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 For The First Week Of The Decade

Well, the Holiday Season has officially come to an end. Haven't followed College Basketball very much this season but saw parts of a couple games at the gym that caught my interest. The first one was the Pitt-Cincy game. In light of friday's event, it's not a shock that Cincinnati lost (at least it was close it wasn't too much of a fale....with the exception of some horrible shot selection at the buzzer....and thankfully Tim Tebow the warrior was nowhere to be found). The other game they showed parts of was some bonus coverage from EspnU.....UNC got upset by College of Charleston....now if we can get some of those upsets in March as well.

Well enough of my College Basketball soapbox, time to focus attention towards the NBA games getting national love this week.

4- Lakers vs. Clippers Wednesday ESPN

Battle of LA. Not as exciting as it sounds. If it's baseball (Dodgers vs. Angels) that would be a good game, college football (USC vs. UCLA) it depends on the year (and usually how much USC is violating NCAA Sanctions) NFL (um nevermind) NBA ( you get an unlikable great team with an unlikable star in Kobe and a team that's played second fiddle....never has and never will be great......pass)

3- Celtics vs. Hawks Friday ESPN

A case could be made for any of the games (except the "battle of LA"), the Celtics are doing their part by having the second seed and putting things in a comfortable cruise control until the playoffs. The Hawks while still playing well, have faded from their quick start and look to be settling into a 4-seed and a probable second round exit. Wake me in May......next

2-Cavs vs. Blazers Sunday ESPN

For how much talk there has been about the Cavs struggling this year and the offense slowing down, you would think they would have a record worse than 27-9 and not be the #1 seed. It would be scary to see how good they are at their peak. The Blazers may not be the most interesting team, their players that haven't been lost for the season may not be household names but they somehow have the #3 seed in the east. Not sure how long they can hold on to their seed and it is scary how good they would be at full health.

1-Cavs vs. Nuggets Friday ESPN

Gets the nod because of the LeBron vs. Carmelo match-up. While the Nuggets have the lowest conference seed in these games (sans the Clippers) the individual match-up here is tough to beat.

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.

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.

NBA Preview: Lots of Heat on TV

Another week.....another slate of NBA games on National TV (NBA TV doesn't count since I don't get it).....pretty thin slate of stuff but out of the 4 games.....this is the order of interest I have in these games......

4- Bulls vs. Cavs Friday ESPN

The Bulls are off to a pedestrian start. The Bulls have just lost tonight, snapping the Bucks 4-game losing streak. So far, the Bulls haven't done much to follow up on nearly pulling off the biggest upset of the Playoffs.

The Cavs have sleep-walked to a 12-5 start in their we better win a championship to show LeBron he has the best chance by staying in Ohio.

3- Heat vs. Nuggets Thursday TNT

Dwayne Wade is one of the best players in the league...but the Heat on back to back nights is overkill. The last time the Heat were on TV they lost to an inferior Wizards team.

The Nuggets are in the lead in a competitive Northwest division and will be looking to get some distance from their competition.

2- Heat vs. Lakers Friday ESPN

Two chances to watch the Heat....if you miss them Thursday all you have to do is wait another day.

The Lakers are neck and neck with the Suns in the Pacific and should be in good shape to win playing against a Heat team on the back end of a back-to-back

1- Celtics vs. Spurs Thursday TNT

Out of the four games, this match-up is the most likely to be a finals preview. On an unrelated note, this game is the only one of the four involving a player on my fantasy team (Tim Duncan)......in an attempt to help me get one step closer to going undefeated (5-0) at this point......ahhh the uninspirin-ness of early December NBA Action.....It's Amazing

Well, off to watching more episodes of Reaper (I can always count on Hulu to find a show to get hooked on every few months) and reading the book Baseball Between the Numbers that I got in the mail today.