"THE TRADE" BEHIND THE BIG UPSETS; MAGAZINE GALORE

Allen Iverson and Chauncey Billups, the main characters in the recent blockbuster trade, were behind the big upsets last Friday evening (Saturday morning, Manila time). It was a rare and weird night as both NBA finalists last season went down on their respective homecourts.

Iverson scored 25 big points to lead the Detroit Pistons over the erstwhile undefeated Los Angeles Lakers, 106-95 at the Staples Center. It was the Lakers' first defeat of the season after seven successive wins. It is nice to hear from Iverson that defense did it for the Pistons, which means "The Answer" is responding to the team's call for more emphasis on defensive basketball.

Over in the east coast, Billups had 18 points, 7 assists and a clutch 3 point play which was crucial to the Denver Nuggets' 94-85 victory over the defending champs, Boston Celtics at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Nuggets had won four out of five games since Billups arrival. Even Celtic main man, Kevin Garnett acknowledged the great contributions of Billups to the cause of the Mile High City squad, "you see the difference in this team with Chauncey the talking, and the activity and him directing on both offense and defense".

So far so good for both Iverson and Billups. I can't wait for the Pistons-Nuggets game.


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Over the recent weeks, I acquired six magazines and a book leading up to the 2008-09 NBA season. I got the Athlon Sports Pro Basketball Preview (International Cover with Yao Ming, Andrew Bogut and Dirk Nowitzki), SLAM featuring CP3 on the cover, Handle (Australian-Published hoop mag) with Paul Pierce, ESPN NBA preview (Deron Williams and Chris Paul), SLAM NBA Preview (Kobe cover) and NBA HOOP NBA Preview (again, its Kobe on the cover). Additionally, I just bought the ESPN 2008 SPORTS ALMANAC, which is a collection of all the results and highlights of all major sporting events in the world for the year. Now I can just sit back, read, relax and enjoy the 2008-09 NBA season right there in my living room.