After losing to the Grizzlies the night before, I fully expected the Cavs to come out sharp and focused in Houston. But the Rockets jumped out to a 33-19 lead at the end of the first quarter and went on to win, 95-85. A big reason for the win was the fine play of Aaron Brooks, who thoroughly outplayed Mo Williams at the point. Brooks posted 27 points, six assists and three rebounds. He wasn’t great from the field (7-17) but he nailed 12 of 13 free throws on the night.

Trevor Ariza (26-5-2, two steals) also played well. After his Laker deal fell through, he reportedly had an opportunity to sign with the Cavs in the offseason, but didn’t think it was a great fit.

LeBron’s supporting cast didn’t show up. Williams (7p, 4a) and Shaquille O’Neal (7p, 10r) combined to shoot just 4 of 18 from the field.

With the win, the Rockets advance to 12-9, while the Cavs fell to 15-7.

Easily the most surprising score from yesterday’s action is the Rockets’ 101-91 win over the Lakers in Los Angeles. Brooks scored a career-high 33 points (including five three-pointers), while also grabbing six rebounds and dropping four dimes. He said that he was inspired by seeing an NBA championship ring for the first time. (Trevor Ariza received his ring before the game.)

Speaking of Ariza, he posted nine points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals, two blocked shots and six turnovers. He was statistically outplayed by Ron Artest (22 points, six rebounds, three steals), but his team got the win.

The Rockets advance to 6-4, while the defending champs drop to 7-3 with their second straight loss. The Lakers need Pau Gasol back in a big way.

Trevor Ariza is featured in the most recent issue of ESPN The Magazine and in an article written by Sam Alipour, he discusses how he came to sign with Houston instead of staying put and re-signing with the Lakers. (Insider subscription required.)

That script began to be rewritten at the toll of free agency, 12:01 a.m. on July 1, one minute into the day after Ariza’s birthday. He was still celebrating with family when he received a call from his agent, David Lee. “He said, ‘The Lakers called, and they think you’re worth only the midlevel,’ ” or $5.8 million a year, Ariza recounts. Technically, it wasn’t even an offer. Says Lee of the Lakers GM, “Mitch Kupchak’s exact quote was, ‘We want Trevor on the cheap, and we’re not going to make an offer. Find what the market will bear and come back to us.’ ”

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Bill Simmons is convinced that “Almost Famous” is the quintessential movie of the aughts, so much so that he decided to pull quotes from the movie and apply them to the 2009 NBA offseason. Here’s an example.

3. Some of the stuff that happens is good for a few people to know about, as opposed to, say … a million people.

To Artest. Here’s a classic case of someone hoodwinking the American public with a 10-year pattern of bizarre behavior that eventually immunized them to all future crazy Ron Artest stories and anecdotes, such as the fact that he’s wearing No. 37 to honor Michael Jackson because it’s the same number of weeks that “Thriller” led the charts (um, what?), or his recent revelation that he had been pining to play for the Lakers for two solid years. Artest told reporters that he wandered into the Lakers’ locker room to express that desire to a showering Kobe Bryant — right after L.A.’s bitter Game 6 thrashing in Boston in the 2008 Finals, no less — adding, “Yeah, I walked in the shower. I’m not a homosexual or nothing like that, but Kobe had no clothes on.”

These anecdotes just bounce off people now. Artest is a benevolent crazy. Or so we think. Being around this nuttiness every day is a little different from merely hearing about the nuttiness in secondhand anecdotes. I know for a fact he routinely broke plays on offense and is still a handful behind the scenes, and the Rockets buried every 2008-09 story that would have made this patently clear. For instance, Artest routinely walked around in his underwear in public places: the Rockets’ team bus, hotels, you name it. People around the team barely flinched after a while. Before Game 7 of the Lakers series — only the biggest game of the entire season — they finally flinched.

Here’s what happened: Artest missed the first two team buses (the ones for players, coaches and team personnel) from Houston’s hotel to the Staples Center and barely made the third and final bus, which was reserved for business staff, sponsors and friends of the team. These stunned people watched Artest sprint to the bus right before it left, jump on and take one of the remaining seats … yes, wearing only his underwear. Owner Leslie Alexander happened to be sitting on the bus and witnessed the whole thing. And you wonder why the Houston Rockets didn’t make any effort whatsoever to bring back Artest.

While I believe Artest is an upgrade over Trevor Ariza for the next 2-3 years, he has to stay relatively sane. While Artest walking around in public in his underwear is certainly strange, Simmons is right — it’s not surprising. We’re immune to these types of stories. Ron Artest is crazy. But on the court, he’s pretty much kept it together for the last few years and he can help the Lakers…if he keeps it together. Did I mention that he has to keep it together?

He has to keep it together.

But back to “Almost Famous.” I too loved this movie, and after reading Simmons’ praise for the director’s cut, I’m going to try to catch it real soon. But, to me, the film represents the only time that Kate Hudson starred in anything good. Check out this list of her starring credits from IMDB.com…

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The NBA offseason is by no means over, but the lion’s share is behind us, so it’s a good time to take a look back at a few of the…um…let’s say “questionable” decisions of the summer. Here are my Top 10, in no particular order. Feel free to add to the list if I missed something.

1. Trevor Ariza plays spiteful hardball…and loses.
Let’s get this straight — the Lakers offered Ariza the same deal he was getting on the open market, and he refused since the Lakers could have offered more, but didn’t? Um, okay. David Lee (the agent, not the Knicks forward) says that Ariza wanted to go somewhere where he’d be “appreciated.” Lee overestimated the market for his client, and the Lakers quickly moved on to acquire Ron Artest. Now instead of playing for the world champs, Ariza is stuck in Houston on a team that faces a very uncertain future. Lee now says that Ariza turned down a deal worth $9 million more, but still picked Houston. It sounds to me like he’s just trying to save face.

2. Grizzlies acquire Zach Randolph.
Once the Clippers traded for Randolph (and his toxic contract) last season, I thought the bar for NBA general managers had hit a new low thanks to Mike Dunleavy and his wily ways. But Dunleavy proved that he wasn’t the dumbest GM in the league when he convinced the Memphis Grizzlies to take on the final two years Randolph’s contract at the tune of $33.3 million. Remember that $25 million or so of cap space that the Grizzlies were going to have next summer? Yeah, that’s down to about $8 million with this brilliant move. Just when it looked like Chris Wallace was going to rehab his image after the Pau Gasol trade — Marc Gasol panning out, trading for O.J. Mayo — he goes and does this. Sigh.

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Yes? Like the majority of Laker fans, I really liked Trevor Ariza. In his previous five NBA seasons of virtual anonymity, Ariza never seemed to fit into the chemistry with his teams. Chalk it up to inexperience or the adjustment from college to the pros. Enter the 2008-9 season, and Ariza blossoms, playing in every regular season game, and averaging nearly nine points, four rebounds, and two steals in every one of them. Come the playoffs and he’s easily the most integral player outside of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, providing consistently strong defense and clutch steals. While the numbers mentioned above may not “wow” anybody, remember that Ariza has always been considered an average player, and that last season could be considered his breakout year. Is it all that strange that he should ask for a multi-year deal at about $6 million a season? No, it’s not, considering his role on a championship team, but in this market you can’t fool yourself into thinking the already penny-pinching Lakers will bite.

Perhaps large-market teams are getting smarter, refusing to award talent with big contracts after one successful season. Prior to last season, Ariza hadn’t made much of an impression in the NBA, and then out of nowhere he’s starting in the NBA Finals. And where did that shot come from? Given the economic climate, I think it would’ve been a wise decision to give Ariza a one-year deal, worth a little more than what he was making the previous season. If he could then replicate his success, then by all means, secure the guy for the next few seasons. But this didn’t happen, and maybe this is to the fault of Ariza’s agent, David Lee, who seemed to attack the Lakers from the onset. While Ariza was valuable to the Lakers, value is measured in worth. There’s an old story about a woman who unknowingly bought a Van Gogh at a garage sale. She used it as a window shade and it became all faded from the sun. She even cut off a piece of the painting to make it fit. When it became obvious what she had, all these experts came to investigate. When they asked her why she had cut the painting she responded, “It was just a little piece of the sky.” (Thanks to Tom Waits for the anecdote.) Value is obviously subjective, and obviously Ariza wasn’t as valuable to the Lakers as he thought. He was a piece to their championship puzzle, but one that was apparently replaceable in the mind of Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. The Rockets, however, saw much worth in Ariza, to the tune of five years and $33 million.

In a surprising sequence of events, Ron Artest has agreed to a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, while Trevor Ariza is headed to Houston with a five-year deal. Both contracts are of the mid-level variety, which are expected to start at about $5.8 million per season.

J.A. Adande writes…

Just as telling is the Lakers’ decision to go with Artest instead of younger Trevor Ariza. It shows they’re putting everything into these next three years and not worrying too much about the future. Ariza would have wanted a five-year contract; Artest was willing to come for three. The end of Artest’s contract coincides with the reported opt-out clause for Bryant. We don’t know whether Kobe will choose to leave in 2012, but we do know this: He’ll be 33 that summer, turning 34 in August. The three years with Artest probably represent Bryant’s last stages of physical superiority over the opposition. He’ll still be ahead of the pack in knowledge and determination, but we’ve already seen some slipping in his athletic ability and it will only decline from here.

So the Lakers are thinking short-term and trying to squeeze in a couple more championships right now. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was even willing to increase his roster’s average age and let one of his best acquisitions walk away, two things general managers are generally loath to do.

Artest gives the Lakers the same qualities as Ariza — perimeter defense and toughness — plus the ability to get his own shot, and a dash of crazy. Ariza wound up in Artest’s old spot in Houston, where he’s actually a better fit. With Yao Ming’s career on pause — at best — the Rockets have to position themselves to be good in a couple of years, perhaps by bringing in a major free agent in 2010 and/or having Yao return from treatment on his feet that might hinder him for the better part of two seasons. Amazing how quickly a team that seemed on the rise in these playoffs now finds itself retooling.

We’ll never know if Ariza was just playing hardball when he expressed frustration that the Lakers wouldn’t offer more than the mid-level because the team called his bluff and moved on. I like this signing for the Rockets, who were originally interested in Orlando big man Marcin Gortat. But when the “Polish Hammer” reportedly made a verbal agreement to join the Mavs, the Rockets moved on to the 24-year-old Ariza.

Artest is a little nutty, and he has the potential to sabotage the Lakers’ season, but it’s not like the team is championship-caliber because they have great chemistry. They don’t. They have more talent than anyone, and when Ariza became irritated with the Lakers’ unwillingness to go over the mid-level, they quickly moved on to their backup plan. Artest will accept his role in L.A. and should fit in just fine. But three years is a long time for him to behave; I expect he’ll have at least one dust up before it’s all said and done.

Per ESPN…

The 24-year-old swingman, who played a key role in the Lakers’ run to their 15th NBA championship, is on the verge of leaving the club, sources close to the situation said on Wednesday.

With at least five teams pursuing Ariza, the Lakers are currently unwilling to pay him more than the $5.6 million mid-level exception.

Cleveland is making a hard push for Ariza, and the Cavaliers’ coaching staff was speaking with him on Wednesday. While Cleveland can only offer the mid-level as well, Ariza’s disappointment with the Lakers’ stance has moved other suitors ahead of his current team.

Ariza’s position doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. The Lakers traded for him and gave him the opportunity to flourish, yet he isn’t willing to stay even though they’re willing to match the best offer he’s getting (up to the mid-level). He apparently feels that the Lakers’ unwillingness to give him more than his market value is a slap in the face.

I suspect his camp is just leveraging these “bad feelings” to get the Lakers to raise their offer a bit, which they probably will.

According to a report by SI.com, Kobe Bryant has decided not to terminate the final two years of his contract and will remain a Los Angeles Laker instead of becoming a free agent.

Now the Lakers and Bryant’s agent will negotiate a contract extension. If they somehow cannot agree, he would earn $23 million next season and could opt out next June.

However, Bryant has spent his entire 13-year career with the team, winning four NBA championships and on June 19 he said, “I’m not going anywhere. I know I ain’t going nowhere, so it’s just a waste of our breaths just talking about it.”

Bryant has urged the Lakers to bring back unrestricted free agent forwards Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom, who played key roles in the team’s recent run to its 15th NBA title.

Bryant will make a guaranteed $47.8 million over the next two years and could earn another $90 million with an extension. As the SI.com article notes, the Lakers can now turn their attention on retaining Ariza and Odom.

Check back for TSR NBA guru John Paulsen’s take on this subject later.

Pistons not willing to pony up for Boozer?

The Pistons would love to sign Carlos Boozer should he decide today to opt out of the final year of his contract with the Jazz and become a free agent.

However, if Boozer opts out, he would leave $12.6 million on the table in Utah. Thus, there is a good chance Boozer, as has been widely speculated, would look to start his next contract at $14 million or $15 million.

If that is the case, the Pistons most likely would walk away.

Just because a guy asks for a contract starting at $14-$15 million doesn’t mean that the Pistons have to give it to him. If Boozer opts out, the Pistons are his most likely landing spot, so they set the market, not him. If he wants an unreasonable deal, they shouldn’t walk away, they should make an offer and give him some time to find a better one. Chances are that he won’t, and he’ll end up taking Detroit’s deal.

Assuming Boozer does not dramatically reduce his asking price, the Pistons would go after Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva.

Villanueva will turn 25 in August and is coming off his best season. He averaged 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds for the Bucks.

The Pistons could conceivably sign Gordon and Villanueva and still have money left over to pursue re-signing Antonio McDyess.

I estimate Gordon’s value to be about $9 million, though he has turned down bigger offers from the Bulls in the past. Villanueva will probably get lots of MLE offers, so the Pistons would likely have to trump those to convince him to play in Detroit instead of Cleveland (or for another contender). So if Detroit signs both, expect them to pay at least $15.5-$16.0 million combined. That doesn’t leave a lot of space for McDyess.

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