Tip-Off:
1. (1) Cleveland Cavaliers (43-14)
- Wow, a team that ripped off 13 straight wins against some impressive competition and then made a trade to indisputably get better is suddenly vulnerable? With Z gone (for 30 days), Jamison coming in, and Mo Williams returning from a shoulder injury, Mike Brown is in experiment mode with his rotations. Once he gets it figured out and Jamison gets settled in, it's going to take a Herculean effort for someone to beat Cleveland in a seven-game series. (AP)
- Will the Lakers get to that Number 1 spot by next week? With Kobe coming back, and the Cavs struggling with team chemistry right now, they got a good shot at it. Kobe is finally rested and feeling better, and bench players like Shannon Brown got valuable experience with him out. I think they make a run for home court advantage starting tonight. (VC)
- After a hell of a signature win at Portland on Sunday night, the Jazz had to come back the following evening to take on the high-flying Hawks who were looking to make a point. There are no back-to-backs in the playoffs, so if a team is counting on catching Utah in the playoffs the way Atlanta did on Monday, you're going to be out really quick. (AP)
- The Nuggets didn't play that well last week, thus dropping two spots in our rankings this week. But with that being said, they are still one of the upper echelon teams in the League. And don't look now, but they are right behind the Lakers in the West. I also have to take a second to give some props to Melo. Ever since he started working out with Idan the Hoops whisperer, he has become a lot more of a complete player. And the show he put on vs Lebron and the Cavs last week was just sick with it. I finally need to give him his due, and move him into my list of the best players in the League. (VC)
- They're playing a lot better as of late, but so are a host of other teams around the league. Cleveland's Shaq experiment is working well so far when it comes to slowing down Dwight Howard, and now we hear news that Rashard Lewis only shoots 38% when defended by Antawn Jamison. It's going to be harder for ORL to top CLE in this year's postseason -- if it comes to that. (AP)
- Just when you thought the Hawks were slipping out of contention (losing 3 out of 4, and losing to GState), they come back and get a huge win in Utah vs one of the hottest teams in the League. What's crazy is that the Hawks had not won in Salt Lake City since 1993, prior to this win. The Hawks need to get hot again if they want to hold onto the number 4 seed in the East. It looked like they were going to run away with it, but the Raptors are now only 4 games back. (VC)
- The fact that they're becoming this good this quickly has to be alarming and unsettling for the rest of the league. If I'm OKC, I am trying to re-sign Kevin Durant this summer to a max deal ASAP regardless of the new collective bargaining agreement or whatever. They'll make the playoffs, and everything they get beyond that for this season is just an incredible bonus. (AP)
- Don't look now, but here come the MAVS! Dirk was already balling on cats, and last week they got a steal deal from the Whiz and snatched up Butler, Haywood, and DeShawn at the trade deadline. They are 4-1 since the trade and to me, they can only get better come playoff time. This team can cause a lot of matchup problems in a 7 game series, and if they can get the right matchup in the playoffs, watch out! They will be a tough out in the playoffs, that's for sure. (VC)
- Barely beat a Kobe-less Laker team in L.A. on Thursday night, then blew out a hurt and wayward Blazer squad on Friday. The real test came against the Nuggets in Denver on Sunday in a marquee NBA game, and the Nuggets threw the C's around. Probably nothing was more symbolic was Kenyon Martin throwing down a two-handed slam as bodies hit the floor and then staring down at Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Rasheed Wallace as the two struggled to get up. (AP)
- Amare didn't get traded, and the Suns won 3 of their 4 games last week. They improved on the defensive end of the floor, which is what they will need to keep up if they want to make a run in the playoffs. Record wise, they are also 8-2 in their past ten games. But with all that being said, their engine, Nash, is hurt. I don't see them keeping their run up without him, so hopefully they get him back soon. (VC)
- They're playing better, but at this point they look like they're going to play one of the East's top four in the first round -- Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, or Atlanta. So expect a first round loss. In the seventh year of Chris Bosh's career, you would have expected that front office to do a lot more than that. Don't be too alarmed if Bosh leaves this summer, Raptor fans. (AP)
- The Spurs lost to the Sixers and to the Pistons last week, WTF?!? I though they were going to make a big move before the trade deadline, but I guessed wrong. Now it looks like they are stuck with this roster for the rest of the year. Something about this team just doesn't feel right to me. They just don't look like themselves, like contenders anymore. I knew getting Richard Jefferson the Muppet would be their downfall!!! (VC)
- How remarkable is it that the Hornets have stayed in the West's playoff picture despite an injury to Chris Paul? They're just a game behind struggling Portland for eighth place in the conference, and while the Blazers have blamed injuries for a lot of their problems, the Hornets keep chugging along despite an injury to their biggest star. (AP)
- The Blazers are barely hanging onto that 8th playoff spot in the West right now, and blowing 25 point leads won't help their cause. What a difference a healthy Brandon Roy makes huh? I still see them righting the ship, but they have a very important 5 game, 7 day trip coming up. This is the year's most crucial stretch of basketball for them, so let's see how they respond. I'm also kinda sad they traded Outlaw away, because he is one of the dl ballers I like in the League. I was hoping the Bulls would've traded for him. (VC)
- It doesn't seem like too long ago that the Grizzlies were slated as a playoff team that could do damage with their young core of Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, and O.J. Mayo to go with veteran Zach Randolph. They're two and a half games behind Portland for the eighth seed, and with the Rockets and Hornets also vying for that spot, the margin for error is paper thin in Memphis. (AP)
- The Bulls have been playing a lot better as of late. Before they lost to the Whiz, they were probably the third hottest team in the League, next to the Thunder and the Jazz. Derrick Rose has been great as usual. On the trade front, I'm loving what the Bulls did before the trade deadline. We have all but guaranteed ourselves to get better next year. We still have no clue who they will get, but you have to at least go all in and give it a shot, and that is exactly what they did. For that I have to give them credit. They are positioning themselves well, so I GWS. Let's all just pray that we don't pull another Ron Mercer or Eddie Robinson. (VC)
- Ah, the days of being locked in the early teens on these rankings sure were good, weren't they? The Kevin Martin-for-TMac trade seems a lot more about the future than the present: giving up Carl Landry for a young Jordan Hill as well as possibly getting each of the Knicks' next two first-round picks? Perhaps Houston GM Daryl Morey knows that none of the big free agents are going anywhere, let alone New York, this summer because he just robbed the Knicks blind. (AP)
- GWeezy, I've been a fan for years, but that display in the dunk contest last week was pathetic! Ball wise, the Bobcats have been consistently inconsistent. They lose to the Nets, but then bounce back and beat the Cavs in the same week. They are currently out of the playoff picture, so let's see if they can turn it around. Also to Tyrus Thomas, good luck playa. I'll be sad to see you get it together for another team, but hopefully you can do it one day. (VC)
- The Heat's biggest win of the past week was seeing the Cavs land Antawn Jamison instead of Amar'e Stoudemire at the trade deadline. It seems like a lock that Stoudemire is headed to his home state of Florida this summer, with the Heat certainly showing mutual interest. It may be enough to keep Dwyane Wade there, but Pat Riley is really wrecking the prime of one of the best game's best players by forcing him to go out and play with water boys this season. (AP)
- The trade with the Bulls was a win win for both teams in my eyes. The Bucks get a nice scoring option in Salmons, and the Bulls got max cap room flexibility. Salmons has been putting up his pts. since they got him, and with Bogut and Jennings, they got a nice scoring threesome (nh). I see the Bucks making the playoffs, and I think people should really start considering Scotty Skiles for the Coach of the Year award. He is leading this young team in the right direction. (VC)
- Stuck in neutral for the longest time. After brokering trades that sent Marcus Camby, Al Thornton, and Sebastian Telfair out of L.A. for nothing more than expiring contracts, it has to be hard to be a Clipper fan this year. Trust me, nobody's going there this summer as a free agent. No one. I promise. Put the rent money on it. (AP)
- I went to the Bulls Sixers game on Saturday, and the Sixers looked terrible. On paper, this team has so much talent and so many big names, but they just don't look like they are going to be able to get it together and make a run. AI1 might be done with basketball all together, and FYI, I'm not an AI2 fan. (VC)
- Critics love to point out that the Wiz just gave Antawn Jamison away for nothing, but they got the Clippers' Thornton and the Cavs' first-round pick out of it to go with massive salary cap relief. Thornton has played well while center Andray Blatsche is finally showing promise by picking up the slack for Jamison in the frontcourt. Ernie Grunfeld is again doing things the right way, and once the Wizards get rid of the Arenas for good, this team will be in the playoffs again before you know it. You heard it here first. (AP)
- Joe Dumars, what are you thinking? No moves at the trade deadline? You are one of the League's worst team's this year, and you are stuck with this roster now. You used up all of your cap room by signing CV and BGeezy? I still don't understand why he even traded Billups in the first place, especially if you were going to use the money to not sign All Stars. That is like Mark Cuban getting rid of Steve Nash, and then giving Eric Dampier all that money. SMH... (VC)
- The Pacers could have brokered a deal with the Cavs for Troy Murphy to get cap relief this summer and get rid of a big contract. Instead, they're one of the league's worst and most irrelevant teams. If I'm a Pacer fan right now, then besides being an endangered species, I'd be all over the mock drafts right now. And praying like hell to get a top two pick in hopes of landing either John Wall or Evan Turner. (AP)
- Donnie Walsh has done it. He has created enough cap flexibility so that the Knicks will be able to sign two top tier players this summer. Who they will get is the million dollar question I guess. Will Lebreezy come play for the Knicks? GWS. In the meantime, they did nab TMac. But in usual Tmac fashion, he balls on cats in his first game as a Knick, and then gets hurt in his second one. (VC)
- Once again, Geoff Petrie shows that no matter how horrible or irrelevant his team is, he will only make trades where he is clearly getting the better end of the deal. Scooping Carl Landry out of Houston for one-dimensional chucker Kevin Martin was brilliant in terms of building his squad around Tyreke Evans, and it will prove dividends down the road for Evans' career. (AP)
- How money is Steph Curry? People who said he wouldn't be good in the NBA just because he was small/ weak, just don't understand the game of basketball. The kid has one of the wettest jumpers in the game, and he will continue to get better. He is even giving Tyreke Evans a run for his money for that ROY award this year. I think the Warriors will trade away Monte in the off season. Steph is just too cold. (VC)
- Losers of six straight, the Timberwolves are in an undesirable position. With the prize of this year's draft being a franchise-changing point guard in John Wall, what do they tell their season-ticket owners about supposedly picking one last summer in Ricky Rubio? Plus they already have Jonny Flynn in the fold. How can you have as miserable a season as the Wolves are having and still hope that you don't win the lottery? (AP)
- Man I'm running out of things to say about the Nets. How many times can we mention John Wall and the Nets? Their lone bright spot, Brook Lopez, continues to shine for them still. Hopefully they can avoid making history. (VC)
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