It was another jam packed week around the L. Time to see who’s impressing me!
1.Cleveland Cavaliers: I’ll said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m impressed. Now it looks like they should have East all locked up and now they have put some separation between themselves and the Lakers. If the season were to end today, Mike Brown would be coach of the year.
2. Los Angeles Lakers: Sure they’ve been solid, but I’m looking for more from them. I want them to crush teams by more than they have been. They have the talent to crush the big teams and they need to show that. Detroit and Atlanta should be wins by 15+. But, we have to expect less out of the regular-season Lakers. That has to change.
3. Boston Celtics: Sorry Rockets fans, I was thinking about putting you here. But then I thought about the playoffs and who will do more. Anyway, the C’s started bouncing back last week. In their three wins, they won by an average of about eight points. Once they get back into full form, I expect that to go even higher. 3-1 for a resurgent week.
4. Houston Rockets: Talk about some quality wins. This week was full of them for the Rockets; they beat the Hornets, Pistons and Spurs. I said this on my Twitter and I’ll say it again: Rick Adelman should be in the discussion for coach of the year. Just like Jeff Van Gundy was saying with the MVP candidates, he may not win, but people should give guys like him more credit.
5. Orlando Magic: The Magic beat who they were supposed to beat. The Knicks and the Bucks are must wins for a team this good. I can live with a lost to LeBron and the Cavs. 2-1 week for D12 and the Magic.
6. San Antonio Spurs: Not the best week for the Spurs. They lost in Oklahoma City, and at home to the Celtics and Rockets. Without Manu, Tony Parker has had to pick up a lot of the load. He averaged about 25 points for the week. That’s a lot for Tony. That has to be a concern for them. Hopefully Manu gets back quickly.
7. Atlanta Hawks: This part of the rankings was tough. I’m going with the Hawks because I like their recent play. They didn’t really impress in Sunday’s game against the Cavs, but they’ve been consistent. 2-1 week for Joe Johnson and crew.
8. Portland Trail Blazers: Underrated week for the Blaze. They beat bad teams, but two of those bad teams play hard (Pacers and Bucks). So I’m going to give them the nod, nice 3-1 week.
9. New Orleans Hornets: Not a tough week for them. They beat the Timberwolves, Grizzlies and Warriors. 3-1, hopefully they’ll keep at this pace.
10. Denver Nuggets: Time for Denver to turn it up. They should to finish the season strong; they need a confidence boost.
11. Utah Jazz: They won big and they were supposed to. Let’s go Jazz. Time to turn it up even more.
Forget the lower half of the Eastern conference. They are not going to do squat in the playoffs PERIOD. I like some of the teams, but I don’t like lots of them. So let’s look at who’s important.