Lots of big games tonight: New Orleans @ Detroit San Antonio @ Chicago Miami @ Houston Orlando @ Denver - Let's go Magic! Utah @ Dallas - Another win-win situation for us
Calling my shot now--we win tonight, and SA, & UT do too, meaning DAL picks up a loss, as do NO, HOU and DEN. Puts us ½ game ahead of NO into 4th, 1 game back of DEN in the division.
Nuggets and Suns lose. the Lakers, Blazers, Hornets, Mavericks, Spurs and Hornets won. 1. LA Lakers | 32-8 (.800) | GB -- 0 2. San Antonio | 27-13 (.675) | GB -- 5 3. New Orleans | 25-13 (.658) | GB -- 6 4. Denver | 27-15 (.643) | GB -- 6 5. Houston | 26-16 (.619) | GB -- 7 6. Portland | 25-16 (.610) | GB -- 7½ 7. Phoenix | 23-16 (.590) | GB -- 8½ 8. Utah | 24-17 (.585) | GB -- 8½ 9. Dallas | 24-17 (.585) | GB -- 8½ -- Western Conference Standings on Tuesday Morning (1/20/09) --
Big games tonight: Indiana @ San Antonio Minnesota @ Utah - I'd give the T'Wolves a good chance since they're playing well lately Sacramento @ Denver - Denver coming off a loss last night, let's hope the Kings make it a game!
Big games tonight on Friday: Houston @ Indiana Dallas @ Detroit Phoenix @ Charlotte New Orleans @ Minnesota
Houston is losing by 15 to Indy in the third, and Phoenix losing BIG by 24 to Charlotte in the third. Looking good so far! Detroit just needs to get themselves together against Dallas... down 12 at halftime.
Houston lose Yao and are now missing all 3 of their big 3! The suns are losing a lot more, the hornets also lost, and Dallas is losing a lot more also. We just really have to take care of business now and go no less than 7-3 in our next 10, which is extremely doable... that would put us at 32-20.
Utah loses, Portland wins: 1. LA Lakers | 34-8 (.810) | GB -- 0 2. San Antonio | 29-13 (.690) | GB -- 5 3. Denver | 28-15 (.651) | GB -- 6½ 4. New Orleans | 26-14 (.650) | GB -- 7 5. Houston | 27-17 (.614) | GB -- 8 6. Portland | 26-17 (.605) | GB -- 8½ 7. Dallas | 25-18 (.581) | GB -- 9½ 8. Utah | 25-19 (.568) | GB -- 10 9. Phoenix | 23-18 (.561) | GB -- 10½ -- Western Conference Standings on Sunday Morning (1/25/09) --
Nice to see Phoenix falling off (sorry TP), but our position remains tenuous. However, Rockets are at DET/NY B2B on Sunday/Monday; Mavs are at BOS tomorrow; and the Jazz have CLE/DEN B2B this weekend. If things break nicely for us over the next few days, we could be in 5th place with a 2-3 game cushion on 7-9th place teams by the end of Monday night.
The Rockets need a better trainer, or something. Houston seems like it's just got terrible luck when it comes to injuries. I think we're going to see Phoenix and Houston continue to struggle, and open the door for Portland. But the Blazers are going to have to stay healthy and play hard for the rest of the season, or they might not be able to take advantage. It'd sure help if Portland can win games against western rivals that are also likely to be in the thick of the playoff race. LOTS of games against those teams remaining (I excluded the Lakers' games because they're so far ahead, it seems unlikely that Portland will be vying with them for position): 1/31 - Utah (home) 2/2 - at New Orleans 2/4 - at Dallas 2/24 - at Houston 2/25 - at San Antonio 3/1 - San Antonio (home) * (I'll be at this game) 3/5 - at Denver 3/11 - Dallas (home) 3/26 - Phoenix (home) 3/31 - Utah (home) 4/5 - at Houston 4/8 - at San Antonio 4/15 - Denver (home) If the Blazers can manage better than a .500 record in those games (7-6 minimum), and don't lose too many stupid games (like those recent losses at Charlotte and Philadelphia), then I think the Blazers are battling for homecourt advantage. But struggle in the games above, and it's going to be tough to be in position to make the post-season, let alone win a series.
