The 4-4 preseason Washington Wizards will look to begin winning ways on the road tonight as they challenge the 5-2 preseason Dallas Mavericks to kick off day one of the NBA season.

Washington will be without Antawn Jamison for tonight's season opener, and he will remain out for several weeks. Javaris Crittenton is also expected to sit for tonight's game against Dallas.

The Wizards aren't alone when it comes to an injured big man. The Los Angeles Clippers find themselves in a similar boat, as rookie power forward Blake Griffin is expected to be out for up to 6 weeks following a tweak during a preseason game against the New Orleans Hornets. As for the Portland Trail Blazers, the team will hope to begin and finish with a healthy Greg Oden this season, while the Houston Rockets will be without Yao Ming for the entire season.

Washington hosted Dallas a few weeks ago during the preseason and fell in what was a high scoring game. Jamison provided 19 points, however, offense, other than dismal free throw shooting, was not a problem for the Wizards. The Wizards could not stop the speed of the Mavericks, mainly new additions Shawn Marion and reserve guard Rodrigue Beaubois.

With Josh Howard and Tim Thomas expected to be out tonight for Dallas, Washington will need to continue to control the boards, a category the Mavericks will lose without Howard being a part of their system and something Washington achieved last time these two teams played in the preseason. Then it's up to Gilbert Arenas, who held a 4 turnovers per game average over the preseason. If Gil can't control the point or defend the up-and-coming pickpocket Beaubois, then expect a long night for Washington. For fantasy owners, look to play Caron Butler, among the top SF picks, especially with Antawn Jamison out, and Shawn Marion, who scored 26 points and finished with a somewhat low 5 rebounds but 3 steals the last time these two clubs met.

NBA Season Open Schedule
Game	Time (ET)	Broadcast
Celtics vs. Cavaliers	7:30 p.m.	TNT
Wizards vs. Mavericks	8:30 p.m.	Comcast SportsNet and 106.7 The Fan
Rockets vs. Trail Blazers	10:00 p.m.	Game will not air nationally
Clippers vs. Lakers	10:30 p.m.	TNT

Speaking of fantasy, for a last minute Wizards refresher on fantasy picks for your fantasy basketball league this season, save a place for AJ in your mind, Gil is still questionable for a top PG spot unless you have a lot of guys in your league, and Butler rounds out as the top fantasy Wizard this year despite the add-ons of Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

Wizards Fantasy Recap
Player	Yahoo! Rankings	NBATV Rankings	My Analysis
Antawn Jamison (PF)	19th OVR, 9th PF	6th PF	Keep him in mind in about a month, but hard to justify early round pick when losing 15 or more games to start season.
Caron Butler (SG/SF)	16th OVR, 4th SF, 6th SG	4th SF	Great pick-up at SF, especially in deep leagues. His early numbers will go up without Jamison in the mix and Butler coming off career year in PPG. Plus, he has a new blog.
Gilbert Arenas (PG)	31st OVR, 11th PG	2nd PG	Gil could be a sleeper this season if he keeps his assists total high, but he needs to manage the turnovers.

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For the longest time I've wanted to create a list of all of the films ever made with a scene or story influenced by the sport of basketball, from the pick-up game in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda to the father and daughter bond in Father of the Bride to the good ol' fashioned overtly Shaqtastic Kazaam. I will update the list as time goes on and new flicks surface.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z


A-M [ TOP ]

17 Again (2009) -- In this "age traveling" comedy, Mike O'Donnell (Matthew Perry/Zac Efron) gets a second chance at high school after a decision to raise a family costs him a basketball scholarship as a teen and hurls him into a 20 year marriage full of regrets. An introspective look forward as responsibility begins to outweigh selfish desire. And a better flick than I thought it would be, haha.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) -- The flamboyant Eduardo Gambetti possesses an important scroll, the object Sigerson Holmes (Gene Wilder), Sherlock's secret brother, as well as a crook, both want. Puzzled, Gambetti decides to mime a basketball referee and tosses the scroll into the air tip-off style in this zany comedic take on the Holmes detective series.

The Cable Guy (1996) -- Jim Carrey portrays "The Cable Guy," a loud and annoying cable employee who decides to befriend a young professional. In one scene, The Cable Guy crashes a game of pick-up with his style of "Prison Rules," no holds barred, basketball.

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) -- Former NBA basketball player John Salley plays a cameo role as a man with an obsession over shopping.

Doubt (2008) -- Father Brendan Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has long nails and life-teaching skills by use of free-throw shooting in this controversial drama.

Father of the Bride (1991) -- The ultimate father-daughter sports motif flick; basketball is used as a life-long bond between an aging father/sneakers salesman (Steve Martin) and a soon-to-be wed daughter (Kimberly Williams).

High School High (1996) -- In this ridiculous 1996 parody of Dangerous Minds (1995), there are no actual scenes of basketball being played, but a prominent hoop with a "no layups" sticker and a whizzing basketball in a classroom play a role in shaping the environment. Jon Lovitz portrays Richard Clark, an inspired teacher set off to help underprivileged children in a beat-down high school. And Tia Carrere is in it. Reeowr!!!

I Heart Huckabees (2004) -- There's a scene where actor Mark Walhberg, a long-time Boston Celtics fan in real life, breaks into a pick-up game as Albert (Jason Schwartzman) and Tommy (Wahlberg) visit the "African Guy" (who loves autographed Shaquille O'Neal pictures). Tommy takes a "hard foul" delivered by Bret (Jonah Hill) before a cut to the dinner table with the Hootens. Can you tell this is one of my favorite flicks of all time?

Kazaam (1996) -- Infamous basketball star Shaquille O'Neal's second feature film is about a rapping genie named Kazaam who ends up living out of a boombox as if it were a lamp (that's apparently what happens when your genie bottle falls onto another object -- he could have ended up living in a toaster, or perhaps in a dog). In the film, there aren't too many blatant NBA/basketball quirks, and the story follows a young boy who stumbles upon Kazaam's mystical boombox as he's running around in an abandoned building, chased by bad kids and tormented by a homefront in which his step dad is moving in and his real dad is thought to be dead. It's a comedy though, which means classic bad movie to watch at 4 a.m. some time.

Love & Basketball (2000) -- I think this one is a bit too obvious but a tale surrounding a girl with basketball dreams.

Melinda and Melinda (2004) -- A game of pick-up centers around relationship debates. What do you expect, it's a Woody Allen film.

The Princess Diaries (2001) -- Multiple instances, including an awkward jumper by Hector Elizondo that bounces and rolls off his foot on the 'bound, and a make-and-miss reunion as Lilly Moscovitz (Heather Matarazzo) outplays a frustrated Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) lost in the glamor of the spotlight and brought back to basics with a little ball and hoop action with a long-time pal.

N-Z [ TOP ]

Oh, God! (1977) -- John Denver (yes, the singer) plays Jerry Landers, an unfulfilled grocery store manager who is disillusioned with life. He makes a wish for a sign from above, and when he gets a message to visit God, with a physical address, he tries to throw the note away by making a basket in his trash can. However, when he wakes up the next morning, he finds this God fellow (George Burns) is a bit persistent.

Righteous Kill (2008) -- Detective Turk (Robert De Niro) jogs through a pick-up game on his way to visit suspected criminal Spider (Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent). Turk later talks to Spider about how, as a youth, he would play pick-up games.

The Sister in Law (1974) -- In this B-movie, lead actress Anne Saxon portrays an athletic future divorcee who has time to play basketball with a local kid in between deviant acts which threaten to split a pair of brothers apart. The brothers also play a game of "water basketball." Yes, even in B-movies, basketball is found ;).

Zebraman (2004) -- Sho Aikawa's character Shin'ichi Ichikawa practices basketball with a student in a really odd independent film out of Japan about a guy who is not satisfied with his life and decides to dress up as in a super hero zebra suit. Yep, b-ball international.

The NBA is almost a quarter of the way into the season now, and I thought it was time to give my sporadic starting five so far on the year:

C-- Dwight Howard: 21.5 PPG || 14.0 RPG || 1.5 APG || 0.9 SPG || 4.0 BPG
PF-- Amaré Stoudemire: 22.1 PPG || 7.8 RPG || 1.8 APG || 1.3 SPG || 1.3 BPG
SF-- LeBron James: 27.4 PPG || 7.10 RPG || 6.3 APG || 2.1 SPG || 0.9 BPG
SG-- Kobe Bryant: 25.1 PPG || 5.2 RPG || 4.1 APG || 1.6 SPG || 0.6 BPG
PG-- Chris Paul: 20.6 PPG || 5.6 RPG || 11.8 APG || 2.8 SPG || 0.2 BPG
Sixth-- Caron Butler: 21.3 PPG || 6.6 RPG || 4.2 APG || 1.8 SPG || 0.2 BPG

Wow, four guys straight from High School. How the times have changed :)

Maybe Shaquille O'Neal isnt the scoring machine he once was, but after 8 games he is averaging 14.5 PPG and 8.8 RPG to go along with 1.2 BPG. He is also shooting the ball at 64.7%. Crazy. The 16 year vet just picked up the 10th best scorer in NBA History with a total of 26,402 points.

The Atlanta Hawks started the season off 6-0, but last night, they faced the Boston Celtics. Ouch. Atlanta is now 6-1 and Boston is 8-1, winning their last 6.

The Los Angeles Lakers are now the only undefeated team in the NBA at 7-0. They beat the New Orleans Hornets yesteday, after amounting a huge 21 point half time lead.

Take that, CP3.

Gina Carano continued her great start in mixed martial arts play last Saturday, while Kimbo Slice lost in 14 seconds :/

My girl Candace Parker got MVP and Rookie of the Year Honors :O

Kobe Bryant's jersey is #1 almost everywhere: http://www.nba.com/news/jersey_europe_081008.html

Next stop, India?

Also to note, the Detroit Shock beat out the San Antonio Silver Stars for the WNBA Championship, giving Detroit three titles in six years.

The Los Angeles Sparks' slasher, Candace Parker, finished a legendary season by obtaining Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in her first year in the WNBA. She mah girl. :P

http://www.wnba.com/features/parker_081004.html

A Chinese LeBron James?
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/80924sunyue_pressconference.html

:)