THIS WEEK IN THE NBA
After hosting Phoenix Tuesday and playing at Cleveland on Wednesday, Oklahoma City will play nine of 11 games against teams with losing records. Victories are needed as the Thunder is starting to get booed at home already. "Now is an easy time to point fingers and for a team to come apart," said coach P.J. Carlesimo. "We need to come together. We need to work and not be concerned if I'm the one getting the minutes, or I'm the one getting the shots." Chicago's annual early-season "circus trip"takes the Bulls to Denver, Utah and San Antonio. Golden State tours the east with stops in Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, Cleveland and New York. The Knicks have tough back-to-back games, at home against Cleveland on Tuesday and at Detroit on Wednesday. GAME OF THE WEEK
Dwyane Wade and the Heat will get a chance to swap stories about the good old days with Shaquille O'Neal when Miami plays at Phoenix on Friday in the second game of a five-game Western trip.
Bucks' WEEK
They'll be living out of a suitcase. After last night's game in Charlotte, it's on to Orlando, Atlanta and Detroit. After playing the Pistons on Friday, the Bucks won't have any time to catch their breath as LeBron James and the Cavaliers will be at the Bradley Center on Saturday. The Cavaliers will be playing their fourth game in five nights.
QUOTABLE
"KG's crazier than me." - Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, trying to figure out why he has more technical fouls than Kevin Garnett.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The early returns have been favorable in Denver as the Nuggets won seven of their first eight games after veteran point guard Chauncey Billups was traded by the Detroit Pistons to his hometown on Nov. 3. Billups has tried to spread the credit around. "It's not all me," he said. "When I came in, I think guys were just so excited to have something fresh and something new, everybody just refocused a little bit. With the way that I play and the things that I like to do out there, it's been probably a little different for a lot of the guys. But different is not always bad." Billups scored a game-high 22 points in a victory over San Antonio that ran Denver's winning streak to four games and placed the Nuggets in a tie with Utah for first place in the Northwest Division.
NUMBERS GAME
37 Points by Golden State's Anthony Morrow on Nov. 15, the most by an undrafted rookie in the common draft era (since 1966).
44 Blocks by the Pacers in a recent five-game stretch that included three games of 10 blocks.
40.4 Points in the paint by Portland in Greg Oden's first five games after averaging 30.3 in the paint without him.
90.2 Points per game by Portland's opponents since Oden's return after averaging 99.4 points when he was out.
15.9 The Rockets' Tracy McGrady's points per game this season, his lowest average since 1999-2000.
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