Who do you wan't to win?

The NBA playoffs are starting to heat up as teams begin to play their game threes and fours. Like many experts like to say, the playoffs don’t really start until a series is tied 2-2, or nobody has control until they’re up 3-0. So, this is the time when those viewpoints truly come into focus.

For instance, The Utah Jazz barely won game three and were laid to waste in games one and two. The sad thing for them was they didn’t fair too well in game four in Utah either, and got beat. They are down 3-1 and should be done.

Over in the east, the Cavaliers swept the Detroit Pistons and get to wait it out a few days before they’ll see anymore action.

Back west again, the New Orleans Hornets kind of looked like the Jazz in their game three as they had to scrap just to get a win and bring the series to 2-1 and make things interesting. Now, if they can win their game four, they’ll completely change the landscape of the series as Denver had dominated them in games one and two, by evening things out at 2-2.

The two and sevens in the east are an enigma to me. Both teams have won a road game and lost a home game. The most interesting factor to me is that Chicago can only beat Boston in overtime!

Another big whopper of a surprise is the battle between the Mavericks and Spurs. The Mavericks have jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and in all three of those wins they have looked fairly dominant with their defense and confidence moving the ball.

Even the three seeded Orlando Magic have run into their share of trouble by falling to a 2-1 deficit against the sixth seeded Philadelphia 76ers before finally tying things up 2-2 last night in Philly.

Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets have really taken charge in their matchup versus the Portland Trail Blazers where they currently lead 3-1. The Blazers have only been dominated in one of those games, game one. However, since overcoming those young playoff willies they have performed very tough and although they are down 3-1 they certainly are not competing like a team who is down 3-1 in a series.

As for the Heat and Hawks, game one made things look like the Hawks might be getting ready for the second round soon. However, since being blown out in game one, Miami has won a dominating game two, and succeeded in a blowout game three in Miami. Now the tables have turned and the Hawks have to prove they were worthy of hosting the series by winning game four.

Basically, if a series gets tied up at 2-2… watch it. If a higher seed is down 3-1… watch it. The higher seeds do not tend to go away too easily. Anything else is either over or about to be.

So far in the NBA a few teams are back up to their old tricks, a few have been somewhat disappointing, and a good number of upstarts from last year as well as some surprising newcomers have begun to surface.

The newcomers that need to be involved in this discussion are as follows; in the east it’s Miami, New York, and New Jersey and in the west all of the other teams with playoff aspirations are of no surprise at this point in the season. Miami, led by top scorer in points per game, Dwyane Wade, are currently 9^th in the eastern conference standings. Last year, everyone remembers how atrocious they were. New York seems to be hitting its stride under the tutelage of former Phoenix head coach, Mike D’Antoni as they are 8-8 and 8^th in the standings. Finally, the previous season’s trade between the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets has finally begun to payoff, as the Devin Harris led Nets are 8-7, 6-4 in their last ten, and 7^th in the east.

The Upstarts from last year that are proving their worth are as follows; in the east it’s the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks, while in the west we have Portland and Denver. The Magic currently sit at 3^rd and atop the eastern conference standings at 13-4 going 9-1 in their last ten. Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, and Hedo Turkoglu and company are really hitting their stride. The continued and improved production of guard/forward Keith Bogans and the extra lift provided by off season veteran pick up Anthony Johnson as point guard have been stalwart.

The Hawks slid a bit after starting off 5-0 mainly because of losing Josh Smith for the next few months, but have regained form and are now 10-6 and 5^th in the eastern conference.

In the west the Portland Trailblazers, continue to look like a team of the future with stars Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and the potential of first-year NBA players like Rudy Fernandez, and Greg Oden. They are now tied with Phoenix, Denver, and Houston at 11-6 while going 7-3 in their last ten games.

Denver’s success can be attributed to the trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. The Nuggets are 11-6 and 7-3 in their last ten while holding 3^rd place in the west. They have had many impressive victories and performances as they beat Boston in Boston, and took the Lakers to the brink of a loss in L.A.

Now come the disappointments. The Detroit Pistons are hovering somewhere between average and above average. Although they are 10-5 and in 4^th place in the east, they are suffering some inexcusable losses, most recently a 10+ point loss to Minnesota, do not yet seem to have their act together with Allen Iverson skipping the thanksgiving day practice (however, I do give huge props to Michael Curry for taking charge by suspending him for one game), and are not nearly as consistent as they were when they had Chauncey Billups in the lineup. 

The other eastern disappointments for the eastern conference are the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Washington Wizards.

The Raptors just 8-7 and are barely holding a spot in the eastern conference as the 7^th seeded team. With capable point guard Jose Calderon, and former all-start Jermaine O’Neal, they should be doing better.

The Sixers were a team last year that without Elton Brand finished 6^th in the east and took Detroit to six games in the playoffs. Now with virtually the same team and Elton Brand, they are struggling to find their rhythm and are 7-9 and 5-5 in their last ten. As for the “Wiz Kids,” although without injured star Gilbert Arenas they may not have been a playoff contender anyway, they are still abysmal with their 2-12 record which is good for worst in the east. Last season they played without Arenas for the most part, but still managed to finish above .500 and make the playoffs. They have now fired their coach Eddie Jordan and are in a state of disarray.

The disappointments in the west are the New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, and L.A. Clippers. The Hornets finished second last year and were one game away from the western conference finals. They are now 9-6 and 7^th in the standings in the west. The Mavericks are 8-8 and look like they are ready to get their act together one game, and then go back to mediocrity the next. As for the Clippers, you would think they could be more competitive than their 3-13 record would suggest with the pickup of marquee point guard Baron Davis. Oh well.

As for the Spurs, I’m sure a lot of people would like to put them in as a disappointment, but they have been playing without Manu Ginobli for the entire season (who is set to return soon), and Tony Parker has just returned from his injury earlier in the season. To further their defense, they are now 9-7 and 7-3 in their last ten while being 8^th in the west.

Finally we come to the top dogs in the league.

In the east you have the Cleveland Cavaliers with their 14-3 records, 9-1 in the last ten games, and 2^nd place spot in the standings. They have put together a bevy of blowouts on their opponents this season, and the addition of a scoring point guard in Mo Williams has been absolutely huge for them.

The second team that has picked up right where they left off from last year is the Lakers. They are 13-1 and making mince meat out of would be superpower teams and have the best record in the NBA.

But the pinnacle of all teams continues to be the Boston Celtics. They’re 16-2 and are still dominating defensively and continue to get great production from their supporting cast members. And although the Lakers get much help from their bench and up and coming players, let’s face it… the Celtics are still the champs.

The last three teams I must mention are the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz. To me, these three teams are in a state of limbo. Houston would look to be an upstart, but they can’t seem to keep their stars, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, healthy. The Suns seem like the same team as last year, which wasn’t a contender anyway, and the Jazz keep being a team with potential that can’t seem to build on it.

That would about sum up the NBA season at or around its quarter mark. We’ll look to see who shifts from wherever they were in this discussion and who remains where they are in the coming weeks. As for those that I did not include in this article… you really just aren’t worth mentioning (Chicago, Indiana, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Golden State, Minnesota, Sacramento, Memphis and Oklahoma City).

Wilson Chandler finding faith in the New York Knicks new offense.

The New York Knicks beat the Miami Heat tonight in the home-opener by a score of 120-115. The Knicks were more like the Suns then the usual Knicks we have grown to hate. Today, they played well,infused by young talent and great coaching, and grow an early lead. They put up a 15 point lead at half and had effectively extinguished the Heat early in the 3rd going up by 23 points. However, the team did slip back into it’s old tendencies and lacked the killer instinct, allowing the heat back into the game, letting Miami go on a late run. This late run only stopped when the Heat trailed by 3 points. The Knicks looked great without the help of Stephan Marbury and The teams resident fatty, Eddie Curry. Mike D’antoni, heard chants of , “We want steph! We want Steph!” in the 3rd quarter. It was obvious that Mike was not happy about this when he responded, “Are you F***ing kidding me?”. Stephan’s supposed replacement Chris Duhan did not look impressive at all, yet Nate Robinson did. Nate ended the game with 13 points 7 assists. Another notable young player was Wilson Chandler. He quite simply looked great, and will be a big player for this team all year. If your looking for a fantasy sleeper, Chandler is your guy. In the 2nd quarter he dunked over Shawn Marion and Haslem with authority. Chandler ended with 17 points and 9 rebounds.  Jamal Crawford once again put up big numbers leading all scorers with 29 points. irrefutably, the knicks played better but the what is going to happen to Marbury? Regardless, he is indefinitely the best guard not to start in the NBA.