• Two interesting stories from last night: Knicks finally actually demolished someone else at home, beating up on Detroit 89-65. I swear the first two times I saw that score I thought it was a misprint. The other interesting story is Andrew Bynum going down for the Lakers last night. I can only imagine the hell that Laker fans must be thinking having to wait to find out the extent of his injury. Remember, the Lakers started 23-11 last year before getting slowly eaten up by the injury bug and finishing 42-40. They’re 24-11 and Bynum may have just gone down, today would be the wrong day to get in a car accident with a Laker diehard.
• Blazers suffered a tough and bitter 116-109 double-overtime loss in Toronto yesterday. It would be easy to be upset after a loss like that, but I’m going to choose to admire the guts of the team. Yes, Big Joel definitely should have been guarding Chris Bosh the entire overtimes because he doesn’t respond well to physical guys but that’s water under the bridge. The Blazers were down 6 with about a minute left and forced overtime. Then Brandon Roy hit one of the most clutch, craziest shots since Sheed left to tie it up in the first overtime. And then…we just ran out of gas. It happens. Winning in Toronto on a Sunday afternoon is no easy task. This is the big road trip ladies and gentlemen, its too early to even think about the P word, but how we respond to the adversity of this road trip will give us a clearer picture of where we really are at. Definitely worried about tonight’s game in New Jersey after yesterday’s marathon, luckily they have zero home court advantage and the worst crowd in the NBA. We’re going to have to gut this one out.
• I’m shaking my head thanks to the news coming out of Cleveland…no not LeBron speeding, but the fact that the Cavaliers gave coach Mike Brown a two-year extension. For serious? There are too many blog posts about the man but go to the top left corner, type in Mike Brown and see how I feel about the guy. His offensive knowledge is horrific at best, he will constantly get outcoached and currently is leading a team that won 50 games last year to a .514 record. I thought you had to earn extension’s in the league.
• Teams to watch this month (aka who should be about to make their moves): New Orleans, Lakers and Dallas. The Hornets are 25-12 on the year, 5-1 on the month (having already gone 4-0 on the road in 2008) and have 7 of their remaining 8 games of this month at home. Only a trip to San Antonio is keeping them from making a nice leap. Lakers are 25-11 on the year, 6-0 on the month but have it much tougher with home games against Phoenix and Denver, followed by a Texas 2-Step (no Rockets) and a trip to Detroit at the end of the month. Step backwards? Since losing on Dec. 27th at home to Cleveland on TNT, Dallas has not lost a game. And while they do have 5 of their next 8 games on the road, I’m not sure they are shaking in their boots to face the Kings, Wizards, Bobcats and Grizzlies. Then again they are 9-8 on the road so anything is possible.
• Do you know I just realized that Rudy Gay was only in his second year? Going from 10 points a game to almost 20??? Most Improved Player, locked up?
• If I was a Bulls fan I’d kind of wish that they were more worried with winning instead of punishing Joakim Noah ya know?
• So who would have thought statistically these would be the top 5 duos: AI/Melo, Jefferson/VC, Dirk/Josh Howard, Caron/Antawn..and Gerald Wallace/Jason Richardson? For serious? Also I forgot to mention Sam Vincent as one of the worst coaches in the history.
• The D-Wade story comes out Tuesday. I always wondered what happened to these…I mean a whole generation of kids is growing up without ‘Come Fly With Me’. Nothing will top ‘Come Fly With Me’. I still watch it to this day and get chills every single time.
• Golden State fans really don’t like Dunleavy.
• I guess Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald is right: Shaq passed the torch to Dwight without anyone knowing by letting him start the 2nd half. Shaq has to be on the All-Star team, I mean who else is going to be funny? And break dance? Don’t send Ilgauskas.