2008-09 NBA Season

[JohnBM01]

The Rockets did the unthinkable- win in Boston, losing every game so far this year... but winning in Boston. I'm not sure if they lost because Boston College got upset by Harvard (had to throw in a little college reference) or what... but I'm proud of my Rockets. Now let's see if they don't lose to a lowly team like some teams like to do after beating a big time (like my Texans beating Tennessee, but losing at Oakland). Houston had to fight for this one with T-Mac not playing and Ron Artest fouling out. Great win for my team.

[UPDATE]
The Thunder got blasted 129-87 at Minnesota. Goes to show how sad the Thunder are. Lastly, Dick Vitale's holding his own calling down Heat at Nuggets.

At the half, it's 61-57 with Indiana leading at Phoenix. Pretty sure TS isn't real happy and won't be if the Suns end up getting burnt by Indiana.

 

[a6m5]

I read on ESPN.com that Brooks had a nice game for the Rockets. Yeah! 👍

I got back from the Blazers/Pistons game a little bit ago, and I am happy. Blazers looked horrible early, but the table really turned during the second half. NBA refereeing is so laughable, I couldn't believe some of the calls & non-calls. Exact same thing, with consistency, is a call on one end of the floor, but not on the other. Go figure.

 

[C-ZETA]

Wow, the Magic defeated the Hawks...and the Hawks were at home. Rare occasion for the Hawks.

My Nuggets got a good 108-97 win over the Heat...AND WE ARE NOW SECOND SEED! (Mind you if the Spurs win today, they'll get back the second seed. Unfortunately, that is so goddamn likely because they're facing the Clippers today )

Nice job by Houston to beat the Celtics. Must say though, Yao Ming was the star of the show there.

The Nuggets also got a new player to replace Carmelo Anthony, who has a broken hand , Sonny Weems from the Colorado 14ers. Probably won't matter too much, though - we have J.R. Smith, Renaldo Balkman and Dahntay Jones.

 

[TS]

Suns lost to the Pacers, 113-110, no Shaq this time, but it was fun watching Brook Lopez get some playing time.

 

[JohnBM01]

The way this team looks right now, do you think Phoenix could (a) make the playoffs? And if they do, (b) how far could they go?

 

[C-ZETA]

Denver have the Pistons next, and believe me, it isn't a easy as it looks (they have as many losses as us, but have 3 less wins). Also good to see Iverson and Camby coming back to the Pepsi Center.

 

[JohnBM01]

My Rockets will entertain the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight before coming home (finally) to host the Knicks tomorrow night. They may be two fickle teams we're playing, but the Rockets need not be fickle themselves. And one last thing, Rockets... DO NOT play down to the level of any losing team!!!

 

[TS]

The way this team looks right now, do you think Phoenix could (a) make the playoffs? And if they do, (b) how far could they go?

A) Yes, trading for J-Rich and picking up Matt Barnes has worked awesome for the Suns so far!
B) I think they could find a way to make it thorugh the 2nd round, but there are too many strong teams (Spurs, Lakers, Hornets) and they would probably wouldn't go any further than the semis.

 

[JohnBM01]

I didn't see the score, but it's halftime between Boston at Cleveland. Cleveland is playing in their vintage blue and gold colors. And to tell you the truth, those are some beautiful blue and gold colors. Just another thing to add to my love affair of blue and gold. The game after that is Dallas at Phoenix.

T-Mac is holding his ground for my Rockets as we're ahead 51-4? at the half in Oklahoma City. Good luck to all of your favorite teams!

 

[C-ZETA]

Man, that game was a thriller. Shame we lost it And now we're back in fourth seed. Let's hope they don't flop near the end of the season.

Cleveland beat Boston AND ARE NOW TOP OF THE EASTERN CONFERENCE. Mind you, were they there when Boston lost against Houston? And Boston are now down to third. Mind you, they were on the road...

Now we've got a huge break till Wednesday, then we play the Mavs.

 

[JohnBM01]

Just gets all the more better for Cleveland. They'll probably be well-rested and ready to go for their next match. Meanwhile, my Rockets finish their long road trip on a two-game winning streak. The Rockets will play their first home game of the 2009 part of the schedule (finally) against New York, I believe.

 

[TS]

Suns beat the Mavs 128-100 on the 2nd ESPN game.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Trailblazers won 113-100 at home taking on (I believe) Golden State. I'm sure this performance was demanding of a bouquet of roses in the City of Roses. Down here in America's Space City, we knocked the New York Knicks out of orbit with a 96-76 whack job.

If you can believe it, Oklahoma City knocked off Chicago 109-98 in Overtime on the road. Big win for the Thunder as the Windy City got blown away by Oklahoma City's Thunder.


Other winners:
* Detroit at Utah (99-82; UTAH JAZZ)
* Charlotte at Washington (92-89; Charlotte Bobcats)
* Milwaukee at Minnesota (106-104; MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES)



Congratulations to all winners from the six games played Saturday!

 

[JohnBM01]

My Rockets will host the Lakers tomorrow night. The Rockets coaches and all got tough on the Rockets, especially in regard to Tracy McGrady's on-again, off-again playing schedule. He's out for two weeks to try to get his leg all healed up. More than ever, Von Wafer and Carl Landry and all will need to step up. This was probably a good plan by the Rockets to allow their true superstar and veteran to be at his best in taking us to the playoffs and past the first round.

Unless they choked, the Trailblazers were pounding the Chicago Bulls on the road. Thunder lost again. This time, at the Nets. Cleveland vs. Boston may damn well be the Eastern Conference Finals if both teams stand tall heading into the playoffs.

(Off-Topic) Finally, I have a bit more respect for a certain sports broadcaster. That person would be... Kevin Harlan. Here are some YouTube videos of some of his better commentary calling down NBA matches. I recommend you watch this one rather than the first part because this one is more exciting:


Or visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1yeQf5I2Ko




Hope my Rockets can tame the Lakers at Toyota Center tomorrow night...

 

[JohnBM01]

It looks like my Rockets will lose their first(?) game when scoring 100+ points. The team needed a three to force overtime. But Yao Ming went for a short two, then fouled the Lakers. Granted the Lakers are a great team, we probably could have played a lot better. I was busy making two videos for YouTube, so I didn't get to see the game. Kobe Bryant knocked down a clutch three-pointer with about 27 or 7 seconds left. Rafer Alston couldn't hit any free throws late, and we end up losing 105-100.

We have a pretty long break until our next game. We'll play the Miami Heat on Saturday. Monday, we're hosting Denver. Our final home game in this stretch is against Utah. Then we start another road trip that could be a trap game- Friday at Indiana, then at Detroit next Sunday. Injury problems isn't going to make any of our upcoming matches any easier.

 

[a6m5]

Bummer. So close.

 

[JohnBM01]

Latest word... problems involving Tracy McGrady and Rockets management about T-Mac's on-and-off schedule of playing games and taking too long to rehab. If he becomes a free agent by the end of this season, I wonder what team would pick up T-Mac. Or unless there's a team that could use a good Guard or Forward like T-Mac is. Also, who would fill that gap left for McGrady if he is indeed traded or wants to be traded?

Tonight, a BIG match is on tap- Lakers at Spurs. I'm assuming the Lakers want to mess with the Texas Triangle. Purple and gold at the black and silver. Should be a GREAT match.

 

[TS]

Suns beat the Hawks, 107-102.

The Hawks started off the game quite badly without Al Horford, they trailed 31-16 after the first quarter and then made up the deficit slowly, but surely to only lose by 5 points.

 

[C-ZETA]

Today, we've got TS's Suns.

Spurs-Lakers was an absolute classic...Hornets have got a good start to their 3-game road trip, 104-98 to the Mavs. Celtics have returned to form also with their Nets victory...but they're still 3 seed.

 

[JohnBM01]

Last night, if you were in the Central or Eastern times and have some NBA out-of-market package... wow! Sacromento at Golden State was an all-out war. The Kings won 135-133 in triple overtime!

All of you PLEASE enjoy tonight's action! Maybe I'll hear one of my new favorite announcers, Kevin Harlan, call a game on TNT. The TNT matches for tonight are Cleveland at Chicago followed by Phoenix at Denver. I guess now I realize that you're a Nuggets fan, C-ZETA. You think the Nuggets will stand strong even with Carmelo Anthony on the shelf?

 

[C-ZETA]

Sadly, I'm limited to watching highlights due to my UK residency. Surprised you hadn't worked out my liking of the Nuggets earlier, John!

As of Carmelo Anthony, we have more than enough forwards in the squad to replace him, such as J.R. Smith.

The game starts at 10:30 pm Pacific Time, so that's 8 hours ahead of my Greenwich Meridian Time. That's 6:30 am in my time.

EDIT: Make that 10:30 Eastern Time. That makes it 3:30 am in my time

 

[JohnBM01]

6:30 AM is nothing here. That's how early we have to wake up to see most European races or the Singapore Grand Prix. I don't mean to go off-topic, but I know that Europe is big on basketball. Yet, I don't hear too much about basketball in the United Kingdom. How big is the NBA in the UK?

 

[TS]

All of you PLEASE enjoy tonight's action! Maybe I'll hear one of my new favorite announcers, Kevin Harlan, call a game on TNT. The TNT matches for tonight are Cleveland at Chicago followed by Phoenix at Denver. I guess now I realize that you're a Nuggets fan, C-ZETA. You think the Nuggets will stand strong even with Carmelo Anthony on the shelf?

Yes, they still have Chauncey Billups and Nené who have both been playing great this season, especially Billups after the trade.

 

[JohnBM01]

While being knocked out (sleepy), I saw a little of the second quarter between Phoenix at Denver. Not sure of his name, but one of the Suns... really looks like a girl with his face and his ponytail. I think Phoenix is leading as of this post. Not sure by how much, though.

[UPDATE] The guy I was referring to wears #17. As of this post (11:50 PM CDT), it's tied at 80 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

 

[JohnBM01]

Pretty good TNT night, huh?

* Cleveland lost on the road at Chicago in Overtime 102-93. This is only Cleveland's seventh loss of the season.
* In Denver, the Suns and Nuggets went at it. This game had a Flagrant Foul on one player for a dirty takedown, a Technical Foul on the Suns' coach... and a competitive Overtime match. My "what the hell?" moment was when Denver got the ball back late... as one of the Suns foul him with 0.06 seconds left. He made both free throws, TS is hurt, C-ZETA is smiling, Nuggets won 119-113 in Overtime.

The only non-TNT match was Portland (a6m5's team) at New Jersey. They won 105-99. Good job by the Blazers for a job well done. And if you like watching TNT for NBA basketball, there's going to be a triple-header on TNT this Monday. I'm still awaiting to see my Rockets take on the Miami Heat. It will be interesting to see how the Rockets can stay focused with what T-Mac's been through. I personally think he needs to really shut it down. The reason why I think he plays is because he's trying to help us win. Then too, we have suffered without T-Mac on the floor. What I like is that players like Von Wafer, Luis Scola, Yao Ming, and Carl Landry have all helped to step up in times of need for the Rockets. We're a good team. We'll be a better team with a healthy T-Mac.

 

[Giancarlo]

John, would you do this?

Miami trades:
Marion
Banks

Miami receives:
Jermaine O'Neal

Toronto trades:
Jermaine O'Neal

Toronto receives:
Tracy McGrady

Houston trades:
Tracy McGrady

Houston receives:
Shawn Marion
Marcus Banks

Houston has about 16 mill to sign Boozer in the offseason

C - Ming
PF - Boozer
SF - Artest
SG - Battier
PG - Alston

Toronto
C - Bargnani
PF - Bosh
SF - Kapono
SG - McGrady
Pg - Calderon

Miami
C - O'Neal / Zo
PF - Haslem / Beasley
SF - Jones / Diawara
SG - Wade / Cook
PG - Chalmers / Quinn

 

[C-ZETA]

How big is the NBA in the UK?

...Reasonably popular, I guess. But there's only a few 'hardcore' fans in the UK.

About the game, it was actually a bigger win than it looked in the end. For now, we have to hope that the Hornets fails late on so we can get a higher seed. Next game for us is a home game to the Magic. Gonna be a hard game

 

[JohnBM01]

It would depend on how much fans and Rockets' management think T-Mac is bad. T-Mac is not Terrell Owens. He's not whiny and always wants to score. He's not attacking his own teammates. I think he just needs to shut it down. Now if the Rockets think they can do better with a lineup that can do without Tracy McGrady, then I'd allow this trade. But for now, I don't think T-Mac is too much a distraction that the Rockets can really win without McGrady. So, I'm more... yes and no on this.

 

[TS]

While being knocked out (sleepy), I saw a little of the second quarter between Phoenix at Denver. Not sure of his name, but one of the Suns... really looks like a girl with his face and his ponytail. I think Phoenix is leading as of this post. Not sure by how much, though.

[UPDATE] The guy I was referring to wears #17. As of this post (11:50 PM CDT), it's tied at 80 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.

Louis Amundson?

Only Suns player I know of with a ponytail.

Pretty good TNT night, huh?

* Cleveland lost on the road at Chicago in Overtime 102-93. This is only Cleveland's seventh loss of the season.
* In Denver, the Suns and Nuggets went at it. This game had a Flagrant Foul on one player for a dirty takedown, a Technical Foul on the Suns' coach... and a competitive Overtime match. My "what the hell?" moment was when Denver got the ball back late... as one of the Suns foul him with 0.06 seconds left. He made both free throws, TS is hurt, C-ZETA is smiling, Nuggets won 119-113 in Overtime.

Suns were just getting on a roll! Props to Denver though, they're a good team and will be good in the playoffs.

 

[JohnBM01]

We're playing Miami right now. Currently 41-31 Rockets leading with about 1:25 left in the first half.