THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: In Monday’s game at Chicago, Detroit center Andre Drummond began the game with a jersey that had his name spelled DRUMMUND. Two nights later, Atlanta forward Paul Millsap wore a jersey with his name spelled MILSAP.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, after forward Patrick Patterson complained that the camouflage T-shirt jerseys the team wore for Veteran’s Day were too snug:
“If we win with them, we can wear bikinis if we have to.”
TANKS A LOT!: The winless Philadelphia 76ers have a league-low three first-round picks and a league-high seven undrafted free agents on their active roster.
LINE OF THE WEEK: LeBron James, Cleveland at Boston, Nov. 14: 41 minutes, 16-27 FGs, 3-8 3-pointers, 6-9 FTs, four rebounds, seven assists, one block, three turnovers, 41 points in a 122-121 win. After barking at teammates to “Get the bleep back!” on defense in the third period, James took matters into his own hands and led a fourth-quarter comeback from a 19-point deficit.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers vs. San Antonio, Nov. 14: 36 minutes, 1-14 FGs, 0-5 3-pointers, 7-9 FTs, four rebounds, six assists, two blocks, one steal, four turnovers, nine points in a 93-80 loss. Bryant was minus-16 overall, but this was the worst shooting performance of his career in any game in which he took at least 10 shots.
TRILLION WATCH: There were a handful of disappearing acts this week, as Brooklyn’s Andrei Kirilenko (Wednesday at Phoenix), Houston’s Nick Johnson (Wednesday vs. Minnesota at Mexico City), Atlanta’s Mike Muscala (Friday vs. Miami) and Phoenix’s Anthony Tolliver (Saturday at LA Clippers) all registered 4 trillions. But they were all riding shotgun to Spurs rookie Kyle Anderson, who had a 7 trillion in Monday’s road win over the Clippers.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Houston at Memphis, Nov. 17: As of now, the two best teams in the NBA. The Rockets are 6-0 on 
the road, lead the league in 3-pointers made and attempted and are second in points allowed. The Grizzlies are 5-0 at home, next to last in 3-pointers attempted and lead the league in points allowed.
GAME OF THE WEAK: Take your pick of Knicks games. While struggling to figure out the triangle offense, New York visits starless Milwaukee on Tuesday and defenseless Minnesota on Wednesday. The Knicks return home to face winless Philadelphia on Saturday.
TWO MINUTES: So much for Warriors guard Stephen Curry tracking down Kyle Korver’s record 3-point streak. Curry’s run ended at 76 games when he went 0-of-7 from the arc in Tuesday’s home loss to San Antonio. Curry shot 42.3 percent (253-of-598) from distance during his streak, considerably lower than Korver’s 47 percent (337-of-718). And he ends up fifth all-time, behind Korver (127 games), Dana Barros (89), Michael Adams (79) and Dennis Scott (78). Only Adams (36.4 percent) had a worse streak percentage than Curry. Ironically, Curry’s donut gave the longest current streak to Brooklyn’s Joe Johnson, whose 37-game run ended two nights later, also in Oracle Arena. … In his first 10 seasons, Thunder forward Nick Collison was 5-of-38 from 3-point range. This season, he is 8-of-23. … Way too much was made of Kobe Bryant becoming the NBA’s all-time leader in missed shots. All you need to know about the level of overreaction was that he surpassed the universally beloved John Havlicek. But here’s a number that should alarm you, because it probably says more about the Lakers: Bryant has missed 152 shots this season, 39 more than any of his teammates have even attempted. … The one team yet to allow a 25-point game by an opponent is not the grit-n-grind Grizzlies or the bullying Bulls or even the plodding Pacers. It is the Kings, whose 10-game run matches the longest of the shot clock era, according to Elias. … When Portland dropped 84 on Denver in the first half Wednesday, it was the most points allowed before halftime by the Nuggets since Nov. 10, 1990, when they surrendered a record 107 to Phoenix. That was when Denver was coached by Paul Westhead, who tried to bring his full-court pressure scheme from Loyola Marymount to the NBA with disastrous results. … When the Bucks notched home wins over the Grizzlies and Thunder, it marked the first time they had won consecutive games since beating Orlando and Portland on March 17 and 19, 2013. In between, Milwaukee was 21-83. … The only team missing as many key pieces as the Thunder may be the Pacers, who likely will be without Paul George for the entire season and are still waiting for David West and George Hill to suit up. But while the Thunder are trying to compensate for the absence of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook primarily with young, developing players such as Steven Adams, Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb and Andre Roberson, the Pacers are making do mainly with journeymen such as Chris Copeland, Donald Sloan and A.J. Price. Price made Cleveland’s roster out of training camp but was cut in the first week and rejoined Indiana as a roster exemption after playing from 2009-12 with the Pacers. In his third game Monday, he scored 22 points in a win over Utah. On Saturday, he had 21 to help beat Chicago. “I’m playing for my life,” he said. “That’s what it’s been for the last couple years for me. I am staying until they tell me to go. I’m going to keep playing as hard as I can.” … Kings forward Derrick Williams had a nice outing Tuesday at Dallas. He entered the game at the 6:43 mark of the second quarter, fouled Dirk Nowitzki three times in 40 seconds, then left and did not return. … In Byron Scott’s first season as coach of the Nets in 2000-01, the team started 9-21. In his first season with the New Orleans Hornets in 2004-05, they started 2-29. In his first season with the Cavaliers in 2010-11, they started 8-45. And in his first season with the Lakers, they have started 1-9. None of those teams won more than 26 games.
Trivia Answer: Doc Rivers, who is 5-5 all-time in Game 7. … Happy 69th Birthday, Elvin Hayes. … Boy, it’s a shame Florida State doesn’t have a good loss to impress the College Football Playoff Committee.
Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.
excellent submit, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this
sector don’t realize this. You must continue your writing.
I’m confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
I feel like the Bulls organization did this guy a disservice. If reports are true and the Bulls organization leaked information about his health status and his unwillingness (because he wasn’t mentally prepared) to play the year before then they play a part in this. Seems like he’s been backed in a corner ever since without any organizational help.
If reports are true the Bulls created this circus they have now, but this guy is getting killed for giving honest answers. The issue is he isn’t PC and isn’t the most articulate person and slaughtered by media types.
I wish Rose the best. Rose makes my salary in 32 mins of work, but I don’t begrudge him for his words or looking out for himself because his window to earn is small. Based on his body of work so far in his NBA career anyone who thinks this guy is cheating the game because of some poorly worded comments or “ducking out” on the media is looking for something to pick at. He’s been pedal to the floor since his first game.
I don’t begrudge him either. But he’s gotta get better at public speaking, especially in this age of kneejerk reactions. You can’t say “I could care less” and not expect backlash. Thanks for reading.
HUGE HUGE screw-up on Rose’s part! Gonna be very difficult to overcome! This kid’s either not very bright…OR … simply doesn’t care as he stated!