The glitches in NBA 2K9 seem to be coming thick and fast. As always, it's difficult to verify how legitimate any video on the internet is, but this glitch seems quite bad if it's for real:

If you haven't seen it already, also check out this feature on NBA Live 09 and NBA 2K9.

When a team goes under, as the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets did this past offseason, the immediate anguish of fans runs in stages. Initially they realise that they will no longer have a team to support and games to watch. The next step normally involves wondering where their favourite players and the coaching staff will go. Rarely however, do people worry for the plight of our much-loved mascots of the game.

Well, someone does care. Nicole takes a particular interest in mascots and in her left of middle sport blog she asks the question that many have avoided. What has happened to the Lion and the Bullet? Perhaps Dodge Taylor can help us out with some information on that last one…

It appears that Nicole is not the only one that has former mascots on the mind, as this comic from the Garbage Time All-Stars shows.

Brandon Jennings gives his impressions of life in Italy, as he has had a taste of life in Roma. He tells us that he models his game after Kenny Anderson and that he is close friends with Marcus Williams and Tyson Chandler, who both give him advice on what he should do when he reaches the NBA.

It also sounds like he wants to talk a little trash in Italian when he hits the league...

• NESW Sports has the lowdown on that pickup ball that Obama played the day he got elected as President. The basketball world will never get over the fact that they have a Ballin' Pres, never -- it's Fan-Tastic.
• The Carnival of the NBA is happening over at Both Teams Played Hard (which is a fantastic reference to the stock standard Rasheed Wallace quote to reporters).
• Carolyn at And One has a great play-by-play on LeBron's second straight 41 point punishment of the Chicago Bulls.
• Kellex's Blaze of Love previews the opening game of the Portland Trail Blazers' east-coast schwing. First up the Orlando Magic get a taste of Brandon Roy's clutchness.
• John Rillie has basketball news from all over, including some video of the top 10 high school dunks of all time. Number one is Vinsanity-esque.
• Jeff's Toronto Raptors take on the 6-1 Boston Celtics tonight and they are not looking too bad themselves at 4-2.
• Ashley's Basketball and Everything in Between takes a look at the Aussie NBL players that have represented in the NCAA across the pond in the States. An interesting read.
• Skeets and Tas have the latest issue of their very popular The Basketball Jones podcast.
• The Basketball Professor names Kirk Penney as his shooter of the month in the NBL -- nobody can really argue with that.
• Scibz' Spiel takes a look at where the NBL is headed with the changes to the structure of the Board.
• This is a few days old, but I just spotted this piece of hilarity on ZONQ Sports, where Will Ferrell pulled a Halloween prank on the USC football team.

Today's flashback Stern Warning:

We go back in time to 2002 where Kenyon Martin of the New Jersey Nets was given a "stern warning" for his physical play which had to be toned down, according to David Stern. These days K-Mart is known more for failing physicals than playing that way.

Contentious times for Australian basketball. Reform has been going on behind the scenes for the National Basketball League and the Australian program in general over the past year (and more). Now is crunch time as the member associations and clubs of Basketball Australia (BA) and the NBL must vote on whether to approve the proposed reform process which would merge the NBL and BA to form one governing, unified body in the sport.

The carrot at the end of the rainbow -- and hence the thing gaining the media headlines -- is the fact that the reform process going through will likely result in a $35m boost to the sport through a five-year Fox Sports television deal. Due to the lack of coverage in recent times, I had to pick my jaw off the floor when I read that the deal would also include live coverage of every game in 2009-10, should it go ahead.

These are serious renaissance times for basketball fans, with news already coming through recently that Channel 10's new 24 hour sports station would host free-to-air coverage of the NBA in Australia. Potentially this sort of renewed coverage could lead to a massive re-growth of the popularity of basketball in Australia to mid-90s levels.

The only concern for me is the size of the league that is being proposed for the NBL. This could potentially be disastrous for some fans if they lose their team (I know what that feels like and there are one or two people in Seattle who can proabably sympathise as well).

Here's what everyone else has to say about the news:

Last night saw three intriguing NBA matchups and one other result which will garner many more headlines than those three combined. Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America. Saving the rhetoric for a second, I'm happy that the USA has a leader that understands hoops. Congratulations Obama.

In a battle of the Lopez twins, both came off the bench, both scored two points, both played 19 minutes, but Robin's team beat Brook's 114-86 (boxscore). The result was decided quite early in the game, allowing the Suns to rest their starters. Shaquille O'Neal contributed 18 points and 6 rebounds in 23 minutes, whilst Raja Bell was a perfect 6 for 6 from downtown on his way to 22 points. Vince Carter put up 19 for the disappointing home team.

The big match of the night was the battle of the Big Threes, as Boston vistited the Rockets. The game did not fail to entertain, with the result going right down to the wire. Boston were the eventual 103-99 victors (boxscore), with all of their starters scoring in double figures. Ray Allen was his usual smooth self, knocking down 29 points, to go with 5 assists and 5 rebounds, whilst fouling out in the closing stages. Yao Ming was unsettled throughout, as the Celts continued to front him in the post. He encountered early foul trouble, but finished the game on only three fouls. Tracy McGrady scored 26 and was assisted by Luis Scola's 21 and 9.

The Dallas Mavericks easily accounted for the very surprising San Antonio Spurs, who now sit at 0-3. The Mavs pulled to 2-2 with the 98-81 win on the road (boxscore). Dirk Nowitzki shrugged off the slump which he endured against the Cavs, going for 30 points on 13-24 shooting. Jason Terry put up 29 points, whilst Jason Kidd flirted with a triple double. The Spurs' story was the same as it has been so far this season -- there was noone outside of Tim Duncan (19 and 15) and Tony Parker (22) to contribute, as they sorely miss the injured Manu Ginobili.

In a week's time, only one of tonight's results will be remembered.

As we enjoy watching Yao Ming's Houston Rockets take on Kevin Garnett's Boston Celtics, let's not forget the style and grace of a matchup of these teams from a past era. Here we have Hakeem "the Dream" Olajuwon taking on Kevin McHale in Game 6 of the 1986 NBA Finals. Classic action.

The Warning of the Night goes to you, Eddie House.

Eddie seems to think that the Big Three in Boston refers to his propensity to jack up shots from the outside. The man who never met a shot he didn't like took the Warning of the Night as he displayed the deadly sin of Greed. Leading a 3-on-2 fast break versus the Houston Rockets last night, House looked up to see Ray Allen and Kendrick Perkins ahead of him... perfect... they were there to try and corral the rebound on his missed three. His confidence was not unfounded though -- he had managed to hit 1 of his 12 threes prior to this match and 3 of his 18 shots overall on the season to date.

Greed is Bad, Eddie.

Tonight we watch the Houston Rockets take on the Boston Celtics in the much anticipated matchup of the Big Threes. If you can't watch the game, well you can read my game notes in real time...