Rajon Rondo's season is over after ACL injury. Rudy Gay sent to Toronto. Popovich to coach the West at the All-Star Game. Award winners for January.

Another point guard suffers the ACL injury, a big trade where every team involved wins, and one coach for the 2013 NBA All-Star Game has been named, here are some of the highlights from Week 14 of the 2012-13 NBA season:

Rajon Rondo's season ends with ACL injury.

Photo ©The Guardian

Last season, two point guards had their seasons end with the ACL injury. First it was the Timberwolves' Ricky Rubio in which the injury derailed Minnesota's chances of making the playoffs that season, then it was the Bulls' Derrick Rose who suffered the injury on the 1st game of the NBA Playoffs, and derailed Chicago's title pursuit as they got eliminated in the 1st round by the Philadelphia 76ers. This season, another point guard's season is derailed by a torn ACL in the Boston Celtics star point guard Rajon Rondo. Rondo's ACL injury was confirmed before their battle against the Miami Heat at home as they stated Rondo played hurt during their loss against the Hawks in Atlanta. The Celtics however have won 3 straight after the loss of Rondo as well as the season-ending back injury of rookie forward Jared Sullinger. Rondo, in 38 games played this season finished with averages of 13.7 points per game, a league-leading 11.1 assists per game, 5.6 rebounds per game and 1.8 steals per game. Losing the man who will be the face of the franchise in the future is indeed a huge blow on any team, now the question is how will the Celtics respond with this adversity they are facing right now. That we will have to find out soon.

Also with Rondo's injury, he will also sit out the 2013 NBA All-Star Game in Houston this month where he was voted in as a starter for the Eastern Conference. Replacing Rondo will be Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez who will make his All-Star Game debut.

Rudy Gay sent to Toronto in three-team trade.

Photo ©NBA/Raptors.com

In a radical franchise move, the Memphis Grizzlies dealt their star swingman Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors as part of big changes the new ownership of the Grizzlies franchise has brought in town. The Grizzlies then got Ed Davis and Jose Calderon from the Raptors. They would eventually send Calderon to the Detroit Pistons for Tayshaun Prince, the last guy from the Pistons' championship team in 2004 and Austin Daye. 

Gay would make an instant impact with his new team as he led the Raptors to a 98-73 victory against the Los Angeles Clippers at home. Coming off the bench, Gay scored 20 points in his debut with the Raptors. Prince also made his presence felt in Memphis as he scored 14 points off the bench in the Grizzlies' 85-76 victory against the Washington Wizards. While Calderon was in attendance for the Pistons-Cavaliers game in Detroit, but did not play due to visa issues.

In a dubbed win-win trade for all three teams involved in the trade, there are questions on how these players will make an impact to their teams. Like how will the Grizzlies continue to contend in the West with the radical lineup change? Can Gay lead the Raptors to the playoffs? and how will the trade help the Pistons as they go along with the season. That we will find in the days to come.

Popovich named West coach in 2013 NBA All-Star Game.

Photo ©NBA/Spurs.com

For the third time in his coaching career, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will call the shots for the Western Conference at the 2013 NBA All-Star Game in Houston thanks in part to the Spurs' league leading performance in the first half of the season as they are riding a 10 game winning streak, Popovich coached the West at the All-Star game on two separate occassions, one was in 2005 in Denver, while the other was in Los Angeles, 2 years back.  

The head coach of the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game will be determined in the game between the Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors in Toronto. If the Heat win, head coach Erik Spolstera will coach the East, while if the Raptors win, New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson will call the shots.

Meanwhile, here are the award winners for the month of January:

LeBron James of the Miami Heat wins his 3rd consecutive Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award while Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs wins in the Western Conference.

Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers wins his 3rd consecutive Western Conference Rookie of the Month Award while Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards wins in the Eastern Conference for the 2nd consecutive mark.

Meanwhile for Coach of the Month we have 2 new winners with George Karl of the Denver Nuggets taking the honors in the Western Conference, while Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls took the honors in the Eastern Conference.

Also Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers took home the Eastern Conference Player of the Week Award in Week 13, while Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs took the honors in the Western Conference.

Here are the standings from across the association:

Western Conference:

1. Spurs (38-11), 2. Thunder (35-12), 3. Clippers (34-14), 4. Grizzlies (30-16), 5. Warriors (30-17), 6. Nuggets (30-18), 7. Jazz (26-22), 8. Rockets (26-23), 9. Trail Blazers (24-23), 10. Lakers (21-26), 11. Mavericks (20-27), 12. Timberwolves (18-26), 13. Kings (17-32), 14. Suns (16-32), 15. Hornets (15-33)

Eastern Conference: 

1. Heat (29-14), 2. Knicks (30-15), 3. Bulls (29-18), 4. Nets (28-19), 5. Pacers (28-19), 6. Hawks (26-20), 7. Bucks (25-21), 8. Celtics (23-23), 9. 76ers (20-26), 10. Pistons (18-29), 11. Raptors (17-30), 12. Magic (14-33), 13. Cavaliers (14-34), 14. Bobcats (11-35), 15. Wizards (11-35)

Stay tuned as another edition of the NBA weekly blog comes your way next week!

K-Smoove

The busiest month has arrived. Because saying it's the "love month" is too mainstream.

One month in 2013 is in the books, now the month February has arrived. Well, it's the love month as most people would say because of Valentine's Day coming up a few days from now, but in this blog entry, saying that it's the love month is too mainstream. I say, that February will be the busiest month for me.

I rant about it all the time every time this time of the year comes, because Valentine's Day for me is "JUST ANOTHER DAY in my LIFE." Well because, I got no special someone to spend it with. Others may not agree with what I say, but that's how I see things on that day. Ask me a Valentine's Day question and I will not answer. It's my personal choice of doing this every year. So when that day arrives, expect no flowers nor chocolates coming out from me as well as me making a move on a lady, well because I'm not into giving gifts because I don't have enough money with me most of the time. Maybe one day, I could say that it's really the love month, but now it's just too mainstream in my view.

So that's enough of the love talk, like the title says, February will be the busiest month for me. That's because I got a lot of things to do. I'll be joining competitions once again this year, not one, not two, but three! A week from now, we're off to Baguio to compete for a quiz bee as a team (it's also a consolation for me to get some cold weather since I'm not joining my classmates and batchmates who will go to Seoul, South Korea this month) and some of my friends who will also compete in other contests will join along, then a week later we'll be competing again in UP for a Ecotourism quiz bee, it will also be the last time our team over the past year will compete together since both my teammates are graduating this March. Then finally, it's The Big One!, as I will compete at the end of the month in the UFTE Quiz Bee at The Fort. With all of that, I'm now into intense training and preparation every after class until the end of the month to prepare myself for these things. I'm hoping for the best in all the competitions I'll be joining this month. I made this and got some inspiration from shirt designs and slogans of adidas.

Photo ©Karl Carandang

Aside from the competitions I'll be joing this month, I'll also get busy with school work, because there are a lot of requirments to be passed, as well as work on different activities like quizzes, seatworks, assignments, among others. Even projects where I'm the captain, I need to step up my game a notch. It is going to be tough, yet it will be a rewarding experience when it all ends soon.

It was also tough to see one of my great mentors leave before the semester came to an end, well because that mentor was great in their craft, at the same time being an inspiration not only to me, but also to all of the students that this mentor has touched over the years. That lead me to ask the question, "Why do the great mentors leave so early?" I have a lot of mentors throughout my entire life, however there are some who leave their mark and I remember very well of them than others. There are some who can relate to the students, some who have great minds and a lot of wisdom, and some who gave a lot of faith in you over the years. For that mentor, I wish all the best in their future endeavors and I hope to see you soon.

Anyway, this month is also All-Star month as the 2013 NBA All-Star Game comes to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. This will be the second time in my lifetime, that I'll see a All-Star game play out in Houston, home of my favorite team the Houston Rockets. I cannot wait to see James Harden play in his first all-star game after a breakout season with the Rockets after the trade from the Thunder before the season began, also a note on Chandler Parsons who will also make an impact in the Rising Stars Challenge.

Well, you can call the month of February anyway you want, but we should remember to make each day count. Time is flying fast these days.

Blessed and loaded for the win!

K-Smoove