Totally Week

Well, it was the holidays, right? Spent some time on Long Island with the folks, and a lot of time (what else?) shopping. Ended up missing Kobe's 62-in-three-quarters versus Dallas, as well as the Knicks latest home stretch (where they lost to everyone but the Jazz). Ron Artest hasn't been traded yet, and once again Kobe outscored Shaq on Christmas and his team still lost. The funny thing is that—while heralded as more of a one-on-one matchup—the Lakers/Heat wound up to be a much more intriguing game than Pistons/Spurs, which was pretty much decided after the Spurs' anemic 8-point first quarter. Obviously Ginobili's absence hurts the Spurs, but the Pistons are looking pretty unbeatable anyway.

Which brings us to Larry Brown, who, at this rate, should be considering retirement by—well, last week. He's tried countless starting lineups, which have only served to confuse and piss off everyone on the team at various points. Stephon Marbury is getting booed, Eddy Curry is woefully out of shape (and every loss ups his price—as this year's first-round pickm which now belongs to the Bulls, looks more and more like a high one). Finally the New York media seem to be taking some well-deserved shots at Isiah Thomas and Brown—seeing that one assembled the roster and the other coaches it, one of them has to take much of the blame. Payroll is still astronomical, and Isiah's main talent seems to be in the draft—and he dealt their next two No. 1s.

Which means it's up to Brown to turn this mess around, because there's no magic deal that's going to bring them under the cap or add young talent or first-round picks. This is not particularly encouraging, as Brown has looked decidedly overmatched so far. It's hard to look at this team and see promise, and impossible to see results. James Dolan is paying $10 million a year for this?