Shortly after its debut, Sheridan Hoops’ Power Rankings (Wednesday Edition) gave the top spot to Oklahoma City. The Thunder then lost their next two games, after which we here at SHWE vowed never to put them at No. 1 again. What we meant was we wouldn’t put them No. 1 until the end of the season or we ran out of teams to put there, whichever came first. Right now, it’s not even close, if you approach it as we—actually, it’s just
Happy April Fool’s Day, but I have no jokes for you. I am glad to have the month of March behind us, because the next our weeks are going to be riveting in the NBA with the playoff races the way they are. Remember, our body clocks and our minds are trained to believe that there are 10-12 days left in the regular season. But this is the post-lockout season, remember? So the drama will last an extra couple of weeks. That means that
Dog day afternoons, and nights, or ask the Miami Heat how abbreviated a 66-game feels now…. We must be past that part of this season in which half the veterans come in out of shape, or looking like they retired but forgot to announce it, giving the advantage to the young cohesive teams that defend, like the Bulls and Heat. Well, the Bulls still do, anyway. As for Miami, take the Heat… please. This Heat team has two advantages over last season’s: 1)
Being a purist, I can’t say I like the 66-game season. But it is leading to some compelling games in late March as both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference races refuse to be unbunched, the Clippers are on the precipice with coach Vinny Del Negro and are being picked apart by columnists who are starting to recognize the weaknesses that were apparent to only a few of us early in the season, and Olympic fever is starting to show some signs
So what was Dwight Howard thinking after the Magic scored 81 points in a loss in Miami, then 59 in one to the Bulls… in Orlando… without Derrick Rose… after his heart-warming decision to opt in? “I just tied myself to these guys for another season?” Actually, nobody knows what Howard is thinking, if he’s thinking or who’s doing his thinking, not that that’s anything new. To recapitulate: I never thought he was going anywhere before June and he didn’t. I didn’t think it would
Congratulations to everyone who took Marquette in their NCAA pool. The Warriors are going to win it all. Your big movers this week are the Mavericks and Bucks. I am still being somewhat hard on the Cavs, which I’m sure I’ll hear about from Cleveland tweeps. I am not sold on Woodsonity, but the Knicks have certainly looked re-energized these past three games. The season is two-thirds over. I like Denver and Houston as sleeper threats. I have fallen out of love with
Remember the inspired story idea of a New York tabloid editor in a meeting to find yet another follow-up anlgle to the death of 39-year-old actor John Garfield: “John Garfield still dead.” OK, Dwight Howard is still in Orlando. No, that’s not the same thing as being dead, even if it seemed tame to Shaquille O’Neal and doesn’t seem to do much for Howard, who keeps telling the Magic the same thing he tells everyone (except possibly the Nets and Mavericks), that he
Not a lot of big movement at the top of this week’s rankings. Down below, you’ll see I’ve taken a liking to the Pistons. OK, maybe it’s the long work days, the coffee/stromboli/y nada mas diet. Maybe it’s that I just like Lawrence Frank. But those guys could catch the Knicks, for whom rock bottom will never be quite like this bottom made famous on Twitter by the newest Knick. Gonna be a busy week with the trade deadline approaching. We’ll try to steer