Oops!

Real life has once again overtaken my ability to stay up late and follow the hoops; missed both the very exciting, down to the wire shootout in Los Angeles, and also Cleveland's upsetting loss at home against the Magic. Ouch! Nothing like getting punched in the nose in your own house. In any case, hope to do better in days ahead. Meanwhile, I'm starting to move around quite nimbly now myself with just a cane or my walker. Look out Barkley! I may be takin' you to the hole as well.

Solid Gold! (or was it Silver?)

Oh! Yea! Nuggets!!! How sweet! And so hard to believe. And yet I'm starting to believe. Can hometown hero Chauncey Billups lead Mello, Nene, K-Mart and the Bird Man thru the Lakers and into the promised land, there to confront the long-frustrated Goliath of Nike and his supporting cast, and (God Willing) defeat them? One game at a time. But it sure is hard to run with the boys from Denver a mile above sea level. And Mr Big Shot knows what it's like to wear the ring. And what you've got to do to earn that right as well.

So what is it? Punk? Or Thug?

Actually, I just hope that Kenyon Martin takes coach Karl's advice, and Mark Cuban takes K Mart and his family to a really nice place, and that everyone has a convivial ol' time and lives happily ever after. [LINK] That is, AFTER the Nuggets finally eliminate the Mavs from the play-offs Wednesday night, and avoid any unnecessary return trips to Texas this season. At the very least I hope they stay away from wherever Chris Andersen had dinner before Game Four. Shoulda hadda sweep boys! Shoulda hadda sweep.

Death and Texas

Mark Cuban must be about ready for an aneurism, but so far he's kept his cool and held his tongue and let yesterday's no-call at the end speak for itself. But you know, with the number of fouls that WERE called in that game, what are the Mavs doing with a foul to give at the end of the fourth quarter anyway? There are some who might say that the officiating had been a little unbalanced right from the opening tip, and that those who live by the no-call die by the no-call. That sort of thing. But at the final buzzer, the Nuggets are up 3-0, and the Mavs are all but toast -- playing now for a little pride to avoid a sweep against a team that is hot, hot, hot and playing loose....

Meanwhile, down in Houston Yao Ming is gone for the season, but the Rockets responded by blasting off and evening things up with the Lakers now 2-2. And I still believe this year is destined to become an LA/Cleveland (Kobe/LeBron) showdown, but the Lakers are going to have to show me a lot better defense if they want to get past a Houston team that in many ways is a lot quicker and more difficult to match up against without Yao than with him. And with Denver waiting patiently for the winner...well, let's just hope that Dallas can extend that series long enough that the Nuggets don't get rusty sitting around waiting.

And what is really amazing to me is San Antonio's early exit. Or even just the idea that the Spurs are actually now only the third best basketball team in Texas, rather than number ONE. I guess I've just learned to expect another Spurs championship in every odd-numbered year. But they'll be back again next year for real I'm sure. And a week from now, nobody will still be playing basketball in Texas anyway....

Put a fork in them...they're done...

I'm sorry, but without Kevin Garnett on the court, the Celtics just aren't a championship caliber team. And it's great to see how Rondo and Davis have improved since last year's championship, and Marbury is getting over his stage fright, and Pierce and Allen are both still capable of scoring in big bunches. But there are lots of other teams in that category right now as well: Cleveland, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver...and this year, one of THEM is going to be champion....