The Golden Globes are tonight (my favorite night in Hollywood … besides the Oscars, Emmys and that one night out after a Lakers game when everyone thought I was Frodo). I’ll tell you, though, it surprised me how many of the nominated movies and TV shows had NBA themes. For instance …
B “Crazy, Stupid, Love” — A vacation goes awry with a zany trio of unlikely friends: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and Timberwolves forward Kevin Love.
B“The Hour” — A real-time documentary of the entire Kris Humphries-Kim Kardashian marriage.
B“Parks and Recreation” — A look at the one league in which J.R. Smith would be considered a mature veteran.
B“Game of Thrones” — Le- Bron James cooks up an irresistible 2-on-2 game with Prince William, Prince Fielder and Gayle King.
B“American Horror Story” — The harrowing tale of a young boy forced to watch the New Jersey Nets play basketball.
B“A Separation” — Poignant goodbye between Charles Barkley and his Weight Watchers-reduced belly.
B“Too Big to Fail” — Filmed in early 2007, this documentary details the life of Ohio State wunderkind Greg Oden.
B“The Help” — The story of four defensive players valiantly aiding teammate Derek Fisher.
B“Mildred Pierce” — Perpetually inferior to his brother Paul, a 5-foot-2 man seeks solace in his transgender alter-ego.
Rookies on the rise. A pair of New York-area newcomers have made a splash this season — and neither was drafted in the top 10. Iman Shumpert (17th overall) has been thrown into the fire, entering the weekend with a 13.2 scoring average while playing key minutes for the top-heavy Knicks.
Former Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony told reporters that he has been impressed most by the kid’s confidence.
Meanwhile, MarShon Brooks has been capital-S stupendous for the Nets.
“He can score. Likes to score. Will try to score,” Nuggets coach George Karl said of Brooks (averaging 14.4 points). “He’s a young kid who’s made the league on scoring, which is unusual. And they’re searching for scorers. They’re just trying to find someone. Surprisingly at times, he’s pretty effective.”
Sweet 16. Kobe Bryant is playing his 16th season in the NBA. No other player who played that long accomplished what Kobe did last week. He scored 48 points in a game against Phoenix — the most by anyone in their 16th season (as ‘s Steve Aschburner pointed out, more than legends such as Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West — though, let’s not forget, Kobe is only 33 years old because he skipped college).
Usually, chants of “M-V-P” at the Staples Center are a tad biased. But this season, Bryant is making a case for the hardwood hardware. He’s flirting with a scoring title with an average of about 30 points per game (five more than last season) and his assists also are up, from an average of 4.7 to 5.7. The Lakers slipped last season in the playoffs. Could this be the Kobe-led Lakers’ last hurrah? But knowing Kobe, he’s going to go down shooting and snarling.
Guess who’s back? Alex English, the answer to one of the cooler NBA trivia questions, is back in the league. English, a former Nuggets star, scored the most points of any NBA player during the decade of the 1980s. And with the coaching shake-up in Sacramento, English has joined the staff of new Kings coach Keith Smart, who replaced Paul Westphal this month. English, a Hall of Famer and eight-time all-star whose No. 2 was retired by the Nuggets, was featured in the 1987 hoops flick “Amazing Grace and Chuck.”
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
