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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Friday / November 22.
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    • Old Knicks

    **Nate Robinson played the point down the stretch to lead the Knicks, 99-91, over Detroit. Read it here**

    NEW YORK – Stephon Marbury will play professional basketball again.

    In China.

    The two-time NBA-All Star has agreed to play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) with China’s Shanxi Club, according to a Reuters report.

    Marbury, 32, hasn’t played since leaving the Boston Celtics after last year. The Shanxi team website (www.sxcba.com) said Marbury would arrive sometime next week.

    “The aim of signing Marbury is to pay back our fans and try to win more games in the rest of the season,” Shanxi boss Wang Xingjiang said on the team’s website.

    High School Transfers, Paterson Catholic, Syracuse

    Shaquille Thomas was once part of a rising tide of young talent at Paterson (N.J.) Catholic.

    Along with Fuquan Edwin, Jayon James and Jermaine Peart, Thomas was a member of a quartet that was supposed to have “Next.”

    The group was supposed to challenge St. Anthony and St. Patrick for supremacy in the New Jersey Non-Public B bracket…and ultimately the state.

    But a funny thing happened on the way to inevitability.

    Shaq’s uncle, Tim Thomas, now with the Dallas Mavericks, pulled the 6-foot-6 Thomas out of Paterson Catholic in 2008 and that set in motion a chain of events that has led Shaq where he is now.

    NFL, Tennis

    In the here’s something I never thought I’d see category, Terrell Owens turned up at the Australian Open to support his boy Andy Roddick.

    Owens and A-Rod met in Miami and became friends.

    “I’ve been following him since we became friends. And I was sitting at home last week in Atlanta on a Sunday, obviously late night watching him play in the championship game against [Radek] Stepanek [in Brisbane]. And I just said to myself, ‘I’m just going to go to Australia so I just took a random, spur of the moment trip,'” Owens told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.

    One tennis player T.O. won’t be seeing Down Under is A-Rod’s former, ahem, “friend,” Maria Sharapova. She was bounced in three sets in the first round by Maria Kirilenko. Apparently Sharpova hadn’t played a tour match since October, choosing to play exhibitions instead. Nice preparation, Maria.

    As for T.O., he was asked who he likes of the four teams left in the NFL playoffs.

    “It’s anybody’s game and I think Brett Favre is playing his best football right now,” he said.

    Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Miami, UConn

    John Calipari will spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day watching Brandon Knight.

    Knight, the top-rated recruit in the Class of 2010, and his Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Pine Crest teammates are in Dayton, Ohio at the Flyin’  to the Hoop event.

    “We’re only 45 minutes from the University of Kentucky. The early rumor is that all of Kentucky’s staff is coming down. They’re going to do whatever they can do,” Pine Crest coach Dave Beckerman said by phone.

    The 6-foot-3 Knight dropped 36 points and hit the game-winning 3-pointer from NBA range with 3 seconds left Saturday to lift Pine Crest to a 64-61 win over Princeton (Ohio).

    Big East, Jayvaughn Pinkston, Villanova

    Is it time to start talking about Scottie Reynolds as a potential Big East Player of the Year yet?

    Reynolds scored 27 points Sunday when No. 4 Villanova beat No. 11 Georgetown, 82-77, at home.

    Coming off a 36-point game against Louisville, Reynolds scored 12 of Villanova’s first 16 points in the game.

    Down the stretch, he drove the lane and put the Wildcats up for good at 71-69. He was fouled and missed the free throw,  but the play displayed what makes him so tough.

    Hoyas coach John Thompson III said Reynolds “can’t be contained.”

    “He’s too good of an offensive player,” he said. “When they need a basket they get him the ball and he’s been doing it for four years.”

    Kyrie Irving, Michael Gilchrist, St. Anthony, St. Benedict's, St. Patrick, Tennessee, Tobias Harris

    Duke-bound point guard Kyrie Irving has done it again.

    Irving earned MVP honors by posting 24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to lead St. Patrick to a 70-50 rout of Christian Brothers Academy in the Boardwalk Hoop Group showcase at Monmouth University’s Multipurpose Activity Center.

    Irving had 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting in the first half as the Celtics (10-0) took a 40-17 lead.

    “We knew we would struggle man-to-man because (Kyrie) Irving can’t be guarded by anyone man-to-man and also because of their size on the inside,” CBA coach Geoff Billet told The Asbury Park Press. “We wanted to mix the defenses up because we didn’t want to play zone the whole game. Our plan was to mix in box-and-1 and zone and switch back and forth.”

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