The NBA came back after it’s brief All-Star hiatus, and the Big Ten featured a crucial conference matchup that came down to the wire. In case you were (foolishly) doing something else, here’s what you missed.

In an effort to dig up some of the more obscure stats after the game, the Nets PR department pulled out the big guns. I don’t know the caliber of researcher they have over there at the Barclays Center, but it’s clear they only recruit the best and brightest.

Paul Pierce is still a pretty damn good player (19.7 points, 5.6 boards, 1.5 steals, 19.17 PER so far this season), which is especially impressive for a guy who just turned 35. But lately – over the last week in particular – he’s been having this problem. A problem defending against crossover dribble moves, to be exact. On Sunday, you might remember, Jameer Nelson did this to him. And last night, well, see above. [SB Nation]

Welcome to “Pretty Much Screwed,” our 2012-13 guide to the upcoming NBA season, in which we identify the reasons why your favorite team might have to start looking forward to 2013-2014 — and highlight at least one reason for you to be hopeful. Today: the Brooklyn Nets, the Jay-Z and Mikhail Prokhorov-owned Brooklyn upstarts that cost more than the entirety of Brooklyn’s DIY craft breweries.

The NBA season doesn’t actually begin for another month, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait to see what the newfangled Brooklyn Nets will look like.

Joe Johnson used to take out loans to buy video game systems. Now he can play them in the back of his very large truck.

Superman. Big Diesel. The Big Aristotle. The Shaqtus. The Big Witness Protection. And now, Big Bird? Maybe.

This is one of the more unusual ways we’ve seen NBA news break. Atlanta Hawks free agent Joe Johnson is going to re-sign with his current team – and we found out officially through a blog entry on the Huffington Post by Johnson’s agent, Arn Tellem.

They say that the night is always darkest before the dawn. Yet, for Knicks fans, it is becoming increasingly clear that the dawn–the image of LeBron James in a Knicks jersey–may never come.

July 1st is only 9 days away. As the ongoing soap opera that is the Free Agent class of 2010 begins to grab the national spotlight, SportsGrid will be monitoring the buzz