Tony Mejia

The first night back out of the All-Star break gate didn't include Caron Butler or Tony Parker and wasn't very successful for Kevin Garnett, who returned from a nine-game absence due to abdominal strain with four points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes in a 124-118 loss in Denver.

The Nuggets drew their largest regular season crowd ever and improved to 12-1 against Eastern Conference opponents, handing the Celtics their first loss in 17 tries against the West. As a result, Denver is back up among the top eight, leaving Golden State without a seat in the conference's cut-throat game of musical chairs.

One debut that did go well was Pau Gasol's first show at Staples Center, playing to a packed that house that seemed to arrive earlier than usual to greet him, not to mention see how Kobe Bryant's right pinkie will hold up. Lakers fans began the 30-game ritual of holding their breath every time he draws contact on that shooting hand, but quickly learned that he's still going to be able to command double teams, deliver nice feeds for easy baskets and play shut-down defense.

Although there's always a chance that he'll re-aggravate the injury, Bryant believes he can do no further damage to the finger by playing and has pledged to deal with the soreness and swelling rather than risk abandoning his team in a playoff race where four games separate the No. 3 seed from missing the playoffs altogether.

Mike Bibby was booed by the boisterous Lakers crowd the first time he touched the ball in an Atlanta uniform and L.A. wound up exploding to a 73-37 halftime lead to spoil their former Sacramento rival's Hawks debut.
The Kings did just fine in their first game without their long-time point guard, winning in Portland's behind Ron Artest's 24 points in what might be his final game wearing his current team's uniform.

All this jockeying for position should become the norm in the Western Conference over the final two months of the season, where "win to get in" has already started. Beating up on the East is practically a pre-requisite, so it was no surprise to see Western teams go 5-0 against the opposing conference.

You can expect at least one more addition to finish up the arms race that Gasol's acquisition kicked off at the start of the month, while the unveilings of Shaquille O'Neal and Jason Kidd with their new teams are on tap Wednesday night.

The most drawn out NBA trade in recent history finally took place on Tuesday. It should come as no surprise that the press conferences officially announcing the move were equally melodramatic.

Jason Kidd is again part of the Dallas Mavericks. He'll wear No. 2, hoping for a better time of it the second time around. Owner Mark Cuban said he's looking for another job to pay the massive luxury tax that awaits him when the last year of his new point guard's deal kicks in. By that point, Cuban is hoping he'll have smoked a few dozen Cubans in celebration of the Mavericks' first championship to make it all worthwhile.

Kidd's return is a championship-or-bust proposition, one engineered by a franchise that looked at what they had, compared it to the toys the rest of the Western Conference had at their disposal and decided they needed it to re-arrange their collection. Kidd's savvy late in games and leadership skills overcame all concerns over mortgaging the future (Tony Parker-hound Devin Harris, two first-rounders, center DeSagana Diop) for a fighting chance at winning now.

That's why this deal was always going to get done, with an agreement again reached prior to Sunday's All-Star Game that illustrated a point of no return for the Dallas owner: Keith Van Horn would be signed to a $4 million deal to get this done.

That's it. Rod Thorn tried to put a spin on how much he'd get out of his new formerly retired forward and opted to go with a "we'll see." I'm setting the over/under at games he participates in at five and taking the under. Adding Harris and obtaining financial security for the team's future makes it of little consequence that Van Horn isn't interested in re-igniting his career.

After all, Cuban is paying.

The clock is ticking on Dallas' latest experiment, so the getting-to-know-you fest Avery Johnson is looking forward to with Kidd will have to yield immediate chemistry. That relationship will be the key in this all working, even more so than Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, because to win, Johnson is going to have surrender control of the team to his new arrival. Johnson knows what buttons to push, but has been guilty of over-coaching during both of Dallas' playoff collapses, letting Miami back into a 2006 Finals it had no business being in and attempting to match up with Golden State by altering his starting lineup instead of forcing the Warriors to have to adjust to them in a Game 1 loss that set the tone for last year's first round upset.

Johnson can afford to relax a little more now. Kidd is his first true point guard. He'll make everyone better. If he makes them good enough, the Mavericks might finally break through.

Without him, they would have no shot. That's why Cuban agreed to pay whatever price. One thousand deaths? Only if his check didn't clear.

NEW ORLEANS - Jason Kapono kidded on Friday that he was bringing the 3-point Shootout to new heights with his presence.

"It's because of me," the Raptors sniper declared. "Really, it took off last year. I've got a lot of people over here around my table, the media coverage has been significant, so obviously, I should be in it every year."

There were only a few people who stopped by his media table, including some overzealous TV reporter from Japan, but Kapono had fun with him and this whole event, mingling with fans in relative anonymity when he wasn't tending to his NBA responsibilities.

When he and his wife walked out of a New Orleans restaurant a few hours before the 3-point shootout, no one mobbed him. Only a few people probably even realized who he was. 

"I'm never going to get past that point," Kapono said over being the least-known name invited to this year's event, "but I've come to terms with it."

The way he caught fire on Saturday night, winning his second consecutive shootout title, he looks well on his way to getting his wish of being in this every year.

Kapono knocked down 10 consecutive shots and wound up hitting 17 of his last 20 to tie Craig Hodges' event record of 25 set back in 1986.

His wasn't the only record set on an All-Star Saturday night. Here are my highlights:

• Deron Williams continues his assault on the coaches and media who left him out of Sunday's All-Star Game, excelling wherever he can since the snub. He shut down Chris Paul in an individual matchup shortly after the reserves were announced and took him out in the Skills competition tonight, setting a new record by completing the obstacle course of making a layup, dribbling through four posts, throwing a bounce pass, hitting a jumper, throwing an outlet pass and finishing with a layup in 25.5 seconds, a new record.
• That took me longer than 25.5 seconds to write. An impressed Mike Freeman said, it would take me eight minutes to do all that. I'll take the over.
• Jason Kidd was grooving along nicely until being foiled by his lack of a reliable jumper, missing three times before just giving up and moving on to the outlet pass. Dwyane Wade's event went the way his season has -- he missed a couple layups and ended up finishing in 53.9 seconds, surrendering his title.
• It also looked like David Robinson was still in shape to play. He's a little bigger in the middle, but looked to be more ready to contribute than many big men cashing pay checks. At the very least, the Spurs can sign him to a deal and trot him out there for long buzzer-beaters. He made up for missing about seven straight short bank shots by drilling a halfcourt shot on his first attempt to help San Antonio's entry claim the Shooting Stars event.
• Dwight Howard supplied the "haven't seen that before element" that keeps so many "superstars" from competitng in this thing with his inventive dunks, but he wasn't alone. Loved Gerald Green blowing out a candle and Jamario Moon attempting the impossible by trying to finish an alley oop after taking off from behind the 3-point line. Effort, people. Not everything has been done.

Saturday night proved the dunk contest can still be entertaining. At the very least, this night puts baseball's Home Run Derby to shame.

 
NEW ORLEANS - Morris Almond walked over asking the same question: how are you going to dribble out the clock in a game of H-O-R-S-E?

Although eventual winner Lance Allred of the Idaho Stampede ultimately relented and took a shot with about 10 seconds remaining, leaving Almond a few seconds to knock down a kneeling layup that Allred matched easily after the buzzer, the damage was done. The NBDL embraced its role as the NBA's guinea pig, a resource to develop players as well as ideas, and staged an event you're sure to see added to the NBA's All-Star skills showcase, a good old fashioned game of H-O-R-S-E.

Players were outfitted with wireless microphones to call shots and interact with fans and had a 24-second shot clock ticking down as they took turns trying to give one another letters over a 5:00 period. Allred knocked off Jeremy Richardson in a semifinal that required sudden death, which naturally required a coin toss to see who would go first.

There were free throws made with eyes closed, halfcourt shots attempted, 3-pointers after 360 twirls, shots made sitting down, thrown in off one leg.

NBDL President Dan Reed agreed that it's only a matter of time before H-O-R-S-E is added to the NBA's menu of dunks and 3-pointers. It's an event that has home run written all over it. It just needs to be tweaked.

Almond told me that he had a few shots in mind, like one where he placed his right foot over his left foot and proceded to try and knock down a 15-foot bank shot with his left hand. If you blew on him, he'd fall down. It was inventive, something the Utah Starzz rookie, a first-round draft pick of the Utah Jazz last summer, said he was counting on seeing more of.

"There were different strategies. Some guys tried to just go out there and out-shoot people. I thought there would be a little more showmanship involved. That's what I was out there doing," said Almond, who said he watched old highlights of Pete Maravich playing H-O-R-S-E with George Gervin to prepare. "I think this will definitely work for the NBA. The 24 seconds they gave us to shoot were just right, the perfect length of time to talk trash and get off a shot."

Ultimately, that's the element that needs work to get this baby ready for prime time. There's got to be a crowd-pleasing element involved, which is what made those McDonals commercials where Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played H-O-R-S-E so memorable.

Trying to get into your opponents' head is a fundamental part of this game and one that will make this a fan favorite when it comes up to the big leagues. I want to see Dwyane Wade and LeBron James calling each other out. Kobe Bryant can prove he's the most talented player in the world on a unique stage. It's an event you can't get hurt competing in, so there's no risk factor.

Be prepared to see it sooner than later. Based on what went down in its developmental stage down in the D-League, the ability to milk the clock in the final minute needs to be cut down. Almond will be the first to tell you the shot clock might need to be cut in half when you're in the final 60 seconds.

That said, this experiment saw a healthy start to an event with a promising future.