It's NBA Monday's Plus Bonus Rants, Analogies and Random Thoughts of Yesterday's Packers-Cardinals Game

Playoffs?!!!!! First a few note's about yesterday's defense optional game. That has got to be one of the most bizarre, craziest games I have ever watched. I did a blog about the first half of the game but didn't have the motivation to do one for the second half. Considering the Packers looked to be headed towards the end of their season, I decided to focus my entire attention on watching the game instead of splitting it between the TV and the lap-top.

In retrospect, not the best decision, a second-half game blog would have made for some entertainment and make an interesting capsule. There were so many did he just make that play moments in the second half, from the 2 tying TDs, to Rackers missing the field goal at the end, to the brief invincibility of we got the coin toss, we got game to the shocking conclusion of the Cardinals winning the game on face-mask no call.

Now that I got that rant out of the way, time to talk about some hoop.

5- Bulls vs. Celtics Thursday TNT

A rematch of last year's first round series which had its share of those, did that just happen moments. With the way the Bulls are playing this year, the action and drama of this game will be more resemblant of the Packers-Cardinals game from Week 17 instead of the wild card game. Well, unless the Celtics let the Bulls go up by 35, then it might be interesting.

4-Suns vs. Hawks Friday ESPN

Those pesky Phoenix teams. Bizarre, today is the back end of the back-to back series between teams from Wisconsin and teams from Arizona. The Suns-Bucks game is in progress as I am writing this now. The Suns were up 21 after one (the Cardinals were up as much as 21) and the Bucks are making a furious rally (down 3 in the fourth) sorta like the furious rally the Packers made yesterday.

What does this have to about Friday's game? Nothing. Expecting a high-scoring battle between two teams good enough to make the playoffs but nowhere near good enough to win a championship.

3- Jazz vs. Cavs Thursday TNT

The Jazz are in the race for a playoff seed and are slightly off pace. The LeBrons are looking to get over the top. Sadly, I am out of football analogies.....for now.

2-Magic vs. Blazers Friday ESPN

The Magic are looking to get back to the Finals and win their first title after losing to Kobe last year. Blazers fun fact: The Blazers nearly beat the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals one year, they were nearly able to overcome having Mike Dunleavy as a coach, but Dunleavy had a legacy of mediocrity he had to maintain.

1- Jazz vs. Nuggets Sunday ESPN

Gets the slight edge since they play in the same division. The Jazz may be 4th in this 5 team division but are anything but down and out. They may not be in the top-8 right now but only 3 games separates them and the first place Nuggets. Wow, the Western Conference is entertaining right now, only 4 teams with losing records. Hopefully it stays this way at least until baseball season starts.

NBA Holiday Preview: Guaranteed 99 Percent Less Painful Than The Last Play of Yesterdays Packers-Steelers Game

Well, there have definitely been better sports weeks for me. The Packers choking on the last play, Big Ben throwing for about a million passing yards not to mention the Giants inevitable win tightening up the NFC Playoff Chase, the Bucks going 0-3 and losing those games by a combined 5 points (2 of those games in the last second)........not quite rock bottom but a bit too close for comfort....anyways on to the games:

5- Heat vs. Knicks Friday ESPN

Ouch indeed. The Heat may be a 5-seed, they may have Wade but being on TV on a constant basis, i'll pass. The Knicks........seriously? Well they can at least sell the playoff implications card as the Knicks are one game out of the 8-spot (the Eastern Conference....where hey even the Knicks have a chance happens)

4- Clippers vs. Suns Friday ESPN

Even without Blake Griffin, the Clippers have been respectable (by their standards 12-14) they would be a 6-seed in the East, but having the misfortune of being the L.A. team that did not benefit from the Tim Donaghy era, they are 3 games out of the last spot. The Suns, great at home mediocre on the road. Not much i'm excited about team-wide. This mainly got pushed up to the 4 spot as I have Nash and Kaman on my fantasy team and I don't care who wins just as long as they put up big numbers.

3- Nuggets vs. Blazers Friday ESPN

If the season were to end today, the Nuggets and Blazers would be matching up in the pivotal 3-6 match up. Both of these teams are solid interesting teams but the match-up itself, i'm just not feeling it.

2- Cavs. vs. Lakers Friday ABC

A match-up between two teams that beat the Bucks by a combined 4 points last week. Could it be they played better? Could it be they have LeBron and Kobe respectively? Could it be that having said players biased the refs to horribly mis-balance the free throws? (33 to 17 in the Laker game and 31 to 14 in the Cavs game). Man this puts that 2002 Kings-Lakers officiating to shame.

I give it a 60 percent chance that out of habit that LeBron and/or Kobe will commit a foul at some point and out of habit the ref will find a way to blame it on Andrew Bogut.

In all seriousness OMG LeBron, Kobe.........LeBron, Kobe........LeBron Kobe.

1- Celtics vs. Magic Friday ABC

Opening act of the ABC doubleheader, in my opinion the better of the two games. With all due respect to the Hawks and Cavs, these two teams have established themselves as the class of the Eastern Conference.

These teams matched up for a 7-game epic in the Second Round this year and seem destined to clash in the Eastern Conference Finals. Not sure if this game will do much in the context of the final standings but considering they are playing on a national stage when the majority of people have the day off, the winner of this game has the chance to shift the Eastern Conference landscape.

The NBA National TV Preview: 12-14 Edition

Alright so its been a few days since I had the motivation to post something. Probably attributable to rain-induced laziness plus my 2-day addiction to the short lived tv show Journeyman that I watched on Hulu over the weekend.

Anyways, it's another week in which to excel and with that, my take on this week's nationally televised NBA Games.

6- Wizards vs. Warriors Friday ESPN

The idea of putting the Wizards on National TV several times this year does not look to be panning out very well. Sure Gilbert Arenas is an interesting player (when hes not injured) but this team is just not that good. Sure, they are a game and a half out of the last spot (in the East).

On the other end is a Warriors team that is interesting in all the wrong ways. Dysfunctional coach ? Check Team Going Absolutely Nowhere? Check Team that considers defense optional? Check..with the Kings improving this year the Warriors have proudly representing as the biggest train wreck of a team in Nor Cal.

5- Magic vs. Heat Thursday TNT

A less than exciting battle of Florida. The Magic are battling for Eastern Conference Supremacy. The only difference between the Heat and the Wizards is Dwayne Wade is at least able to push the Heat into playoff contention. Sad But True: The Heat are .500 (11-11) but in the East thats good for battling the Bucks for the 5-spot in the East.

4- Mavericks vs. Thunder Wednesday ESPN

The Mavericks are off to a strong start and look headed to playoffs, nothing to see here for the next 58 games. For the Thunder, they get another chance to capitalize on their resurgent season. Any time Kevin Durant is involved, it's worth at least checking out the game. Fun Fact: If the Thunder played in the East they would be a 5 seed right now. However, they play in the West and are thus 1/2 game out of the last spot.

3- Suns vs. Blazers Thursday TNT

Toss-up between the game above but this wins the tie-breaker with Steve Nash on my fantasy team. In the real world, the Suns seem to be coming down to earth after a scorching hot start it will be interesting to see if they stay amongst the elite or if they are in danger of missing the playoffs for a second straight year.

The Blazers, coming off a couple tough losses to the Cavs and Bucks and are nobly trying to compete with about half of their roster injured. How well the Blazers hold up being this short-handed will go a long way to see if the Blazers are going to be a legit playoff team.

2- Wizards vs. Kings Wednesday ESPN

When I started doing this NBA preview, I mentioned that I was ranking them based on how interesting I found the game which is NOT always correlated to how good the teams are. This week is definitely an example of this. As I mentioned earlier, I could care less about the Wizards, the only thing separating them from the bottom of the east are the 76ers and Nets.

The only reason I care about the game is I find the Kings to be one of more interesting teams this year. Sure they may be 10-12, but compared to what they were last year, it is a night and day improvement. Living in the Sacramento area (Davis) last year, I got plenty of opportunities to see the Kings on TV (and a couple chances to see them in person.....the last game of the Reggie Theus area and a loss to the Bucks, ironically a team that they ended up going on similar paths.)

But thats besides the point, this will be the first Kings National TV appearance of the Tyreke Evans era. The Kings seemed to have shed aside the Theus/Natt era is just a bad dream and look ready to contend for a playoff spot. If that wasn't enough, Arco Arena is doing a $1-beer night to get more fans into the stands (a high priority since as recent as last year you could walk up and buy tickets half an hour before the game....also this opens up the possibility of fans having a few too many of those dollar beers and seeing how that works out)

1-Bucks vs. Cavaliers Friday ESPN

Less to say about this one, but since the Bucks are involved the interest level over-rides the Kings. This team is pretty much Sacramento East. A moribund team seemingly going nowhere makes good use of their first-round pick (Jennings), an injury to their leading scorer from last year (Martin/Redd) and just enough from the rest of their teams to stick around .500.

The Bucks playing the Cavaliers means a dose of LeBron (always fun to watch) plus a lumbering Shaq who has definitely lost a step (or twelve). The way you hear the media talk, this has got to be one of the worst teams ever......to start 17-7.....their "struggles", definitely overblown. Shaq was never known for his quick starts and they shouldn't be worried unless they're still in chaos in March/April.

NBA Games: What's on the National TV Slate for the week ahead

Alright so we are back up to 5 national TV games for the week: How do they stack up on the scale of how much I care:

5- Celtics/Wizards--Thursday TNT

The Celtics are doing their part this year as they are again amongst the elite in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards were supposed to be at least playoff caliber and bounce back under new Head Coach Flip Saunders. At 7-12 this is pacing to be an epic fail. At 7-12 this team probably shouldn't be on national television every other week.

4- Hawks/Bulls--Wednesday ESPN

The Hawks continue to make their case that the elite class in the east should be 4 teams, not 3. The Bulls have been uninspiring this year but since they play in the East, this hasn't really harmed their playoff hopes.

3-Magic/Jazz--Thursday TNT

Went back and forth between this being the #2 or #3 game this week but the Magic are on TV twice this week and play a better team (Phoenix) the other time. The Magic seem destined for another showdown with Boston for conference supremacy (so far this is a dead-lock as both teams are 16-4), the Jazz are 12-8 and seem destined for another season of being good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to be serious contenders.

2-Blazers/Cavs--Friday ESPN

Pretty intriguing match up, the Blazers are still adjusting to Greg Oden being out for the season (i'm sure they wish they would of taken Durant instead) and it will be interesting to see how they adjust to adversity. Despite the Oden blunder, they still have a really good, really young team and this team should break through to the elite in the next few years, with or without Oden.

For the Cavs, just another regular season game, you can pencil them in somewhere in the top 3 regardless of how smooth things go during the regular season. With this team, wake me when its the playoffs.

1-Magic/Suns--Friday ESPN

Out of the five games, this is the most likely Finals preview. The Suns, an expected borderline playoff team, has returned to being one of the elite regular season teams in the West. The Suns have proven as much as they can in the regular season and this is another team that can't really improve their reputation until the playoffs. Just as long as Steve Nash keeps playing strongly, I'll probably be happy about how this game goes.