 percent for the season. … The Nuggets have lost six in a row, their longest skid since a pair of six-game losing streaks in December 2004. That was under Jeff Bzdelik, before George Karl. … Sooner or later, the Spurs are going to have to figure out how to beat a really good team. Their seven losses have been to Portland, Oklahoma City twice, Houston twice, Indiana and the LA Clippers. In January, they have four games against those teams, plus a meeting with Miami. San Antonio has beaten Phoenix twice, Golden State twice and Denver, but three of those wins are by three points or less. … Before Saturday’s loss to Miami, Portland was 7-1 in games decided by three points or less or in overtime, 14-0 when leading at halftime and 19-0 when leading entering the fourth quarter. … The immediate beneficiary of Andrew Bynum’s suspension is Tyler Zeller, who had a solid rookie campaign a year ago but became a forgotten man this season. Zeller averaged 7.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in 26.4 minutes as a rookie but is averaging 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 8.9 minutes with 11 DNPs this season. On Saturday at Boston, he had five points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes. … Nuggets guard Randy Foye has been so bad in December it has cost him his starting job. Foye is averaging 7.0 points and 1.6 assists while shooting just 30 percent this month. He has made four of his last 25 3-pointers and has been demoted the last two games behind Jordan Hamilton. … It’s taken one-third of the season, but the Suns are finally starting to garner some attention, most notably from the networks. At the outset of the season, Phoenix had no scheduled appearances on TNT and just one on ESPN – a home game vs. New Orleans on Feb. 28. But this week, ESPN added the Phoenix-Minnesota game Jan. 8 – dropping LA Lakers-Houston – and the Indiana-Phoenix game Jan. 22 – dropping Chicago-Cleveland. … In Thursday’s win at Dallas, Spurs guard Danny Green was 7-of-7 from the field – including five 3-pointers – and 3-of-3 from the line. Since the arc was installed in 1979, he is just the fourth player with at least seven shots and a perfect night from all three areas, joining Sam Perkins (eight shots, 1997), Jose Calderon (eight, 2008) and Matt Barnes (seven, 2010).

Trivia Answer: Miami has six (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Greg Oden, Michael Beasley). … Happy 29th Birthday, LeBron James. … Have a happy and safe new year.

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