Things have officially gone wild in the Wild Wild West. Over the past five seasons, at least one team with a winning record has failed to make the playoffs in the Western Conference as the competition has always been fierce and close until the final day of the season. It may never have been this close, however. Currently, 1 1/2 games separate the fourth seed and the ninth seed. Two teams — the Clippers and the Mavericks — are tied for the fourth seed
The marriage started out so beautifully. Chris Paul was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers from the New Orleans Hornets as Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan jumped for joy and proclaimed themselves as “lob city.” The team got off to a tremendous 19-8 start and looked destined to be an immediate contender. Soon after losing Chauncey Billups to a torn Achilles tendon, however, the team’s lack of cohesion became more apparent by the game. Caron Butler fell off the map, Griffin’s offense proved to be limited
The new-look Nuggets had their hands full because Ben Gordon couldn’t miss. Starting for Rodney Stuckey, Gordon was 13-22 from the floor — including a perfect 9-9 from deep — and hit 10 of 11 free throws for a 45-point outburst. However, Ty Lawson (25) and Arron Afflalo (23) played well, Wilson Chandler double-doubled in his first start since last April and JaVale McGee came off the bench for 15 PTS, 7 REB, 3 BLK and the winning putback dunk
Chris Bosh is on a roll. His 29 points on 12-16 shooting, plus 8 REB and a couple of STL, led the Heat to an exciting, come-from-behind win over the inspired Suns. LeBron James was shaken up twice but stayed in the game and finished with 20. Though Dexter Pittman got his first start because Joel Anthony has a sore ankle, he played less than 14 minutes while Udonis Haslem (15 & 9) got most of the work. Grant Hill led
Rookie Tristan Thompson had his best game as a pro with 27 points and 12 boards in 37+ minutes and solidified his new role as the undersized C for the Cavaliers. Kyrie Irving added 26 in his return to Jersey, where he was a high school legend just two years ago. Deron Williams scored 28 for the Nets and Gerald Williams exploded for 27, plus 12 REB, in an entertaining (if meaningless) contest. Deep leaguer alert: Donald Sloan, formerly of
Derrick Favors, tipped here yesterday because Al Jefferson is away this weekend, scored 23 points and grabbed 17 boards in a spot start. Get Favors in your lineups again today, and file away the knowledge of how good he will be in the future. I never expected Richard Jefferson to get 38 minutes in his Warriors debut. RJ was ice-cold (2-14) but this doesn’t bode well for Brandon Rush, who can safely be cut. HOU @ LAC: We expected Goran Dragic would
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s not the NBA, but “Irishman” Kyle O’Quinn, wearing green, led Norfolk State to an enormous upset of Missouri in the NCAA tournament yesterday and is now on my draft list next season. In more current fantasy news, Zach Randolph is back. Finally. After injuring his knee in just the fourth game of the season, and teasing his owners for the last couple of weeks, Z-Bo returned by scoring 25 points and grabbing 9 REB, in
The bottom of the Western Conference playoff race just opened up a bit wider. The Houston Rockets, who currently hold the eighth and final spot in the West, announced Monday that will be without do-it-all point guard Kyle Lowry for two to four weeks due to a bacterial infection. The Rockets played New Jersey over the weekend, and Lowry was taken to a New York hospital with an illness. He underwent tests that revealed the infection and will remain hospitalized until Tuesday,