Who'd a thunk it. Orlando gets three on the road and moves to 5-1. Rashard Lewis scored 20 or more each game, Dwight Howard has turned into a scorer, and Hedo Turkoglu has been solid. And the best team in Florida now is...the Orlando Magic.
The Heat are cold (0-5) and the Wizards are casting spells on nobody. Dwayne Wade is about ready to come back to Miami and not a moment too soon. Stat line of the week-Shaq gets 3, count em' 3, rebounds against Francisco Elson of the Spurs. The Wizards lost to the Nuggets and Nets, proving they will only have trouble with two types of teams this year. The ones that run and the ones that don't.
Celtics are 4-0, rest of league is green with envy. Two straight 20+ victories at home. Even slowed down the Nuggets, holding them under 100 points. What's next? The Bruins in the Stanley Cup?
Just when you think it's all figured out. The Bulls beat the Pistons on national TV. The shame is that Rasheed Wallace got 36 and few people noticed. It looks like Wallace finally understands how good he can be and wants to be that good. As for the Bulls, they STILL need Kobe. Pull the trigger, do the deal, flip the switch. Just do it.
Texas 14, the rest of the league 3. Rockets, Spurs, Mavericks all with just one loss each. The tell on the Rockets-you don't go into the 4th quarter (against Dallas) down 2 and lose by 9. Then again, Yao Ming may be the world's tallest magician. Against the Spurs, he made Duncan (14 points) disappear. The Mavs got past the ghost of playoffs past against Golden State, and the Spurs won the games they should.
Utah leads their division. Who cares? Let's talk about the Nuggets three game losing streak. People wondered how Iverson and Anthony would coexist. They're both fine. They get 25 shots a game and the rest of the team gets to watch.
What kind of world are we living in? The Clippers are 4-1. Of course, the bubble had to burst and it did against Detroit in a big way 103-79. The Pistons kicked the Clips hard in the first half and held Chris Kaman (who leads the league in rebounding) off the boards.
The Lakers have won 3 of 4. Kobe Bryant has elevated to another level, which is good. He still wants out, which is bad. So, is he playing to get out? If he doesn't get out does this level of play go away? I'm thinking the Lakers keep Bryant because the average price of a ticket to see them is $89. You don't get away with charging that without a marquee attraction.
Finally, LeBron James. Tonight a star. Tomorrow an average looking player. The next day a mega star. After that a very good player. 82 games and you get 20 for each of the 4 LeBron James'. The encouraging thing is he has gotten to the line 10 or more times in 3 of 6 games. Then again, he also has games where the floor swallows him up. LeBron is LeBron, but he's not Kobe. Not yet.
