The former MTV deejay might be exactly why Anthony will be staying home for the Nuggets next two games. The NBA superstar has played sub-par basketball recently, and seems to be distracted. Anthony has averaged over 20 points and 7 rebounds per game this season, but is averaging a mere 13 and 3 over his last two games.

The Denver Nuggets have been one of the hottest teams in the league so far this season. They were given an unexpected boost with the trade of Allen Iverson for Chauncey Billups. While Billups has played great for Denver, the team goes as Anthony goes. Fellow 2003 draft pick Lebron James, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, embarrassed the Nuggets and Anthony on Friday night. Shaq and the Phoenix Suns did the same the next night in a game where Carmelo shot 3 for 13.

Officially, the reason for Carmelo missing the next two games, at least, is a sore elbow. It is obvious that there is something amiss, but two games seems like too short a time to recover from any injury. Perhaps Carmelo needs to clear his head and get away from the game for a bit. He will not be with the team during either of the two games he is scheduled to miss, raising some eyebrows. It is probably a good strategy, because if he cannot forget about basketball with Lala waiting for him at home, there is no hope for him.

The highlight of Wednesday night’s NBA games was definitely the scuffle in the game between the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns.

When Suns forward Matt Barnes set a hard (cheap shot) pick on Rafer Alston, that’s when it all got started. Alston took offense and got in Barnes’ face. Phoenix point guard Steve Nash decided to get in the mix and pushed (elbowed?) Alston. Then Shaq decided to intervene.

Instead of pulling people apart, Shaq put an end to most of the ruckus by pushing people down, including Rockets star Tracy McGrady.

Did you miss it? That’s okay, we have the video right here including some good angles on the replay. I’m not sure anyone deserves to be suspended, but I’m sure commissioner David Stern will hand down some fines. Barnes started it, but it was kind of funny to see Shaq pushing people down near the end.

When the Phoenix Suns signed Steve Nash and brought in Mike D’Antoni to coach the team, the Suns ushered in the Small Ball Era. The Suns won a lot of games, sold a lot of tickets and had everyone else looking to get smaller, faster and more explosive.
But the Phoenix team hit a road block on their way to revolutionizing the NBA. Small ball, as the Suns found out, is just too flawed. You can win a lot of games with small ball. You can even win playoff series with small ball. However, you aren’t going to win an NBA championship with small ball. Eventually, you are going to meet up with a bigger and stronger team that will be able to impose their will.

When the Suns were having their success, many organizations jumped on the small ball bandwagon. Nearly every team from the Golden State Warriors to the Los Angeles Lakers to the Chicago Bulls experimented with small ball.

But now that the Suns have traded for Shaquille O’Neal, the short lived Small Ball Era in the NBA is officially over. The Suns are no longer small – in fact they are suddenly transformed into a powerful team. The Lakers, who recently traded for bigman Pau Gasol, now have a giant frontline. Even the Warriors have abandoned small ball by bringing in Chris Webber and promising him a starting spot.

To the average basketball fan, the death of small ball is bad news. Scoring has been up in recent years due to small ball and its run and gun style. Now that the pendulum has started to swing back the other way, expect the scores to start dropping and NBA basketball turning back into a glorified wrestling match between seven-footers.

Thanks for the memories, small ball.