With Malice…

Nice. Hoping this would happen. Well… at least with regards to the Houston/Utah series. Given the Lakers play the Utah Jazz winner after the series concludes, the longer that series takes the better.

In today’s games:

• Who would’ve picked the Rockets to win in Utah (94-92), after they couldn’t come close in their own house? And who would’ve picked T-Mac to play like a winner after his whining post game 2? Certainly not me. I pretty much had this penciled in as a 4-0 sweep before the series began. Carl Landry had 11 points and blocked a Deron Williams shot that would’ve been key for the Jazz on the buzzer… sorry, who’s Carl Landry? I kid, I kid… but everyone stepped up for the Rockets tonight, who didn’t quite look as hapless as they’d been the past two games. Although his 20 points/5 assists don’t ring up as well as a Chris Paul statline, count me as thinking that Rafer Alston’s 1st game back was perhaps even more important than T-Mac’s performance.
• Finally… the Wiz look like they’d been telling us they would. A 108-72 point thrashing of the Cleveland LeBrons.
  At one point, the Wiz crowd were chanting ‘Over-rated’ - after DeShawn Stevenson called him that prior to the series beginning.
  It’s getting interesting tho’: James answered with “responding to that remark would be like Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy”… so who turned up to the game in support of the Wiz?
  Soulja Boy.
  LeBron good-naturedly laughed the whole situation off. When asked, he responded “There’s no DeShawn-LeBron rivalry…”  Still, I’m looking forward to game 4.  If the Wiz can give another loss out, the fragile mob that surrounds LeBron might just cascade inwards.
• TJ Ford & Jose Calderon handed Orlando a loss - the Rap-pack get a win at home, 108-94.  Dwight Howard still got his double/double (19/12), and finally Hedo Turkeyglueoglu finally found some range, but all for naught.  Only the Dwightmare’s dominance inside kept the Magic within striking distance.

In games tomorrow:

1. Detroit at Philadelphia - time for a reality check.  Are the Pistons going to make this into a series and lose another one?
2. New Orleans at Dallas - ok.  Are we down-and-done-in-Dallas, or are there a few miles on those old legs yet?  Been thoroughly unimpressed with the Mavs thus far, hoping they don’t just roll over and expose the underbelly in this game.
3. San Antonio at Phoenix - Phoenix are saying all the right things, but really wondering if the Spurs sense the blood in the water.  Whatever, should be one helluva game - both 1 & 2 were.  This one should be no different.  I like the Suns for this one.