Ball "Just Too Damn Big" for the Blazers

Newly acquired Portland Trailblazer, PF/C Brian Skinner, uses a novelty size inflatable basketball to vent his frustration by pummelling Hornets' rookie of the year candidate, PG Chris Paul. Intended to bring a sense of fun and whimsy to a season which had devolved into a tedious exercise in futility and failure, the "Old Giant Ball Trick" backfired according to head coach Nate McMillan. "It was just too damn big for the basket," he said after the game "you can't expect to win a lot of games in this league if you use a giant novelty size inflatable basketball toy instead of a standard sized, you know, basketball."