Merry Christmas to everybody and especially to the Heat fans. Dwayne Wade put on a show today on national TV and helped the Heat beat the Lakers. Kobe had a bad game and was apparently suffering from flu-like symptoms. That should be it because he is usually not this bad in big games. Wade completely stole the headlines from Kobe with an array of spectacular plays. There's something about D-Wade. He seems to have a lot of extra flair in his moves compared to other great guards in this league. He just seems a little quicker and finishes with tougher moves than even players like Kobe. And he also averages more assists than Kobe and almost as much as Lebron. That means he is also seeing the floor better and gets his teammates involved. You can't ask for much more I guess. It was a delight to watch him and it would have been even more awesome if Kobe was able to put up a fight. Riles defended Kobe aggressively too. Looked like they were not going to let him beat them. Someone else had to do it and it didn't happen today.
Phil Jackson did something to stir up the pot again. When asked about Kobe's work ethic, he said all of his stars have had great work ethic except Shaq! That was surprising shot out of the blue at Shaq and I am sure he did it intentionally. Sure enough, Shaq has come out today and called him Benedict Arnold! Shaq always spoke well about Phil after the split-up, but I guess it's on now.
LA Lakers @ Miami - 85-101
Interesting games on the board for the Dec 26-th (Tuesday)
No great match-ups today.
Memphis @ Washington - Keep an eye on Gil Arenas. He has been on fire lately.
New Jersey @ Detroit - Can the Nets compete in this one and make a statement in favor of the Atlantic Division?
Monday, December 25, 2006
Sunday, December 24, 2006
NBA notes - 12/23/2006
Lebron James took over the game in the fourth quarter to put the Magic Away. He had 19 points just in the fourth quarter to end up with 32 points for the game. Great game for King James and a great win for the Cavs. Unfortunately, he can't do it day in and day out. He does need help and finally Steve Kerr agreed with me in an article about this matter today. Not sure why Larry Hughes is not more productive. It seems like he has taken a step back from last year. The real blow for the Cavs is still the Carlos Boozer loss. They have still not recovered form it and Boozer would have been the ideal big-bodied side-kick for King James. The Z-man is great, but may be not the best fit for Lebron and Drew Gooden is just not good enough or consistent enough. Time to make some trades or some people might lose their jobs again in Cleveland. Expectations are high when you have the King on your roster.
The Warriors added a lot of injury to the insult of losing to the Heat. Monta Ellis injured his shoulder and we don't know yet how bad that injury is. Pietrus is also injured. Murphy is already out and J-Rich is barely coming back from his injury. This team needs to get healthy soon or they'll become irrelevant again. Baron Davis had a bad game and the Heat beat them easily. Speaking of injuries, Yao Ming fractured a bone in his knee and is now out for 6 weeks. This is a crushing blow to the Rockets just like what happened last season when both Yao and Tracy missed a lot of games. Without Yao, the Clips beat them today and the Rockets will lose of lot of games like this without those 2. This is bad for Yao (and the league) since he was having a monster season (27 pts and 9 boards) and is fast becoming a super-star in this league. Nets lost Nenad Krstic, another big guy having a good season, for the season.
Orlando @ Cleveland - 83-86
Golden State @ Miami - 92-105
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 24-th (Sunday)
NO GAMES.
Interesting games on the board for the Dec 25-th (Monday)
LA Lakers @ Miami - No Shaq means a little less fun, but apparently the tickets for this game are still going for 3.5 Gs. I am surprised, but I guess you still got the Christmas day hype, you got Kobe, you got D-Wade and you got the big name coaches. I think the Lakers can win this one easily though.
The Warriors added a lot of injury to the insult of losing to the Heat. Monta Ellis injured his shoulder and we don't know yet how bad that injury is. Pietrus is also injured. Murphy is already out and J-Rich is barely coming back from his injury. This team needs to get healthy soon or they'll become irrelevant again. Baron Davis had a bad game and the Heat beat them easily. Speaking of injuries, Yao Ming fractured a bone in his knee and is now out for 6 weeks. This is a crushing blow to the Rockets just like what happened last season when both Yao and Tracy missed a lot of games. Without Yao, the Clips beat them today and the Rockets will lose of lot of games like this without those 2. This is bad for Yao (and the league) since he was having a monster season (27 pts and 9 boards) and is fast becoming a super-star in this league. Nets lost Nenad Krstic, another big guy having a good season, for the season.
Orlando @ Cleveland - 83-86
Golden State @ Miami - 92-105
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 24-th (Sunday)
NO GAMES.
Interesting games on the board for the Dec 25-th (Monday)
LA Lakers @ Miami - No Shaq means a little less fun, but apparently the tickets for this game are still going for 3.5 Gs. I am surprised, but I guess you still got the Christmas day hype, you got Kobe, you got D-Wade and you got the big name coaches. I think the Lakers can win this one easily though.
Friday, December 22, 2006
NBA notes - 12/22/2006
Suns played another fun-tastic game tonight against the Wizards and Arenas. Gil poured in 54 points and the Suns were right there with him till the end. It's amazing how Nash suddenly senses that he has to step up on the scoring front and goes ahead and does it at will. This was one of those games where he had 42 points (and 12 assists). This game was similar to the NJ Nets game. The game went into overtime and Nash carried the team there. The score was 144-139, but this time the Suns lost. Amare put the Suns ahead by 3 with a nifty baseline move and dunk. Marion was defending Gil and he drove for the layup instead of the 3. Thats when the only thing that the Suns dint' want to happen happened. Marion defended him too tight and he was called for a foul and Gil scored the bucket. So they got the old-fashioned 3 point play and tied it up with 20 secs to go. Nash missed a three and both Marion and Amare had a shot at the follow. Both rushed it and missed it. The game went to overtime. Caron Butler had a monster game with 34 and 10. He dominated the overtime with a variety of moves and baskets. Deshawn Stevenson was unstoppable in this game too. Nash hit another big 3 to tie it late in the overtime, but the Wizards wrapped it up on Gilbert Arenas' 3. The only complaint about the game was that the clinching 3 was a bank shot from the top of the key. I don't think Gil called bank on that one, but they all count the same.
The Suns do have an excuse for this defeat. They arrived just 2 hours before the tip-off after getting stuck at Denver for 2 days. It was a weird situation, but the Suns still could have won it. Amare and even Nash had a bad start to the game, but they got it going in the second half. Jumaine Jones got into this game and played key minutes ahead of Marcus Banks, Jalen Rose and even James Jones. Looks like Mike D'Antoni wanted to get him involved specifically. Interesting game overall and the Suns 15-game winning streak is over now.
The other big news was AI's debut in Denver. He also arrived there just a couple of hours before the game. He scored 22 and had 10 assists, but the Nuggets lost. The fans seemed happy to have AI in town. He definitely is an exciting super-star, but can he help Denver win? Lets wait ans watch.
In other games, Lakers won again. Kobe didn't do too well, but it didn't seem to matter. Houston went into San Antonio and shocked them. This is apparently their first victory in San Antonio since Tim Duncan was drafted 10 years back. Dirk came back from the injury and Dallas dismissed the Clips easily. Quit a few upsets today including the Warriors winning on the road at Orlando behind Baron Davis' 38-9.
LA Lakers @ NJ – 99-95
Houston @ San Antonio – 97-78
Sacramento @ Denver – 101-96
LA Clippers @ Dallas – 83-115
Washington @ Phoenix – 144-139
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 23-th (Saturday)
Orlando @ Cleveland – Who's the better Eastern conference contender?
Golden State @ Miami – Golden State plays a fun style and Miami is not that good. This could be a close. Fun game.
The Suns do have an excuse for this defeat. They arrived just 2 hours before the tip-off after getting stuck at Denver for 2 days. It was a weird situation, but the Suns still could have won it. Amare and even Nash had a bad start to the game, but they got it going in the second half. Jumaine Jones got into this game and played key minutes ahead of Marcus Banks, Jalen Rose and even James Jones. Looks like Mike D'Antoni wanted to get him involved specifically. Interesting game overall and the Suns 15-game winning streak is over now.
The other big news was AI's debut in Denver. He also arrived there just a couple of hours before the game. He scored 22 and had 10 assists, but the Nuggets lost. The fans seemed happy to have AI in town. He definitely is an exciting super-star, but can he help Denver win? Lets wait ans watch.
In other games, Lakers won again. Kobe didn't do too well, but it didn't seem to matter. Houston went into San Antonio and shocked them. This is apparently their first victory in San Antonio since Tim Duncan was drafted 10 years back. Dirk came back from the injury and Dallas dismissed the Clips easily. Quit a few upsets today including the Warriors winning on the road at Orlando behind Baron Davis' 38-9.
LA Lakers @ NJ – 99-95
Houston @ San Antonio – 97-78
Sacramento @ Denver – 101-96
LA Clippers @ Dallas – 83-115
Washington @ Phoenix – 144-139
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 23-th (Saturday)
Orlando @ Cleveland – Who's the better Eastern conference contender?
Golden State @ Miami – Golden State plays a fun style and Miami is not that good. This could be a close. Fun game.
NBA notes - 12/21/2006
The Cavs lost badly at home. The Pistons throttled them in the 4-th quarter as usual and the final score was not even close. The Pistons are quietly putting together a great season. They hope to make their 3-rd trip to the NBA finals in 4 years. Cleveland pretty much is winning just the games they are supposed to. They are having problems winning any of the "big games" on their schedule.
Wizards went in to Sacramento and beat the Kings in a high-scoring affair. Jamison had 33 and 13. Kevin Martin scored a career-high 40 in a losing effort. He might be the only "hope" for the Kings fans. Kings better start rebuilding soon. This team is going nowhere.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 87-71.
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 22-th (Friday)
LA Lakers @ NJ - Kobe VS Vinsanity. Who can jump higher in this one?
Houston @ San Antonio - Can Houston send a message to the Spurs? Probably not without Mcgrady.
Sacramento @ Denver - This could be AI's Denver debut.
LA Clippers @ Dallas - Can the Clips at least challenge a Dallas team without Dirk?
Washington @ Phoenix - Arenas and the high-scoring Wiazrds are in the way of 15 straight for the Suns.
Wizards went in to Sacramento and beat the Kings in a high-scoring affair. Jamison had 33 and 13. Kevin Martin scored a career-high 40 in a losing effort. He might be the only "hope" for the Kings fans. Kings better start rebuilding soon. This team is going nowhere.
Detroit @ Cleveland - 87-71.
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 22-th (Friday)
LA Lakers @ NJ - Kobe VS Vinsanity. Who can jump higher in this one?
Houston @ San Antonio - Can Houston send a message to the Spurs? Probably not without Mcgrady.
Sacramento @ Denver - This could be AI's Denver debut.
LA Clippers @ Dallas - Can the Clips at least challenge a Dallas team without Dirk?
Washington @ Phoenix - Arenas and the high-scoring Wiazrds are in the way of 15 straight for the Suns.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
NBA notes - 12/20/2006
A rare PPD today on the NBA scoreboard as the Suns-Nuggets game got postponed due to a blizzard in Denver. AI couldn't fly into Denver either. They are now hoping he'll be there for their game on Friday. The most interesting game today was played at MSG between the Knicks and the Bobcats. It went in to second overtime as Jamal Crawford missed long jump-shots both at the end of regulation and the first overtime. The game was still tied with a few ticks on the clock. So the Knicks inbounded the ball straight to the basket area and David Lee tipped it in without even looking at the basket. It was an amazing end to the game which had MJ in the audience. He was there with Charles Oakley and Patrick Ewing.
Kobe had another weird game after fouling out yesterday. He was on the bench for the first 8 mins of the fourth quarter as his team was making a comeback from 10 down. The Lakers won another game, this time without a lot of help from Kobe. Lebron James lost again on the road. He had a good game, but Vinsanity was even better and the Nets won. I think the Cavs need to make a trade or something to kick-start this team. Chris Paul had a great dunk on Dwight Howard today though the Magic won the game. Milwaukee crushed Miami at home. The game was not as close as I thought it would be.
Phoenix @ Denver – PPD
Cleveland @ New Jersey – 111-113
Miami @ Milwaukee – 95-121
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 21-th (Thursday)
Detroit @ Cleveland – 15-8 VS 14-10. This should be a good game and a bigger game for the Cavs than the Pistons.
Kobe had another weird game after fouling out yesterday. He was on the bench for the first 8 mins of the fourth quarter as his team was making a comeback from 10 down. The Lakers won another game, this time without a lot of help from Kobe. Lebron James lost again on the road. He had a good game, but Vinsanity was even better and the Nets won. I think the Cavs need to make a trade or something to kick-start this team. Chris Paul had a great dunk on Dwight Howard today though the Magic won the game. Milwaukee crushed Miami at home. The game was not as close as I thought it would be.
Phoenix @ Denver – PPD
Cleveland @ New Jersey – 111-113
Miami @ Milwaukee – 95-121
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 21-th (Thursday)
Detroit @ Cleveland – 15-8 VS 14-10. This should be a good game and a bigger game for the Cavs than the Pistons.
NBA notes - 12/19/2006
AI finally got traded today. He is going to Denver. Great timing for Denver with Melo out suspended for 15 games. AI will carry them though this stretch, but then comes the real deal. This trade is fascinating. Many angles to it. First off, here's another western team strengthening at the cost of an eastern team. This is the last thing the west needed. Talent-wise, this puts Denver right at the top of the West. I would bunch them with Spurs, Suns and Mavs as a real contender. They might have even surpassed my Phoenix Suns in pure (offensive) talent because in addition to Melo and AI, they have a defensive center in Camby, a great athlete in J.R.Smith, a talented big guy in Nene and hustle players like Najera. All they lost was Andre Miller, who I think is an under-rated point guard. They protected Nene, whom I would guess Phily coveted badly. All this is fine and dandy, but chemistry is going to be the key issue. While the Nuggets and George Karl play a up-tempo offensive style that should suit AI and Melo, they still have to integrate the league's top and second leading scorer into the same offense. Also, both AI And Melo have a tendency to dominate the ball and take too many shots. Both are not known for other things like passing, rebounding and defense though AI does have a lot of assists in some games. May be he can be a true PG if he wants to. In any case, this makes Denver very interesting, if not very good. I cant believe how much fun their games are going to be especially against teams like the Suns and the Mavs. Lets see what happens.
Suns won their 15-th straight behind Amare's 28-10 in 28 mins. They got a boat-load of dunks and layups in the first half and the game was safely in the bag soon after. They play Denver tomorrow. Could be tough if AI plays and there's a lot emotion in the building, but surprisingly AI's agent is saying he'll not play tomorrow. The 15 game streak is awesome for the Suns, a franchise record. They did catch some breaks like beating the Heat without Wade, Warriors without Baron Davis etc., but still it's impressive because they won a tonne of games on the road.
Kobe and the Lakers lost to the Bulls. After a long time, Kobe fouled out of the game. Chicago is on a roll right now. These are the games the Lakers are going to have trouble without Odom.
Toronto @ Phoenix – 98-115
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 20-th (Wednesday)
Phoenix @ Denver – Could be a challenge for the Suns if AI plays.
Cleveland @ New Jersey – Another road test for the Cavs. Lebron VS. Vince should be fun too.
Miami @ Milwaukee – Who will score more? Wade or Redd?
Suns won their 15-th straight behind Amare's 28-10 in 28 mins. They got a boat-load of dunks and layups in the first half and the game was safely in the bag soon after. They play Denver tomorrow. Could be tough if AI plays and there's a lot emotion in the building, but surprisingly AI's agent is saying he'll not play tomorrow. The 15 game streak is awesome for the Suns, a franchise record. They did catch some breaks like beating the Heat without Wade, Warriors without Baron Davis etc., but still it's impressive because they won a tonne of games on the road.
Kobe and the Lakers lost to the Bulls. After a long time, Kobe fouled out of the game. Chicago is on a roll right now. These are the games the Lakers are going to have trouble without Odom.
Toronto @ Phoenix – 98-115
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 20-th (Wednesday)
Phoenix @ Denver – Could be a challenge for the Suns if AI plays.
Cleveland @ New Jersey – Another road test for the Cavs. Lebron VS. Vince should be fun too.
Miami @ Milwaukee – Who will score more? Wade or Redd?
Monday, December 18, 2006
NBA notes - 12/18/2006
The big news today was the suspensions handed down for the brawl. To my surprise, the experts were right about Melo. He got suspended for 15 games. Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith each got 10 games. Mardy Collins, whose hard foul on Smith sparked the fighting, was suspended six games and Knicks teammate Jared Jeffries will miss four. Also, the Knicks' Jerome James and Denver's Nene were both penalized one game for leaving the bench area during the chaos. So basically Denver is in trouble and Melo's reputation takes another hit. It's amazing to me how guys who have had trouble in the past always seem to find it again and again. It looked like Melo had finally matured and was really becoming a true professional and a major star in this league, and then this happens. A lot of people are also criticizing him for back-peddling after the punch. Looks like he lost a lot of points on both the class scale and the street-cred scale.
George Karl really got on Isiah and accused him of instigating the whole thing. He called him all kinds of names. He was also very defensive about accusations that he was trying to run up the score on behalf of Larry Brown! I still think there's something to it. Adrian Wojnarowski took George Karl to task in his column for Yahoo sports. He says Geoge lost the season for Denver because of the stupid “holier-than-thou” attitude of the tarheel family. After all this, Denver took the court and promptly beat the Wizrads behind players named Linas Kleiza, Yakhouba Diawara and Eduardo Najera. Gilbert Arenas stunck up the joint shooting 10/30 after the 60 point performance. But Denver is going to suffer in the long run. They'll miss Melo and drop in the standings. They were 13-9 and 7-th in the west when the suspensions started. Lets see where they are in 15 games.
Dallas got great games from Nowitzki and Howard to easily dismiss the Kings. The Warriors as usual had problems in the 4-th quarter and lost to the Nets in-spite of Vince Carter basically not showing up. Kidd got another triple-double, his 6-th of the season. Looks like Kidd is back all the way from his micro-fracture surgery. Good news for Amare Stoudemire fans. Kidd is pouring in triple doubles regularly again. Lots of buzzer-beaters on this day. Wade won the game at the buzzer for the Heat against the Hornets and Marbury did the same for the Knicks against the Jazz after even some Knicks thought they just lost the game on Deron William's 3. Marbury got the outlet pass, never stopped, and surprised everyone by going coast-to-coast for a layup. Starbury is playing well lately with Francis out. Chucky Atkins hit a ridiculously long 3 to tie the game in the first overtime for Memphis. They then went on to beat Seattle in double overtime.
Hornets @ Miami – 99-101
Washington @ Denver – 108-117
Dallas @ Sacramento – 109-91
Golden State @ New Jersey – 97-105
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 19-th (Tuesday)
Toronto @ Phoenix – Can the Suns win a record 15-th in a row?
George Karl really got on Isiah and accused him of instigating the whole thing. He called him all kinds of names. He was also very defensive about accusations that he was trying to run up the score on behalf of Larry Brown! I still think there's something to it. Adrian Wojnarowski took George Karl to task in his column for Yahoo sports. He says Geoge lost the season for Denver because of the stupid “holier-than-thou” attitude of the tarheel family. After all this, Denver took the court and promptly beat the Wizrads behind players named Linas Kleiza, Yakhouba Diawara and Eduardo Najera. Gilbert Arenas stunck up the joint shooting 10/30 after the 60 point performance. But Denver is going to suffer in the long run. They'll miss Melo and drop in the standings. They were 13-9 and 7-th in the west when the suspensions started. Lets see where they are in 15 games.
Dallas got great games from Nowitzki and Howard to easily dismiss the Kings. The Warriors as usual had problems in the 4-th quarter and lost to the Nets in-spite of Vince Carter basically not showing up. Kidd got another triple-double, his 6-th of the season. Looks like Kidd is back all the way from his micro-fracture surgery. Good news for Amare Stoudemire fans. Kidd is pouring in triple doubles regularly again. Lots of buzzer-beaters on this day. Wade won the game at the buzzer for the Heat against the Hornets and Marbury did the same for the Knicks against the Jazz after even some Knicks thought they just lost the game on Deron William's 3. Marbury got the outlet pass, never stopped, and surprised everyone by going coast-to-coast for a layup. Starbury is playing well lately with Francis out. Chucky Atkins hit a ridiculously long 3 to tie the game in the first overtime for Memphis. They then went on to beat Seattle in double overtime.
Hornets @ Miami – 99-101
Washington @ Denver – 108-117
Dallas @ Sacramento – 109-91
Golden State @ New Jersey – 97-105
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 19-th (Tuesday)
Toronto @ Phoenix – Can the Suns win a record 15-th in a row?
NBA notes - 12/17/2006
I feel prophetic for pimping the Wizards-Lakers game yesterday. What a match-up that turned out to be like I had predicted. Gilbert Arenas is one of the best scorers in this league. He is still a relative unknown and woefully underrated in the league, but the Wizards fan should absolutely love this guy. He has been carrying the team on his shoulders the last 2 years. He can be an unstoppable force on any given night. He is one of the quickest players in the league. He is athletic, fairly big for a PG and can shoot with range. He is quirky and weird, but always seems to step-up for big match-ups. So I knew he would have something special for Kobe. He had 60 (8 boards and 8 assists) to Kobe's 45 (8 boards and 10 assists) in a overtime thriller. Kobe rallied the Lakers back from a huge deficit, but Gil took it to whole another level in the overtime. It was fun watching Kobe defend Gilbert too. Kobe doesn't shy away from any challenge on either end of the floor, but Gil was just too much tonight. It's hard to overshadow Kobe and Kobe is going to be a must-watch the the next few weeks with Lamar out.
Heard an interesting theory about why George Karl had 4 of his starters in the game with 2 minutes to go and Denver leading by 19 points yesterday in the “brawl game”. Apparently that was George's way of showing up Isiah for firing his friend and fellow tarheel Larry Brown. Thats very interesting and probably accurate considering how tight those 2 guys are. Anyways, that decision is going to came back and bite George's butt because people are saying Melo is going to be suspended for 10+ games. Scremain' A Smith is saying he might be gone for 15 to 20 games. It also looks like Isiah warned Melo not to go near the basket just before the brawl. That might suggest some premeditation on the part of the Knicks and I am not sure how the league deals with that. Things should clear up in a day or two.
The Clippers lost again at home, this time to Yao and the Rockets. Yao had 32-10 and Rafer Alston had 26. Looks like the street-baller is loving life without Mcgrady. He gets to shoot the perimeter shots now when Yao throws it out. Greg Anthony is saying Yao Ming is the MVP of the league. High praise for Yao and it shows how far he has come along.
Houston @ LA Clippers – 108-103
Washington @ LA Lakers – 147-141
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 18-th (Monday)
Hornets @ Miami – Can Chris Paul lead the Hornets over Wade's Heat?
Washington @ Denver – What will Gil do the day after the 60 point night? Who plays for Denver and how long does Melo gets suspended? We will know tomorrow.
Dallas @ Sacramento – Great rivalry from the recent past. Can Sacramento play Dallas tough at home?
Golden State @ New Jersey – Could be a high-scoring, fun game if Golden State shows up.
Heard an interesting theory about why George Karl had 4 of his starters in the game with 2 minutes to go and Denver leading by 19 points yesterday in the “brawl game”. Apparently that was George's way of showing up Isiah for firing his friend and fellow tarheel Larry Brown. Thats very interesting and probably accurate considering how tight those 2 guys are. Anyways, that decision is going to came back and bite George's butt because people are saying Melo is going to be suspended for 10+ games. Scremain' A Smith is saying he might be gone for 15 to 20 games. It also looks like Isiah warned Melo not to go near the basket just before the brawl. That might suggest some premeditation on the part of the Knicks and I am not sure how the league deals with that. Things should clear up in a day or two.
The Clippers lost again at home, this time to Yao and the Rockets. Yao had 32-10 and Rafer Alston had 26. Looks like the street-baller is loving life without Mcgrady. He gets to shoot the perimeter shots now when Yao throws it out. Greg Anthony is saying Yao Ming is the MVP of the league. High praise for Yao and it shows how far he has come along.
Houston @ LA Clippers – 108-103
Washington @ LA Lakers – 147-141
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 18-th (Monday)
Hornets @ Miami – Can Chris Paul lead the Hornets over Wade's Heat?
Washington @ Denver – What will Gil do the day after the 60 point night? Who plays for Denver and how long does Melo gets suspended? We will know tomorrow.
Dallas @ Sacramento – Great rivalry from the recent past. Can Sacramento play Dallas tough at home?
Golden State @ New Jersey – Could be a high-scoring, fun game if Golden State shows up.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
NFL notes - 12/16/2006
Let me preface this by saying I went to school at ASU and am a huge Jake Plummer fan. But that has nothing to do with what I am going to say here. I think the most shockingly stupid decision of this NFL season belongs to Mike Shanahan when he went to a rookie quarterback. I realize that Jake did not have a great season and their season was in trouble, but there's a no way a rookie quarterback walks in there and wins a Super Bowl for you. Jay Cutler might end up in th hall-of-fame some day, but you don't replace the starting QB in the middle of a season with a rookie Jay Cutler when you have Super Bowl aspirations. You go to a rookie to rebuild, not to win the Super Bowl. I don't think Denver had the talent to go all the way, but it's going to be all the more difficult now with Cutler. This is one of the rare situations where I think even a great coach got bullied by a fan base into a rash decision. The fans always love the backup QB in town and they got what they wanted and they are worse off for it. This one is on the fans. Cutler will probably have a good game this weekend against the Cardinals and Leinart, but Denver had a better shot this year with Jake. The Denver fans and Mike Shanahan should have just waited for 5 more regular season games and turned it over to Cutler in 07.
The MVP race in the NFL this year is very interesting. Is it Drew Brees or LT? I can go either way on this one. Both of them are having awesome seasons and are great role models too. I am amazed Drew Brees is challenging Dan Marino's single-season passing yardage record. LT on the other hand has already obliterated the TD record with a few games to spare. After much thought, I think it's LT. LT is an absolute stud and is dominating the game from the running back position like no other RB has done in recent years. Drew Brees is having a MVP-type season, but LT is having a historic season and that should get him the MVP. It would be awesome if they both meet in the Super Bowl.
The MVP race in the NFL this year is very interesting. Is it Drew Brees or LT? I can go either way on this one. Both of them are having awesome seasons and are great role models too. I am amazed Drew Brees is challenging Dan Marino's single-season passing yardage record. LT on the other hand has already obliterated the TD record with a few games to spare. After much thought, I think it's LT. LT is an absolute stud and is dominating the game from the running back position like no other RB has done in recent years. Drew Brees is having a MVP-type season, but LT is having a historic season and that should get him the MVP. It would be awesome if they both meet in the Super Bowl.
NBA notes - 12/16/2006
The big news of the day was the brawl at Madison square garden between the Nuggets and the Knicks. All 10 guys on the floor got ejected. I have never seen anything like that. Luckily nobody left the bench. The interesting thing was, all the players on the floor for the Knicks were scrubs while the Nuggets had most of their starters on the floor though they were leading comfortably. Not sure what George Karl was thinking. Apparently, this is what pissed off the Knicks since they had benched all their stars, but the Nuggets were still running and dunking with their starters. I think this is a weak excuse from the Knicks. But Karl should have put in the scrubs by then in his own interest. Now he has to deal with suspensions of his star players and I would say this incident is going to cost him a few wins. Melo punched Mardy Collins and voters in an ESPN poll say he should be suspended for more than 10 games. I don think that'll happen though he might be gone for a game or 5. Stern will be strict with this, but he is not going to over-react unless somebody jumps into the stand again.
Suns won their 14-th straight against the Kings. Back-to-back involving a home and away game for both the teams. Suns started really slow, but stepped it up in the second half to win. Amare had 20 and Nash had 12 assists. Now they can relax until Tues when they go for their 15-th straight against the Raptors and Bryan Colangelo. Cleveland lost again on the road. King James had his usual game (29-5-5) but they still lost. I think the Cavs are squandering an awesome opportunity to do some serious damage this year. The way the East is this year, the Cavs can go all the way if they play up to potential on the road.
The Heat won behind Wade's 41 and that might be the only way they win games this season – Wade scoring 40+. Chris Paul had a great game for the Hornets (30-12-8) and still lost to the Mavs. Paul is the future of the PG position in this league. We should call him the “Little Nash-ty”.How the hell is Boston leading the Atlantic division with a 10-13 record? That division is weird.
Cleveland @ Orlando – 74-81
Phoenix @ Sacramento – 105-98
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 17-th (Sunday)
Houston @ LA Clippers - Can the Houston come back from the double overtime defeat to beat the Clips? Can the Clips beat anybody good?
Washington @ LA Lakers - Gil VS number-24 should be fun though the Wizards suck on the road.
Suns won their 14-th straight against the Kings. Back-to-back involving a home and away game for both the teams. Suns started really slow, but stepped it up in the second half to win. Amare had 20 and Nash had 12 assists. Now they can relax until Tues when they go for their 15-th straight against the Raptors and Bryan Colangelo. Cleveland lost again on the road. King James had his usual game (29-5-5) but they still lost. I think the Cavs are squandering an awesome opportunity to do some serious damage this year. The way the East is this year, the Cavs can go all the way if they play up to potential on the road.
The Heat won behind Wade's 41 and that might be the only way they win games this season – Wade scoring 40+. Chris Paul had a great game for the Hornets (30-12-8) and still lost to the Mavs. Paul is the future of the PG position in this league. We should call him the “Little Nash-ty”.How the hell is Boston leading the Atlantic division with a 10-13 record? That division is weird.
Cleveland @ Orlando – 74-81
Phoenix @ Sacramento – 105-98
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 17-th (Sunday)
Houston @ LA Clippers - Can the Houston come back from the double overtime defeat to beat the Clips? Can the Clips beat anybody good?
Washington @ LA Lakers - Gil VS number-24 should be fun though the Wizards suck on the road.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
NBA notes - 12/15/2006
Impressive win for the Lakers. No, check that – Impressive win for Kobe Bryant. Amazing performance by number 24. He had 54-10-8 in a double overtime game. Yao was dominating the first half and had a terrific game, but he cant really beat number 24. Nobody can. Awesome talent on a team I would like to hate. What can you do. If not for the Colorado incident and the whole Shaq thing, Kobe would be the biggest name in all of sports. America is a forgiving nation and Kobe can still get to the top if he keeps playing like this and adds another ring to his resume.
Suns won their 13-th straight against the Warriors. Typical Suns game where they lead by 25 in the first half, lost all of the lead in the second half, trailed by 8 at one point, only to come back and win it in the 4-th. These games are good for the Suns. They need to win games in the 4-th. Thats something they have had problems with the last 2 seasons. Diaw is officially back! He had a triple double this game. 21-14-10. He had 10 assists to Nash's 5. Nellie was playing a zone and the Suns put Diaw right in the middle of the zone and let him do his thing. The guys versatility is amazing.
Sacramento came back from 16 down to shock the Jazz at Salt Lake City. Denver lost a surprising one at Boston. Paul Pierce's 38-8-9 trumped Melo's 42-6-5.
Golden State @ Phoenix – 101-105
Houston @ LA Lakers – 101-112
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 16-th (Saturday)
Cleveland @ Orlando - Another road test for Cleveland and they usually fail "road-tests".
Phoenix @ Sacramento - Suns are going for a record 14-th straight on the road, at a tough place, on the back-end of a back-to-back.
Suns won their 13-th straight against the Warriors. Typical Suns game where they lead by 25 in the first half, lost all of the lead in the second half, trailed by 8 at one point, only to come back and win it in the 4-th. These games are good for the Suns. They need to win games in the 4-th. Thats something they have had problems with the last 2 seasons. Diaw is officially back! He had a triple double this game. 21-14-10. He had 10 assists to Nash's 5. Nellie was playing a zone and the Suns put Diaw right in the middle of the zone and let him do his thing. The guys versatility is amazing.
Sacramento came back from 16 down to shock the Jazz at Salt Lake City. Denver lost a surprising one at Boston. Paul Pierce's 38-8-9 trumped Melo's 42-6-5.
Golden State @ Phoenix – 101-105
Houston @ LA Lakers – 101-112
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 16-th (Saturday)
Cleveland @ Orlando - Another road test for Cleveland and they usually fail "road-tests".
Phoenix @ Sacramento - Suns are going for a record 14-th straight on the road, at a tough place, on the back-end of a back-to-back.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
NBA notes - 12/14/2006
San Antonio won easily against the Hornets after some sarcastic criticism of the team's effort by Gregg Popovich. Charlotte upset Orlando behind Sean May's 32. He is having some big games these days. This is the third straight loss for the Magic, and the second straight against some bottom-feeders. Magic better get back on track soon.
The best game of the day was the Rockets-Warriors game in Oakland. Baron Davis won it on the final shot, a three pointer with a second to go to cap off a 34 point day. Yao was dominant with a 38-18 night and Tracy Mcgrady did not suit up. Rockets went ahead by 4 when Yao hit a tough fade-away with 38 secs to go. Monta Ellis missed a 3, but then an amazing thing happened. Not only did Mike Dunleavy get a tough rebound, he put it back for 2 and got fouled doing it. Then he shocked the entire arena by hitting a free-throw. A clutch free-throw by a Warrior has not been witnessed in 2 years! Now it was a one-point game, Yao missed a shot, Baron dribbled it up-court and hit a long 3 to pretty much ice it. Nelly's teams are always fun.
Houston @ Golden State – 107-109
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 15-th (Friday)
Golden State @ Phoenix – Should be run, gun and fun, but a win for Phoenix.
Houston @ LA Lakers – Elite teams with injuries. Lets see if McGrady plays and who wins.
The best game of the day was the Rockets-Warriors game in Oakland. Baron Davis won it on the final shot, a three pointer with a second to go to cap off a 34 point day. Yao was dominant with a 38-18 night and Tracy Mcgrady did not suit up. Rockets went ahead by 4 when Yao hit a tough fade-away with 38 secs to go. Monta Ellis missed a 3, but then an amazing thing happened. Not only did Mike Dunleavy get a tough rebound, he put it back for 2 and got fouled doing it. Then he shocked the entire arena by hitting a free-throw. A clutch free-throw by a Warrior has not been witnessed in 2 years! Now it was a one-point game, Yao missed a shot, Baron dribbled it up-court and hit a long 3 to pretty much ice it. Nelly's teams are always fun.
Houston @ Golden State – 107-109
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 15-th (Friday)
Golden State @ Phoenix – Should be run, gun and fun, but a win for Phoenix.
Houston @ LA Lakers – Elite teams with injuries. Lets see if McGrady plays and who wins.
NBA notes - 12/13/2006
Dwayne Wade missed the game today against the Suns. So this really was a no-contest except for the last quarter when the Heat made a big push to cut a 25 point deficit to single digits. All kinds of bench players helped the Heat close the gap. Finally, Nash had to hit a big 3 and put some distance between the teams again. Now the streak is up to 12 straight and the Suns are on top of the Pacific Division on Dec 13-th! The Lakers lost at Dallas in-spite of the usual heroics by Kobe. Kobe had 33-7-4 and played some great defense too. You may hate the Lakers and Kobe, but you still have to be impressed by how talented this guys is and how hard he plays at both ends of the floor. Amazing, amazing player.
Washington blew out Denver despite Melo dropping in 37. Gilbert Arenas is just unstoppable at home. Utah dispatched the Clippers easily. Not sure what happened to the Clips, but they are nowhere near where they were at the end of last season. Cleveland won at home against Charlotte and Toronto upset the Magic. Andrea Bargnani is quietly having a good season.
Denver @ Washington - 91-120
Phoenix @ Miami - 99-89
LA Lakers @ Dallas - 101-110
Utah @ LA Clippers - 105-86
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 14-th (Thusday)
Surprisingly bad games on TNT. The non-TNT game looks like the best match-up of this day.
Houston @ Golden State - Should be a good game. Warriors play well at home, at least until the late 4-th quarter!
Washington blew out Denver despite Melo dropping in 37. Gilbert Arenas is just unstoppable at home. Utah dispatched the Clippers easily. Not sure what happened to the Clips, but they are nowhere near where they were at the end of last season. Cleveland won at home against Charlotte and Toronto upset the Magic. Andrea Bargnani is quietly having a good season.
Denver @ Washington - 91-120
Phoenix @ Miami - 99-89
LA Lakers @ Dallas - 101-110
Utah @ LA Clippers - 105-86
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 14-th (Thusday)
Surprisingly bad games on TNT. The non-TNT game looks like the best match-up of this day.
Houston @ Golden State - Should be a good game. Warriors play well at home, at least until the late 4-th quarter!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
NBA notes - 12/12/2006
The Lakers won a big game in Houston, but lost Lamar Odom to injury. This was an impressive win without Lamar for most of the game. Houston trailed big, but came back. Kobe had to get rid off the ice bag on his knee and come back and win it again for the Lakers. The bad news for the Lakers is Odom's injury. He is their second leading scorer and the leading rebounder. They are saying he may be out for a month. The Lakers have played too many games at home and are now entering a difficult part of their schedule where they have to play a tonne of games on the road. I would have to think they are going to slide a bit in the standings now. On the other hand, Kobe will try to step up big and try to keep it going for the Lakers. Its gonna be tough.
Golden State won easily against Saramento. Its amazing to see these 2 teams. They almost have the same record, but the Warriors are so much more exciting and their future looks so much more brighter with all the young talent at their disposal. They look like the Kings of few years back and the Kings look average at best. They have to blow that team up and rebuild ASAP. Both Bibby and Artest had 4/14 nights and thats not going to get the job done. Matt Barnes had another great game. He is from Sacramento and has a “Sac Town's Finest” tattoo on his shoulders. He had 32 and 11 and hurt the Kings from downtown to blow their zone defense up.
Denver beat Atlanta without Joe Johnson. Atlanta without Joe Johnson is like an aircraft without wings. They may lose all their games without him. Marvin Williams did have a monster dunk in the game.
LA Lakers @ Houston – 102-94
Sacramento @ Golden State – 113-126
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 13-th (Wednesday)
Denver @ Washington - Should be a fun, high-scoring game.
Phoenix @ Miami - Wade should put on a show here, but the Suns should win this one. This game would have been better with Shaq around.
LA Lakers @ Dallas - Another tough test for the Lakers on the road.
Utah @ LA Clippers - Can the Clips win a big game at least at home? They may need this one to turn their season around.
Golden State won easily against Saramento. Its amazing to see these 2 teams. They almost have the same record, but the Warriors are so much more exciting and their future looks so much more brighter with all the young talent at their disposal. They look like the Kings of few years back and the Kings look average at best. They have to blow that team up and rebuild ASAP. Both Bibby and Artest had 4/14 nights and thats not going to get the job done. Matt Barnes had another great game. He is from Sacramento and has a “Sac Town's Finest” tattoo on his shoulders. He had 32 and 11 and hurt the Kings from downtown to blow their zone defense up.
Denver beat Atlanta without Joe Johnson. Atlanta without Joe Johnson is like an aircraft without wings. They may lose all their games without him. Marvin Williams did have a monster dunk in the game.
LA Lakers @ Houston – 102-94
Sacramento @ Golden State – 113-126
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 13-th (Wednesday)
Denver @ Washington - Should be a fun, high-scoring game.
Phoenix @ Miami - Wade should put on a show here, but the Suns should win this one. This game would have been better with Shaq around.
LA Lakers @ Dallas - Another tough test for the Lakers on the road.
Utah @ LA Clippers - Can the Clips win a big game at least at home? They may need this one to turn their season around.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
NBA notes - 12/11/2006
The Suns are shining very bright right now! Suns won another game 103-89, this time against the Magic on the road. Amare had 30 points during his return to his hometown. As always, the entire team got in on the act (except for Leandro Barbosa). Kurt Thomas is contributing as well. This is their 11-th straight victory and are officially back as a contender now. Chris Paul got the better of King James as the Hornets took care of the Cavs. The Cavs once again stumbled on the road. Boozer and gang beat Dallas. As I had mentioned yesterday, Josh Howard had a bad game and the Mavs lost.
In other news, Vinsanity and Wade had monster games and won games for their teams. Vince took 20 3 pointers and hit 9 of them! Thats a lot of 3 pointers!
Phoenix @ Orlando – 103-89
Cleveland @ Hornets – 89-95
Dallas @ Utah – 79-101
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 12-th (Tuesday)
LA Lakers @ Houston – Tough test on the road for the Lakers. Les see what happens.
Sacramento @ Golden State – Should be a high scoring affair.
In other news, Vinsanity and Wade had monster games and won games for their teams. Vince took 20 3 pointers and hit 9 of them! Thats a lot of 3 pointers!
Phoenix @ Orlando – 103-89
Cleveland @ Hornets – 89-95
Dallas @ Utah – 79-101
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 12-th (Tuesday)
LA Lakers @ Houston – Tough test on the road for the Lakers. Les see what happens.
Sacramento @ Golden State – Should be a high scoring affair.
Monday, December 11, 2006
NBA notes - 12/10/2006
Lakers shocked the Spurs behind Kobe's 34 and a strong 3-rd quarter where they played some stifling defense and forced the Spurs in to a tonne of turnovers. Spurs should have been seeing flashbacks of the good old days when they had problems stopping Kobe in those playoffs during LA's Shaq-era. But it was not just Kobe though. Lamar Odom had a near triple-double and Luke Walton is becoming a player for them too. Good win for the Big Chief triangle and a bad loss for the Spurs.
Suns are rolling right now and the Bobcats were in no position to stop them. Charlotte lost their third straight game by 20 or more points. Some players tend to have career games against the Suns because of their defense and style of play and today it was Sean May's turn. He had 26 and 10, but he Suns don't care as long as they win. Amare and Diaw had good games. Diaw is learning to play with Amare really well now. The Suns won behind some balanced scoring and that is quickly becoming the story here. The Suns are very talented, very deep and very versatile. Jalen Rose and Marcus Banks are hardly getting any minutes now. Thats how deep they are. Tomorrow's match-up against Orlando should be a good road test for the Suns.
Golden State lost another close game with Baron Davis sitting at the scorer's table and Nelly not being able put him back in! They are losing close games in interesting ways. The only good news for them is that Matt Barnes is currently enjoying an extended role with JRich injured and is producing well.
San Antonio @ LA Lakers – 99-106
Phoenix @ Charlotte – 114-84
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 11-th (Monday)
Phoenix @ Orlando – Good match-up for the Suns on the road.
Cleveland @ Hornets – Can The King get it done on the road?
Dallas @ Utah – Western elites clash here. Good test for Dallas.
Suns are rolling right now and the Bobcats were in no position to stop them. Charlotte lost their third straight game by 20 or more points. Some players tend to have career games against the Suns because of their defense and style of play and today it was Sean May's turn. He had 26 and 10, but he Suns don't care as long as they win. Amare and Diaw had good games. Diaw is learning to play with Amare really well now. The Suns won behind some balanced scoring and that is quickly becoming the story here. The Suns are very talented, very deep and very versatile. Jalen Rose and Marcus Banks are hardly getting any minutes now. Thats how deep they are. Tomorrow's match-up against Orlando should be a good road test for the Suns.
Golden State lost another close game with Baron Davis sitting at the scorer's table and Nelly not being able put him back in! They are losing close games in interesting ways. The only good news for them is that Matt Barnes is currently enjoying an extended role with JRich injured and is producing well.
San Antonio @ LA Lakers – 99-106
Phoenix @ Charlotte – 114-84
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 11-th (Monday)
Phoenix @ Orlando – Good match-up for the Suns on the road.
Cleveland @ Hornets – Can The King get it done on the road?
Dallas @ Utah – Western elites clash here. Good test for Dallas.
NBA notes - 12/09/2006
Cleveland blew out a “Jermaine o'Neal-less” Indiana team at home. This is what they are expected to do this season, but they just don't have the same consistency on the road. Looks like they are going to be locked in a close battle all-season with Detroit and Chicago for Central division honors. They better get their road game fixed soon.
Yao Ming continued to show the league that he is the best center right now by pouring in 38 (and 11 boards) against Gil Arenas and the Wizards. Gil and Jamison had 41 and 27 to go against Yao's 38 and Mcgrady's 28, but was not enough for the Wizards on this day. Houston is getting really good and Yao-TMac is becoming an awesome duo, if not one already.
Dallas won easily at home against Denver, showing them they have ways to go before catching up to Dallas. If you play Dallas, you better do something about Josh Howard. This guy is the quiet killer on that roster. He had 30 and 11 with 2 blocks and he is beginning to have such games more and more often. All this on top of playing excellent defense on Melo who shot just 8/26. Pretty impressive player who is being utilized very well by coach Avery.
In other games, Al Jefferson had a 29 and 14 game to beat the Nets, while Eddie Curry killed the Bucks with 36 points, shooting 17 of 24. Minnesota stunned Chicago on the road and Don Nelson won his 1200-th game of his career after a LONG wait!
Denver @ Dallas – 90-105
Indiana @ Cleveland – 75-107
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 10-th (Sunday)
San Antonio @ LA Lakers– Can the Lake-show stop the Spurs? This is a real challenge for the Lakers.
Phoenix @ Charlotte – Should be an easy win for the Suns.
Yao Ming continued to show the league that he is the best center right now by pouring in 38 (and 11 boards) against Gil Arenas and the Wizards. Gil and Jamison had 41 and 27 to go against Yao's 38 and Mcgrady's 28, but was not enough for the Wizards on this day. Houston is getting really good and Yao-TMac is becoming an awesome duo, if not one already.
Dallas won easily at home against Denver, showing them they have ways to go before catching up to Dallas. If you play Dallas, you better do something about Josh Howard. This guy is the quiet killer on that roster. He had 30 and 11 with 2 blocks and he is beginning to have such games more and more often. All this on top of playing excellent defense on Melo who shot just 8/26. Pretty impressive player who is being utilized very well by coach Avery.
In other games, Al Jefferson had a 29 and 14 game to beat the Nets, while Eddie Curry killed the Bucks with 36 points, shooting 17 of 24. Minnesota stunned Chicago on the road and Don Nelson won his 1200-th game of his career after a LONG wait!
Denver @ Dallas – 90-105
Indiana @ Cleveland – 75-107
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 10-th (Sunday)
San Antonio @ LA Lakers– Can the Lake-show stop the Spurs? This is a real challenge for the Lakers.
Phoenix @ Charlotte – Should be an easy win for the Suns.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
NBA notes - 12/08/2006
The big news today was the AI drama in Phily. Finally, they have decided to trade him after he requested for a trade. Same old issues with AI and practices etc., but this time they seem to have decided enough is enough. I like AI, though I wish he was more disciplined off the court. I always wanted him to be one of those transcendent athletes at least in his own town. I am a big sucker for "one-town super stars" I think that adds to their legacy and the legacy of the league they are in. I was hoping he would retire a 76-er. Thats what he claims he was expecting too, but the management might say his actions suggest otherwise. In any case, he has played his last game for Phily and the question now is, where is he headed? It should be an interesting couple of weeks now. He is a hard player to trade for a variety of reasons - age, attitude, playing style and contract. Hind-sight is 20-20, but Phily probably should have traded him 3 years back. They really couldn't make it work with him the last 3 years and they never pulled the trigger. I don't think the front-office did a good job building around him either. I know he needs the ball a little too much, but Larry Brown showed us all how to win with him and they couldn't replicate it since he left.
Suns went into Boston and didn't suffer too much of a letdown from the epic battle yesterday. Played a close one, but scored 116 and won the game to start the road trip 2-0. MP3 was the man again. Nash had 16 and 14 on 6-8 shooting. Sebastin Telfair did make him look bad on a couple of occasions, but then again nobody said the MP3 is a defensive-stopper! Marion is on a monster-tear right now. He had another 29-12 night. Its amazing how nothing has changed for him this year with Amare in there. Looks like Boris Diaw is the only guy having some trouble adjusting to Amare. If you can run and do the things Marion does athletically, you'll get your numbers in the offense. Amare had a sub-par game due to foul trouble and Boris had a great game again (14-6-7). Amare's streak of 6 double-doubles was snapped.
Wade V Melo was one-sided. JR Smith killed the Heat with his outside shots and the Heat could never recover on a back-to-back night coming off a overtime game. Detroit won another big game against Orlando and the New Orleans lost big to Seattle without Ray Allen. Big letdown for the Hornets after beating the Lakers the other night. Lakers won again without Kobe and Luke Walton had 25 points. He might win the most improved player of the year award. Minnesota beat Utah behind KG's impressive night (31-14). He also openly lobbied for AI after the game. It's amazing how AI is so popular among his peers.
Phoenix @ Boston - 116-111
Detroit @ Orlando - 87-83
Miami @ Denver - 107-123
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 9-th (Saturday)
Denver @ Dallas - Two great western teams go at it against each other.
Indiana @ Cleveland - Cleveland has to prove it's consistency here.
Suns went into Boston and didn't suffer too much of a letdown from the epic battle yesterday. Played a close one, but scored 116 and won the game to start the road trip 2-0. MP3 was the man again. Nash had 16 and 14 on 6-8 shooting. Sebastin Telfair did make him look bad on a couple of occasions, but then again nobody said the MP3 is a defensive-stopper! Marion is on a monster-tear right now. He had another 29-12 night. Its amazing how nothing has changed for him this year with Amare in there. Looks like Boris Diaw is the only guy having some trouble adjusting to Amare. If you can run and do the things Marion does athletically, you'll get your numbers in the offense. Amare had a sub-par game due to foul trouble and Boris had a great game again (14-6-7). Amare's streak of 6 double-doubles was snapped.
Wade V Melo was one-sided. JR Smith killed the Heat with his outside shots and the Heat could never recover on a back-to-back night coming off a overtime game. Detroit won another big game against Orlando and the New Orleans lost big to Seattle without Ray Allen. Big letdown for the Hornets after beating the Lakers the other night. Lakers won again without Kobe and Luke Walton had 25 points. He might win the most improved player of the year award. Minnesota beat Utah behind KG's impressive night (31-14). He also openly lobbied for AI after the game. It's amazing how AI is so popular among his peers.
Phoenix @ Boston - 116-111
Detroit @ Orlando - 87-83
Miami @ Denver - 107-123
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 9-th (Saturday)
Denver @ Dallas - Two great western teams go at it against each other.
Indiana @ Cleveland - Cleveland has to prove it's consistency here.
Friday, December 08, 2006
NBA notes - 12/07/2006
Wow, where do I start with the great Suns game tonight. They won a double overtime thriller 161-157 against the New Jersey Nets who decided to run with the Suns and almost did it as well as the Suns. The point totals are just impressive in and of itself. This is why the Suns are the best thing to happen to the NBA since Michael Jordan. But even more impressive was the PG match-up between Kidd (38-14-14) and Nash (42-6-13). Two of the best in the game doing what they do best. Career high in points for Nash and 78-th triple-double for Kidd tying Wilt Chamberlain for third all-time. Marion had 33-9 and Diaw had 16 points and 14 assists including the go-ahead basket in the low-post on a mismatch with Kidd defending. Thats just awesome numbers and this is the best game of this young season for Diaw. Diaw's back to the basket game might be the best in the team. Vince had 31 points, but fouled out (so did Amare). Cant wait to watch this one on ESPN classic.
Detroit walked into Dallas and won a BIG game against a red-hot Western conference team. Nowitzki had a monster game, but Billups distributed the ball really well to lead Detroit to a victory. Finally the Eastern conference has something to cheer about. Miami beat Sacramento in overtime. I was watching the game and was amazed to see how Miami had nothing except Wade! They are probably going nowhere anyways, but without Shaq, this team is barely even competitive. I guess Shaq misses games just to show the World how important he is even at 34. We all think he is done, but this team is significantly better with him than without him. Wade scored 32 to lead them against the Kings, but he is going to have problems carrying this team on his shoulders day-in and day-out.
Phoenix @ New Jersey - 161-157
Detroit @ Dallas - 92-82
Miami @ Sacramento - 93-91
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 8-th (Friday)
Nothing can probably match the Suns-Nets game, but we still can hope for some good games tomorrow.
Phoenix @ Boston – Hope the Suns are not too tired after the double-overtime classic today. After the Nets game, every Suns game should be in this list. Can they keep winning (and scoring)?
Detroit @ Orlando – The veterans against the upstarts. Lets see who wins.
Miami @ Denver – Wade VS Melo. Enough said.
Detroit walked into Dallas and won a BIG game against a red-hot Western conference team. Nowitzki had a monster game, but Billups distributed the ball really well to lead Detroit to a victory. Finally the Eastern conference has something to cheer about. Miami beat Sacramento in overtime. I was watching the game and was amazed to see how Miami had nothing except Wade! They are probably going nowhere anyways, but without Shaq, this team is barely even competitive. I guess Shaq misses games just to show the World how important he is even at 34. We all think he is done, but this team is significantly better with him than without him. Wade scored 32 to lead them against the Kings, but he is going to have problems carrying this team on his shoulders day-in and day-out.
Phoenix @ New Jersey - 161-157
Detroit @ Dallas - 92-82
Miami @ Sacramento - 93-91
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 8-th (Friday)
Nothing can probably match the Suns-Nets game, but we still can hope for some good games tomorrow.
Phoenix @ Boston – Hope the Suns are not too tired after the double-overtime classic today. After the Nets game, every Suns game should be in this list. Can they keep winning (and scoring)?
Detroit @ Orlando – The veterans against the upstarts. Lets see who wins.
Miami @ Denver – Wade VS Melo. Enough said.
NBA notes - 12/06/2006
Atlanta upset Denver on the road. Melo seems to take a tonne of shots and on days he doesn't make enough of them, Denver can lose. Strong game from Camby and Joe was the usual Joe for Atlanta and they won a close one. Cleveland beat Toronto behind the King's 26 and 10 assists. I think Cleveland should not be staying this close to teams like Toronto if they want to be true contenders.
As for the game I was most intrigued by, the Hornets upset the Lakers even with Kobe playing and playing well. Chris Paul is a stud and he had 26 pts (11-22 shooting) and 11 assists. LA lost at home, but San Antonio continued its run. They look unstoppable as always. Blew Charlotte right out of the gym and Timmy had 25.
Gilbert Arenas had 38 and Antawn Jamison had 33 for the Wizards against the woeful Knicks. By the way, I knew the Marbury/Francis back-court was a bad idea, but I had no idea it would be this bad and that it would completely shut down both these players! I have not heard anything about Steve Francis since the trade and Marbury's numbers are way down as well. At least before the trade, the two were impressive individual performers in this league.
NO/OK Hornets @ LA Lakers – 105-89
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 7-th (Thursday)
All 3 games are good tomorrow.
Phoenix @ New Jersey – The great point guard match-up again. This time on the road. Should be a good game.
Detroit @ Dallas – Elite teams from either conference are matching up here. Lets see how good Detroit is.
Miami @ Sacramento – Two playoff hopefuls on either coast again. Should be a good one if Artest is healthy.
As for the game I was most intrigued by, the Hornets upset the Lakers even with Kobe playing and playing well. Chris Paul is a stud and he had 26 pts (11-22 shooting) and 11 assists. LA lost at home, but San Antonio continued its run. They look unstoppable as always. Blew Charlotte right out of the gym and Timmy had 25.
Gilbert Arenas had 38 and Antawn Jamison had 33 for the Wizards against the woeful Knicks. By the way, I knew the Marbury/Francis back-court was a bad idea, but I had no idea it would be this bad and that it would completely shut down both these players! I have not heard anything about Steve Francis since the trade and Marbury's numbers are way down as well. At least before the trade, the two were impressive individual performers in this league.
NO/OK Hornets @ LA Lakers – 105-89
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 7-th (Thursday)
All 3 games are good tomorrow.
Phoenix @ New Jersey – The great point guard match-up again. This time on the road. Should be a good game.
Detroit @ Dallas – Elite teams from either conference are matching up here. Lets see how good Detroit is.
Miami @ Sacramento – Two playoff hopefuls on either coast again. Should be a good one if Artest is healthy.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
NBA notes - 12/05/2006
Suns won easily against the Kings behind Nash's 20 assists. It's amazing to watch Nash run this offense at times. He was doing whatever he wanted to today and made one amazing pass after another. He is clearly one of the best point guards in the history of this league. He had no problem today finding Barbosa and Marion for wide-open layups. Watch out for the Suns guys. They are only going to get better as STAT gets better. As for the Kings, they are really nothing special and are pretty bad without Ron Artest who missed his 3-rd straight game with a bad back. He is also mouthing off again about not having any plays called for him. I think it's time for Geoff Petrie to re-build this bad-boy again. Bibby-Artest-Miller combo is not going to take them anywhere.
The clips beat the Heat behind a monster game by Elton Brand (33-17).Golden state lost their 4-th straight and prevented Don Nelson from winning his 1200-th game. Dallas started another winning streak against the Nets after a loss yesterday against the Wizards. Zach Randolph, another guy having a great season, leads the Blazers into Detroit, scores 31 points, grabs 13 boards and walks out with a rare victory. Joe Johnson couldn't do the same to Seattle though the Sonics were without Ray Allen and Joe scored 34.
Sacramento @ Phoenix – 102-127
Miami @ LA Clippers – 97-101
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 6-th (Wednesday)
Lots of games, but nothing intriguing.
NO/OK Hornets @ LA Lakers - Should be an easy win for LA, but is Kobe playing ?
The clips beat the Heat behind a monster game by Elton Brand (33-17).Golden state lost their 4-th straight and prevented Don Nelson from winning his 1200-th game. Dallas started another winning streak against the Nets after a loss yesterday against the Wizards. Zach Randolph, another guy having a great season, leads the Blazers into Detroit, scores 31 points, grabs 13 boards and walks out with a rare victory. Joe Johnson couldn't do the same to Seattle though the Sonics were without Ray Allen and Joe scored 34.
Sacramento @ Phoenix – 102-127
Miami @ LA Clippers – 97-101
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 6-th (Wednesday)
Lots of games, but nothing intriguing.
NO/OK Hornets @ LA Lakers - Should be an easy win for LA, but is Kobe playing ?
NBA notes - 12/04/2006
Lakers, San Antonio and Utah continued their roll. Kobe sprained his ankle, but that didn't seem to slow down the Lakers at all. Kwame is becoming a fixture in highlight reels with his monstrous dunks. Whats happening to this World? Hope Kobe is fine. I don't like to see anybody injured, and its just a lot more fun to beat the Lakers with Kobe.
I was on point about the Wizards-Mavs game. Gilbert Arenas was as usual unstoppable at home and they beat Nowitzki and the Mavs. I was of course, wrong about the Spurs-Warriors game. The Warriors were blown out of the gym by the Spurs. I guess they remembered their loss earlier in the season at Oakland and were not going to let the Warriors even stay close in this one. Good teams always remember losses and get up for such games. The Warriors are looking more and more like the Warriors of old. They might easily fall below .500 tomorrow @ Houston. Magic beat the Kings on Jameer Nelson's 3-pointer. A good win for a young team after 13 straight losses at Sacramento.
One other note. Eddie Curry is quietly having a good season for the Knicks. It might be time for Isiah to trade him away :-)
Golden State @ San Antonio - 89-129
Dallas @ Washington - 97-106
Orlando @ Sacramento - 92-89
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 5-th (Tuesday)
Sacramento @ Phoenix - Can the Kings challenge the resurgent Suns? I don't think so.
Miami @ LA Clippers - Should be a good game between 2 decent teams. Miami is nothing more than that right now.
I was on point about the Wizards-Mavs game. Gilbert Arenas was as usual unstoppable at home and they beat Nowitzki and the Mavs. I was of course, wrong about the Spurs-Warriors game. The Warriors were blown out of the gym by the Spurs. I guess they remembered their loss earlier in the season at Oakland and were not going to let the Warriors even stay close in this one. Good teams always remember losses and get up for such games. The Warriors are looking more and more like the Warriors of old. They might easily fall below .500 tomorrow @ Houston. Magic beat the Kings on Jameer Nelson's 3-pointer. A good win for a young team after 13 straight losses at Sacramento.
One other note. Eddie Curry is quietly having a good season for the Knicks. It might be time for Isiah to trade him away :-)
Golden State @ San Antonio - 89-129
Dallas @ Washington - 97-106
Orlando @ Sacramento - 92-89
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 5-th (Tuesday)
Sacramento @ Phoenix - Can the Kings challenge the resurgent Suns? I don't think so.
Miami @ LA Clippers - Should be a good game between 2 decent teams. Miami is nothing more than that right now.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
NBA notes - 12/03/2006
The Eastern conference continues to get its head beaten to pulp by the Western conference. There were two games on the schedule today that were interesting to me purely from that perspective. Minnesota @ Philadelphia which matched up 2 bad teams from their respective conferences. The other one was Orlando @ Clippers which matched up one of the Eastern elite against a decent, but mediocre Western team. The West won both easily proving once again that East sucks. At-least Atlanta didn't lose to Portland I guess :-)
Elton Brand took care of the Magic with 31 points on 12-14 shooting. Charlotte upset Detroit to end their 8 game winning streak. The Bobcats have also beaten Cleveland and San Antonio this season. They seem to be the giant killers. Atlanta beat Portland behind Joe Johnson's (33-6-6). He is a terrific talent. Lets see how far he can take the Hawks in a year or two.
Orlando @ LA Clippers – 91-116
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 4-rd (Monday)
Golden State @ San Antonio - The Spurs have been shaky at home and Golden State always seem to be in games, but lose at the end.
Dallas @ Washington - Gilbert Arenas is dominant at home and so are the Wizards. Can they handle a red-hot Dallas team?
Orlando @ Sacramento - Orlando tries to win against another decent Western conference team. Lets see if they can win this one.
Elton Brand took care of the Magic with 31 points on 12-14 shooting. Charlotte upset Detroit to end their 8 game winning streak. The Bobcats have also beaten Cleveland and San Antonio this season. They seem to be the giant killers. Atlanta beat Portland behind Joe Johnson's (33-6-6). He is a terrific talent. Lets see how far he can take the Hawks in a year or two.
Orlando @ LA Clippers – 91-116
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 4-rd (Monday)
Golden State @ San Antonio - The Spurs have been shaky at home and Golden State always seem to be in games, but lose at the end.
Dallas @ Washington - Gilbert Arenas is dominant at home and so are the Wizards. Can they handle a red-hot Dallas team?
Orlando @ Sacramento - Orlando tries to win against another decent Western conference team. Lets see if they can win this one.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
NBA notes – 12/02/2006
Many fun games on this night, but one of the more fun match-up should have been AI-V-Vinsanity with AI scoring 37 and Vince dropping 41 on 15-22 shooting. New Jersey won 112-107 to get on top of the horrible Atlantic division. Rookie Rodney Carney had 20 points for the Sixers. I always liked this guy playing for Memphis in college. Also, Eddie House made his first appearance of the season, but had a tough shooting night (1-8).
More rookie news. Rudy Gay dropped 20 for Memphis, but James Posey hit a 3 at the buzzer for a Heat win. By the way, Hakim Warrick is having a nice season for Memphis as well. Mehmet Okur hit a 3 to give the Jazz a 2 point win over the Sonics. Boozer is averaging 22-12 with 3 blocks on 57% shooting for the season. Almost MVP numbers. The Warriors lost another close one. The game against the Bucks was a high-scoring game until the Warriors stopped scoring with 8 minutes to go.
Carmelo scored 38 again. Another early-season MVP candidate in my opinion. It's amazing how much talent there is in the league right now. I agree with the clowns on ESPN who have been talking about the great talent in the NBA right now. The Clips lost to the Lakers and seem to be in a free fall. With every win, we have to face the possibility that the Lakers are for real! Sacramento lost to San Antonio to wrap up their tough Texas 2-step with 2 losses.
Cleveland got blown out by Houston (without McGrady for most of the game) to continue their up-and-down, kind of a disappointing season so far. Detroit is again on top of that division. The disparity between the 2 conferences is at ridiculous levels right now. Its been like this for 6 years with no end in sight.
Cleveland @ Houston - 63-81
LA Lakers @ LA Clippers - 97-88
Sacramneto @ San Antonito - 98-100
Milwaukee @ Golden State - 115-110
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 3-rd (Sunday)
Nothing spectacular on this NFL Sunday.
Oralndo @ LA Clippers - How does the best of the East fares against Western conference mediocrity?
More rookie news. Rudy Gay dropped 20 for Memphis, but James Posey hit a 3 at the buzzer for a Heat win. By the way, Hakim Warrick is having a nice season for Memphis as well. Mehmet Okur hit a 3 to give the Jazz a 2 point win over the Sonics. Boozer is averaging 22-12 with 3 blocks on 57% shooting for the season. Almost MVP numbers. The Warriors lost another close one. The game against the Bucks was a high-scoring game until the Warriors stopped scoring with 8 minutes to go.
Carmelo scored 38 again. Another early-season MVP candidate in my opinion. It's amazing how much talent there is in the league right now. I agree with the clowns on ESPN who have been talking about the great talent in the NBA right now. The Clips lost to the Lakers and seem to be in a free fall. With every win, we have to face the possibility that the Lakers are for real! Sacramento lost to San Antonio to wrap up their tough Texas 2-step with 2 losses.
Cleveland got blown out by Houston (without McGrady for most of the game) to continue their up-and-down, kind of a disappointing season so far. Detroit is again on top of that division. The disparity between the 2 conferences is at ridiculous levels right now. Its been like this for 6 years with no end in sight.
Cleveland @ Houston - 63-81
LA Lakers @ LA Clippers - 97-88
Sacramneto @ San Antonito - 98-100
Milwaukee @ Golden State - 115-110
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 3-rd (Sunday)
Nothing spectacular on this NFL Sunday.
Oralndo @ LA Clippers - How does the best of the East fares against Western conference mediocrity?
NBA notes – 12/01/2006
Suns won again today against the Bucks in a fun, high-scoring affair. Suns played a consistent game scoring at will in all 4 quarters. Everybody had a great game and it looks like this team is rolling into shape. Even the much maligned Diaw had 4-6-7-2(steals)-1(block). We all know his point totals were going to come down this season with Amare back. So 6 reb and 7 assist is a great game for Diaw and the Suns will take it every day. Amare had another good game and I think it's time to expand his role. He is shooting at a 62% clip for the season and might have earned more role in the offense with this consistency and energy.
In other games, Lebron (31-7-8) and Joe Johnson (31-5-4) had a good personal battle going, but the King took the game 106-95 for Cleveland. Chicago beat the Hornets behind Nocioni's 31-13 performance. These two teams seem to be streaking in opposite directions. The Hornets have lost 5 straight and the Bulls have won 3. Hornets are slipping fast in the Western conference. Carmelo Anthony had another monster night (35-8). Whats up with this guy? Sacramento tried, but couldn't stay close to Dallas.
Milwaukee @ Phoenix – 116-122
Sacramento @ Dallas – 90-109
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 2-nd (Saturday)
Cleveland @ Houston – Yao V Lebron. Two guys who might headline the next decade in this league. The Cavs might be the best choice ever for the ESPN “Contender or Pretender” segment. Can they beat a good Western Conference team?
LA Lakers @ LA Clippers – Can the Clips regain the ”Best team in LA” title they owned last year? Whats Kobe gonna do coming off of his 52 point performance?
Sacramneto @ San Antonito – Can Sacto hang with the Champions? (I know the Spurs are not the champs, but doesn't it feel like they are always the champ?)
Milwaukee @ Golden State – Should be a fun, high-scoring affair.
In other games, Lebron (31-7-8) and Joe Johnson (31-5-4) had a good personal battle going, but the King took the game 106-95 for Cleveland. Chicago beat the Hornets behind Nocioni's 31-13 performance. These two teams seem to be streaking in opposite directions. The Hornets have lost 5 straight and the Bulls have won 3. Hornets are slipping fast in the Western conference. Carmelo Anthony had another monster night (35-8). Whats up with this guy? Sacramento tried, but couldn't stay close to Dallas.
Milwaukee @ Phoenix – 116-122
Sacramento @ Dallas – 90-109
Interesting games on the board for tomorrow, the Dec 2-nd (Saturday)
Cleveland @ Houston – Yao V Lebron. Two guys who might headline the next decade in this league. The Cavs might be the best choice ever for the ESPN “Contender or Pretender” segment. Can they beat a good Western Conference team?
LA Lakers @ LA Clippers – Can the Clips regain the ”Best team in LA” title they owned last year? Whats Kobe gonna do coming off of his 52 point performance?
Sacramneto @ San Antonito – Can Sacto hang with the Champions? (I know the Spurs are not the champs, but doesn't it feel like they are always the champ?)
Milwaukee @ Golden State – Should be a fun, high-scoring affair.
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