National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern issued the following statement today:

“The NBA has conducted a thorough investigation of events relating to this matter.

“It is not disputed that, following an argument on the team’s flight home from a game in Phoenix, both Mr. Arenas and Mr. Crittenton brought guns to the Verizon Center locker room and – with other players and team personnel present or nearby – displayed them to one another in a continuation of their dispute.   The players engaged in this conduct despite a specific rule set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association prohibiting players from possessing a weapon at an NBA facility, and reminders of this prohibition given annually by the NBA to players both in writing and in person.

“The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one’s home or elsewhere.  It is about possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated.

“I have met separately with Mr. Arenas and with Mr. Crittenton.  Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions.  Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others.  I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident.

“Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct.  Accordingly, I am today converting Mr. Arenas’ indefinite suspension without pay to a suspension without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, and am also suspending Mr. Crittenton without pay, effective immediately, for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.”

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer reports:

The defense came back and so, too, did the Charlotte Bobcats.

After watching three quarters of the Phoenix Suns dropping 3s from everywhere, they tightened up in the fourth quarter - way up. They held the Suns to 29 percent shooting in the final quarter, pushed this game into overtime, and held on 114-109.

This broke a three-game losing streak and lifted the Bobcats to 22-22. The Bobcats swept the Suns, winning in Phoenix for the first time in six tries.

The did all that on Stephen Jackson’s 30 points (including the 3-pointer that forced overtime) and some remarkable poise and defense from ex-Sun Boris Diaw. He had a key block of Steve Nash’s jump shot on a late defensive switch and held Suns star Amare Stoudemire to 12 points and five rebounds.

Diaw (24 points and 11 rebounds) can be too nonchalant for his own good, but that seems to change whenever he faces former teams. He used to wipe up on the Atlanta Hawks as a Sun and now he’s 3-0 as a Bobcat playing the Suns.

Mark Hale of the New York Post reports:

Even though Mike D’Antoni said Chris Duhon “can’t make a shot,” the Knicks point guard knows he can’t lose confidence.

The Knicks coach flat out admitted last night that Duhon can’t shoot at all right now, and the fact is, that’s not an exaggeration.

The Knicks ripped the Timberwolves last night at the Garden, 132-105, and Duhon finished with 13 assists and no turnovers — a perfect floor game. But his shooting remains an atrocity.

Duhon went scoreless last night in more than 31 minutes of action, taking three shots and making none.

Want some ugly numbers? In his last eight games, Duhon is shooting 6-for-43.

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden has spent much of his first few NBA seasons injured and in street clothes. He didn’t play at all in 2007-08, played 61 games last season, and lasted just 22 this season.

When actually on the court playing, he’s been fairly solid and occasionally terrific for some stretches, but the story of his early pro career has been health issues. Still, there’s hope for the future.

Now, there’s a new distraction. Naked Greg Oden photos have surfaced. We at InsideHoops.com ignored all aspects of this story, made sure to avoid seeing the photos, and until now, didn’t even mention this on our site at all. But on Tuesday, reporters met with Oden, who apologized for the situation. Which basically confirms that the pictures are real. If you want to check them out, I’m sure Google can help you, but we’ll pass on guiding anyone to that sort of stuff.

Anyway, in the following video, Oden says the situation is embarrassing and that it was something that happened over a year and a half ago. Here’s Greg  apologizing for the naked pictures: