midweek update

Through Wednesday I went 16-8.  Only a couple surprise wins.  Detroit appears to own Orlando beating them at home without Prince and Maxiell.  Portland is still struggling to find their groove.  The Houston game was great last night.  In bitter sweet fashion, I was ecstatic when Ariza hit the game tying three.  I don’t have the NBA league pass so I was watching the game on a live stream.  As luck would have it, the stream cut out with a little over 2 minutes left in OT and I finished watching that game on ESPN’s gamecast.  Let me tell you, waiting for the text to load is a really lame way to watch the game.  As is it turn out, Ariza had the ball stolen from him in the closing of the game and the Lakers pulled one out in a nail biter.  Ariza had a rough shooting night going 5-21 and 2-7 from the three.  Add 9 boards and 5 assists and it seems he’s getting more comfortable being “the man”.  He was the only starter that came away with a positive +/-.  The Rockets are a gritty hard nosed team that will grind out wins and never let up.  Too bad their missing their big man and can’t trade T-mac.  So did Ariza outplay Artest?  Artest was more efficient from the field and made one more three but Ariza had more rebounds and assists.  Well, I’d say it was a push.  They play the same position but have really different games.  We’ll see how Ariza does in LA next week.

In tonight’s games, I still take the Cavs but as of late, I’m thinking I overestimated Utah at home.

19-10

Had a descent weekend.  I was surprised the Lakers layed down for the Mavs.  What a terrible game.  The silver lining?  Gasol has yet to play this year.  A couple of other surprises:  Memphis beating a jazzed Raptor team coming off a surprising win over the Cavs, the Bucks beating the Pistons (although I’m re-stating that I’m not sold on the Pistons this year), the Clippers pulling one off over the Mavs that just beat the Lakers.

 

So for the season I’m 27-14.

 

This weeks picks:

Monday: Nets, Hornets, Rockets, Clippers & in a coin flip the Kings

Tuesday: Cavs, Nugs, Magic, Heat, Bulls, Lakers, Mavs, Blazers & against my better judgement: Sixers.

Wednesday: Magic, Wiz, Raptors, Nugs, Knicks, Celtics, Lakers, Hornets, Hawks, & Warriors.

Thursday: Cavs & Jazz

Friday: Wiz, Magic, Sixers, Hawks, Celtics, Nugs, Raptors, Bucks, Cavs, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, & Blazers.

Saturday: Hawks, Celtics, Bulls, Mavs, Knicks, Jazz & Clippers.

Sunday: Sixers, Wiz, Magic, Blazers, Warriors, & Lakers 

 

 

 

Ariza Watch:  Rockets pull out strong win over the Blazers at home.  Ariza had a career high 33 points, shot great from the 3 point line, and most importantly, only had 2 turnovers.  Rockets play tonight in Utah.  I’m hoping he builds off the last game and continues top play efficient ball.  Wednesday will be a great game with Ariza coming back to LA.  Will the Rockets win?  I doubt it.  Will Ariza out play Artest?  I hope so…

8-4

So, not too bad on opening night for the rest of the league.  Memphis over Detroit wasn’t even close but, I’m still not sold on Detroit.  Minnesota squeaked out a win on a last second shot and Golden State and the Clippers lost by 1 & 2 points respectively. 

Ariza watch:  This is for Sarah, I’m still really bitter about Ariza’s agent screwing him out of being with the Lakers this year.  He was hands down my favorite player on last year’s squad.  He played defense, shot a consistent percentage and most of all, accepted his role on the team even though he could much more.  This was quite obvious in the Denver series.  Anyway, I’ll be watching “my boy” this season to see how he progresses with an increased role on a hobbling Rockets team and increased playing time.  Last night, 25, 5 & 5 with 2 steals and 1 block.  Similar to the previous game, Ariza had a lot of turnovers.  This is not surprising, as he isn’t the most stellar ball handler.  We’ll how he progresses during the year.

 

Only two games on tonight:  I’ll take the Spurs and Portland.  Even the Spurs on the second of a back to back is better than a thin Bulls squad and the physical battle Denver withstood against Utah last night will take its toll against a fresh Portland squad at home.

For the weekend:

Friday:  Sixers, Knicks, Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Thunder, Heat, Cavs, Magic, Raptors, Jazz, Warriors, & Lakers.

Saturday:  Wiz, Cavs, Philly, Blazers, Pistons, Spurs, & Clippers.

Sunday:  Magic, Celtics, Bulls, & Blazers.

 

B-ball up and running

Finally the 09-10 season has started.  Lakers came out with a so-so win against a feeble Clippers team.  Boston outplayed an over-hyped “improved” Cavs team and my boy Ariza was a bit tentative.  He’ll come around.  Surprisingly, the Wiz pulled one out over Dallas and Agent Zero has come back with something to prove.  I’m going to “attempt” to pick the winners of games for the rest of the year and see how I fare.  So, tonight’s picks are:

Atlanta, Orlando, Cleveland, Boston, Miami, Minnesota, San Antonio, OK City, Memphis, Denver, Golden State, Clippers.  In a side note, I picked all the home teams except the 0-1 Cavs team that will more than likely tear Toronto a new one in a angry second game of a back to back.  But wouldn’t it be great for the “win a ring for the king”  campaign to start 0-2?

 

WTF?

I guess it’s the rough economy that really brings out he A-hole in people. I think I’m going to dedicate the next few posts to complaining about the daily crap that not only I, but everyone else has to put up with. Yes, I’ll agree that most of the things are petty, but it’s never the fault of one snowflake for starting an avalanche.

-What’s so hard about saying thanks to stranger who’s holding the door open for you? And why do people walking out the opposite way insist on walking through first and have the nerve to give you a dirty look as they’re walking through because they brush up against you? What’s the deal? Most department stores have about hundred doors in the front but they decide to walk through the one you have open?-

Hornets Tonight

Well, two posts in two days is a bit of a rarity these days but this is an important game.  If the Lakers can pull out a win tonight that will secure home court in the event that we play the Hornets in the post season.  We’ll see what Laker team shows up, but lately they’ve been better defense.  I expect the Hornets to come out with a lot of energy ready to avenge the previous two home loses.  Obviously, CP3 has the potential to go off on any given night, but will the rest of the team follow suit?  If CP3 goes off and the rest of the team takes the night off, that would be fine with me.  I have CP3 in three of my fantasy leagues so…cheers!!

 

Coming together

So rather than bash my team post after post, I decided to wait till I had something positive to say (kind of). Defense had been a mysterious thing previously. A mythical creature like a unicorn. Some people claiming to have seen it, but others discounting it as a fluke. That has not been the case the past few games. Last night Portland has shut down in the third quarter in route to a 14 point win. There was a span of 5 or so minutes that made me what to post a blog. The Lakers forced 3 consecutive 24 second violations, and the last one coming out of a Portland timeout. This is the team that will win a championship, the team that is playing to their potential, the team despite being somewhat shorthanded coming out with a a decisive win.
Now, on to the bashing portion of this post. Why can't the Lakers get fired up for every game like they did for the Boston game? Seems like the only reason for this explosion of great play was sparked from the win on Christmas day. I knew this team could play, but lacked motivation. Oh well, if it took a win against Boston to gain their confidence so be it. We'll see if they can avenge the loses to Miami and Indiana this weekend.