Glimpses?

               Ahhh, yes!  Christmas brought all tidings and good cheer.  Hope everyone was spoiled!  The NBA fan was delighted on Christmas day with five games.  It was hard to juggle the games, family, and food.  I caught a bit of three games. 

                Boston stomped on Brooklyn winning with ease.  Boston has looked legit for moments this year.  Unfortunately, due to age Pierce and Garnett can’t perform at a high level.  Rondo has not had the MVP type season I thought he would.  Green has had spurts of great ball but consistency is an issue.  The wait for Avery Bradley might be over soon.  Hopefully, he can a la Eric Bledsoe infuse some energy in this team.  Brooklyn has struggled of late.  Deron Williams is whining about something seemingly everyday.  Humphries is in the doghouse for poor defense.  Things are falling apart with the Nets.  It is not a surprise given the roster’s weakness in character and defense. 

                The Lakers are back!  At least for one day, they beat the Knicks.  With Nash’s return the taste of what could be with Los Angeles is enthralling.  The bigs rolling to the hoop with a driving Nash is classic basketball.  Kobe is still gonna get his.  Artest has been a competent shooter this season.  However, given the age issues the Lakers can’t seem to sustain or string victories together.  Witness: last nights loss in Denver.  The Knicks continued their impressive play.  At this point Melo has to be the MVP of the season.  Amare should be back soon.  We all have been waiting for Knickerbockers to crumble.  Amare should tilt the chemistry a bit but will the other vets (Kidd, Thomas, Camby) allow it to get out of hand?  Mike Woodson seems to be a good coach.  Remember this turnaround started last season when he replaced D’antoni. 

                JR Smith’s game winner versus Phoenix last night was money.  Talk about living up to your potential and turning around a career.  If it were not for Crawford on the Clippers Smith would be the runaway leader for the 6^th man. 

                Toronto lost last night to San Antonio snapping a five game win streak.  5 games in a row!  It was great to see the Raps turn it around for a spell.  Of course the run came with the two most selfish Dinos out with injuries.(Bargnani and Lowry)  The ball zipped around during  the streak and the extra pass to an open teammate became commonplace.  Ed Davis seems to have a place in the league.  Terrence Ross has shown flashes of brilliance in addition to being a ridiculous in game dunker.  Calderon has improved his trade value.  Alan Anderson is a solid pro.  Unfortunately the Lithuanian rookie center is out for a bit with hand issues but this will only give Ed Davis more minutes to show his wares.  Colangelo in all of this has probably been given a reprieve by the owners, too bad, he and Bargnani need to be gone for the franchise to turn around. 

East Powers

1.        Miami- Ugh begrudgingly!  Title hangover.

2.       New York- Issues ahead?

3.       Atlanta- Sneaky good. 

The rest of the mess-  Bos, Chi, Ind, Phi, Brok, Mil

West Powers

1.       OKC- Undisputed in the West

2.       LAC- Is this deep team for real?  14 in a row.

3.       San Anonio- Hail to Popovich

The rest of the mess- Memph, GS, Den, Utah, LAL, Min, Hou, Dal

The last ¾ of the season in the East ans West is going to be extraordinary.  Who will make the runs? And who is gonna fall off.  Solid hoops ahead! 

Are the Celtics and Lakers capable of contending this year?  Or are the recent flashes of brilliance from the squads just isolated events?  Experience has to count for something.  Look for these two teams to make runs for the rest of the season and have us all far too optimistic heading into the playoffs.