Hornet hand Celtics another loss

The month of February proves to be a distraction for the Celtics, they now have lost a total of 11 games now, this time they lost to the young New Orleans Hornets club. The Hornets reel in a 93-85 win against the crumbling Celtics who hit a cold streak at the start of the 3rd quarter, New Orleans then took advantage by hitting a stunning 6 consecutive 3 pointers 3 of which were thanks to Stojakovic. But the stories of the night came from rookie point guard Darren Collison from UCLA who scored a team best 25 points 13 of which came late in the 4th quarter surging the Hornets past the Celtics and to hold on to the lead. Celtics Guard/Forward Marquise Daniels started in the place of Ray Allen who sat on the bench due to back spasms. This is Boston's 2nd loss in a week, previously losing to the Orlando Magic. The overall game was sloppy with a total of 47 or so turn overs with a shocking franchise high of 10 thanks to the Hornets leading scorer of the night Darren Collison. The Hornets who are missing Chris Paul are now at 3-4 for wins to losses and are proving to be a steady team which has a glimmer of hope of making the playoffs.

Three Way Trade?

With the February trade deadline coming soon the NBA has been buzzing with rumors of trades and speculations of who might be going where and why, but the only trade that has been for sure verified by the league and by the media is the one involving 3 teams, the Rockets, Wizards and the Knicks. The New York Knicks are interested in the Rockets on again off again guard forward Tracy McGrady while the Rockets are looking to acquire Caron Butler and Brenden Haywood from the Wizards while in return they are looking to shop for Al Harrington from the Knicks. The deal isn't exactly a dream work, the Wizards need to surrender some money and a draft pick plus 1 more player to make this trade work out, the way things go this might actually be the best trade for the Rockets because they would get rid of McGrady who has been plagued with injuries all year and because of his high salary cap space. It is not certain if this trade will happen but the frame work is all set up its just that a few more pieces need to come together in order for the deal to click.

Jazz slip on home floor

Sorry to say Utah fans but the Jazz slipped on their own home floor tonight, Derron Willams and the crew hosted a battered lakers team dealing with injuries to two of their stars, coming into the game the Jazz were riding a hot 9 game win streak and the Lakers chugging along with their 2 wins with out shooting guard Kobe Bryant. The Lakers looked towards their two bigs Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to do the heavy lifting on this night. The tandem duo did an effective job shutting down the lanes and plugging up the inside paint forcing the Jazz to low percentage shots on the perimeter. The Lakers get a nice 5 days of rest this week and then match up against the Golden State Warriors, Utah gets to rest for 5 days as well and matches up against the Huston Rockets on the 16th. LA goes to 3-0 with out their superstar and their center Andrew Bynum again, Kobes start in the All Star game has yet to be decided. Lakers go on to win this one 96-81.

Celtics loose the baby?

It seems that the February trade deadline has sent teams scurrying to pick up necessary depth to their teams roster in order to make a strong run at the playoffs, two teams that have much to gain from this February's crazy movement of players are the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats. Rumors are swirling about that not only are the Celtics looking to shop off star shooting guard Ray Allen, but Center Glen Davis as well and this time they are looking to the Bobcats to do so. Early this week the Bobcats were contacted by the Celtics concerning this idea of trading Glen Davis for Texas's once star point guard D.J. Augustine. The deal seems very lopsided seeing as that the Celtics loose a big man and the Bobcats get away with a unfair trade giving the Celtics D.J. who hasn't performed up to his expectations yet. This deal would also require a few Celtics players to be shifted over to the Bobcats but that doesn't seem likely to happen seeing as they don't want to loose any more players. Don't be surprised if you hear Ray Allen thrown into the discussion of sending the two of them to Charlotte for Augustine...though what are the chances of that?

Celtics loose sharpshooter?

Wed Feb 10th.

Rumor has it that the Celtics are looking to upgrade their line up this February, around the Celtics general managers office the phone has been ringing constantly for the past week or so with questions regarding the shooting guard Ray Allen. Allen who's contract expires this year is a likely piece that will be moved from the Celtics team in order to ease up space for the up coming NBA draft. With Allen comes a hefty price of 19.7 million dollars of salary but the Celtics are looking to shop Allen off for a younger more potent guard specifically Kevin Martin of the Kings. This move is highly unlikely because Martin has 3 years left on contract and has been a great leader in the Kings locker room. If Martin does go to the Celtics then its likely that the Kings will force Boston to take Andres Nocioni who has 2 years left with the Kings. This move would shock the league seeing as that the Celtics are trying to ease up cap space and most likely wont take Nocioni and his large salary.

Melo back in line up

Tuesday Feb. 9th

Melo is finally back in Denver's line up and it couldn't be at a better time. Anthony missed 8 games previous of this last one due to a sprained left ankle and returned Tuesday night against the struggling Dallas Mavericks. The all star scored 19 points in the span of 3 quarters proving to the league that he is rapidly getting healthier. His 19 points aided the Nuggest in their onslaught of the Mavericks who lost to Denver by 36 points. With Melo back the line up will start to see a shift in the game pace, though not as agile as the young guard Arron Afflalo whom is averaging a respectable 9 points a game, the team will soon see a more dominant force to be reckoned with inside the paint. It will be a slow process but Melo should be healthy either the week of the NBA all star game or after the all star game all in all Fantasy owners should be celebrating the return of the superstar.

Ellis Questionable

Feb 9th 2010:

The Golden State Warriors may be down a star, Monta Ellis sprained his left knee during the late 4th quarter of their game against Dallas on Monday night and might be a game time decision on Wednesday's game against the rolling Los-Angeles Clippers. The guard took an MRI on Tuesday he is at best a game time decision. with out him the Warriors are down a great shooting guard who is averaging 26.6 points a game but as it is they already have lost nine games in a row so the loss of their leading scorer might not even change the out come of the game.

USA National Team Roster Out

With the new year comes a new roster and new faces, the NBA has finally announced the latest roster for the USA national team for the 2010-2012 year. The team brings back 9 gold medalists from the Summer Games overseas in china and 12 new faces to bolster this new all star line up. The main attractions to this new team are the 9 gold medalists, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Carmello Anthony, Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. They all return to the roster after having won the US their 1st gold medal since the dream team back in the Jordan era. How ever not returning to the team this year is Jason Kidd, Tayshaun Prince and Micheal Redd, though they will be missed their counterparts are just as good, the new blood on the team are, Kevin Durrant, Derick Rose, Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom, Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Rudy Gay, Andre Iguodala, O.J. Mayo, Eric Gorden, Kendrick Perkins, LaMarcus Aldridge, Danny Granger, David Lee, Brook Lopez, and Gerald Wallace.

From what I can see in this line up there is a good distribution of speed and length as well as strength, speculating on who the coach might be I can see various opportunities to utilize the young talent waiting to prove themselves on this roster. There is a nice mix of veterans and rookies to this team that will definitely make an entertaining game to watch. These players are known for their explosiveness on offense and for their individual set skills, look to Kobe Bryant and the returning gold medalists to be the leaders of the team and to be taking a bulk load of the playing time. Overall I think that we should applaud David Stern with the selection of the roster, all we need now is a coach to lead this team...rumors do suggest that coach K will be back but we have yet to hear a confirmation from him.