duncan228
01-29-2009, 02:45 AM
Lakers, Spurs are best of the West (http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/1171420.html)
By Jan Hubbard
When the New Orleans Hornets and Byron Scott came through Dallas earlier this month, Scott was not totally pleased with his team and said he thought there were two distinct groups of competitors in the Western Conference.
The Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, Scott said, were on one level and the next seven teams were a step behind. Scott included his Hornets, who were the darkhorse pick in the West this season based on how they finished last year.
"To me, the Lakers and Spurs are the two best," Scott said. "You can flip a coin between the rest of us."
In this instant gratification-short attention span age, the tendency has been to render final judgment on a season on a daily basis. But the savvy fan understands that you judge your team based not only on how it is playing, but also on the competition.
The NBA season consists of two parts — the overall big picture and daily snapshots of how teams are playing, how healthy they are, and if they are getting significant wins and avoiding bad losses.
For the sake of this discussion, NBA teams were given the first two months of the season to work out the kinks, so this look is confined to how the West playoff contenders have played in January.
The Lakers are excluded because last year’s addition of Pau Gasol has put them far above the rest of the West despite that home loss Tuesday to the Charlotte Bobcats.
Looking at games from Jan. 1 until now (before Wednesday night’s games) reveals few surprises.
Two West teams other than the Lakers have played very well — San Antonio and Denver. The Spurs were 9-3 in the first 25 days of the month and the Nuggets were 8-3 (5-3 after Carmelo Anthony was hurt).
But the other six teams competing for five playoff spots? They were separated by a total of two games. The standings:
New Orleans 8-5
Portland 7-5
Phoenix 7-6
Utah 6-7
Dallas 6-7
In looking at impressive victories or stunning losses, the teams shaped up like this:
Spurs: home loss to Milwaukee; home victory over the Lakers.
Nuggets: beating teams they should beat and losing to good teams.
Hornets: home loss to New York, road loss to Minnesota; road victory over the Lakers.
Blazers: road loss at Charlotte.
Jazz: road loss at Oklahoma City.
Mavericks: road losses at Memphis, Sacramento and Milwaukee; road victory in Detroit.
There are logical conclusions from this 3 1/2 -week snapshot:
The Spurs and Nuggets have a chance to separate themselves from the other five with decent winning streaks.
Everybody is looking for the next Gasol at the Feb. 19 trading deadline, which is more than three weeks away. The problem with finding a deal such as that is that most teams put a player on the open market and try to play teams against each other. The biggest criticism of the Grizzlies last year was they made the deal with the Lakers rather than sending him to the highest bidder. You can be sure that won’t happen this season.
The biggest attraction of the close playoff race, however, is that even the teams trailing now have tremendous incentive because a five-game winning streak would translate into homecourt advantage.
The flip side is that a losing streak not only can send one of the teams in position to earn home court to the bottom of the playoff standings, but for teams such as Dallas, Utah, Phoenix and Portland, a losing streak also can send them out of the playoffs.
The front-office maneuvering and the competition on the court will make the next three months fascinating. For the true basketball fan, the fun is only starting.
By Jan Hubbard
When the New Orleans Hornets and Byron Scott came through Dallas earlier this month, Scott was not totally pleased with his team and said he thought there were two distinct groups of competitors in the Western Conference.
The Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, Scott said, were on one level and the next seven teams were a step behind. Scott included his Hornets, who were the darkhorse pick in the West this season based on how they finished last year.
"To me, the Lakers and Spurs are the two best," Scott said. "You can flip a coin between the rest of us."
In this instant gratification-short attention span age, the tendency has been to render final judgment on a season on a daily basis. But the savvy fan understands that you judge your team based not only on how it is playing, but also on the competition.
The NBA season consists of two parts — the overall big picture and daily snapshots of how teams are playing, how healthy they are, and if they are getting significant wins and avoiding bad losses.
For the sake of this discussion, NBA teams were given the first two months of the season to work out the kinks, so this look is confined to how the West playoff contenders have played in January.
The Lakers are excluded because last year’s addition of Pau Gasol has put them far above the rest of the West despite that home loss Tuesday to the Charlotte Bobcats.
Looking at games from Jan. 1 until now (before Wednesday night’s games) reveals few surprises.
Two West teams other than the Lakers have played very well — San Antonio and Denver. The Spurs were 9-3 in the first 25 days of the month and the Nuggets were 8-3 (5-3 after Carmelo Anthony was hurt).
But the other six teams competing for five playoff spots? They were separated by a total of two games. The standings:
New Orleans 8-5
Portland 7-5
Phoenix 7-6
Utah 6-7
Dallas 6-7
In looking at impressive victories or stunning losses, the teams shaped up like this:
Spurs: home loss to Milwaukee; home victory over the Lakers.
Nuggets: beating teams they should beat and losing to good teams.
Hornets: home loss to New York, road loss to Minnesota; road victory over the Lakers.
Blazers: road loss at Charlotte.
Jazz: road loss at Oklahoma City.
Mavericks: road losses at Memphis, Sacramento and Milwaukee; road victory in Detroit.
There are logical conclusions from this 3 1/2 -week snapshot:
The Spurs and Nuggets have a chance to separate themselves from the other five with decent winning streaks.
Everybody is looking for the next Gasol at the Feb. 19 trading deadline, which is more than three weeks away. The problem with finding a deal such as that is that most teams put a player on the open market and try to play teams against each other. The biggest criticism of the Grizzlies last year was they made the deal with the Lakers rather than sending him to the highest bidder. You can be sure that won’t happen this season.
The biggest attraction of the close playoff race, however, is that even the teams trailing now have tremendous incentive because a five-game winning streak would translate into homecourt advantage.
The flip side is that a losing streak not only can send one of the teams in position to earn home court to the bottom of the playoff standings, but for teams such as Dallas, Utah, Phoenix and Portland, a losing streak also can send them out of the playoffs.
The front-office maneuvering and the competition on the court will make the next three months fascinating. For the true basketball fan, the fun is only starting.