Quick boxscore check

20 & 6 in 27 minutes for Nazr Mohammed tonight, very nice. Granted it was against Mark Blount, the most lethargic defender this side of Mo Taylor, but still--when did Ben Wallace ever score 20 points against a shitty defender? Of course Mohammed will pale in comparison in rebounding and defense, but he just *has* to be something of an offensive threat to help offset that, and tonight is a great sign.

Maxiell also continues to play really well--14 points in 18 minutes, with another *10* free throws! The guy is just playing out of his mind, I'm definitely hoping to see him get 10-15 productive minutes per game once the season starts.

A Nene sighting in Denver--9-3-3 in 16 minutes, a solid start. Kenyon Martin also had a nice game, 20-8 in 22 minutes. Good to see those guys back healthy. If they can stay that way, Denver could be looking at a big season. They were red hot to finish up 2004-2005, and just got hit with the injury bug last year. But Carmelo was as good as anyone in the league to close out 2006, he was just an unstoppable scoring machine...after the break last year, he averaged 27.6 ppg on ridiculous .516 shooting. He still doesn't do much else for you from a fantasy perspective, but he's a damned good real-life player.

With Melo, Andre Miller, and three good big men in Camby, Nene and Martin, they have a nice core. The big thing with them is always shooting, and it looks like JR Smith is going to get the starting SG job. He's something of a head case, but he did shoot .371 on 2.6 attempts per game from three last year, and he's only 20. If he can hit consistently from outside, they're a tough matchup.

Shannon Brown went for a solid 9-2-5 in 24 minutes for the Cavs, but on 3-9 shooting.

Marcus Williams is out with a sprained wrist in New Jersey, and it looks like he'll definitely miss the rest of preseason, and possibly the start of the season. Too bad, since he was playing very well.

This Steve Novak cat on Houston is someone to keep an eye on. He's a rookie, a 6'10 white goofball from Marquette who can shoot the hell out of the ball. He went for 17 and 5 in 24 minutes with *5* three pointers on 6 attempts. He could be the next Kyle Korver.