2008-09 NBA Season

[C-ZETA]

Lakers game is today...they're now an a 6 win streak, as are Houston. Which probably explains why the Rockets, erm, rocketed up to 4th seed.

 

[JohnBM01]

Man... the Suns got smoked like a pack of cigarettes, losing 132-106. NBA TV will have the Suns/Magic game on display Tuesday night (fan night).

At Chicago and at Minnesota this weekend for my Rockets.

 

[Paulie]

We have an extra TV channel in Australia now that will be showing some NBA for once! How are the Raptors doing this season?

 

[JohnBM01]

The NBA games on tap on ESPN include Detroit at Orlando (Detroit just cashed in a 3 to lead 91-83 with 2:46 left in the game). The next match involves Cleveland at San Antonio. After my Rockets handled Cleveland and with that injury to one Cavalier, can the Cavs get past the black and silver? We'll see...

 

[C-ZETA]

SHOCK RESULT!!! 90-79 win for Nuggets against Lakers, wow, certainly wasn't expecting a result like that from the Power Ranking leaders. Also, we finally have beaten them after 9 games being unable to beat them. Come to think of it, we're still 9 games back as well!

Next game is against Indiana at the Fieldhouse, or rather, the Conseco Fieldhouse.

 

[TS]

We have an extra TV channel in Australia now that will be showing some NBA for once! How are the Raptors doing this season?

Not very good, but they have improved after trading injury prone Jermaine O'Neal to the Heat and making a mid-season coaching change.

They were playing the Suns rather well last night until the 4th quarter, that's when turnovers and foul-trouble for Chris Bosh and others allowed the Suns to runaway with a 133-113 victory.

 

[JohnBM01]

It's a somewhat breezy, windy day here in Houston (beautiful too!). Appropriate I talk winds because my Rockets will be hosted a team called... the Chicago Bulls. Hope my boys can do well taking on the Bulls tonight...

 

[JohnBM01]

I heard this over a few seconds ago... the Rockets released Luther Head. I'm like... damn! I LOVED Luther Head. So Rafer's gone, now Luther Head's gone. Best of luck to these two. It's under 7:00 in the game as Houston leading 95-80.

[UPDATE] Damn it to hell... Rockets blown a 17-point lead to lose 105-102. They NEED to win road games if they make the playoffs. Six-game winning streak over. The home winning streak for us is still there. Just that we could have done more to win.

 

[JohnBM01]

After falling apart at Chicago, we tamed the Timerwolves last night. The next five or so games will be tough, including a trip to (gulp) Utah. The Rockets HAVE to win on the road and win against teams at our level and above if we're to stand any chance in the NBA Playoffs. We're fourth in the Western Conference now. If we can sustain this, we'll have home court advantage in the playoffs.

Enjoy tonight's games! I think my Rockets will play against Toronto here in Houston tomorrow night.

 

[TS]

Suns beat the lakers, omg Suns beat the Lakers without Steve Nash!

 

[JohnBM01]

America's Houston Rockets tamed Canada's (unless another Canadian city wants to start an NBA franchise) Toronto Raptors 107-97. And since Denver lost their match, we moved up to 3rd Place in the Western Conference standings! The bad news? My Rockets will be AT Utah Wednesday night! Toronto was basically a trap game. Can the Rockets take care of Utah? Unlike our past playoff games, we can't falter at Utah.

Something I sometimes believe in is that a certain incident makes a team stronger. Like how two Chicago Bulls legends recently passed away, we ended up losing at Chicago (despite a 17-point lead we had). I may fear we'll lose at Utah as Utah will play in loving memory of owner Larry H. Miller.

 

[TS]

Magic beat the suns last night, in a battle of Superman v.1 (Shaquille O'Neal) and Superman v.2 (Dwight Howard).

The Suns need to do a better job of closing out games against the good teams if they want a chance to move up from 9th in the west.

 

[JohnBM01]

We couldn't hold off Utah in Utah. We ended up losing 101-94. I just hope that if we play Utah in the playoffs, that we don't have this same result.

The talk was about Shaq flopping... or so says some sports fans. Even here in Houston on ESPN 97.5 the Ticket, there was some heckling of Shaq as far as him flopping when it was discussed on The Calvin Murphy Show here.



Time now for a standings check! See how your favorite and least favorite teams are faring if the playoffs started tomorrow:

! = division leaders

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
1 - Cleveland!
2 - Boston! (1 back)
3 - Orlando! (4 back)
4 - Atlanta (14.5 back) <<< wow!
5 - Miami (16 back)
6 - Detroit (17.5 back)
7 - Philadelphia (18.5 back)
8 - Milwaukee (21 back)
9 - Chicago (21 back)
LAST - Washington (34.5 back)

FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF MATCHES (if playoffs started tomorrow)
* Milwaukee at Cleveland
* Philadelphia at Boston
* Detroit at Orlando
* Miami at Atlanta



WESTERN CONFERENCE:
1 - Los Angeles Lakers!
2 - San Antonio! (8.5 back)
3 - Denver! (10 back)
4 - Portland (10.5 back)
5 - Houston (10.5 back)
6 - New Orleans (11 back)
7 - Utah (11 back) <<< beat Houston
8 - Dallas (12 back)
9 - Phoenix (15 back)
LAST - Sacromento (36.5 back)

FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFF MATCHES (if playoffs started tomorrow)
* Dallas at Los Angeles Lakers
* Utah at San Antonio
* New Orleans at Denver
* Houston at Portland <<< which wouldn't be a bad series





The Thursday Night TNT action is as follows:
* Dallas at New Orleans (GAME 1)
* Portland at Denver (GAME 2)

That's where you can be humbled by the voices of personalities like Marv Alberts, Reggie Miller, Kevin Harlan, Clark Kellogg(?) Craig Sager, and more. Enjoy Thursday night action!

 

[Giancarlo]

Clark Kellogg i believe is a college sports announcer. He's the color commentator in NBA 2k9.

The Heat played the Suns last night in a fun game to watch. Almost as good as the Heat's game against the Cavs on Monday, except this time the Heat actually won.

---

Man, i'm not looking forward to playing the Hawks in the playoffs. We really need the 4th seed homecourt advantage against them. We play better against the Cavs than we do against the Hawks!

 

[JohnBM01]

Well likewise, I would be okay with a Houston/Portland series. At least we wouldn't have to play Utah or San Antonio. We'd have a better chance getting to the second round if we played Portland rather than Utah or San Antonio, who usually hand us our asses in the first round. It's really pick-your-poison with those two.

 

[JohnBM01]

Tonight is TS at JohnBM01- Phoenix at Houston! Yao vs. Shaq! Big Yao and big Shaq. Talented ballers like Mike Lowry and Mike Scola going up against players like Amar'e Stoudemire and the handsome Lou Amundsen.

We have our own problems, but this is a chance for Phoenix to try to inch closer towards getting into the top 8 in the Western Conference playoffs. Who wants it more? We'll find out tonight.

 

[TS]

The Suns just announced today that Amare is out for the rest of the year.

 

[JohnBM01]

Out of 100%, what are the chances Phoenix will make the playoffs by season's end?

 

[TS]

I say around 75%, they're only a game out of it (I think they're behind Dallas or Utah atm) and they can get on a hot streak like they did to start the season, and shorty after the coaching change and can easily find themselves being 6th seed if things go right.

 

[JohnBM01]

Houston won a close fight against the Suns. The big man for this match was the play of Aaron Brooks. Both Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry came up big to win 116-112. I don't know what's up with Matt Barnes, who got double T'ed up along with Shane Battier. Still, we pulled together and won.

Next four games for my Rockets:

Sun. 3/8 - Memphis
Mon. 3/9 - at Denver
Wed. 3/11 - Los Angeles Lakers
Fri. 3/13 - at Charlotte (are we supposed to lose since it's Friday the 13th?)



Next four games for the Suns (by the way, TS, the next three games will NOT be pretty for your Suns):

Sun. 3/8 - at San Antonio
Tue. 3/10 - Dallas
Thu. 3/12 - Cleveland <<< likely on TNT for Thursday night NBA.
Sat. 3/14 - Oklahoma City




That would be all.

 

[TS]

I was surprised how the Suns were able to come back and fight your Rockets for the victory John, they kept getting behind, but they were able to bounce back at the end of each quarter.

But losses with those performances makes them look less impressive.

 

[JohnBM01]

But come on now, TS... the Suns didn't win, but they did a good job of hanging tough. Success is measured in wins and losses. However, don't let wins and losses alone tell the rest of the league who the best team is. Your Suns are still a great team that could beat almost anyone. And often times, close losses can just be tough luck. We were good, we slacked off a bit, we came back to win in a close fight. That's the NBA for you.

Well, you face one of Houston's in-state rivals Sunday (at San Antonio). Good luck to your Suns. Meanwhile, we'll be entertaining the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow. One thing my Rockets have to learn to do is NOT play down to their opposition's level and simply learn how to beat teams lower than you.

 

[TS]

But come on now, TS... the Suns didn't win, but they did a good job of hanging tough. Success is measured in wins and losses. However, don't let wins and losses alone tell the rest of the league who the best team is. Your Suns are still a great team that could beat almost anyone. And often times, close losses can just be tough luck. We were good, we slacked off a bit, we came back to win in a close fight. That's the NBA for you.

Well, you face one of Houston's in-state rivals Sunday (at San Antonio). Good luck to your Suns. Meanwhile, we'll be entertaining the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow. One thing my Rockets have to learn to do is NOT play down to their opposition's level and simply learn how to beat teams lower than you.

I know they're a good team, they have great talent, but I'm mostly disappointed that they're not bigger contenders in the West.

Hopefully they can erase those recent bad memories with the Spurs with a victory today.

 

[JohnBM01]

As of this post, San Antonio won 103-98. Your Suns are going to need to beat Dallas and Cleveland this week to build confidence. Then afterwards, you'll need the other leaders (including my Rockets) to somehow fall apart to get a better playoff position. My Rockets won't settle down, but if your Suns can make a run, there's hope.

Sorry for the rough news.

 

[TS]

The rough news is behind us after knowing that we won't have Amaré the rest of this season, but we need guys like Matt Barnes and Stromile Swift to start playing better in his absence.

 

[JohnBM01]

Despite a few meaningless buckets by Memphis, we win 93-83 at Toyota Center. Up next for my Rockets... a tussle with the Nuggets in the Mile High City of Denver tomorrow night. I'll proabably be watching Top Gear and wrestling, so I may not see a whole lot of this match.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Rockets will be hosted by Denver tonight. Tomorrow night on NBA TV, the fans must love the Phoenix Suns because they'll be shown playing their match against Dallas.

Enjoy tonight's games!

 

[JohnBM01]

Rockets beat the Nuggets 97-95, but they just were absolute fails at the foul line, missing about 15 free throws. Yao Ming commited a silly foul to foul out. What I was proud of most was how my Rockets managed to still win with solid defense and timely offense.

My Rockets will return from high Denver to flat Houston to host the Lakers Wednesday night. We got to deal with people like Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, and people like that.

 

[Giancarlo]

Yeah um, Dwyane Wade is the MVP.

 

[JohnBM01]

Lakers at Rockets tonight here in Houston. No Lamar Odom for the Lakers because of some incident that recently occured in another game. Meanwhile, the Suns lost last night against Dallas. Those trades and everything have just really crippled the Suns. It's not impossible they can still make the playoffs, but it's looking a lot less likely that they'll do so.

I could be pro-Texan and be proud that all three Texas teams beat Phoenix, but I hope things get better for the Suns. As for my Rockets, we need to win this game because if we advance in the playoffs and have to face the Lakers, we need to win so we can be battle-tested against the Western Conference-leading Lakers.

Finally, happy 3?(st/nd/rd/th) birthday, Elton Brand!