One game, five things, v1.41:

1. How nice is Anthony Parker? Is he a No.1 option in the NBA? No. He’s doesn’t have that sheer physical edge that you need to do consistently create shots late in the clock. But he’s a really, really nice basketball player. I mean nice in a good way. His range of skills is complete: great court sense; great passer. He’s obviously turned himself into one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, which didn’t seem like a sure thing in this first two months after he left Europe last season. Just in the first few minutes of the first quarter he made that nice little step-in move on Jameer Nelson and then that bounce pass to Bargnani for a jumper. Over a long season I don’t think his efficiency would hold up as go-to guy. He’d wear down a little and defences would adjust. But one of the cool things about Bosh being out is seeing someone who really understands the game and his game break out his repertoire a little bit. Oh. And then he just made that steal and dunked it. He’s got some giant mitts.

2. Primoz breaks out the headband. That’s crafty. With him wearing the red headband and T.J. wearing the red headband, that’s going to throw off the defence.

3. As a friend said about another ballplayer we both know, Delfino has a tendency to get a bit stubborn offensively. He keeps going to the well even if it’s dry, almost on principle: “I’m going to take these shots and make these dribble drives because these are the shots and dribble drives I want to take.” Sometimes it’s cool and he hits a little fadeaway jumper with a scissor kick for flavour like he did the other night. Sometimes he throws up some bad shots.

4. Jamario Moon told me once he doesn’t like to read scouting reports because he’d prefer to play his man straight up and with a fresh eye. His point was that guys are so good that if you are expecting them to do one thing, they’ll promptly do the other. My take would be the scouting report is there to help you force guys into tendencies they’re less comfortable with. Sometimes they even capture the way smart players make their weaknesses strengths. So my bet is the scouting report on Hedo Turkoglu is that even though he’s right-handed, he’ s more likely to drive left and finish left. Moon doesn’t seem clear on this in the early going, as Turkoglu burns him left a couple of times.

5. This has nothing to do with basketball really, but they had the TSN Sportscentre update there just before the end of the half. Of course they lead with the Leafs package. Then it’s the Penguins. Oh, and then it’s Brett Favre’s surprise retirement announcement. What would it take for TSN or Sportsnet, for that matter, not to lead with hockey? I don’t have a problem with hockey, I just have a problem with the slavish, unthinking, knee-jerk, give-the-people-what-they-want nature of hockey coverage. The Leafs are the biggest draw in Canadian sports. I get that. Yes, hockey trumps everything. But just once. Just one time, I’d like to see someone say, you know what? Perhaps the greatest quarterback to have ever played shocked everyone when he retired today. Let’s lead with that.” It’s not like anyone would change the channel or anything. Obviously, I digress.

6. If there’s one reason why Kris Humphries gets extended minutes some nights and doesn’t others, it’s that he doesn’t always roll hard to the basket after setting the high screen. He has a tendency, if he doesn’t think he’s getting the ball, to kind of drift, like a wide-receiver jogging his pattern when he knows it’s a hand-off. When he rolls hard like he did drawing the foul on his nice little sequence at the end of the third he is sometimes open and gets the ball at the rim, which is good. But if he’s not that means that the defence has either backed off the ball early to help, making life easier for the point guard, or the person playing the shooter in the corner has edge over, leaving someone open there. Roll hard and good things happen is Mitchell’s mantra to Hump, and he’s right.

7. When the pro T.J. faction is making their case, they enter his fourth quarter as evidence, I’m guessing.

8. And not that I’m gloating, but Howard had one offensive rebound last night. Given that I set the over-under at 4.5 and took the under, well, I’m kind of proud of myself.