Bosh expressed his frustration at the lack of support displayed by his fellow Raptors after the incident, telling Toronto Star reporter Dave Feschuk (via FanHouse):

"Yeah, I'd like to see the team more passionate. I look at their bench and they're all up standing at half-court, and nobody from their team was down on the floor. I think we would react better to just be out there for one another and just stay together."

Clearly, Bosh feels that his team lacks toughness and he is sick and tired of no one doing anything about it:

"I'm tired of talking about toughness. We talk about it too much. We talk about everything too much. We've got to stop talking about it and just do it."

Antoine Wright appeared to be the only Raptors player other than Bosh to articulate his disappointment at how things went down, saying after the game that the Raptors "just got punked."

Sitting at 7-10, it probably isn't time yet to push the panic button in Toronto, but the Raptors did fall to 2-8 on the road, a statistic that backs up Bosh's assessment that his team lacks the requisite toughness needed to play well in opposing arenas.

But more than anything, I bet Bosh simply hopes that his teammates will allow him to take an extra long soak in the ice tub today. Ouch.

Bosh Gets Pounded, Wonders Why His Teammates Don't Care [Fanhouse]
Feschuk: Raptors bow down meekly to Celtics 116-103 [Toronto Star]
Paul Pierce Not a Big Fan of Chris Bosh's Junk [Last Angry Fan]

Head coach Lawrence Frank went so far as say that the Nets "cheated the game" in the first half, but guard Devin Harris displayed the quiet, cool confidence after the game that one would expect out of player on a team that has lost 16 straight games.

"It doesn't matter who we have from here on out. We have to come out with the same type of intensity we had in the second half no matter if it's the Lakers or the Knicks. We have to treat everybody the same and come out with a decent effort. Yeah they're the defending champions, but they can be beat. If we give the effort we need to, we'll keep ourselves in the game."

Notice that Harris doesn't claim that the Nets can beat the Lakers, just that the Lakers can be beat - by somebody - probably not the Nets. But Harris believes if the Nets give a good effort, the Nets can stay in the game, which is good, I guess.

Either way, things are not looking good for Lawrence Frank. Some believe that he could be out of a job as soon as Sunday if the Nets lose to the Lakers and tie the record. Obviously, these people were not swayed by the barely-positive attitude displayed by Harris. That guy should be giving motivational speeches.

Winless Nets lose 16th straight, 109-96 to Kings [Yahoo!/AP]
Nets now 0-16, Lawrence Frank could be headed for unemployment line [New York Daily News]

As you can probably imagine, Stephen A. Smith is partially responsible for this double dealing on ESPN's website. (They still haven't changed it, btw.) He was the first to publish the report that Iverson would retire after his attempt to sign with the Knicks fell through. A report that no one wants to believe. Even SAS admits that Iverson doesn't really want to quit, and John Thompson says he won't allow it to happen, and sooner or later someone is going to need a point guard, so really ... he's not retired.

But he still could be! So until then ... dual contradicting headlines will do just fine. Now who needs another turkey sandwich?

Report: Allen Iverson planning to retire from the NBA [ESPN - thanks JB!]

* * * * *

If you're at work today, I'm sorry about that. I really have no idea what's going on here, but we'll be posting some stuff about something until we aren't anymore. Stick around or don't, but withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy.

In his interviews with Gumbel, Battista seemed open to discussing anything from his cocaine habit to the best way to covertly take bets from a working NBA official. But when pressed on the issue of Donaghy fixing games, he becomes oddly cagey. To be fair, it is difficult to say "Tim fixed games" without actually saying that he fixed games.

Battista went to high school with Donaghy, lost touch when he became a full-time professional gambler, but then hooked up with him again after learning that Donaghy had a gambling problem. See, the thing is, everyone is in universal agreement that Donaghy was terrible at picking games ... unless they happened to be the games that he was working. Battista set up an amazing arrangement where he would serve as Donaghy's bookie, but Donaghy never had to pay out on losses—he was only rewarded for his wins. That seems like a guy who is pretty confident that his wins will win big. Which they did, about 80% of the time.

Battista's whole story is kind of convoluted and Swiss-cheese like (look for the re-runs to see the whole thing), so who really knows what the full truth is. But Battista is definitely trying to say something, if we could only decode what he's really getting at.

WINK!

Oh, and in a "interesting, if true" postscript—a "source" tells a local Boston TV station that Battista says he had 13 NBA referees in his stable and will soon write a tell-all book exposing the whole charade. Should I start holding my breath now or should we wait for fourth-party confirmation from the mailman?

HBO: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel - The Insider [HBO]
Ex-Referee Donaghy's Accomplice Says They Bet on Many Games [NY Times]
Source: Gambler claims 13 referees involved in NBA betting scandal [WHDH]

Golden State only dressed eight players last night, because injuries and illness had taken down everyone else, and coach Don Nelson isn't even traveling with the team because he has pneumonia. So once they got rid of that dead weight, they actually played like a real professional basketball team. Three players—Monta Ellis, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Anthony Morrow—played all 48 minutes, but still had enough in the tank to end the Mavericks' five-game winning streak. It was the first time since 1952 that an NBA team won a regular season game with only six players.

So why didn't fill-in coach Keith Smart use his remaining two bench players? Well, one was D-Leaguer Chris Hunter (Go Mat Ants!) who they had to sign just to get to the league minimum of eight bodies. And I guess Smart assumed the other guy was a ball boy or something. He's new at this.

Honorable mention: Alberto Poo-Holes. Why does his bat have a lighting bolt carved into it? [MLB]

Update: Apparently, Time Warner also promoted yesterday's Celtics/Knicks matchup as a Chris Duhon and Shelden Williams reunion. If you see anymore evidence of pro-Duke bias from your TV's program guide, please forward because that's really weird.

As time expired in the first quarter, the Knicks inbounded the ball with half a second left. Nate Robinson, rather than quietly hand the ball to an official, or even chuck a desperation heave 80 feet down the court, decided to show what a good three-point shot he's got when no one is guarding him, and there's nothing at stake. Let's watch.

Though the clock had barely expired, Mike D'Antoni was furious. As you'd expect from a coach whose grease board in the locker room reads "Be terrible, just don't be stupid." No, actually, what the board reads after back-to-back victories over Indy and New Jersey, is "Winning Streak." Seriously.

While D'Antoni said after the game he and Nate were cool, it must be noted that Robinson only got three more minutes of game time after this ill-advised shot.

And, on a brighter note, the Knicks finally have more wins in November, three, than the Yankees. And they're three wins ahead of the Giants and Jets.

From what I can decipher, there is some Japanese video game series called The King of Fighters, which I assume must be something like Mortal Kombat, just more Japanese-ey-ey. And since it is a Japanese product, there is a set of gaming cards associated with this particular video game. Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if there were Hentai Tentacle Porn gaming cards.

This is where some photoshopping wisenheimer comes in, photoshops the faces of NBA players on them and uploads them to a Flickr account. And I must say, he or she did a bang-up job. Here is but a sampling:

Sometimes, it's the little things that make you laugh. That reminds me, there hasn't been an amusing story about midgets in way too long.

SUPER!BASKETBALL!FIGHTING!EXCITEMENT!BATTLE! [Hardwood Paroxysm]
The Weirdest/Coolest Japanese Themed NBA Cards You Will Ever See [Last Angry Fan]

All the way back in April 2004, Williams was originally acquitted of aggravated manslaughter, assault and other weapons charges after he accidentally killed his limo driver with a shotgun during a party in his home. However, he was convicted on four charges related to his attempts to cover up the shooting and the jury deadlocked on a lesser charger of reckless manslaughter. His sentencing on the cover-up was postponed until there could be a retrial on the reckless manslaughter case, but due to various procedural maneuvers, that trial never happened. He's basically been out on bail for five years.

The retrial was finally slated to resume next January, but sources says that Williams will go to court tomorrow and plead guilty to aggravated assault, ending all the legal challenges. (He settled a civil suit in 2003.) He will face up to three years in prison, but will get a minimum of 18 months because the crime involved a gun. Plus, he could have faced as many 13 years for the charges from the original trial, but those have likely been negotiated down with the plea bargain.

So basically, it's been nearly eight years, but Williams may finally now be punished for trying to impress his idiot friends with a loaded shotgun. If you don't count his failed life, total destruction of his reputation, and possible loss of sanity as punishment. (That's a start, but after all, he did kill a guy.)

Jayson Williams is expected to serve 18 months in prison for 2002 death [Newark Star-Ledger]
Jayson Williams taking deal in shooting [AP]
Jayson Williams to take plea deal in shooting case [ESPN]

The card, a 1986-87 Fleer, is one of only two of its kind to receive a perfect "10 Pristine" rating from Beckett Grading Services and is now owned by Georgia investor Sean Storms. (Yeah, right. Like we're supposed to believe that name isn't made up.) Storms is now desperate to find the second card so that he can pair them together like a set of red kings—and then never let anyone look at them again.

"It won't see the light of day for at least 10 years, maybe 15," he said. "I'm very excited to have the card."

Wow, that's ... fun? My baseball card collection is also excitedly collecting dust, yet somehow my 16 Tim Pyznarski "Future Stars" cards are still completely worthless.

Perfect Michael Jordan Rookie Card sells for $200,000 [The Beckett Blog]

This photo doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but it makes a nice palate cleanser to start your day, I think. Come on, it's Greg Oden in a bunny suit. That's .... cute? How did Spike Jonze make a movie about furry overgrown children and forget to cast the least child-like man-child ever? Or did Oden just drop out with an ankle injury?

Seriously, though. Nice costume.

Greg Oden's Pre-Halloween and Season Celebration [Blaze of Love]

* * * * * *

Monday. Here we go.

The Massachusetts DMV (or "RMV," for some reason) produces all kinds of specialty plates, at 40 bucks a pop, with $28 of that going to charity. The catch is that 1500 people need to pre-order the plates before they'll physically start making them.

The plates went on offer in late 2006, and officials expected them to be a quick seller. After all, the Red Sox and Patriots plates had no trouble reaching the benchmark, and even the Bruins got it done in five months.

But the Kevin Garnett trade came and went, and no dice. The 2008 championship came and went, and still nothing. Finally last month the 1500th Celtics fan made themselves known, and the license plates can now officially be produced.

Not good news for bragging rights for Bostonians. If you ask an Angeleno, adorning your car is the best and only way to prove fandom
.
For Celtics Fans, Waiting Was Plate Of Frustration [Boston Globe]

Because I've had my fill of hate mail recently, and because OKC fans have already made their feelings known when I dared to suggest that the wind is the defining feature of their city, I'm going to refrain from pointing out that if KD played in New York or L.A., there are actually clubs and bars that are open on Thursdays.

But I will say there's a certain segment of our audience, perhaps from a certain Pacific Northwest city, that's not exactly rooting against the Thunder's franchise player going down with a career-ending slap-related injury.

I Guess This Is How You Pass The Time On An Off Day [Daily Thunder]

Kahn provided the letter to the Timberwolves blog, On the Wolves, for dissemination. The new general manager for the T-Wolves wants the fans to know he is not happy about the way the season has started and he will not accept it, nor will he give up. In fact, he's just going to dedicate himself even more to attempting to correct the team's shortcomings.

At times like these, I am motivated to work harder. I want to scout more, watch more film, crunch more numbers, ask more questions. I know Kurt and the coaching staff feel the same. The coaches are the strength of our ballclub right now – I am proud to be working with them. We all recognized when we signed up for this mission that it takes a Herculean effort, from all corners, to turn around a franchise and make it championship-caliber.

I understand that it should be considered refreshing that a general manager would choose to be up front and honest with a team's fans, and that a proactive approach such as this should be applauded. On other other hand, it has all the appearances of an act of desperation by an already beleaguered GM only 10 games into the season.

But who knows? Maybe Kahn can turn the crappy franchise around - as former Timberwolves star KG once said, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!"

But seriously, it aint going to happen.

From David Kahn [On the Wolves]

And he'll petition the rest of the league to do likewise:

"He can't get the logo, and if he can't, something has to be done. I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. I'm starting a petition, and I've got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I'm not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it."

[...]

"If you see 23, you think about Michael Jordan," James said. "You see game-winning shots, you think about Michael Jordan; you see guys fly through the air, you think about Michael Jordan; you see fly kicks, you think about Michael Jordan. He did so much, it has to be recognized, and not just by putting him in the Hall of Fame."

LeBron says he'll wear No. 6 in homage to Dr. J, the day of his first child's birth, the month of his second child's birth, his own Olympics jersey and the total number of people in America who do not yet own any LeBron James-related merchandise.

LeBron James planning to give up No. 23 out of respect for Michael Jordan, urges others to do same [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
LeBron James Plans to Change Number, Asks Others To Do Same For Michael Jordan [The Baseline]