Heading into the famed summer of 2010, many were hesitant to anoint Amar’e as max-contract worthy. Well, he was granted one by the Knicks regardless, and never disappointed. His detractors thought that he was largely a product of Steve Nash, but he proved that theory wrong. His early season play even prompted me to question whether or not he was better off without Nash. He would eventually go on to become the first Knick to start an All-Star Game since Patrick Ewing, led the team its first winning season since the 2000 – 01 campaign, and injected new life into a franchise that so desperately needed it.

Fast forward to today, and things don’t resemble those memories at all. His points are down to the tune of 17.4 (from 25.3 last year) and he seems like he’d rather be doing something else most nights. The obvious reaction to why he’s scoring eight less points per contest is because he’s playing with another bonafide scorer in Carmelo Anthony. But in watching the games, you can tell it’s more than that. He’s not him self. He seems uninterested and uninspired.

It could be one of two things. Either his back isn’t fully healed from when he hurt it in the Boston series last April, or he’s secretly upset that Carmelo has come in and dominated the ball, fan support and attention. The fans absolutely loved Amar’e last year. He could do no wrong. Now he has to share that with a guy who is unilaterally perceived as the superior player. Often times, there are stretches during Knick games where you forget that Stoudemire is even on the floor. Minutes upon minutes will elapse without him even touching the ball, let alone taking a shot. I don’t put that on D’Antoni. That has to do with what’s inside Amare’s chest.

I won’t even get in to the fact that he NEVER posts up any more, or that he’s now shooting entirely too many 3s. For today, I’m just focused on the fact that if Amar’e doesn’t figure out whatever is ailing him, be it mental or physical,  the Knicks won’t even sniff the postseason this year.

It was basically the opposite of a capstone, an exclamation point of sorts. Verifying that what we’ve seen this week actually happened, and that while one game every so often — especially in a season where rest is critical and waving the white flag will take place more than usual —  will get out of hand, a week’s worth of embarrassments like these for a team that fancies itself a championship contender, are somewhat surreal to see crawling across the bottom of your television screen. This week was no fluke; the Magic were too consistent for that.

To recap: Monday, a 56-point output against a severely undermanned Boston Celtics team; Tuesday, a bounce-back blowout of the Indiana Pacers; Thursday, the real kicker of the week, most likely, the blown 27-point lead and loss at home to the same beat-up Celtics; Friday, a 26-point pounding at the hands of the New Orleans Hornets, the worst team in the Western Conference, and finally last night’s brutal second half and subsequent loss, sealing the 1-4 week.

Of course, this is about more than losing four of five games in a week. It is about how they lost, how the Magic couldn’t stop themselves from getting punked off the floor on three separate occasions, and how, on Thursday, Boston’s comeback, once everyone became aware it was happening, seemed inevitable. Orlando didn’t just get beat this week, they seemingly lost the desire to save face in defeat.

And it will probably put even more heat under the chair of General Manager Otis Smith. In addition to the constant Dwight Howard trade cloud hanging over the franchise, how long will Smith be able to watch this team lay down and resist the urge to do something? As we’ve seen in the past, Smith is not afraid to pull the trigger on trades that shake things up, in the spirit of trying to catch lighting in a bottle, worrying about the consequences later. When does a GM decide that a team is broke on a different level than match-ups and skill, and that it’s time to simply move on?

Whether that time has come or not, at least in Smith’s mind, remains to be seen. The same can be said for any possible moves that would be made; nothing is automatic. Whether this pushes the needle in any direction regarding Howard’s future as well, is hard to say.

Nobody comes out looking very good after a week like that. Better play, and, more importantly, a stand of some sort from the Magic, a sign that this most recent shellacking on Sunday left — on top of the others from the week — a smear on the team’s image large enough that they’ll now want to clean off, should be where Orlando starts the rebuilding. Anything other than that would simply be blowing up, or, more to the point, imploding.

At first glance the differences between this and its higher counterpart might seem minute and with good reason because the Crazy Light Low is almost identical to its higher counterpart that debuted during the ’10 – ’11 NBA Playoffs last year. The adiZero Crazy Light Low by adidas is almost half an ounce lighter than the original but still is constructed with the Sprintframe for support and Sprintweb technology to make the shoe so light and breathable.

Among the other contents of Fisher’s bag are his autobiography (which he is currently transcribing onto paperback), shorts, headphones, iPad, & two cell phones.

The two former NBA superstars never get too personal with their digs, especially since their mothers are best friends, even though they once came to blows during a Rockets/Lakers game back in 1999. Barkley even did a rather unflattering impersonation of his 7 foot co-worker when hosting Saturday Night Live.

With the recent trend of Blake Griffin and Kevin Love making their case as the best power forward in the Western Conference, Shaq and Barkley made an impromptu bet on the air as to which player would have a better showing against each-other in the Wolves/Clippers game last week.

Shaq backed Griffin while Charles took sides with Love in the epic contest which came down to the Timberwolves big man calmly sinking a game-winning trey to give Minnesota a victory.

The fall-out of Barkley winning the bet was Shaq having to do a telecast in his underwear. Too funny. Of course, this wasn’t the first time Shaq has been on TV in his drawers as he once was forced to don a pink speedo for losing a to a womens volleyball team on an episode of “Shaq Vs.”

Apparently, the only thing left to ask is does the big man wear boxers or briefs. Shaq, always the entertainer, does more than just answer the question, as he proudly models, dances a jig, then kisses everyone on the forehead, before spanking one of the producers. Guess Shaq is enjoying the whole TV personality thing?

Shaq Does Show In His Boxers:

Last night, LeBron tried his best Vince impersonation as his Heat hosted the Bulls. In the first half, LeBron was the recipient of a Wade alley-oop pass, but standing in the way was John Lucas. Poor John Lucas. Granted, Lucas isn’t 7’2″. He’s only 5’11″ so Carter has the edge there. But then again, he did it while catching an alley-oop which makes it just as impressive. Poor John Lucas.