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| | Thursday, November 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Check out the Power Rankings to find out where your favorite teams are, and remember that they were done prior to Monday's games. Also, check out our Weekly Tip-off to see what's coming up this week. By the way, if you have any thoughts on our daily Around the Rim feature, and judging from the past week you do, let us know by clicking here and e-mailing us. Right to the Heroes and Goats ... Many of you, especially those who have followed the 76ers and other unfortunate NBA teams to have had Shawn Bradley, already know that the 7-foot-6 stiff isn't exactly a complete basketball player. Also, you may have noticed that he's a bit on the skinny side, which is why Shaq threw him around like a ragdoll last night. But Shawn, you can't even manage to score? How 'bout block a shot? Nothing?!
On Monday, the No. 2 team in our Power Rankings, the deserving Bucks, lost in overtime to the No. 5 Knicks. And yes, Knicks fans, that will be reflected next week! Anyway, last night the top team in the land, the Blazers, fell in Utah. There are now no unbeaten teams left in the NBA, and the season is exactly one week old. After watching our top two teams lose before the ink was dry on our rankings, we feel compelled to tell you to take the Nets tonight against the Suns. Why not? The Nets are at home, Stephon Marbury has to be licking his chops to play in a game where everyone is fastbreaking and most of all, we're apparently bad luck. The No. 4 team, the Spurs, well, they couldn't possibly lose last night to the Warriors. That 34-9 first quarter lead gave us our first clue. Now it's time to watch when the winless teams will, as Chris Berman might say, get off the schneid. The Rockets, Warriors, Bulls and Pistons are all winless, and in differing degrees, bad. Here are some thoughts: Warriors: They play Vancouver on Friday, so that's a 50-50 chance. Then Houston on Saturday, so we know at least one of these winless teams will win. Bulls: At Philly on Friday, vs. Boston on Saturday. If they don't get a win there, and chances are good they won't since Philly figured out that Larry Hughes needs to start and Pitino figured out Adrian Griffin is no Calbert Cheaney, we say that Bulls-Warriors game next Tuesday (Nov. 16) will be memorable. Rockets: Play the Lakers tonight and Friday. Win No. 1 comes Saturday against P.J. Pistons: Play Boston, Toronto and Seattle this week. You know, the Pistons really aren't that bad. We say they take two of three.
Bad point guards
Teams are clearly not relying on the point guard anymore to bring the ball up and get it inside. Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc are likely to lead their teams in assists this season. Philly uses Aaron McKie half the time to play point on offense, small forward on defense. And good passers like Jimmy Jackson, Latrell Sprewell, Jalen Rose and Tom Gugliotta should get more assists than the average player at their positions. What does it all mean? Not much, really, since there are still plenty of true point guards around, from Stockton to Strickland to Van Exel. But it makes you wonder why Phil Jackson continues to play Fisher as much as he does when a guy like Ron Harper could probably get the job done better. That's why Larry Brown now brings Snow off the bench. Who will be next? Quote of the night"Last year, we started 0-5, but we were in every game. We played some tough teams and lost by two or three points. This year, I can't see why we are losing to guys by 20 points." -- Golden State's Chris Mills | ||||||||||||||||||||||
