HOOPSAHOLIC

With another Thanksgiving coming and quickly going, it gave us all time to briefly sit and reflect on what we're truly thankful for in life. There's many things I'm extremely thankful for starting with my family, friends and of course my girlfriend!  But right under that extremely prestigious list of people sits the sport I love so dearly: the NBA. If you can't tell by now I love hoops (read blog name), and the holiday weekend brought plenty of stellar story lines throughout the NBA. 

So we all knew that Kobe Bryant would be the guy in Lakerland that would have to do most of the heavy lifting, but I don't know if anyone expected a game like he had on Sunday night against the Raptors. In the Lakers' 129-122 win over East leading Toronto, Bryant became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double while scoring at least 30 points. Bryant had 31 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists to lead his team to victory and surprisingly hand the Raptors their second straight loss. The Lakers are still bad, sitting with a 4-13 record and in last place in the Western Conference, but three of their four wins have come in the last ten games so they do look to be improving just a bit. 

Tragic news out of Toronto that Demar Derozan is out for about a month after tearing a tendon in his left groin in Friday's loss to the Mavericks. Derozan is having a stellar season so far averaging 19 points and four rebounds and leading the Raptors to the best record in the Eastern Conference. It will be a struggle for the Raptors to keep up that pace without their all-star wing man and Toronto opted to start two point guards in the loss to the Lakers. Greivis Vasquez filled in nicely scoring 19 points while Lou Williams came off the bench and added 19 as well. Both players will have to score and defend consistently if the Raptors don't want to lose any ground in the East. 

Speaking of the Eastern Conference standings, if you take a gander through the current rankings then you'd notice the Milwaukee Bucks are currently sitting as the sixth seed with a 10-8 record while the Cleveland Cavaliers are one sport behind them in seventh with an 8-7 record. This stat would really only be relevant if the playoffs started tomorrow, and they most definitely don't, but it's still noteworthy. Myself along with most every other basketball blogger believes that the Cavs will figure it out eventually so this epidemic is more about the success of the Bucks than the problems of the Cavs.

I blogged last week about my overwhelming excitement for the return of Russell Westbrook to the Thunder lineup, and luckily for OKC, the all-star point guard was back and better than ever on Friday night against the Knicks. The Thunder walked away from the game with a blowout 105-78 win against a New York squad that was without Carmelo Anthony. Westbrook was phenomenal from the tip of the game, and he set the tone early and often, finishing with 32 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. He's the first person since the start of the shot clock era who's recorded 32 points and eight assists in only 24 minutes of game action. Westbrook was unstoppable and his teammates as well as the OKC crowd really fed off of his energy. Both Steven Adams and Serge Ibaka both found themselves with much easier shot attempts since their defenders were forced to sag off them and help out on the ferocious Westbrook.To top off all of those stats, Russdiculous outscored the entire Knicks team in the first quarter 14-13 while playing only eight minutes.  With Durant potentially returning as soon as Tuesday, we may actually get to see a fully healthy OKC team for the first time this season. HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!

The Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to nine games on Sunday when they beat the Pistons 104-93 to improve to 14-2 on the season. Everyone knew the Warriors were going to be good, but in Steve Kerr's first year as head coach the Warriors are more than good, they're incredible. This squad ranks third in the league, scoring 107.1 points per game while only letting opponents score 96.5 points, which ranks eighth. This Warriors team could always score, but now they're a well-rounded basketball machine that gets it done in every facet of the game. They rank first in assists at 26.8 a night while MVP candidate Steph Curry is responsible for 7.8 of those assists and nearly 24 points per contest. Australian big man Andrew Bogut's health has been a big part of the team's success on the defensive side of the floor. He averages a team-high nine rebounds to go with a career high 2.1 blocks. The West is once again the elite conference in basketball with the Grizzlies owning a 15-2 record. Now that the Thunder are getting healthy, and the Spurs aren't going anywhere, the Western Conference rankings will be a fun thing to keep an eye on down the stretch of the season.