I don’t know if any of you are the same age as me (or FEEL that old), but about FOUR decades ago, Joe Garagiola (I’m assuming he’s the same age if you remember!) wrote a book titled: “Baseball It’s a fun game.” Well, the NBA can also be quite ‘fun’. Consider this. The Nuggets entered last night’s home game with the Clippers on a seven-game winning streak and were 11-2 in January. Marcus Camby, the league’s top rebounder, had missed the team’s last 15 games (the Nuggets were 11-4 without him), but he was ready to return for last night’s game.

So what happens? The Nuggets are OUTSIDED 45-32 and lose, 105-87! Kobe should have been well rested after his 81-point game on Sunday, as the Lakers had a four-day rest before last night’s game with Golden State. However, the man who “never saw a shot he didn’t like or thought he couldn’t make” took just 12 shots in the first three quarters of the game last night! He made just TWO and entered the fourth quarter with a total of just FIVE points! Luckily for the Lakers (but NOT the L.A. punters), someone must have reminded Kobe of who he was, as he scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Lakers ran away with a no-cover win by 106-105.

My free game for Saturday is varsity hoops. Take Va Tech over Wake Forest at 3:00 ET. I have three HUGE plays from CBB on Saturday, my first LEGEND play in BKB since Jan 7th (LEGEND plays were 14-4 on FB season and are 3-1 so far on BKB season!) Plus two plays of 20 *. Since January 20, my 20* plays or more on CBB have gone 5-1 or 83% ATS, so don’t miss my 20* Big-10 GOY or my 20* Big-12 Total of the Year. NBA fans return at 9:00 ET.

The Artest/Peja deal sparked two big line ‘moves’ on Friday night. The Cavs were in Indiana last night to take on the Pacers. With Artest out for Peja (who wouldn’t play) and O’Neal out for up to eight weeks, Cleveland’s overnight line as a one-point favorite didn’t last long. The Cavs closed with a four point favorite and there were more than a few 4 1/2’s around. Final score? Cleveland for FOUR!

Artest made his Kings debut last night in Boston against the Celtics. The Celtics also had big trade news, as a seven-player trade with Minnesota had sent Davis and Blount to the T-wolves for Szczerbiak and Olowokandi. Boston opened as a four-point option in this one, but the game ‘closed out’ at about a ‘pick’, with the Kings even becoming favorites in places. Final score? Boston wins 84-74. Artest scored 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

On the surface, the Pistons are ONE team to count on these days, although Detroit bettors lost yesterday when the Pistons moved to 36-5 with a 95-89 win over the Grizzlies. Detroit became the THIRD team in the past 20 years to start with the same five players in EVERY of their first 41 games. The 1999-2000 Pacers did it and so did the 2002-03 Golden State Warriors.

An interesting contrast of those two teams shows this. The Pacers went 56-26 in the regular season that year, reaching the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Lakers (the first title for Shaq and Kobe). As for the Warriors, they went 38-44 in 2003, once again missing out on the postseason (they last made the playoffs in the 1993-94 season).

College basketball dominates the Saturday sports scene. ESPN and ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise NINE games on Saturday, beginning with Cincinnati at Georgetown (ESPN2) and Kansas at Iowa State (ESPN) at noon ET. Saturday’s coverage ends with Texas at Oklahoma on ESPN2 at 9:00 ET. CBS springs into action with Arizona visiting North Carolina at 1:00 ET (Tar Heels are favored by 3 1/2 points with a total of 150).

This past Saturday’s action saw Duke, Florida and Pittsburgh lose, leaving us with no undefeated teams. Long winning streaks still intact, they are of the ‘homemade’ variety. Southern Illinois owns the country’s longest current home winning streak (33 straight), but the Salukis play Illinois State on Saturday. However, both Gonzaga and Illinois (each with 32 straight home wins) play home games on Saturday, with Gonzaga (a 19 1/2-point favorite) hosting 8-12 Portland and Illinois (a 22-point favorite) hosting 7 -11 Purdue.

Ness Notes is available Monday through Friday at 1:00 ET and Saturday and Sunday at 9:00 ET.