NBA notes Feb. 26, 2008

HOUSTON ROCKETS
The Rockets season is officially over. It walked out the door and is heading for the surgical table. Houston survived tonight against a hapless Wizards team that everyone seems to be beating lately. But the Western Conference is historically competitive this year and something like losing your franchise all-star center easily crosses that slim margin for error. Yao can come back from this injury next year, but it is a foot injury and those tend to linger for awhile. Big Z in Cleveland dealt with foot injuries and missed a lot of time and also Bill Walton’s NBA career was largely enigmatic because of foot injuries. He apparently is going to be able to play this summer in the Olympics though. Tough to blame him for wanting to play in his home country for the national team, but the thing he will need to do in August is rest. If Yao plays this summer, the Rockets are probably going to have to severely limit his minutes next year in November and December. NBA players have long complained about burnout when they play for Team USA during the summer, especially if playing for that Olympic team comes just a few weeks after playing for an NBA title.

ORLANDO MAGIC
With Boston sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference and Detroit playing well as well as Cleveland looking like they’re trying to make their team better. The Magic are starting to look at themselves and wonder if they have a legitimate shot at the title even though it is sitting third in the Eastern Conference. One good reason to gauge the team’s confidence heading into the end of the season is the play of their own big free agent acquisition Rashard Lewis. The story in the Sentinel says today that his numbers are down from last season. But the team is winning and it’s normal when big name players go to championship teams that their numbers go down. That’s the sign of a good team. People share the ball. The only thing that might concern the Magic at this point is that they he hasn’t taken over the game with a Kobe-like effort. Also, he’s playing out of position at power forward. The Magic have two small forwards right now and they’re both effective. That’s going to be a problem. It will be clear in the playoffs this year that the Magic still need an enforcer.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
A win against the Orlando Magic tomorrow night just got a little bit more improbable. The Inquirer is reporting today that Samuel Dalembert is nursing injury. Dalembert is underrated as a defensive player. He’s the one player in the front court that the 76ers can’t afford to lose. He might not light it up offensively, but as a shot-blocker and a presence in the paint, he’s pretty solid. They’ll need him against the Magic.

DALLAS MAVERICKS
Dallas picked up Jamal Magloire, who sat the bench in New Jersey. He’s expected to give Dallas another big man since they lost Diop in the trade that brought over Kidd. New Jersey, even though they struggled to find a big man that could play, still were willing to ship of Magloire because he wasn’t worth the playing time. Magloire has been an all-star. Diop played significant minutes for the Mavericks so if Magloire doesn’t have anything left, the Mavericks could still be looking for a big man. But one thing, at least, Magloire brings is six fouls.

DETROIT PISTONS
Sure George Karl missed the game last night, but the important thing for the Pistons in that win was that it was in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back. That’s a combination that has been brutal for opponents in that franchises’ history. To make that an even more important game for Denver, they were in the night spot in the Western Conference and had just had back to back losses in Milwaukee and Chicago. They came home wanted to right the ship and stay competitive in the West, but couldn’t get it done.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
The Hornets are saying the Peterson is banged up at shooting guard and Bonzi Wells is also not 100 percent. The Hornets have to get something out of their shooting guard position. It seems like one place where they are not happy. All of the other starters on the floor have already earned a reputation for having solid seasons. Peterson is averaging around nine points per game and Wells came in already averaging more than that as a bench player for the Rockets.

NEW YORK KNICKS
Frank Isola got Hall of Fame guard Earl Monroe’s opinion on the Knicks’ season and it was, as expected, a less that glowing review. The only real nugget of insight that I took from the story as far as the Knicks were concerned was them inconsistency in the Knicks’ style of play. They started the season as a half court team that wanted to pound the ball down low, and now they try to use an up-tempo pace. They have landed two free agent big men in the past three years and they even start the game together, but the Knicks want to run. They have big men, but are a guard-oriented team with a guard-oriented coach.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
The pressure has been taken off the Warriors a little. With the Rockets surging, the Warriors were in a battle to hold onto the eighth playoff spot ahead of No. 9 Denver. Houston was pulling away at No. 7, but now that Yao Ming is done for the rest of the year, there’s no way the Rockets will be able to continue their marathon winning streak -- which currently stands at 12 games. Now the Warriors will have more room to develop rookie Brendan Wright over the next two weeks until Biedrins can return from an appendectomy. Wright practiced with the starters today, but he won’t start because the Webber can’t sit down between the pre-game warm-up and the opening tip or he’ll lock up.

CHICAGO BULLS
What happened to Luol Deng. He just cracked the starting rotation against Dallas on Monday. He was a player that people were comparing to Tayshaun Prince and he was considered one of the Bulls’ franchise players because of his all-around game. It is a crowded frontcourt with Gooden, Thomas and Noah each needing minutes, but Deng should be starting no matter what. Gooden, Noah and Thomas should be fighting for those other two spots. With Boylan also admitting that he’s experimenting with using Gordon and Hughes in the backcourt, it’s obvious that the Bulls are in the evaluation process. Deng, though, should not be thrown onto the scrap heap.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS
Sam Cassell apparently wants to leave the Clippers and Boston figures to be one of the top suitors out there. Cassell is a nice player, but he’s not what he used to be and I think people fall in love with what he’s done in past years. His resurgence with the Clippers and his molding of Shaun Livingston has always looked like his final challenge as an NBA player. Should Cassell go to Boston, he better be happy sitting on the bench at tip-off. Cassell would be nice as a player that can come in as an insurance policy, but I can’t see him coming in and leading this team the way that Dallas expects of Kidd. Cassell has two rings, but he was a role player. Will he be happy to come in there and play a lesser role on a team with teammates he once considered himself equals with? That is Garnett, who he played with in Minnesota -- getting to a Western Conference final -- and Ray Allen, who he played with in Milwaukee and played in an Eastern Conference final.

NEW JERSEY NETS
The Nets are in a strange situation in that they are complete garbage and just traded away their best player, but yet they’re still in the playoff race -- seeded seventh right now. They should be playing out the string right now, but the bottom of the Eastern Conference is worse than garbage. The story today was how Carter and Jefferson -- once thought to have “redundant” games -- would now each have to be more productive than before…well, no shit. The real question is how are they going to do that? When is Harris going to finally play. Maybe Carter and Jefferson won’t have to do as much as they originally thought they would have to do.