This and That...
The NBA has seen two darling teams emerge this year: the Sonics and the Suns. The Suns, though, have been falling from favor as of late, tonight losing their fourth in a row to Detroit, 80-94. This game, like the three previous loses, was without assist leader and floor general Steve Nash, who'll remain sidelined until later this week with his bruised thigh. This losing streak exposes one of the Suns's main weaknesses: their lack of depth. Not much happening with their bench, which is one of the reasons why I can't see this team making a profound impact once the playoffs roll around.
Seattle is continuing to win, though, holding steady at a 75% winning percentage and leading their division by 8.5 games against the Timberwolves. Of course the deepest team, the one I picked at the start of the season to win it all, the San Antonio Spurs, are continuing to steadily win games, racking up a 31-9 record, second only to Phoenix's 31-8 record. The Spurs meet the Suns on Friday the 21st, and with any luck Nash will be back in the lineup. Assuming Nash is back to 100%, it should be an exciting and fun game.
Looking to the East, the Heat have been anything but hot lately, cooling off from their impressive 14 game winning streak that spanned from December 6th through January 1st. Since the new year, the Heat have played 8 games and won only half of them. All four loses came to Western Conference teams: Seattle twice, Phoenix, and the Clippers. They still lead the Eastern Conference by a handful of games and have some easy Ws coming up in the next couple of weeks with games against Atlanta twice, New Orleans, Philly, and Toronto. Their only real challenge over the next two weeks will be their game on Friday the 21st against the Pacers, the only +0.500 team they'll be facing in this upcoming stretch.
Finally, looking at my latest entry on the Ewing Theory and Kobe's absense from the Lakers is having mixed results. The Lakers won their first game without Kobe in a close one at Golden State, but just lost their second contest without Kobe in an 8 point loss to the Jazz. With any luck they'll pick up the remaining two home games this week: on Wednesday against the Timberwolves and on Friday against the Golden State Warriors.