A lot of the top teams have hit road blocks this past week. All the streaking teams got tripped up and are trying to get their feet under them to make another run. It seems that teams jostle all week long for Playoff position only to end up in the same place we started the week before. The Playoff chase in both conferences is down to nine teams each, the only questions left are who will be left out and where the rest will be seeded. Time for another report card, it’s almost time for final exams (the Playoffs)…
Joe Johnson and the Atlanta Hawks have proven they can hang with anyone this year and beat them!
A - Atlanta Proving Us All Wrong- The Atlanta Hawks were the record holders of one of the most undesired records, most consecutive years without making the Playoffs. They broke that record of eight years during the 2007-08 season when they made the Playoffs and gave the Boston Celtics all they could handle. The Hawks peaked at the right time, but some wondered if they had reached the peak and would start sliding back down the mountain again. With the Playoffs coming upon us soon, the Hawks are holding onto the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference, and are almost guaranteed their first winning season since 1998-99. The Hawks have proven they are a team to be reckoned with this year, a position the Hawks have not been in since the days of Dominique Wilkins, Stacey Augmon, and Danny Manning.
B – Chicago Showing Signs of Life - The Chicago Bulls are one of those teams that has had a lot of talent, but not the right combination of talent. Let’s just say their “Captain Planet,” team is better than the individuals collectively, ability is lacking. With their latest trade to acquire Brad Miller and John Salmons from the Sacramento Kings, they look like they have finally tweaked their roster enough to win consistently. The Bulls are currently sitting at 30-37, pathetic by all means, but good enough to be just one game out of the Playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls are 7-7 since making their multi-player trade in February, not stellar, but consistent!
C - The Fallout of the Pistons - The Detroit Pistons won the NBA Title in 2004 and they thought they had their own little dynasty in the making. The Pistons went on to make four straight trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, but never to the NBA Finals again. After their latest failure to make it to The Finals, they decided they needed a new direction and fired Head Coach Flip Saunders. Earlier this season thy also went on a whim and traded away their Finals MVP Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Amid all these “changes” to get better, two things have happened. One, they have gotten older, and two, they have gotten worse. Richard Hamilton is so old that his noticeable baldness forced him to cut off his cornrows this year. The Pistons window of opportunity is closing fast.
D – Latin Night(s) – The average English speaking person should be able to easily distinguish some Spanish words. Likewise, the average Latin person should be able to just as easily distinguish some English words. For these reasons, it bewilders me that the NBA has Latin Night complete with Latin jerseys! El Heat, Los Mavs, Los Bulls, Los Rockets, Nuevo York, who are these teams??? Chinese Night, on the other hand, would be awesome! I guess the NBA is really hurting on revenue from jerseys. I can only imagine the conversations in the NBA marketing department…”Those Bulls jerseys aren’t selling!!” “Just put a “Los” in front of the “Bulls” and send them to Mexico. It will be a fuego sale!! ”
F – Dwayne Wade’s New Fashion Statement - There have been a lot of fads that have come and gone in the NBA. There was the time when everyone had cornrows in their hair, then there were the “LIVE STRONG” wannabe wrist bands. One of the weirdest ones was a few years a go when some players would wear elbow and knee pads on their forearms and shins. This week, Dwayne Wade reached a level of fashion stupidity yet to be touched, he wore an eye paint strip (like football players) under one eye! The strips are called “black paint,” or “eye black,” and are helpful in reducing glare from a players vision. The only thing glaring in Miami on Saturday was D-Wade’s unintelligence.
Tags: NBA