Gerald Wallace is ok now after he suffered a flagrant foul the other night. His team, the Bobcats, were playing the Lakers and he got hit pretty hard. He fell to the ground and had to go to the hospital. Turns out he had a lung that was partially collapsed lung and a broken rib. He will probably have to sit out for a little while, but it’s good to know that he’s ultimately ok. We’re happy to hear that he’s not too badly injured, despite the fact that it must’ve really hurt at the time. He’ll be back soon enough and the Bobcats can get back to full strength.

The All Star Break is coming up soon, and it’s time to once again look at the NBA Power Rankings from ESPN.  And not much surprising can be seen here. First place has your Boston Celtics, having moved up from 4th last week. LA Lakers come in second, who also appear to have been moving up a bit. The Cavaliers and the Magic round out the top 4 with the San Antonio Spurs coming in 5th (having lost a tough game at home against Minnesota this week). So this is the way it looks. And that’s not too unusual, because these teams, with the exception of the Orlando Magic, have been dominating the NBA for quite awhile now. At the bottom 5 we can see the Thunder, Grizzlies, Clippers, Wizards and Kings.

Alonzo Mourning, the 7-time All Star, retired this week, after a long career in the NBA. He was known as a major defensive force whenever he was in the game and he was always an aggressive character. But after a kidney operation a few years ago, and a leg injury this season, he’s just not able to make it back. He’s 38 and he just bear the idea of injuring himself again. Plus, he wants to live comfortably the rest of his life, rather than face the danger of yet another major injury that could be worse than this one. So he’s on his way out, but for the Miami Heat, he will never really be forgotten. Pat Riley was rather sad about the idea of him leaving, but he understood completely Mourning’s need to retire now.

The Houston Rockets are missing Ron Artest. They are also missing Tracy McGrady. Both of these players are major forces in the Rockets present strategy, but it doesn’t seem to matter. They beat out the Denver Nuggets yesterday 115-113. These two players should be back sometime in the next couple of weeks, although it’s by no means known when exactly that’s going to happen. But no matter. The Rockets can keep winning anyway, no worries. Keep it up Rockets. It will make for an interesting season down there in the Texas league. Yao Ming is leading this team, just like we all knew he could, so we’ll see how long it works before the others come back.

The 20-year-old rookie Greg Oden has been his own worst enemy this season, taking things much too seriously. His coach, Nate McMillan, has basically told him to forget everything and forget everyone, don’t play like you’re Atlas with the world on your shoulders. Assuring him that his game will congeal in time, McMillan has extremely high hopes for Oden in the future, believing that he could be a key factor in a future Portland Trail Blazers dynasty. Read more at NBA.com.

Ok, Chicago. What’s the problem? Oklahoma City beat you? The Thunder? But that’s ridiculous. This team is 6-32 so far this season and they beat the decent Chicago Bulls at home 109-98. The game was pretty close for most of the 48 minutes and the Bulls were simply unable to put it away at any point in time. Then at the end of 4 quarters, it was tied. Then came the overtime. It was tough because the Thunder outscored the Bulls 15-4 in that period and clearly won the game. But come on. I mean, Oklahoma City needs whatever they can get. They are a bit off their game since they moved from Seattle last year, but they don’t need to be the worst in the league. But congrats to them.

While it’s only January and the playoffs are a long ways off, tonight’s Celtics versus Cavaliers basketball game is nonetheless the most important game so far in the season. The Celtics, who were crusing along on a 19-game win streak earlier in the season, have lost 6 of their last 8, falling 1/2 game behind the Cavs in the Eastern Division. So Cleveland, 15-0 at home this year, will have a chance to widen that gap tonight when they host the Celtics. It won’t be a definitive match by any means, but it could be important when the postseason seeding takes place.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are easily one of the top 10 teams in the league this season. They may even be in the top 5. The Washington Wizards are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. So what of it? Well last night, the Cavs lost by 3 to the Wizards after some calls went the wrong way and some trash talking went badly. LeBron had one of his shots called back after it was ruled travelling. It’s one of his signature moves, where there is a one-two and a high step of some kind. It doesn’t really work out all that well for him and several players on the other team thought it was travelling too (of course). James wants the play reviewed to clarify. Anyway, the Cavs wont be stopped by this, but it’s interesting to see it.

After enjoying New Year’s Day off, the NBA is coming back with full force tonight, providing 15 high quality games, including the Bulls versus Cleveland Cavaliers matchup. It seems like an easy prediction (Cavs of course) considering that the Cavaliers have only lost 5 games this season, not once at home. As the last team to still hold an undefeated record while playing at home, the Cavs have all the motivation they need. The Bulls, on the other hand, can just as easily use this to their advantage. What better impetus is there than to be the first team to beat the Cavs at home this year.