The last time we were supposed to have some type of world basketball tour, we had denials and confirmations, we had a long list of All-Stars agreeing on playing, we had a schedule and we had the first night all planned out. Then we ended up with nothing. But LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony – four of the biggest stars in the world – are teaming up to try again. They’re planning on putting together a four-city homecoming tour of their respective cities: Akron, New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, starting December 1. We just want to see one of these ideas come to fruition. Too many heartbreaks and cancellations this year … The NBA lockout is still dragging on as this week begins, and now the players have chosen where to file their anti-trust lawsuit. Minnesota will be the lucky state to host what looks to be a drawn-out battle, and this time there are big names on the lawsuit just like we saw in the NFL. ‘Melo, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant will be named amongst others as plaintiffs in the case, and David Aldridge is reporting the league must respond to the filing by Dec. 5 … Athletically, there might not be a team in the whole country that can stand up to Memphis. They play fast and overwhelmingly furious. But with that comes problems, and we saw them rear their head yesterday in Michigan’s 73-61 win over the Tigers. In a game that featured all kinds of crazy (including a near brawl at the end of the first half), the Wolverines seduced Memphis into going too fast, and held them to 33 percent from the field. We can’t say it enough: Tim Hardaway Jr. can ball. His line (21 points, seven rebounds, five dimes) was reminiscent of Michigan’s all-around start-to-finish domination. Watch out Duke, you might see your first loss ever in Maui (they’re 13-0 all time after what they did yesterday) … Meanwhile, another son of a former player, Austin Rivers, brought his game (after absorbing a lot of criticism to start the season) in Duke’s 77-67 win over Tennessee. Rivers went for a team-high 18, and while he struggled at times driving too deep into the lane and getting caught with nowhere to go, he did enough, along with Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry (both added 17 points), to push Duke’s undefeated start to 5-0 … Jared Sullinger dropped 27 and 13 as Ohio State rolled while Florida, Marquette, Cal, Missouri, Kansas and Vandy (behind Brad Tinsley‘s game-winning J with 4.5 seconds left) all won … But the best game of the whole night was N.C. State’s 77-74 surprise win over Texas. Down 18 in the second half, the Wolfpack went on an insane 28-2 run to overcome the deficit and yet almost lost it on the final possession to a near goaltend (which would’ve been the worst goaltend ever) by Richard Howell. C.J. Leslie (17 points) and Scott Wood (16) combined for 33 off the Wolfpack bench … You could call this a slight surprise, but no, DeMarcus Cousins will not be this lockout’s Shawn Kemp. Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee tweeted yesterday that the kid looks great. However, there were rumblings at the end of last week that Tyreke Evans looked out of shape. We don’t believe that. If there was anyone who had the right people around him to keep himself focused and in shape during the lockout, its ‘Reke. He’s too obsessed with ball to get sloppy … Grinnell College junior Griffin Lentsch is better than Kobe Bryant. At least he was during his last game. The D-III guard scored a mind-boggling 89 points in one game, hitting what seemed like 40 spot-up jumpers. You’d think that by the half, when he had 40, they would’ve stopped him from shooting standstill Js. Lentsch probably took 10 dribbles the whole game … It didn’t take long for J.R. Smith to find problems in China. Try opening night. He hurt a knee this weekend in a rather awkward situation, and then decided to find doctors on his own rather than consult the team. He refused treatment and sought out his own people, despite the fact that no one is quite sure how serious this knee thing is. The team is promising consequences; J.R. Smith is throwing insults. Not a good start … Kevin Garnett getting into it during a pickup game and then slapping someone over the head? Totally believable. Totally. Jordan Crawford is dismissing the rumors, but others have confirmed that the two got into an argument during a pickup game, and that Crawford refused to back down so KG slapped him in the back of the head. Crawford might’ve said something to anger KG, something like calling himself the best Jordan ever … T.J. Ford made it through Hell. Following in the steps of Jamaal Tinsley, Ford became the face of frustration for the Pacers’ organization, and now tells ESPN.com that he’s headed to Croatia to join KK Zagreb during the lockout … We’re out like pitchers winning MVPs.
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