RK (LW) TEAM REC
1 (1) SPURS 56-13
The Spurs shook off their 30 point loss to the Heat by beating in-state rival Dallas Mavericks and the slumping Bobcats. With 13 losses, the speculation of whether the Spurs will win 70-games this season is finally over, but in all likelihood, the Spurs will still finish the season with the league’s best record.
2 (2) CELTICS 49-19
The Celtics have a 3-4 record over their last 7-games and are not looking like the team that made it to the NBA Finals last summer. Not to beat a dead horse, but Rondo is clearly injured and his numbers only proves this. Over the last 5 games, Rondo averaged only 3.4ppg and 6.2apg and has clearly been a step slower in recent weeks.
3 (5) BULLS 49-19
The Bulls 8-game winning streak finally came to an end when they lost to the Pacers in a 115-108 overtime nail biter. I believe it is imperative that the Bulls finish with the best record in the East, because I doubt they will be able to beat the Heat and Celtics in a 7-game series without having home-court advantage.
4 (4) LAKERS 50-20
The defending champion Lakers have been sizzling hot over the last several weeks and don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. The Lakers have won 12 of their last 13 games and are looking more like a team that is ready to 3-peat.
5 (6) HEAT 48-22
There is one big difference between Lebron and D-Wade. Wade attacks to score, while Lebron attacks to set up his teammates. Well, that only works when the rest of the team are making shots. Over the last several games Lebron has taken a page out of Wade’s book and remained in attack mode throughout those games. His assist may have been down (5 total), but Lebron made 31 of 46 shots from the field and averaged 38ppg over the last two games. There Heat are almost unbeatable if Lebron plays in attack mode for an entire game and the last two games proves this point.
6 (5) MAVERICKS 49-21
The Mavs continues to prove my theory and that is, they will not beat the Spurs or Lakers in a 7-game series. Having Brandon Haywood should fortify the middle, but the Lakers and Spurs are still a hair above them.
7 (7) THUNDER 45-24
Going into Miami and defeating the red-hot and revamped Heat was a thing a beauty. Finally, Kevin Durant can say that he beat a Lebron James-led team. Going into Miami, Durant had never beat Lebron, now that mark stands at 1-6.
8 (8) MAGIC 44-26
The Magic are not going to add another big man to help Dwight Howard, which means the emergence of Gilbert Arenas is the only way I see the Magic making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Not only is Gilbert injured, but he clearly has not emerged into the player the Magic were anticipating when they traded for him. Sadly, I think Gilbert Arenas best days are behind him.
9 (9) NUGGETS 41-29
No I’m not going to jump off the band wagon just because the Nuggets lost their last two games, especially when both losses came on the road against two Eastern Conference power houses, the Magic and Heat. I think this team is dangerous because they have so many intangibles.
10 (11) HAWKS 40-30
The Hawks are still trying to adjust to Kirk Hinrich, who has been a backup point guard for most of his career, but now he is expected to run the team. The problem I see with the Hawks is outside of Joe Johnson and Al Horford, the Hawks have a problem scoring and the recent addition of Hinrich is not enough to show up this deficiency.
11 (12) TRAIL BLAZERS 40-30
A 3-1 week with the lone loss being an 84-80 loss against the Lakers in L.A was a very successful week. LaMarcus Aldridge has emerged as the Blazers number one option and will remain their first option until at least next season, by which time Brandon Roy will hopefully be fully healed.
12 (10) HORNETS 40-31
Chris Paul had a night that he hopes to soon forget against the Celtics when he shot 0-9 from the field for only 4 points. He did manage to get 15 assists in the game, but on offense Paul was completely shut down. I don’t want to make too much of one game, because CP3 came into that game averaging 28.7ppg in the previous 3 games.
13 (13) GRIZZLIES 38-32
The Grizzlies are only 1.5 games ahead of the Rockets for the eighth and final playoffs spot and next week could prove to be their most difficult of the season. The Grizzlies will be matched up against the Jazz, Celtics, Bulls and Spurs if they can come out of those games with a 2-2 record they should consider themselves lucky.
14 (17) ROCKETS 37-34
The Rockets are sporting a 4-game winning streak and are definitely making a charge to unseat the Grizzlies for the eighth and final spot in the West. I think they are the Grizzlies biggest challenge, which should make the last few weeks of the playoffs race very interesting in the West.
15 (15) 76ERS 36-34
As expected, the Sixers have wrestled the sixth seed from the Knicks in the Eastern Conference. I thought it would take an additional week, but with the Knicks recent slippage, the Sixers were able to take a half game lead over them.
16 (14) KNICKS 35-34
The one thing everybody argued after the trade was that the Knicks did not play any defense and that the addition of Carmelo did not make them any better defensively. I definitely agree with this theory, but I think if the game is close the Knicks will have a very good chance because they possess two of the game’s best closers in Carmelo and Stoudemire.
17 (16) SUNS 35-33
The Suns are at full strength now that they have Nash and Channing Frye back in the lineup. Obviously they needed to be at full strength to make a stretch run, if they expect to beat out the Rockets and Griz for the eighth seed in the West. Currently they are only two games out of the playoffs, so they still have a great chance of making it now that they have their full team.
18 (18) JAZZ 36-34
The Jazz are 4-6 over their last 10 games and are currently 2.5 games out of the playoffs. If I were to make a prediction, it would be that the Jazz will not make the playoffs this season. Quite frankly I don’t see them overtaken the Rockets and Grizzlies for the eighth spot.
19 (20) PACERS 30-40
Only in the Eastern Conference can a team lose 8 of 11 with a 30-40 record and still hang on to the eighth seed. The Pacers actually have a 1.5 game lead and may even end up with the eighth seed despite their poor play as of late.
20 (19) WARRIORS 30-40
The Warriors just can’t seem to get it together and last week was no exception. GSW lost 4 straight with two losses coming against the Mavericks. The funny thing is the Warriors would actually be tied with the Pacers for the eighth seed if they were in the Eastern Conference.
21 (22) BUCKS 28-41
I guess the rumors of Michael Redd’s return may have hit home, because Carlos Delfino finally realized that he may lose out his starting spot at the shooting guard position if Redd return. Over the last two games, Delfino averaged 28ppg including a 30 point career high to lead the Bucks to a 100-95 win against the Knicks.
22 (21) BOBCATS 28-41
The Bobcats are sporting a 3-game losing streak and are slipping further away from making the playoffs. They are currently 2.5 games out of the eighth spot and are in danger of not making the playoffs. Michael Jordan felt his team was good enough to make the playoffs so he traded away former all-star forward Gerald Wallace to save some money which made sense financially, but now the Bobcats have a challenge on their hands and missing the playoffs will be a major disappointment.
23 (23) CLIPPERS 27-44
Eric Gordon’s return back to the lineup obviously makes life easier for Blake Griffin and now that the team is at full strength with Kaman also back, we will finally get to see the potential of this team. Obviously they are not going to make the playoffs this year, but this team has a major upside and could be a force by next season.
24 (25) PISTONS 25-45
I think it’s really unfair to first year head coach John Kuester that most of his players are trying to push him out. Rumor has it that some Pistons players are referring to him as Sean Penn as in “Dead Man Walking,” meaning his days are numbered and that is just plain wrong. Then again Kuester brought this on himself when he decided to alienate Rip Hamilton, one of the team’s most popular players a few months ago.
25 (26) RAPTORS 20-49
Raptors center Bargnani returned back to form by scoring 33 and 23 points against the Wizards and Thunder respectively leading to two straight wins for the Raptors. The bad news and what has been a familiar theme was that Bargnani only managed to pull 8 rebounds combined in both games and that is just terrible coming from a center.
26 (24) NETS 22-46
The Nets are shutting down Deron Williams for several games due to a wrist injury and it’s a good thing because trying to make the playoffs this season is not in their best interest. The team has definitely made some improvements, but forcing Williams to play with an injured wrist did not help them in anyway.
27 (29) KINGS 17-51
Samuel Dalembert had a monster game posting 26 points and 17 rebounds against the Timberwolves to help the Kings win 127-95. It was just in time because rookie DeMarcus Cousins got injected for letting his temper get the best of him.
28 (28) WIZARDS 17-51
Every so often the Wizards show why I am so high on their future. Against the Bulls, though it was a loss, Wizards center JaVale McGee was an absolute monster when he swatted a league high 12 shots away. The trio of Wall, McGee and Young will be a force to reckon with in the next two seasons.
29 (27) TIMBERWOLVES 17-54
The Timberwolves are extremely fortunate to have Michael Beasley in the lineup after an ill-advised flagrant foul by the Lakers Andrew Bynum. At first glance, I thought Beasley would be out for the remainder of the season especially with the Wolves horrible record, but he returned the very next game against the Kings to post 13 points in 15 minutes. I think it would be in the team’s best interest if Beasley is shut down for a few games.
30 (30) CAVALIERS 13-55
The Cavaliers are the worst team in the league and figures to be until the end of the season. The only thing left to salvage this season is the development of forward J.J. Hickson so hopefully by next season he will be ready to take the next step.
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