Bucks not giving up
Eastern Conference – THROUGHOUT the season, the eight franchises currently sitting in play-off positions have been touted as the ones to emerge from the conference at the end of the 66-game regular season. However, the one team that has been fighting to disrupt this balance is the Milwaukee Bucks and they are not far off from achieving these dreams.
Sitting gingerly in ninth place, the Bucks, who hold a 28-28 record (with a four-game winning streak as at Saturday), are dangerously-poised behind the New York Knicks with a 29-26 record and the Philadelphia 76ers with a 29-26 record.
The Knicks recorded a morale-boosting and play-off strengthening 100-99 overtime win over the league leaders, the Chicago Bulls. In Derrick Rose’s first game back after missing over 10, Carmelo Anthony came out the hero as he scored the three-pointer that send the game into overtime and the game-winning three-pointer as well, six of his 43 points on the day.
The Bulls are still leading the conference comfortably with a 43-14 record, but will now have to readjust to playing with the reigning league MVP back amongst their active roster. The Miami Heat joined the Bulls in the post-season during last week’s exploits but saw their home court invaded by a 97-82 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was only their third loss at home from 26 matches.
The Orlando Magic is experiencing a torrid time as a unit with key injuries and dressing room tensions looking to impact their play-off push. It was recently discovered that star man Dwight Howard and coach Stan van Gundy were not seeing eye-to-eye and now the NBA nation has began to speculate whether or not Superman will try to get him fired.
On the back of a three-game winning streak the Atlanta Hawks quietly ended the week with the best winning record of teams in play-off positions. Their run from the last 10 has seen them lose on just three occasions.
Timely change of tide
Western Conference – WITH an impressive 10-game winning streak as at Saturday, the San Antonio Spurs have climbed to the pinnacle of the conference, overtaking the Oklahoma City Thunder. Though one win behind, the Spurs with a 39-14 record hold a better overall percentage to that of the Thunder despite their record of 40-15.
Though their combined ages is close to 100, the ‘Big Three’ factor of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker continue to get the job done as the franchise looks to claim an NBA title early in the decade just as they did in the previous one, claiming a title in 2003.
After defeating teams such as the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, the Thunder have gone on a surprising three-game skid to close the week. Their last defeat of the week came against the Indiana Pacers, 103-98, with Danny Granger leading the way for the victors with 26 points while the two-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant amassed an impressive 44 points.
With Kobe Bryant missing his first game in almost two years, the Los Angeles Lakers lost their second consecutive game on Saturday against the Phoenix Suns 125-105. The loss has made the battle for third place in the conference even more interesting as they hold a 35-22 record, just above the 34-22 record of the Clippers who are on a two-game winning streak. The Grizzlies have also gone unbeaten in their last two encounters to improve their overall record to 32-23.
The play-off battle at the lower end of the conference continues to intensify as the Suns and the Utah Jazz who hold similar 29-27 records eagerly desire for slip-ups from the Denver Nuggets and the defending champions Dallas Mavericks who have respective 30-26 and 31-26 records.