Alex Kreitman - Stealing signs

Be afraid.

Ty Lawson played his first home game in a month and scored 10 points in 20 minutes on the court against Florida State on Tuesday night.

The Tar Heels won easily, and despite another scary moment when Lawson left briefly with another minor injury, North Carolina finally looks like its No. 1 status.

With only the hated Duke Blue Devils remaining on the regular season schedule, the Tar Heels get their speedy guard back just in time. I wrote about the Heels the other day, noting their need to stay alert after a rude awakening against Boston College, but this time around they seem to have gotten the message.

Lawson still isn’t close to 100 percent, but just his presence on the court helps keep the ball at North Carolina’s end of the court. Talking to some Tar Heels fans, every time Quentin Thomas touches the ball they hold their breath. He has his bright spots and has done a decent job filling in for Lawson, but everyone in Tar Heel country feels more comfortable with the rock in Lawson’s grip.

Plus, I always want Duke and Carolina at full strength or close to it when they play since it makes for a closer battle. Lawson was missing for the last encounter, but will be on the floor at Cameron Indoor on Saturday night. No. 1 vs. No. 6 in the nation should be a treat for college hoops fans everywhere.

The Boston Celtics signed veteran guard Sam Cassel this week to solidify its roster heading towards the postseason. Cassel won’t play tonight against the Detroit Pistons though, which is guaranteed to be a hell of a game.

All the talk is of the Western Conference’s talent and it should be with the top eight teams within five games of each other. It’s really anyone’s game for every seed. But left in the dust have been Detroit and Boston, the top two teams in the entire league.

My dad will be at tonight’s game at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston and I told him Monday night that he’s one lucky guy. He’ll also be going next week against Portland and he attended the home opener earlier in the year which drew a wild crowd for Kevin Garnett’s debut.

Tonight, he’ll be enjoying a luxury box which I’ve never set foot in. Lucky man, I know. But he’s worked so hard his whole life and he’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever known so I’m really excited for him to finally be able to enjoy some perks in life.

Attending a game like this isn’t a recurring theme for him by any means, so he’ll take what he can get. I just hope he paints his chest green and wears his KG jersey while slurping down a few Sam Adams on tap. Unlikely, but it’d be quite the site.

Finally, Chinese superstar Yao Ming started playing like the great player he was hyped to be. Tons of international attention circled around him for years with no results until this year.

That all came crashing down Tuesday when the Houston Rockets announced that Yao is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.

The Rockets had won 12 straight games and were right in the mix in the tight battle for the playoffs in the Western Conference before the injury.

Yao was averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds a game before the injury which team officials said didn’t result from any specific incident. Doctors said the injury was caused from continued stress on the area.

Houston is the No. 7 seed in the West right now, but only sits three games out of first. On the other hand, they’re only three games out of missing the playoffs. I think this injury eliminates the Rockets from the playoff picture because the Denver Nuggets are the team looking in from the outside. The Nuggets are too good to not take advantage of Yao’s injury and creep up into the playoffs.

Tough loss for Houston, but it looks like the time frame on his absence won’t force him to miss the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.

The Tennessee’s men’s basketball team has been No. 1 in the country for less than two days, but the Volunteers will have a big test tonight. The Vols will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to take on No. 14 Vanderbilt. Tough break for Tennessee.

I watched Tennessee beat Memphis on Saturday night and it was a great game. I expect the same to be true of tonight’s SEC matchup. The SEC has been a weak conference, but Vanderbilt has been one of few bright spots in the league, surprising many with their success, including myself.

I still think Tennessee wins and hangs on to the top spot. Bruce Pearl is just too good of a coach to let a No. 1 ranking get to his team’s heads.

One minute before the trade deadline Thursday, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Seattle Sonics pulled off the third largest trade in NBA history.The Cavs and the Bulls are fighting for a playoff spot but the Sonics are practically out. Was it a good trade for any of the teams? It’s way too early to tell. I’m always against completly revamping your team in the middle of a season, especially in Cleveland’s case because they went to the finals last year with the same cast.

But In Chicago’s case I’m not opposed. The Bulls haven’t been able to find last year’s success and have been a major disappointment. They’re only a few games out of making the playoffs this year, but that’s only because the Eastern Conference isn’t nearly as competitive as the West.

Cleveland gave up six players in all. The Cavs got Ben Wallace, a premier shot blocker, Joe Smith, Wally Szerbiak and Delonte West. Out of those guys I think Wallace and West can make the biggest impacts. West has had a surprisingly good year and has been able to provide offensive spark from time to time. That kind of spark is exactly what LeBron James needs to take some scoring weight off his shoulders. Wallace provides a presence in the paint and is one of the best defenders in the league.

Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden are good pickups for the Bulls, but I’ve never really thought of them as great players. They’re role players and nothing more.

Either way it’s an exciting trade and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Indiana University will issue its decision Friday afternoon on the status of head men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson. The school has already made its decision as to whether or not the coach will be suspended or fired after allegations of five major recruiting violations related to placing too many phone calls to recruits.

Sampson was already on probation and faces serious penalties. I haven’t followed this case all that closely, mainly because I just don’t care. But it’s important so I mentioned it. I’m definitely against giving gifts and illegal incentives to athletes, but this phone call thing seems a little blown up.

There are more than 100 open cases in the NCAA for recruiting violations related to phone calls. It’s a phone call. Is it really that big of a deal? Maybe it is.

In one of a few great NBA games played Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant led his Los Angeles to a road victory against Shaquille O’Neal and his new team the Phoenix Suns.

Close until the last minute, Bryant scored 41 and outshined Shaq in his Suns debut.

Bryant is the best player in the league with no argument. I used to question that statement but I don’t know why. There are other great players but Bryant now stands above them all and I have been so impressed with his new leadership.

He used to be an awful leader and always came off as a selfish teammate and I never liked him, but now I think he’s changed. In seeing change, so have the Lakers since they’re right near the top of the Western Conference standings, one game back of the New Orleans Hornets.

In listening to Bryant’s postgame interview he sounds so much more mature than the days when he and Shaq bickered back and forth. He still wants no part of the Shag questions, but who can blame him? Either way, he’s got his team at the top of the playoff picture and looking like a favorite to reach the NBA Finals.

That last sentence has me excited. How awesome would it be to have a Lakers vs. Boston Celtics NBA Finals? Super awesome. Some might even say wicked awesome. I don’t want jump the gun, but it’d be really cool.

But the Celtics have dropped two straight on the road out west after starting 16-0 against the superior conference. The C’s lost at the buzzer after Baron Davis drained a shot to lift the Golden State Warriors. This doesn’t worry me one bit. After missing Kevin Garnett for a few weeks, the Celtics are just warming up to having him back on the court. They’ll be back winning in no time.

Back to Shaq though. I questioned the trade to the Suns last week, but after watching him play last night, he might have something left. He started sluggish and I thought, “He’s done,” but then in the fourth quarter he really showed some endurance and hustle. Shaq was diving into photographers for lose balls and he even sprinted down court after a made basket. It was pretty funny, since no one else in the league bothers to sprint.

I think this pickup will end up helping the Suns because having a dominant center is key to winning a title, we’ve seen just about every year. And with Shaq out there it opens the floor up for Amare Stoudemire to go off, as he did last night with 37 points and 15 rebounds.

It’s going to be a fun race to the finish in the West; I just hope the Lakers get there and face the Celtics in the East. That’d be one of the best finals in recent history.

That might be the simplest headline I’ve ever written.

I’ve never been a fan of no-trade clauses and during the past week I’ve been given concrete examples of why they are stupid and screw everything up.

The Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets have had a trade on the blocks for nearly a week and it finally went through Tuesday after days of headaches.

The trade hit its first road block when Devean George of the Mavs vetoed the trade because of the no-trade clause in his one-year contract. It wasn’t an exact no-trade clause but instead a little-known rule in certain players’ one-year deals.

I’m sure everyone’s thinking the same thing I was last week. Who the hell is Devean George? Well, I’d actually heard of him, but I couldn’t tell you what he looks like or what number he wears. He averages 3.8 points a game and 2.7 rebounds. He definitely doesn’t have good enough stats to have a say on where he can and can not be traded.

Why in the world should any player get to choose where they play? And how it’s set up now, why should some be allowed and others not? Because most superstar athletes are spoiled little babies. Ok, not all of them. But seriously, they’re already making millions, who cares where they play.

When you’re on a team, that team owns you. It’s part of the package deal that includes your millions of dollars in salary. When a team wants to trade you, they should be able to. Teams are trying to do what’s best for their organization and no-trade clauses just screw things up. That’s one of the reasons why there are great teams and really crappy teams every year.

For example, if I were a pro baseball player, I’d have no desire to play for the Washington Nationals or Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They’re terrible. But why would anyone want to? That is why they’re horrible because the big name players veto trades going there. And because teams know no one wants to go there, the lesser teams don’t even get trade proposals. Why waste the time?

If they just got rid of no-trade clauses we’d see a lot more trades and there wouldn’t be as many really unsuccessful franchises. I just can’t stand when a no-name player like Devean George can screw up a blockbuster deal. I’m glad the two parties got the deal done anyway because I’m tired of hearing Jason Kidd’s name on the trading block. It’s been there for years.

That headline reminds me of my college days. One of many sororities dear to my heart, Alpha Xi Delta, always had a party around St. Patrick’s Day called “Get Lucky with an AZD.” While I did on several occasions, so did North Carolina against Clemson on Sunday night.

The Tar Heels were down as many as 15 in the second half at home to the Tigers, who have not won in Chapel Hill in 53 tries, but somehow managed to climb back for a win.

Carolina forced overtime and then the game went into double OT where the Heels pulled away and won 103-93.

Tyler Hansbrough again showed me why he is the best player in college basketball. I see no reason why he would stick around another year at the college level since game after game his hustle and numbers are incredible. Hansbrough dropped 39 against Clemson with 13 rebounds. He also hit 17 of 19 free throws.

His ability to get to the line and then make free throws is impressive for a big man. At the end of every game when Carolina is on top, the Heels get him the ball because he is money at the line. You can’t say that for any other big man.

I think last week’s loss to Duke had a major impact on the Heels in the first half, but they obviously got their heads out of their, well we all know, and started playing like one of the nation’s best. But without Ty Lawson the Heels are still shaky. Half the time Quentin Thomas brings the ball up court he turns it over or gets lucky with an AZD and somehow recovers it. For their sake I hope Lawson gets healthy soon.

Just found out this morning that the Pro Bowl was Sunday. Ok, I knew it was on, but who really cares?

The Pro Bowl is the worst All-Star game in professional sports. It takes place after the season and players are so worried about getting hurt that no one really tries. But it’s worth mentioning that Adrian Peterson was the M.V.P after rushing for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

Without Tom Brady and Randy Moss I had no desire to watch.

The Celtics, without Kevin Garnett, defeated the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. The Celtics remain undefeated against the supposed more elite Western Conference. It seems to me that Boston is in a class of its own.

 Paul Pierce scored 35 and Tim Duncan had a good game but the Celtics bench stepped up to keep San Antonio in check. Big win for Boston.