I have to put someone No. 1, so … why not the Heat? Like it means anything. Given the fact they have a post-season tournament, where you stand at the 25-game mark has never been all-important. It may be all the more irrelevant in this compressed 66-game, 123-day season, 2011-12 season, with all the good teams young and all the old powers struggling. Oh, right, the Spurs. Well, they were so old for so long, they brought in enough kids to be young again! The
Sheridan’s Sunday Power rankings
It is Super Bowl Sunday, and there are only two NBA games on the slate. But the key word in that sentence is Sunday, which used to be a day — almost a decade ago — when NBA fans could peruse the Internet and read five or six amazing NBA notes columns by some of the finest writers in the newspaper industry. Problem is, the newspaper industry got rid of most of their best writers and decided that Sunday notes columns were
Heisler’s Wednesday Power Rankings
Where did everyone go? It was great working from Los Angeles the last 12 years when all the good times were in the West, which meant short flights and short series. West teams won the first five titles after Michael Jordan left the Bulls in 1998, by a combined 20-4. East teams won three Finals in the last decade (Pistons in 2004, Heat in 2006, Celtics in 2008), all as underdogs, beating the Lakers (in the final tumult-filled season of Shaquille O’Neal and
Sheridan’s Sunday Power Rankings
We have a tie for basket case of the week. So congratulations to the Orlando Magic (dropping from 5th to 18th) and the New York Knicks (now ranked lower than the Nets). So guess which happens first: _ Mike D’Antoni gets fired. _ Dwight Howard gets traded. _ Billy King acquires Chris Kaman. Please, wager amongst yourselves. ‘A’ is the frontrunner, but don’t rule out ‘C.’ As for ‘B,’ I’m not so certain anymore that the Magic wait until the trade deadline. In the West, I’ve
Heisler’s Wednesday Power rankings
The Bulls and Thunder continued to show this 66-game, 123-day exercise is no season for old men, sprinting even farther ahead of their respective packs on young legs. Meanwhile, the Lakers aged a decade in a week, going on the road after their 10-5 start, getting waxed in Miami and Orlando, then coming home and losing by 10 to Indiana. Of course, we knew the Lakers were old, or too old to miss it, last season. On the other hand, there are teams that
Sheridan’s Sunday Power Rankings
The Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets are this week’s climbers, while those sinking like stones are headlined by the Knicks. I attended New York’s double-overtime loss to the Nuggets on Saturday night, which lasted a mere 3:04. It was like watching a parade of ghosts from the Knicks’ recent past. On one first quarter sequence, Carmelo Anthony blew past Danilo Gallinari but was rejected at the rim by Timofey Mozgov. In transition, Gallo fed Mozgov with a long pass into the
Heisler’s Wednesday Power Rankings
Showing the Thunder is truly on its way, they just rose to to No. 1 in the prestigious SheridanHoops power rankings (Wednesday edition) for the first time! Of course, we’ve only been doing our rankings for a few weeks, but it’s still a good sign. It’s also in keeping with today’s “No season for young men” theme, in which we note the impact of jamming 66 games into 123 days on older players, as in “I just ran down here, now I’m
Sheridan’s Sunday Power Rankings
Looks like I was wrong about the Clippers. For now, anyway. They cost me $100 in Vegas when they lost to the Heat, and they convinced me that they are for real — the lightest schedule of all 30 NBA teams notwithstanding — with their subsequent victory over the Lakers last night. I am not going to start predicting a championship ring celebration at one of Donald Sterling’s “dress in all-white” parties, but I will say color me impressed after this decisive