I have been busy for a few days but still watching a lot of NBA. The Suns keep on keepin' on. Other than that, the big news is that Shaq is back and Pau wants out. I hope he goes to the L-Eastern conference and not a Western contender to make it even stronger! Unless of course he goes to the Suns :-) I don't think that'll happen anyways.
The other interesting news is that the Nets have lost 3 straight games by 1 point. They have given up 3 buzzer beaters (or near buzzer beaters) against the Kings, Warriors and the Clips with Bibby, Monta and Mobley doing the honors. It has been a crushing road-trip for them so far.
The Monta Ellis play yesterday is an interesting study in coaching strategies at the end of games. If you have a good floor general like Baron Davis or Steve Nash or Kobe Bryant, you are better off not taking the timeout before the last shot, but just letting them go up-court and make a play. The thinking being, the offense can be set up better with a timeout, but the defense also sets up and you are forced to run a half-court set out of the TO. But teams that prefer the fast-break style and have talented decision makers are better off just running without a TO. The defense is discombobulated and you can get a quality shot. This is exactly what the Warriors did. Nelly explained after the game how if they have 5 secs or more, they are always asked to go and if it's less than 5 secs, then you need a timeout to advance the ball. This was right on the border with 5.6 secs or so left. So you could see in the replay that Baron started pushing, but was eyeing Nelly all the way to see if he wants a TO. He got to the 3 point line and passed it to Monta on the wing who nailed it. Thats good coaching and good play-making all around. I wish more coaches trust their players like that.
Today, Dallas lost on the road to Chicago. Thats a good win for Chicago and a streak breaker for Dallas. They are now percentage points behind Phoenix in the Western conference standings. This home court could be HUGE, especially for the Suns since they'll bee perceived as the under-dog.
Dallas @ Chicago - 85-96
New Jersey @ LA Clippers - 101-102
Interesting games on the board for the Jan 26-th (Friday)
Washington @ Detroit - Gil takes his show to Detroit. Should be a good game.
Phoenix @ Milwaukee - Phoenix go for 16-th straight here. Their last streak ended at 15. Let's see where this one goes.
Denver @ Utah - First big test for AI-Melo combo.
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