Seattle Supersonics rookie Kevin Durant hit a three at the end of a 2nd overtime last night to lead the streaking Sonics past the Atlanta Hawks 126-123 last night.

Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo praised guard Wally Szczerbiak for making a nearly perfect pass to the rookie star. "Wally made a good decision, and Kevin was able to get off the shot and hit it," Carlesimo said. "He'll probably do this many, many times before his career is over."

Yes, it's all in the pass. The article doesn't say whether it was a bounce pass or a chest pass, but white players are experts at both. If there's one thing you can say about white players it's that they know they're fundamentals, such as accurate and timely passing . . . to their black teammates.  Cleveland also won last night, as LeBron James scored 40 points to help defeat the Jazz and stole the ball from Carlos Boozer to end the game:

"That's my guy," James said. "I love him. We had a great year and were starting to do some great things. I know the fans may not see it that way, but I have no hard feelings for Booze."

I love booze too, and I never harbor any ill will against him even when I awaken in an alley with my trousers undone and some scenes missing in memory of the revelry of the previous night. Although, I wish he'd let me know before I'm served with summons to court. -KD 

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Greg Oden won't play this season:

Oden, a 7-footer from Ohio State, was found to have torn cartilage during exploratory surgery on his right knee and was operated on by team doctor Don Roberts in Vancouver, Wash. Most microfracture surgeries require eight months to a year for recovery. "Greg had an arthroscopy and a microfracture surgery today," Roberts said in a Blazers statement. "He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with microfracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage.

You know what else stimulates the growth of cartilage?  Strippers.   Are the Blazers disappointed?

"Certainly this is a setback, but our future is still incredibly bright," Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. "Is it disappointing? Yes. However, this is a great core of talent and players of strong character and will continue to be."

Translation for season ticket holders in the Rose Garden: you will be selling your tickets for less than face-value on Stub Hub. -KD

Freakin' everybody with a love of the NBA and at least a partially formed cerebellum is sharing their thoughts on last night's draft, so I'll spare you my perfectly ill-formed thoughts.  Besides, I get paid to make dead hooker jokes, not provide analysis.

However, as a fan of All Things Pacific Northwest — except white people with dredlocks, I can't fucking stand them — I'd like to congratulate the Blazers and Sonics for giving the NBA a new center of gravity.  Greg Oden and Kevin Durant went #1 and #2 as expected, then new Seattle GM Sam Presti shipped Ray Allen to Boston for Jeff Green at #5 plus Theo Ratliff Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiak.  The Blazers, as expected, unloaded Zach Randolph — and though many credited Isiah Thomas for getting a 20-10 guy for Steve freakin Francis, you can expect the Blazers to buy out the Franchise to get some cap room.

Lots more to discuss, but none of it pertains to strippers and booze (not until Randolph gets to NYC, anyway), so I'm checking out of the discussion.  In the meantime, I recommend you all check in at TrueHoop, where Henry Abbott has been killin' it on location — his talks with some of the tops draft picks shows how good blogging is better than straight journalism — and also the fabulosity that is Miss Gossip.  Let's hear your draft thoughts and cancer jokes in the comments.

Listen, I know I don't give enough love to college basketball. It's one of my faults, like being so humble despite my good looks. So I hope this post can hold you NCAA hoops fans over until the conference tourneys start, because that's when I can actually work up the ability to pay attention.

Anyway, it would be kind of criminal to not mention that Texas and Oklahoma State played a hell of a game last night. It was almost Fiesta Bowlesque: A falling-out-of-bounds baseball-toss three-pointer, three overtimes, and a game-winning three at the end of it all. Kevin Durant is doing his part to overshadow Greg Oden's freshman year, and OSU's Mario Boggan may have outplayed Durant last night. You can read the full recap and watch highlights at some sports conglomerate's webpage here. Oh, and I guess that I should mention that the Cowboys won, 105-103.

As the Fanhaus's Nathan Fowler wrote,

This was college basketball at it's [sic] best, a reminder of why cold winter nights in the middle of the week can be some of the best sporting days of the year.

Of course, that's complete bullshit. Cold winter nights in the middle of the week are never the best sporting days of the year. But I like the sentiment, and this game was worthy of it.

UPDATE: Peter Schrager writes, "how do you mention ok state and texas and NOT mention that HORRIBLE camera work by espn 2…felt like we were sitting in the worst seat in the house all evening. Thanks for ruining it, espn." What's he talking about? People getting in the way of the camera just make you feel like you're there in the stands, man.