Gilbert Arenas fell awfully short of fulfilling his promise of scoring 50 points versus the Portland Trailblazers. While fans shouldn’t have expected the Trailblazers step up to the challenge, I thought game recaps said Arenas scored nine points in the first half — not in the game. Arenas has already said he plans to score 50 the next time the two teams meet, since “they won’t be expecting it”. He’s already messed that up, hasn’t he?

Ray Allen of the Seattle Sonics and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz have been named as All-Star replacements for Steve Nash and Allen Iverson. The Jazz, who own the third-best record in the NBA, spent a few days without Sunday night representation because injured power forward Carlos Boozer won’t make it back in time.

NBA fans can expect bigger trades coming in the final days before the deadline, but there was a small deal between the Charlotte Bobcats and San Antonio Spurs. The Bobcats sent Melvin Ely to the Spurs for Eric Williams and a future second-rounder. The Spurs should find a big man to play next to T.D. and stick with him. Other teams would gladly take Francisco Elson or Jackie Butler if they don’t get enough playing time.

The Houston Rockets traded Scott Padgett to the Memphis Grizzlies for Jake Tsakalidis. The center averages 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game.

Jason Kidd may follow the recent trend of dropping out of the All-Star game due to injury. Kidd apparently strained his lower back, though that may just be a ploy to save himself from a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. Local newspapers report that several players, possibly Aaron McKie and Kwame Brown, are on the table for the Nets if they’d like to trade Kidd. Rod Thorn told reporters that discussions did indeed take place, but it was several weeks ago. “I’ve spoken to 27 teams over the past month. Some talks were initiated by them, some initiated by us.”

The Duke Blue Devils no longer hold a spot in the top #25, after a tough four-game losing streak. While Duke still ranks #26, it’s the first week in over 10 years where the Blue Devils were not ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Congratulations to Henry Abbott of True Hoop, whose blog was ranked number one in our rankings late last year. Abbott announced on his blog that he has sold True Hoop to ESPN, though he still runs the site and doesn’t expect much in the way of changes. “The various executives and editors at ESPN have been nice enough to make clear, even in writing, that they aren’t interested in monkeying in any profound way with the way things happen here.”