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NBA Update - Celtics and Suns are Conference Leaders
NBA Update: Kobe and the Lakers Look Solid, Phoenix Keeps Pace, and the Celtics and Heat are Beasts of the East
The 2009-2010 NBA Season is barely a couple of weeks old and already some things are exactly the same as last year.
Actually, what’s the same this season has been the same during what feels like the entire history of the NBA. The Lakers and Celtics are tops in their respective divisions.
The Lakers are 6 and 1 on the season and looked every bit the best team in the NBA this past Sunday when taking down Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets. L.A. won their fifth game in a row when trouncing the Hornets 104 to 88 as 6 ½ point favorites in the NBA sportsbook.
Kobe Bryant put in 28 points in 33 minutes to lead the Lakers’ charge. With both Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum out, L.A. didn’t miss a beat in their front court as Lamar Odom had 7 points and 9 rebounds and center Didier Ilunga-Mbenga chipped in 10 points and 12 boards.
If the Lakers are even deeper this season than last, does any team have a shot at beating them in the NBA Finals?
Maybe, the Phoenix Suns whom they play on Thursday could get to them. In fact, that’s probably the game of the week as both the Suns and Lakers have been awesome in 2009.
Celtics Continue to Impress
Maybe, the Celtics do. The Men in Green didn’t play on Sunday but are 8 and 1 on the season. They thumped the New Jersey Nets on the road 86 to 76 then came home and beat the Jazz by 19 points. Save for a loss to the Phoenix Suns, they have been perfect so far in 2009.
Boston is simply a better team than last season because Kevin Garnett is healthy. So far, Garnett is averaging 12.9 points, 8.3 boards and 2.6 assists per game. He’s the quintessential defensive leader on a defensive centric team.
If the Celtics continue to play like this, then no team in the East is going to be able to beat them come playoff time. That includes the up and down Cleveland Cavaliers who were up on Sunday when beating the New York Knicks 100 to 91 as 8 point favorites on the road.
Cavs Look Okay, Not Great but Okay
The Cavs are 5 and 3 on the season and don’t appear to have the same toughness on defense that they did last season. Shaq is playing well, that’s not the issue, but incorporating him into Cleveland’s usual style has been hard for LeBron James to do.
LeBron’s numbers are very good, at 26 points and 8 assists per game, but in his attempt to feed to the ball to the Big Dog, he might be hurting the Cavaliers. It’s not always a good idea for your star not to average 30 points a game, think Michael Jordan in the early 1990’s, and do the Cavs really want to play Shaq this much this early in the season? There have been a few games where Shaq has been on the court for more than 30 minutes.
That’s not good considering the big fella’s penchant for breaking down late in the season.
Cleveland got a big boost last night by beating the Magic 102-93, in Orlando.
Phoenix Goes Back to Their Wily Ways and Rack Up Wins
The “defensive” experiment in Phoenix is over. The Suns are back to launching three point shots with abandon this season and so far its paid huge dividends.
Phoenix beat the Boston Celtics 110 to 103 as 10 ½ point underdogs this past Friday night and then beat up on the Washington Wizards as 2 point favorites on the road this past Sunday 102 to 90.
The Suns are playing defense, make no mistake, but they aren’t a defense first team. That’s a good thing. Amare Soutdemire is averaging 19 points and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash is averaging 12 assists and the Suns are shooting 46.5% from behind the arc.
That has made the 8 and 1 Suns the top team in the Western Conference to the Lakers’ dominance so far in 2009. Will it last?
It’s doubtful as the Suns just don’t have the depth, but, then again, if their starters, center Channing Frye had 18 points in the Wizards victory and Nash backcourt teammate Jason Richardson chipped in for 22 points, keep playing the way they have been, then the Suns are going to be very, very hard team to beat.
On Monday night, the Suns beat the Philadelphia 76’ers 119 to 115. Steve Nash had 21 points and 20 assists. They came back last night and beat the Hornets 124-104, in another impressive performance.
Is it Curtains in San Antonio?
Could the San Antonio Spur be going through their own version of the Alamo this season?
Before their current two game winning streak, the Spurs had lost two in a row, a 113 to 99 loss as 1 point favorites to Utah, and a 96 to 84 destruction at the hands of the Portland Trailblazers as 4 point underdogs.
They came back and handed Toronto a whooping to the tune of 131-124 and then outlasted the Mavericks 92-83 last night.
San Antonio’s brand of defense first basketball just isn’t cutting it in this Western Conference where Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Brandon Roy reside.
Unless the Spurs can find a way to put up over 100 points a game, and play some D, they may not make the playoffs. Okay, that’s stretching it as almost any team with the chance of going .500 makes the playoffs in the NBA, but the Spurs could be end up with the 6th seed or worse in the playoffs.
After all, Dallas, Portland, Houston and Denver are all playing very well and each one of those teams could improve as the season wears on while the Spurs will probably disintegrate even further.
