Ball Don't Lie

We're about an hour or so away from the start of the NBA's second ever outdoor game — a preseason contest between the Nuggets and Suns at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA — and I've got good news and bad news.

The good news: Mother Nature looks like she's going to cooperate. Weather.com forecasts a temperature of around 51 degrees (°F) later tonight, with winds coming in from the northwest at about 5 to 10 mph. No rain.

The bad news: no one is playing. Carmelo Anthony will miss his second consecutive game due to a bruised left finger, while Allen Iverson is expected to sit this one out thanks to some swelling around the knee. On the Suns side of the tennis net, Amare Stoudemire refuses to wear his sunglasses/goggles at night and will miss the game because of that scratched iris. Oh well, this is as exciting as early October basketball is going to get.

TNT's coverage begins at 10 p.m. ET with a pre-game show hosted by David Aldridge alongside Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller. Game coverage follows the show, which will be called by Marv Albert, Chuck and Reg, with sideline reporting by Cheryl Miller. (I guess Craig Sager is busy with baseball. Traitor!)

No live blog tonight, but feel free to leave your in-game comments below. Enjoy that cool breeze.

As the NBA preseason marches on, Ball Don't Lie looks at all 30 teams, outlining off-season transactions, projecting win totals, spinning tracks, and much, much more. It's a fun, hot mess. Today, the Atlanta Hawks.Read More >>

Dear Baron Davis and other NBA stars, if you're going to keep making beautiful basketball highlights, I'm going to keep posting them. It's just as simple as that. I don't care if it's still the preseason. The good people that read Ball Don't Lie have waited too damn long for this stuff! Do you have any idea how slow September went by? It took like nine weeks! Anyway, keep up the great work, but please try and get Rudy Gay involved on the break. All the best, Skeets.

(via Dime)

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Pickaxe and Roll. Linas Kleiza is overrated. Linas Kleiza is a key to the Nuggets this season.
PF: Basketbawful. Bah! Run! Larry Bird was Luke Walton's stalker!*
SF: TSB. Great title: "Wiz's Frankenstein Big Man Project Should Be Entertaining, If Not Totally Effective."
SG: DS's Raps Blog. Anthony Parker, Candace and Oak — this year's "Shooting Stars" winners. Book it.
PG: Empty The Bench. Is Andre Iguodala an $80 million dollar man?
6th: Bad Jerseys, via Hot Clicks. Craig Sager's worst suits ... caught on film.
7th: Detroit Bad Boys. Sawyer unveils his All-Overrated First and Second Teams. Big names here, folks.
8th: The Blowtorch. Sarah Palin "speaks out" about fellow Alaskan Carlos Boozer's hamstring injury.
9th: The Crawford Files. Coach D'Antoni wants 100 pts in two minutes, and he wants him now!
10th: WaitingForNextYear. After agreeing to a $20 million-ish contract this summer, Boobie Gibson goes on record saying that he would play for free. You hear that, Spree? Free!

*Or was he?

Fellow Argentina Olympians Luis Scola of the Rockets and Fabricio Oberto of the Spurs discuss Gregg Popovich's surly beard before a preseason game in Houston yesterday. Best caption/imaginary conversation wins a mirror. Good luck, C-a-C brethren.

After the jump, Dwight, Hedo and Lewis goof off.Read More >>

There's constant talk/bar fights amongst ball fans about who's game is underrated. Battier, West, Bass ... players who maybe don't garner the respect and attention they deserve. And while the names on that list change as often as Robert Swift's skin, one guy who is repeatedly overlooked is Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer. Now, is it because Brewer plays in small-market Utah? I'm sure that doesnt help. But it really is surprising how little people know of Brewer, considering how hard (and often) he throws one down.

Fact #1: Ronnie Brewer had more dunks than LeBron James last year.

Fact #2: People love dunks.

Conclusion: Why don't you love Ronnie Brewer, people?

(via You Got Dunked On)

Like some other guy I know, Indy Cornrows reader Tony Laurenzana was in attendance for the Pacers/Hornets semi-throwback game at the old Pepsi Coliseum in Indiana on Tuesday. Lucky for us, Laurenzana arrived to the ABA arena just a tad bit earlier than ol' KD.

Behold the beauty that lies within Mike Dunleavy's closet ...

Come on girl, yeah ... it's me Lil' Dun. Don't gimme that look, that's right, let's get sweaty, let's get real sweaty. I'm talkin' rainforest sweaty, I'm talkin' swamp sweaty. Let's fill the bathtub full of sweat ... alright. Let Lil' Dunnnnnleavy looooove you sexaaaayyyyyyyy!!!

As the NBA preseason marches on, Ball Don't Lie looks at all 30 teams, outlining off-season transactions, projecting win totals, spinning tracks, and much, much more. It's a fun, hot mess. Today, the Toronto Raptors.Read More >>

The rash has gotten so bad, that even Raps fans are writing Oden love letters. A few excerpts: "By all accounts, I'm a pretty average dude. I have a job, live in an apartment, have a few friends (very few) and sometimes girls talk to me. [...] Completely average, except for one thing; I have an unhealthy obsession with a top-heavy 82-year-old, seven foot man from Indiana. I'm looking at you Greg Oden. My obsession with Oden goes so far that I actually caught myself looking for jobs in Portland just so I could be closer to the Trail Blazers and follow Oden's career; and I'm a Raptors fan. [...] The guy is just genuine, real, damn good at ball and just makes me smile — makes me smile so much that I can't close my mouth for hours — no, really, it's quite painful." What about you, do you suffer from chronic Odenitis?