So i'm gonna continue my discussion of NBA teams, a shift from just pure fantasy analysis of NBA players.
But first, just wanted to inform the world i went and saw the movie "Juno" last night, very entertaining, made me very emotionally invested but laughing hysterically as well. "I'm gonna punch him in the wiener" was something i might say ( on a good day). But yea, Juno is very realistic, full of personality, very likable, and definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination for Ellen Page.
The Mole is coming back! One of my all-time favorite TV shows, there's a bunch of contestants who are assigned tasks for $$$, but there's one among them who's working to sabotage, without being too suspicious. I love it. It's very competitive and exciting, but with that edge of suspicion and mystery, much like the game Mafia where nobody knows who's your friend or your enemy. So glad it's coming back, make sure u watch it this summer.
Anyway, so the spurs lost at home to the hornets tonight, and I gotta say, given my analysis of the hornets and how they've been running, i wasn't too suprised. Not only did NO win, though, they won by TWENTY-FOUR POINTS!!!! IN San Antonio! That's ridiculous, absolutely smothered the defending champs w/ all of their big 3 ( parker, duncan, ginobili) playing. And most importnatly, hornets are now 31-12 and 2.5 games ahead of the spurs. Wow.
The spurs, as ESPN analysts recently alluded to on a telecast, need to take a deep look at their roster. On the surface, they seem to have the exact same team as last year, when they won it all, but obviously everyone's a year older, bad news for 30-somethings like bruce bowen, robert horry, michael finley, and even timmy. They didn't exactly run over everybody like gangbusters last year, neither, as they lost their first game to denver, won that series in 6, beat the suns in 6 when amare and some other dude got suspended in a pivotal game 5, and faced utah in the west finals which wasn't a fair fight. If possible, the west got STRONGER this year, and the spurs are not in the most enviable of spots. They'll make the playoffs, but it's not clear if they'll get home-field advantage, and they can't count on first-round wins anymore cuz any opponent they draw will be difficult, plus the suns and mavs seem to be better than them right now. I don't see the spurs winning it all this year, or at least very little chance.
So who wins the west this year? It's very wild, a la wild, wild, west. When u think of championship contenders u automatically think of dallas, phoenix, san antonio, but u gotta watch out for some of these other teams. As much as you'd figure there'd be a correction at some point in the records, it's more than halfway into the season already and new orleans is on top, lakers are just out of the top spots and denver's got the 4 seed. These teams will contend in the playoffs ( i don't think portland makes it), and one of golden state, houston, or utah will make some noise in the first round. But i still think, for one more year, the big 3 in the west will represent them, not sure who it will be. Everybody likes the suns cuz they've been close and their exciting brand of play, but we've seen the same old story the last 3 years, and they haven't made it to the finals this century yet. This might be their last chance, and they might make it w/ steve nash as determined as ever. However, when i think 7-game series, i think grind-it-out, stop-the-runs consistency, and i just don't see a flashy team like phoenix playing enough defense against a balanced team like, say, dallas, to win.
Speakin' of dallas, they've laid low the entire season, haven't made headlines, didn't start off really bad, didn't go on a major winning streak, have done very little of signifance, but they take care of business and are 29-13 and 1.5 games out of first place. This team is very well-coached and this year they're even more focused on the playoffs, as the regular season just "isn't as important anymore" for avery johnson. They got all the parts of the equation, with a superstar in dirk, young PG in devin harris, solid swingman/ 2nd option josh howard, veteran leadership w/ jerry stackhouse, high energy guys off bench of desagna diop and brandon bass, and that manu ginobili- style sixth man of year jason terry. These guys seem to have the right formula. I
pick the mavs to win the west and win it all.
The east is actually pretty interesting this year. I don't think any of the teams are good enough to win the east, but they've definitely improved in the top tier, with chicago no longer in consideration as a top team. Detroit's still up there, but the celtics with GPA ( Garnett, pierce, allen) look good and own the best record in the league, and those are clearly the top 2 teams. They'll be some interesting playoff series w/ the cavs, wizz ( w/ gilbert coming back), raps, and magic in the middle of the pack, but barring disaster the east finals will be detroit vs. boston. ( Two past dynasties rise again, chicago regresses into awfulness). I really think it'd be hard to pick between detroit and boston. Detroit has a solid team but has a similar problem as the spurs: they are pretty much the same team, but they're one year older, and they've gotten one year older since 2003. I've seen so many times over the years, for whatever reason, maybe a bad foul called on chauncy, an elbow to rip, or rasheed wallace just getting his normal temper tantrums, the pistons just melt down and let games slip away, give up if you will, and i see that maybe happening sometime in a long playoff series that sheed has guaranteed.
No one among pierce, garnett, and allen, have great playoff resumes, i guess garnett has gotten to the West finals, so they need to register some playoff experience fast. We haven't seen any ill-will or ball-hogging between the 3 yet at all, but let's hope it's not a case of being due and getting it at the worst time of year. There's talk of bringing in a point guard to help rajon rondo, but i don't see it helping that much. Can gary payton really play at all anymore? Does sam cassell relaly help that much? I dunno, but i say this celts team is good enough as it is to edge out detroit. I say it's mavs over c's in the finals.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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