See O2

Blimey, there was basketball across the pond yesterday! If you missed it on the tube - and we mean the telly, not the London subway - that's because tip-off was at low tea time, which is three o'clock for the uninformed and under-caffeinated. Although it went in the books as a home game for Detroit*, it was the blokes on the New York side who felt right at home, since Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler were playing within the same arena they earned gold medals at back in August. Their level of comfort was evident, as Anthony paced all scorers with 26 points, while Chandler tallied tally-hoed a double-double, with 14 rebounds and 10 points.

Whereas the Knicks feature two triumphant Olympians, the Pistons, 14-25, would struggle to have a player selected for the Special Olympics. After registering the first pair of points, Detriot then surrendered 16 straight to New York and never regained their initial lead. Tayshaun Prince can't compete in a country containing two true princes.

Carmelo was probably happy to take a break from the Cheerios conversation stateside to say "Cheerio" through b-ball to the Brits. We think it was a breath of fresh air for Anthony to perform an encore in the O2.

*which makes sense, since the cities are a mere 3,762 miles apart.

Manu's Mano

The Spurs, already one of the teams most adversely affected by the back-breaking back-to-back-to-back schedule borne out of the lockout, has caught another bad break. Manu Ginobli, the team's leading scorer, fractured his shooting hand and will miss two months. This time period will test whether the team is over the Hill - and we're not alluding to the advanced ages of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but rather the exit of the up-and-coming George Hill, who signed with the Pacers. San Antonio will insert Gary Neal, another one of the franchise's fine finds, who was called up from the D-League (he played in 80 games for the Spurs last year).

The Southwest, early on, appears to be the weakest division. The Spurs sit atop it and every other team has a losing record. Last season's sweethearts, the Grizzlies, are dealing with a grizzly injury of their own to All-Star Zach Randolph. A torn MCL will shelve him for the same amount of time as Ginobli. Meanwhile, the Mavericks look incapable of defending their championship due to departure of the team's best defender (Tyson Chandler)and their best sub (J.J. Barrea). They've strangely chosen to replace those two difference-makers with trouble-makers: a guy who's acted as if he's allergic to defense (Vince Carter) and a complete headcase (Delonte West). They've also imported a Kardashian and her thin-skinned husband (Lamar Odom), thus completing the three-ring circus of awful additions. Also, Jason Kidd hurt his back in the Mavs blowout loss to the Spurs on Thursday (Neal lent a hand, chipping in with 12 points, all on threes), in a contest that saw Spurs power forward Matt Bonner outscore Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki by 11 points (17 to 6), causing Bonner to quip, "That was a Christmas miracle."* What would be a New Year's mistake is counting San Antonio out.

*The Bonner household must've been last on Santa's list for him not to arrive until January 5. Old St. Nick is blaming the delay on a faulty GPS and plans to replace his reindeer with a TomTom (that way, he'll only have to remember one name when commanding his sleigh to be guided).