Good afternoon and welcome to the Bullet Passes. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying your ridiculous Black Friday events. Me, I’m off to work after writing this. After all, that Vizio TV I want isn’t going to buy itself. But, I figured I’d give you a heads up on the NBA before I go, though it will be a quick one. Not that you should be mad, I mean you're only concern today should probably be getting that sweater at Aeropostle for half off. After all, everyone loves a good Christmas sweater, right?

OK, let’s begin.

Kobe Bryant is having one of the best seasons of his career. But can he keep it up when Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo system kicks in? We will see.

Of course the system isn’t in place yet, and it was noticeable Wednesday night when the Lakers got throttled by the Sacramento Kings, which prompted D'Antoni to call the Lakers efforts "Muppet Time." My only question is who was Kermit in this whole mess?

The Muppet gang aside, D'Antoni decided to keep the ol’ gang together. That's to say, the Lakers assistant coaching staff is going to stay exactly as is, for now. A very interesting move by coach D and probably a smart one at that.

We have a few comebacks for you today as former Mavs gaurd Michael Finley is pushing to make a comeback for another year. Uhmmm, yeah sure. Apparently he thinks because Jerry Stackhouse is still around, he can be too. Finely is probably better suited in a suit at this point.

The other comeback is the Nets’ Gerald Wallace, who missed six games to this point but will be returning tonight.

Since we are talking Nets basketball, I figured I'd point out they have had a lot of firsts this year. First game in Brooklyn, first in the Barclays Center and now, Reggie Evans will be the first to be fined by the NBA for flopping. 5K in total. It really was a bad piece of acting, Reggie. STOP FLOPPING!

Now that the comebacks are done, let’s get to the goodbyes.

Wednesday we reported the Celtics were talking to Darko Milicic about his possible release. Looks like they went through with it because the center will be leaving to take care of some health issues with his mother.

Jacob Noble thinks we will be saying goodbye to Brandon Roy after he revealed he has stage three arthritis in his knees.  Let's hope not.  Nobles Notables also has some other interesting tidbits for you.

The Lakers are now looking at acquiring Raja Bell with his favorite coach already in the fold.

Hey, you remember that silly lockout we had last year? Yup, a year later it still seems rather silly.

Have you ever wondered how Zach Randolph sees the world, or even his altercation with Kendrick Perkins last week? Now you can find out. Ohhhh, baby baby, it's a wild world.

By now we have all seen the Atlanta Hawks fan that was staring at the cheerleader’s,  uhmmm, goodies the other night. What you probably didn’t know was that kid is Al Horford’s little brother. Seems the Horfords have good taste in ... uhm ... candy.

Article of the Day goes to Celtics Blog writer, Evans Clinchy. Apparently the Celtics are struggling on defense this year, and apparently Laker fans are loving it.

My secret man crush played on Wednesday. Wait, that kind of ruined the secret. Well anyway, Kevin Love is back and he had a huge game to prove it.

And that's it boys and girls. Hope it’s enough to keep you entertained while your spouse is looking at something absolutely disinteresting to you in whatever store you happen to be in. Until Monday, enjoy your leftovers, your weekend and have a good one.

Today’s Slate

MATCH-UP                                    TIME (ET)
Atlanta at Charlotte                       7 p.m.
Cleveland at Orlando                     7 p.m.
Oklahoma City at Boston              7:30 p.m.
LA Clippers at Brooklyn                7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Detroit                          7:30 p.m.
San Antonio at Indiana                  8 p.m.
LA Lakers at Memphis                  8 p.m.
New York at Houston                    8 p.m.
Golden State at Denver                 9 p.m.
Sacramento at Utah                       9 p.m.
New Orleans at Phoenix                9 p.m.
Minnesota at Portland                   10 p.m.

Birthdays for November 22
Player Name (playing years)
Benjamin, Benoit 1985-1999
Berce, Gene 1949-1949
Edwards, James 1977-1995
Greenspan, Jerry 1963-1964
Houston, Byron 1992-1995
Hutchins, Mel 1951-1957
Sow, Pape 2004-2006
Thomas, James 2004-2005
Williams, Milt 1970-1974

Birthdays for November 23
Player Name (playing years)
Alford, Steve 1987-1990
Amaya, Ashraf 1995-1996
Armstrong, Hilton 2006-2010
Babic, Milos 1990-1991
Baker, Vin 1993-2005
Johnson, Frank 1981-1993
Lee, George 1960-1967
Penney, Kirk 2003-
Reynolds, George 1969-1969
Rose, Malik 1996-2008
Shannon, Earl 1946-1948
Toney, Andrew 1980-1987
Walton, Lloyd 1976-1980
Wright, Larry 1976-1981

We're always up late. How about buying us a coffee? Or an energy drink!?