Sched Ahead Daily Update, Games of 3/9

Good enough. 

Yesterday's update.

Most recent weekly update, including game category definitions.

Yesterday's Games

1. Sacramento @ Portland.  Did I say "good enough"?  Yeah.
2. Houston @ Washington.  Houston opened a lead in the second quarter and held off the Bullets whatever they're called.  Scola had 23, and Martin 21, but this time Houston had balanced scoring to better effect, with five in double figures, and got a desperately needed win.  Ariza and Lowry were both back and contributed.  Washington had balanced scoring, too, but they settled for balancing at too low of a level, I guess.
3. Utah @ Chicago.  Utah scored 28 or more in every quarter, and Chicago only kept pace through the first two before this turned into a blowout.  Deron Williams scored 28 with 17 assists, CJ Miles had 26 in 19 minutes, and the bruise brothers, Boozer and Millsap, each scored 16 with 10 and 9 rebounds respectively.  Rose had 25 with 13 assists for Utah, and Brad Miller scored 20, with 3-3 on 3 pointers, but when your starting center is making 3s, he probably isn't getting offensive rebounds.  Unfortunately, he wasn't getting defense rebounds, either, as Boozer had more rebounds than Chicago's starting front line combined, and Millsap had more offensive rebounds (6) than Hakim Warrick and Kirk Hinrich(!!!), who led Chicago in total rebounds.  Both teams shot 54%, and both were over 50% from 3, Utah at 12-20 and Chicago at 8-15.
4. Toronto @ L.A.  Too bad.

Ws are better than Ls.  We got one. 

Chasing Pack Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games

Sorted by difficulty, with road games against elite teams (top four in each conference) grouped together, then road games against playoff contenders, then home games against elites, home games against contenders, and road and home games against bottom feeders.  Second of back to back games in italics, opponents on the second of a back to back in bold, both teams on a back to back in both bold and italics.  The more games in the top part of the table, the tougher the schedule, the more white space up high the easier the schedule.

Teams Just Ahead Game by Game Table -- Remaining Games

Projections

1. L.A.  58.4 wins.   
2. Dallas.  55.5 wins (down from 55.8).
3. Denver.  53.5 wins (down from 53.8).
4. Utah.  53.2 wins (up from 52.3).
5. Phoenix.  50.9 wins (up from 50.4).  
6. OKC.  49.5 wins (down from 49.6).
7. S.A.  48.0 wins.
8. Portland.  47.5 wins (from 47.4).
9. Houston.  42.3 wins (up from 41.5 in 10th).
10. Memphis.  42.3 wins (up from 41.9, down from 9th).
11. N.O.  40.7 wins (down from 40.9).

Charlotte goes back to .500 and Chicago goes back below .500, so there are recategorizations again.  (Drives me crazy, I wish these teams would decide if they are going to be good or bad).  Most of the chances are technical ones due to recategorizations.  Utah gets a nice boost from the recategorization plus another from the win at Chicago, and is close behind Denver.  Houston catches Memphis, they are virtually even in the projections, but both still need a lot of help.

Tonight

1. N.J @ Dallas.  A Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for Dallas.  Perhaps Devin Harris, returning to his old haunts, can catch lightning in a bottle and the Nets can take one giant step towards escaping the record books.  Perhaps not.
2. Denver @ Minnesota.  A Cat 3 "Banana Peel" for the Nugs against a weak Minnesota team that has played a few teams tough recently, but has been on the losing end of the final score anyway.  Denver is only 6-5 on the road against losing teams, but the closeness of the playoff race will make sure this one gets their attention, as is the fact that they lost earlier this year in Denver to Minnesota.  Expect that record to go to 7-5, even if they are without Martin and Lawson, though last I heard Lawson was expecting to be back for this one.
3. Memphis @ Boston.  Well, Grizzlies, do you expect us to believe you still have a chance?  This would be a game to sway some unbelievers towards agnosticism, at least.  A Cat 4 "Rocky Road" at Boston is always a tough game, even though the Celtics have been struggling and lost a tough one by two at Milwaukee the night before.
4. N.O. @ OKC.  A Cat 4 "Rocky Road" for the Hornets, a Cat 2 "Jawbreaker" for the "Blunder".  N.O. is probably done, but perhaps they can do us a favor.  The Collison/Westbrook matchup will be one to watch, but I'm not sure who on that team is supposed to pretend to guard Durant.  In their last game, New Orleans didn't pretend to defend anyone, so maybe that isn't something to worry about.
5. NYK @ San Antonio.  The Spurs are 10-0 at home vs. losing teams.  This will make it 11-0.  I don't really see any way they lose this game.
6. Utah @ Detroit.  A Cat 3 "Banana Peel" back to back for the Jazz.  A few days ago, Houston played a back to back with the second game at Detroit, and lost.  I loved Dave Bing and Bob Lanier, but Bill Lamebeer earned for the Pistons my undying hatred.  I'm willing to set that aside for this one game, though.  I'm a forgiving kind of guy like that -- how noble can one person be? 

Memphis and New Orleans are likely to drop further behind, not much else happening, in all probability.