NBA Wrap: Ginobili’s Big night, Devean George holds up Kidd trade… and then plays horrible, Stan Van Gundy’s pep talk must have worked

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Ok so you may want to send a message to Casino owners in Las Vegas. Manu Ginobili is planning on going there over the All Star weekend this weekend and he is on some kind of hot streak.

In their first return back to Cleveland since winning the NBA title there last year, the Spurs were lead by Ginobili's 46 to a 112-105 victory over the Cavs. He had a particularly dominant fourth quarter. He had 18 points on 5/5 FG's, 4/4 3 point FG's, and 4/4 FT's. Owned.

Heres some highlights:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYXUiyvd2QA]

Mavericks 96 - Trail Blazers 76

So the Jason Kidd talk didn't seem to distract the Mavs, for the most part. They seemed very focused, for the most part. They all played well, for the most part. The other part of the Mavs though was Devean George who had his worse game of his career and had to deal with heckling fans all night. The only problem was that those were fans of his team.

Yesterday there was a lot buzz around the potential trade. The trade would've sent Jason Kidd to Dallas for Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager. This in my opinion would've made the Mavs THE team to beat in the west. For right now it looks like the deal isn't going to go down but we will see in the next few days.

All the trade talk and chants like "Quit being selfish,'' and "We want Kidd,'' must have been enough to make George finish with 0 points on 0/11 shooting. Thats not gonna make them want to keep you man. Good thing for the Mavs they have Dirk Nowitzki. He finished with 37 points and lead them to the 96-76 win over the Blazers.

Here is George saying "I'll be the bad guy":

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iBYXeUF5s8]

Magic 109 - Nuggets 98

So after the Magic loss at home the other night to the , Stan Van Gundy felt that it was necessary to call out his star player Dwight Howard. He said to the media in a press conference that he needs to "concentrate more on defense and rebounding." Van Gundy was criticized for this because Howard is only 22 and he is a nice guy and you'd think that this could potentially cause a problem.

Well apparently thats not the case. Howard is a professional and he showed it in last nights game against the Nuggets. Too bad for the Nuggets they had to catch the aftermath of Van Gundy's comments.

Howard finished with 23 points, 24 rebounds and 2 blocks to push the Magic past the Nuggets 109-98. Afterwards, Van Gundy sarcastically said that the 24 rebounds was "ok" and that they were disappointed that he didn't get 3 blocks. More motivation maybe?

Around the league

• Jeff McInnis' hook shot with 51.4 seconds left in overtime gave the Charlotte Bobcats a 100-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
• Chris Bosh had 27 points, Jose Calderon had 22 points and 12 assists and the Toronto Raptors beat the New Jersey Nets, who were playing without Jason Kidd, 109-91.
• Andre Iguodala had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the Philadelphia 76ers won their fifth straight and completed a perfect homestand before the All-Star break with a 102-88 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
• Paul Pierce scored 24 points, and his newly minted All-Star teammate Ray Allen added 21 to help the Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 111-103.
• Antawn Jamison scored 29 points and tipped in a missed shot by Antonio Daniels with three-tenths of a second left, giving Washington a 91-89 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers and snapping the Wizards' eight-game losing streak.
• Carlos Boozer had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double as the Utah Jazz soared into the All-Star break with a 112-93 victory over the Sonics.
• Monta Ellis scored 37 points and Baron Davis made three straight baskets down the stretch to send the Golden State Warriors into the All-Star break with a win against the Western Conference's top team, 120-118 over the Phoenix Suns.
• Steve Novak hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give the Houston Rockets their eighth straight win, an 89-87 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
• After two weeks on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers are going home with Pau Gasol and an impressive record. Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, Gasol pitched in another well-rounded game, Lamar Odom patched together a triple-double, and the Lakers breezed past the Minnesota Timberwolves 117-92 to finish their road trip 7-2.
• Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton led a balanced attack with 14 points each as the Detroit Pistons won their 10th straight with a 96-80 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
• Peja Stojakovic hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left and All-Stars David West and Chris Paul combined for 43 points as New Orleans looked ready for its star-studded weekend with a 111-107 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.