Sched Ahead Daily Update, Games of 3/1

A horrible first half, a great third quarter, and enough to hold on, and a great road trip is capped by a win that buries one of the teams chasing us..

Yesterday's update.

Most recent weekly update, including game category definitions.

Yesterday's Games

"Sorting out" day as Portland sorts out Memphis and San Antonio sorts out New Orleans. 

1. Portland @ Memphis.  A nice run for the Grizzlies, but they won't be able to climb that hill.  4/12 games behind us, and we own the tie-breaker (they are 6 1/2 games behind in conference record).  If they can manage to win out this week, they might still make a run at the Spurs, but the likelihood that they catch us is very small.  Portland, on the other hand, looks far more likely to improve in the seedings than drop out of the playoffs right now, and the win sets us up for a good week.
2. Dallas @ Charlotte.  The Mavericks keep rolling, their eighth straight, as Nowitzki scores 27 with 13 rebounds and Butler added 22 points.  It was a very late arrival for Dallas after a late game in New Orleans the night before, but it didn't matter as they came back from a 10 point half time deficit by holding Charlotte to 31 points in the second half.  Dallas goes into the second spot in the West with the win.
3. S.A @ N.O.  Big win for the Spurs, as they grab a rare Cat 4 victory against one of the teams chasing for the last playoff spot.  George Hill scored 23 and held Darren Collison, who has been on fire, to 10.  Duncan had 22 and Parker 18, and the Spurs blew open the game in the third, withstood a big run at the end of the third, then put it away and won easily.  Collison did have 15 assists, and Marcus Thornton was 6-7 from deep on his way to 30 points.  San Antonio had 6 men in double figures, only 9 turnovers, and shot 50% on the road against a winning team -- the kind of performance you expect veteran teams to bring in a playoff push, and the reason you can't write them off yet.  New Orleans drop their fourth in five games, and that deficit keeps getting bigger....
4. Toronto @ Houston.  Bosh was out, Calderon was out, and Hedon't didn't in the second half, and Houston blew out a pathetic Toronto team, leading by 30 at the end of the third.  Jay Triano:  "Let's be a little bit realistic, three of our top four players are not playing.  I don't care who you're playing against, if three of your top four guys aren't out there and playing, you're going to have a hard time winning games."  Cry me a river, Jay.  If you expect your players to quit in those situations, they probably will.  You might contact Nate McMillan, who expected his players to compete earlier this year in San Antonio without Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Nicholas Batum, and Rudy Fernandez.  "Let's be a little bit realistic" indeed.  You just let Chuck Hayes get 8 assists.
5. Denver @ Phoenix.  Phoenix, led by Goran Dragic, Channing Frye, and Louis Amundson, outscored Denver 33-11 in the second quarter and never looked back, cruising to a win that knocked Denver out of the #2 spot in the conference.  Stoudemire, Nash, and Lopez sat out the entire second quarter because the reserves were so effective.  Denver scored 33 in the first quarter but only 52 the rest of the game, as the Phoenix defense turned to a zone that the Nuggets couldn't crack.  Chauncey Billups had 21, but Melo shot only 7-21 from the field (and 2-5 on FTs) for 17 points.  Phoenix had six men in double figures, led by Amare and Hill with 19 and Channing with 16.  For Denver, Birdman had his patellar tendinitis flare up and only played 7 minutes.
6. Utah @ LAC.  Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw know something their former teammates don't know -- what it feels like to beat the Utah Jazz this year.  The Clips blew out to a 17 lead with 6 1/2 minutes left, then barely held off a furious rally by the Jazz, as Ben Gordon scored 13 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter.  Gooden had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Kaman 18 and 14, and Baron Davis had 19 points and 12 assists.  For Utah, Carlos Boozer had 20 points, and Deron Williams had 13 points and 13 assists, shooting 5-15 after missing 8 of his first 9 shots, and missing two free throws with 16 seconds left that could have tied the game.

Big night for Dallas, Portland, and San Antonio, while Phoenix moves within a game of a top four spot and home court advantage in the playoffs.  There figures to be a lot of interesting games before this season is over.

Projections

1. L.A.  61.4 wins.   
2. Dallas.  54.2 wins (up from 54.1 in 3rd).
3. Denver.  53.3 wins (down from 54.1 in 2nd).
4. Utah.  51.2 wins (down from 52.1).
5. Phoenix.  50.9 wins (up from 50.4).  
6. OKC.  49.4 wins.
7. Portland.  47.5 wins (up from 46.8).
8. S.A.  47.2 wins (up from 46.1).
9. Houston.  42.6 wins (up from 41.9 in 10th).
10. N.O.  41.4 wins (down from 42.3 in 9th).
11. Memphis.  39.7 wins (down from 40.4).

For Memphis, they are in "we need a miracle" territory.  New Orleans is in "we didn't think we could hold on until CP3 came back, but we tried" territory.  Houston is in "we're doing better now, won't someone ahead of us please start losing?" territory.  Portland and San Antonio are playing like they want to end that race now and move up, Phoenix is climbing the standings, and Utah has lost two Cat 3 Banana Peels in a few days, and suddenly looks vulnerable again.  Meanwhile Dallas is on a tear, and looking like a true contender.

Tonight

1. Sacramento @ OKC.  A Cat 1 "Cream Puff" for the "Blunder", a matchup of OKC's young talent vs. Sacramento's young talent.  The Kings can be dangerous (ask Utah), but there is no reason OKC should lose this, especially since it is at home, though I'm not sure the "Blunder" has a good answer for Carl Landry inside, and if Sacramento's shooters get hot, who knows?  Jason Thompson is still out for Sacramento.
2. Indiana @ L.A.  Another Cat 1 "Cream Puff", this one for the L@kers.  There's even less reason to expect an upset in this one, but perhaps the Pacers can pull one off.  They play in Portland the next night, so hopefully it at least goes down to the wire.  How they are going to handle teams like the L@kers without Travis remains to be seen.

The likelihood that we get any help in these games is low, but there's a reason they play the games, and if we are going to catch OKC, we probably need them to drop a game or two that they should have won.  Might as well start tonight, as far as I'm concerned.

A quiet day for most Western contenders, before another full slate of key games tomorrow.  Our position is much stronger than it was at this time a week ago, with four more road wins in the bank, a balanced home/road schedule remaining, plenty of games against weaker competition, and a team that seems to be coming together after injuries and a key trade.  We don't look like a contender yet, we still don't seem able to hold a lead, but we definitely look like a playoff team, and one that is capable of doing some damage in the playoffs as well. 

There was a time when people were counting this team out, but no one can do that now, and we still don't really know how good this team can be.  Normally, if you said that about a team at this point in the season, it would mean something is wrong, because a team should come together and start to reach their potential by the all star break, at least, if not sooner.  But this has been Super Bizarro Year.  I wouldn't choose it to happen this way again, but it sure has been fun.