I left Fun Fun Fun Fest early because the rain was really coming down and showing no signs of letting up, and the last thing I wanted was to be driving back home at 10:00 pm, soaking wet. I did miss GZA and Danzig, but I also missed pneumonia. It turns out the rain did let up about three hours after I left, but I don't think I regret leaving. A big part of the park, between the Blue and Orange stages (the only two I really cared about on Sunday, except that Danzig was on Black), had already turned to mud when I left, after about 2 1/2 hours of rain. Anyway, since I was gone all day yesterday, I have no idea what happened in the NBA, so here you have my very first impressions of the box scores for Saturday's games.

Denver 100, Atlanta 125: Yesterday I wrote about how sometimes you get one of those Jamal Crawford games where he misses all his shots, never passes the ball, and has no impact on defense. But this year, the Hawks have gotten many more of Saturday's type of games: 25 points on 15 shots, four assists, and two steals. He led the team in scoring, but Josh Smith and Joe Johnson both cracked 20 as well, and four more guys were in double digits. Josh Smith had the best line of the game, though, with great shooting (8-10), nine rebounds, seven assists, and six blocks. Carmelo scored 30 for the bad guys, and got to the line 18 times, but shot just 7-21.

Boston 86, New Jersey 76: Boston did that whole defense thing again, although doing it to the Nets, now 0-7, isn't all that impressive, especially since the Nets aren't just missing the three guys they were missing before (Devin, Yi, and CDR), but were also missing Courtney Lee on top of that. The starting lineup was Brook Lopez, Josh Boone, Bobby Simmons, Trenton Hassell, and Rafer Alston. So yeah, that means that either Bobby Simmons or Trenton Hassell was the de facto starting shooting guard. Ouch. Kevin Garnett shot poorly again (3-13), but he did have thirteen boards (all defensive, oddly), and three steals.

Charlotte 90, Chicago 93: Joakim Noah had an awesome game: 21 (on 10-12), 16 boards, three assists, four blocks. John Salmons led all scorers with 27/7/6. Vlad Rad shot 4-6 from three off the bench for Charlotte. Can you tell I'm uninspired?

Toronto 101, Dallas 129: Dallas scored 44 in the fourth quarter to put this one away. Every single Maverick had a positive +/- for the game. Every single Raptor had a negative +/-. (That's not a tautology, by the way. It's possible that a Raptor could play a single minute that the Raptors won 2-0, but every Maverick's time incorporated that minute in a larger stretch that Dallas won.) That's pretty cool. I don't believe I've seen that before.

Knicks 87, Bucks 102: The Knicks were down 25 entering the final quarter. Which basically seems to be the story of every single game for them. Big Cock shot 3-3 from downtown, but Wilson Chandler was 1-10 and Al Harrington was 1-7. Toney Douglas, my favorite boxer-named NBA player, did hit four of his five three point attempts, and 6-9 overall. Jordan Hill, fresh off his solid showing against the Cavs, when Mike D. got desperate for any kind of energy or skill he could find on his bench, played 13 minutes, with a pretty solid impact: seven points, six boards (three offensive), three steals, and a block. Some guy named Jodie Meeks shot 7-11, including 5-7 from three, for 19 points off the bench for the Bucks. My sources tell me that Meeks was a second round pick this year out of Kentucky, where he played two years and scored 23.7 a game in his second season.

Sacramento 104, Utah 99: At home, Utah lost this game! To a team missing Kevin Martin! Deron Williams had 29 points and 15 assists, but either he or Ronnie Brewer let Tyreke Evans go wild, scoring 32 on just 15 shots, getting to the line 19 times, and adding seven assists. Carlos Boooooozer had 17 rebounds, presumably making up for Paul Millsap, who uncharacteristically had just three in 19 minutes.

Memphis 110, Clippers 113: Memphis did one of those "come visit Staples and play both teams" things. Unfortunately for them, they lost the winnable half as Chris Kaman dominated them for 26 points. This was the game that may well constitute the beginning of Allen Iverson's retirement, as he missed it for "personal reasons" that Memphis swears up and down are legitimate. Rudy Gay led the team with 33 points and Marcus Williams (still in the league! I always root for the guy and feel bad that he didn't succeed (or really even get a shot) in Golden State last year) had six assists in just 16 minutes off the bench for Memphis.