Jason Kidd plays dirty against Jannero Pargo in this game. Check out the video.

The decision is the first but probably not the last of what’s likely to a major shakeup for the franchise in the off season. The league’s highest payroll produced a second straight first-round knockout from the playoffs. Avery Johnson leaves Wednesday with an decent resume after three-plus seasons, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban could only see the bottom line of being 3-12 in the playoffs since blowing a 2-0 lead in the 2006 NBA finals.

Down nineteen points, DeShawn Stevenson blows on his hand as if it’s on-fire after burying a three-pointer on LeBron James. But this just adds fuel to the fire between Stevenson and the LeBron, as James immediately knocks down a three in Stevenson’s face.

Seattle SuperSonics guard Kevin Durant will be named NBA Rookie of the Year. 19 year old Kevin Durant will become the first Sonics player to win rookie of the year honors. His points per game were third-best among rookies in the last 10 years. Durant, James and Elton Brand — have averaged at least 20 points in their first season. He led all first-year players in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage,beating out Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford to become the first Rookie of the Year in Seattle franchise history. The NBA is expected to officially announce the award on Thursday.
Durant averaged 20.3 points per game in 2007-08 — the highest scoring average for a rookie since Carmelo Anthony had an average 21 points per game and LeBron James averaged 20.9 ppg in 2003-04.

Check out this highlights video of the best dunks in the NBA from the 2007-08 season.

It was a bad scene for the Mavericks in New Orleans Arena last night, as they got their asses handed to them by the Hornets, who totally outperformed the Mavs on every front. Chris Paul once again was unbelievable with 32 points and 17 assists as the New Orleans Hornets waxed the Mavericks, 127-103. In the last three halves, the Mavericks have given up at least 60 points. They ran into a hot-shooting Hornets team Tuesday. But it didn’t excuse the Mavericks’ play, which was coma-like to say the least. This is the Mavericks fourth-worst playoff loss in their history. One of the three worse was a 25-point debacle in the Game 6 clincher last year at Golden State.
Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points, and has now said (made the excuse) that coming home for Games 3 and 4 will give them a much needed advantage. Only twelve times in NBA history has a team come back from a 2-0 hole to win a best-of-seven series.

Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs is the winner of the NBA Sixth Man Award given by Kia Motors. In order to be eligible for this award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started. Although Ginobili has started a number of games for the Spurs this season, he was eligible for the award because he came off of the bench far more frequently. He was moved earlier in the season from a starting role to a back-up role to give the Spurs’ reserves some extra offensive firepower.

Spurs officials say Ginobili received 615 out of a possible 620 points, including 123 of a possible 124 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns finished second with 283 points and Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks finished third with 44 points. Ginobili was the only player in the NBA to average at least 17 points in less than 32 minutes of playing time per game.

Saturday

* Game 1: Washington at Cleveland - 12:30 p.m. ET/ESPN
* Game 1: Phoenix at San Antonio - 3 p.m. ET/ABC
* Game 1: Dallas at New Orleans - 7 p.m. ET/ESPN
* Game 1: Utah at Houston - 9:30 p.m. ET/ESPN

Sunday

* Game 1: Toronto at Orlando - 12:30 p.m. ET/TNT
* Game 1: Denver at LA Lakers - 3 p.m. ET/ABC
* Game 1: Philadelphia at Detroit - 6 p.m. ET/TNT
* Game 1: Atlanta at Boston - 8:30 p.m. ET/TNT

Isiah Thomas’ disastrous two-year run as coach of the New York Knicks ended yesterday after a season of terrible basketball, a lawsuit and continuous chants from the fans in the stands demanding Thomas’ dismissal. Donnie Walsh, who replaced Thomas in the team’s executive office as president earlier this month, confirmed on Friday that Thomas will not be back after the team finished with a dismal 23-59 season that tied the franchise record for futility. Thomas, 46, who just over a year ago signed a lucrative contract extension with the team, will remain a “consultant” for the Knicks. During the NBA’s 50th anniversary, the former Detroit Pistons point guard was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Guess he won’t be winning any awards for coaching.

NBA owners approved the Sonics’ relocation bid to Oklahoma City by an overwhelming 28-2 vote today by the league’s Board of Governors. Th two votes against the move came from Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks and Paul Allen of the Portland Trail Blazers.

NBA commissioner David Stern said in an interview “The support for the NBA demonstrated by the fans, government leaders and business community of Oklahoma City over the last three years has been extraordinary, the Board of Governors is confident that the level of local support will result in success for the Sonics franchise in Oklahoma.”

The Sonics will become the fourth franchise to relocate since 1985. The Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento, the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis and the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans. With the Sonics’ departure after 41 years Seattle would rank as the longest-tenured NBA city ever to lose a team.