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.
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