Against the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday night in the Target Center, an arena that Granger just can’t seem to shoot well in (29.5 percent all-time in that building). Suddenly, in the third quarter, Granger poured in 17 points in just twelve minutes. It was a physical game for most of the night and before the quarter came to an end, Minnesota’s All-Star forward Kevin Love retaliated on Granger by grabbing him by his shoulder after he was upset by a missed called from the refs. Granger, of course, responded back with a shove and a few expletives.

During a post-game interview with FSNorth, Love pulled a Tim Thomas and called the Pacers ‘fugazi:’

“You know, they’re so tough,” Love said of Indiana. “They take those pills, and they’ve got all that toughness. I don’t know where that comes from. They all think they’re tough guys. I just don’t know where that comes from. That just blows my mind. They’re all tough. It makes me laugh.”

If Love thinks the Pacers are “tough” now, he would have been eaten alive back when they had guys like Jermaine O’Neal, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley and Ron Artest. Those dudes would run up in your house on their day off and kidnap your momma. Basketball is a physical and an emotional game, no one wants to get bested by another team on their own court. Love had a frustrating night despite scoring 21 points and bringing down 17 rebounds.

These two teams will meet again, and maybe in the playoffs. But until then, enjoy a few tweets from not only Granger himself but his teammate Roy Hibbert, who says not to provoke the beast:

See, Love? It’s all love.

The Hawks started the season off with guns blazing and capping off two important victories over the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. Al Horford, though his numbers were down from previous years, has been, without question, Atlanta’s best and most valuable player, and one of the best big men — especially on defense — in the league. Losing him is a real blow, or so we thought. After he went down with a torn pectoral muscle that will likely keep him out the next 3-4 months, something in Atlanta has changed, and for the better.

In the last 11 games since Horford went down, Johnson’s averaging 21.2 points and connecting on 55.9 percent of his shots from the field. He’s connecting on 87 percent of his free throws and shooting 40 percent from the three-point line. Aside from the atrocious 9 points he scored against the Hornets — Yes, the Hornets — last Saturday, Joe has eight games where he’s score 20-plus points and two games with 30 or more.

There are two reasons as to why this offensive tear is happening right now: A) There’s more room to operate with more shots to go around with Horford being out, or B) It’s really just a coincidence and as the leader of the team, Johnson’s stepped up his play to make sure Atlanta stays somewhere atop of the Eastern Conference Rankings.

Offense aside, Atlanta’s currently 5th in the league in Defensive Efficiency (95.0) and according to Michael Cunningham of AJC’s Atlanta Hawks Blog, Johnson is doing his part, and very well, on the defensive end, too:

• According to Synergy, Johnson has allowed just .71 points per possession, ranked No. 42 among all players. (Synergy had him allowing .93 points per possession in 2010-11 and .89 in 2009-10). This season Joe has been very good when defending in isolation (.56 ppp allowed, ranked 13th), against screen-roll ball-handlers (.69 ppp, ranked 33rd) and chasing his man off screens (.69 ppp, ranked seventh). Joe’s only defensive weakness this season, according to Synergy, has been defending spot-ups: .94 ppp, ranked 113th.

• Opponent PER tells the same story. According to 82games.com, Johnson’s foes at shooting guard have posted a paltry 8.6 PER and small forwards have managed just a 12.6 PER. (The opponent PER is ugly when Joe has been at point guard but that has only been a couple of minutes, according to 82games.) Last season Joe’s opponent PER was 11.6 at shooting guard and 12.9 at small forward; in 2009-10, those numbers were 15.3 and 14.4, respectively.

As you can see — and numbers don’t lie, although they can mislead — Johnson has been somewhat of a “shutdown” guard this season, which, ultimately, could be the key to the Hawks advancing deep into the playoffs. When guys see you putting that kind of effort on the defensive side of the ball, especially when you’re not known for it, they’re going to respond in the same exact way: Constant effort. There’s a reason why Atlanta’s allowing fewer points without Horford in the lineup, and Josh Smith isn’t the only reason why.

As the season goes, the competition gets stiffer and the schedules get harder; and that, my friends, is when we’ll see whether or night Johnson and his Hawks have what it takes to put the cuffs on the leagues toughest competition.

Boy, that sure did work out, didn’t it?

Milwaukee saw major potential in the then 19-year-old, and he showed them just that. During his rookie campaign, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a single game and has since broken six franchise records with the Bucks: Points scored as a rookie (55 against Golden State), field goals made (21), points in a half (45), points in a quarter (29), field goals made in a half (17) and field goals made in a quarter (12).

Jennings’ is a scoring point guard, always has been, so those accomplishments really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. After all, this is coming from the kid who once dubbed himself the “Best player to ever come out of Oak Hill Academy” after he held three school records in most points scored in a season (1,312), highest scoring average season (35.5), and most points in a single game (63). He set all those records his senior year after leading the team to a 34-4 record.

Cocky? Absolutely. He has ‘Young Money’ tattooed on his back, but does he back it up? Always.

Statistically, though, Jennings had a down year during the 2010-11 season. He did bump his scoring average from 15.5 to 16.2 points a night, but he was only shooting 39% from the floor and an atrocious 32.3% from 3s. His assists were down (5.7 to 4.8) and he ended up missing 19 games, which, without question, hurt Milwaukee’s playoff chances. We’re talking about a kid who took his team — the Milwaukee Bucks, mind you — to the playoffs as a rookie and forced the discouraged Atlanta Hawks to battle out 7 games with an underdog. The only real problem with Jennings is his shot selection. He’s a street kid and that’s exactly how he plays; like he’s in a pickup game at Rucker Park.

This season, though, is special. This season, Jennings has a look in his eye I haven’t seen before. He’s back with a vengeance; similar to the way Freddy Krueger came after the children whose parents set him on fire. After challenging the entire world this past summer by playing in the Dyckman League, NC Pro Am, Melo League and Goodman League, where he dropped Wilt Chamberlain numbers, his confidence and overall game got a major boost and helped him bounce back from a rather porous sophomore campaign.

Despite being without their All-Star center Andrew Bogut for the next eight weeks and Stephen Jackson finding himself riding the bench, Jennings has his team with a 11-10 record and has beaten a handful of heavy hitters such as Miami (Twice), the Lakers, Spurs and New York. He’s also had a few monster scoring games in the month of January: 31 against Sacramento, 30 against Denver, 36 against New York, he dropped 25 on Derrick Rose and scored 31 at home against Miami.

From a statistic standpoint, he’s been phenomenal.

Head coach Scott Skiles is using his 22-year-old point guard the most he ever has before, judging by his Usage Rate of 26.07 according to Hoopdata.com. His True Shooting Percentage is at an all-time high at 54.1%, his Turnover Ratio is down to 9.09 after posting the upper ‘teens his first two seasons. As for PER, not only is his 20.53 the highest of his career, but it also places him 8th amongst active PG’s. He’s connecting on 60.6% of his shots at the rim, knocking down 45.5% of the shots he takes from 10-15 feet out and 41% from 16-23 feet.

Through the first 21 games of the season, Jennings is averaging 20.1 points, 5.6 assists and 1.7 steals a night while shooting 44% from the floor and 38% from 3s. He’s still taking wild shots (How in the hell do you take 14 threes in NBA game?), but he’s still scoring enough to keep his team on the rise.

If Milwaukee has any chance at going deep into the playoffs this year, or even making it there for that matter, they’re going to need Bogut back and somehow trade Jackson to a team where they can bring in another player that can contribute off the bench.

As long as they have Brandon though, they’ll be just fine. He’ll make sure of that.

The worst part? He was only 27 years old and in his prime years.

Greg Oden was supposed to make his debut at the start of the season, but suffered yet another setback with his knee injury. At this point in time, I think it’s safe to say that all hope is lost for the big fella; he simply can’t stay healthy. It’s now been 5 years since he was taken with the No. 1 draft pick back in 2007. As disheartening as it is to say, his body simply quit on him.

Despite picking up Raymond Felton to try to replace the chemistry between he and Andre Miller, the sixth year forward-center in LaMarcus Aldridge has yet to put the Trail Blazers weight on his shoulders in hopes of leading this team to the NBA Finals. Although his numbers haven’t really improved since last season (he’s currently averaging 22.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game), it’s his overall leadership, consistency and his trustworthy 16-23 foot outside shot that has made him a better player.

Portland’s finally playing with a style that they should have played with two years ago: The up-tempo style. They’re still one of the best teams at home and have quality wins this season over contending teams such as; the Nuggets, Clippers, Lakers, Thunder and 76ers, and they’re only going to improve as their newly acquired players in Felton and Jamal Crawford become comfortable as a unit.

Aldridge’s Usage Rate is at a career-high (27.83) per Hoopdata.com, his True Shooting Percentage is at a 54 and his PER is sitting at a whopping 23.40 (career-high), which, remarkably, is better than guys like Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.

LMA has a real shot at making the All-Star team this year to represent the Western Conference, especially because struggling players like ‘Melo and Deron Williams — and finally Yao Ming — probably won’t make it. What will really put him over the top is his highly improved defending. Via 82games.com, opposing PF’s had a PER of 15.6 against Aldridge last season; this year? 12.1. When LaMarcus was on the court last season for the Blazers, they allowed an average 106.9 points and 113 while he was on the bench. They’re allowing only 97.3 points this year and a horrid 108.1 when Aldridge is on the bench. That’s a full 10.8 difference.

Despite all of those improvements, Henry Abbott of ESPN’s TrueHoop Blog was told by Aldridge himself that not only does he think he WON’T make the All-Star team, but that he really doesn’t care about whether he does or not:

“I just focus on trying to win games, trying to help the team win and get better. And keep growing as a player. If that’s enough to be an All-Star then great. If not then I wasn’t even invested emotionally.”

Some players don’t see making the All-Star game a big deal but, if you want to leave a legacy behind, it certainly helps your resume as to becoming a Hall of Fame player.

“You’re talking to a guy who don’t watch ESPN,” he says. “Who don’t read newspapers. Anything of that sort. I’m not a big social media person. I’m just playing. I probably won’t get in because I’m not big on the social scene. I’m a more quiet, to-myself person. Of course it’s a big honor to make the game. But if I get that whole week off, I’m not going to be mad, because my body has been going through the fire. I always play a lot of minutes, and this season even more. If I got that time off I wouldn’t even be mad. … I’d probably just go home and get some rest and see my family. I’m good either way.”

It’s hard to earn that kind of honor when you’re a forward out West, but there are a couple of guys who will get in based on popularity, rather than performance (i.e. Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan). If Aldridge doesn’t make it, he won’t lose an ounce of sleep over it. What he gets is a full week off from basketball to refresh and ready his body to make that final push on trying to clinch home court advantage come playoff time.

Noah wears his heart on his sleeve, no one questions that. He hates losing just as much as all-time greats like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Hell, even as much as his own teammate in Derrick Rose. He’s nothing but energy and hard work, which, along with his teammates, played a vital role in winning back-to-back national championships at Florida. For much of the season though, something wasn’t right; his focus wasn’t there, he’s making more mistakes, the energy wasn’t quite right and his high spirit suddenly disappeared. He’s a $60 million dollar man so what’s the problem?

Well, the $60 million was the problem.

Back in October of 2010, Noah signed a five-year extension with the Chicago Bulls worth $60 million, something has hasn’t spoken about since until his recent interview with the Chicago Tribune stating that the amount of money that was given to him played a major role in his regressed season:

“Yeah, no question, I thought about that,” Noah said. “Sometimes you feel like because you’re given so much money, you’re expected to do things. That’s not the right mentality to have as a player.

“I have to play my game. I have to have fun out there. If I don’t, I’m not the same player.”

Although I don’t have that kind of money, I’m still a realist; I understand completely where Noah is coming from. When you’re given that amount of money, the high hopes that come from not only the organization, but the fans, becomes that much more. That’s like your boss asking you to watch his beloved dog for the weekend, and suddenly, the thought of it possibly running away comes through your mind and starts to affect the entire outcome.

Prior to these last five games, where he’s currently averaging 13.2 points and 12.6 rebounds, Noah wasn’t having fun. His numbers are still down (8.5 points and 9.3 rebounds this year compared to the 11.7 points and 10.4 rebounds in the 2010-11 season), but his energy and his overly passionate self have returned.

“I’ve always been a player who reacts well to criticism and doubters,” Noah said. “I feel my teammates were always behind me. But I knew as well as anyone how poorly I was playing. And not only wasn’t I playing well, but I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. I wasn’t playing loose out there. I was playing tight.

“In the beginning of the year, I was over thinking a lot. I was going through a lot of things personally. I feel a lot more comfortable now. I have to stop over thinking and just play.”

For those who don’t remember his days as a Gator, Noah thrived on the opposing teams crowd when they spat nothing but hate from their mouths. The same goes for the crowd in the pros. Jo didn’t describe those personally things but whatever they are, it seems that he’s either fixed them or pushed them to the side and will work on them when the time is right. If you don’t have confidence when you’re a professional basketball player, you’ll get eaten alive.

Jo knows how to play this game, he’s played it his whole life. But when a guy like Derrick Rose has your back, the words “lack” and “confidence” should not even be used in the same sentence. The haters will always be somewhere in the crowd wherever Noah goes, and that, without question, certainly helps.