the west? still fly.

you're so lucky to have three different blogger posts in the same day middle of the night.

didn't know how to do this cross out thing before...i'm an idiot.

studying for the finance final? not really...i've been thinking about this:

Western Conference
	W	L	PCT	GB	HM	RD	CONF	DIV	PF	PA	DIFF	STRK	L10
San Antonio	17	5	.773	-	12-0	5-5	12-5	5-2	100.5	93.1	+7.4	Lost 2	7-3
Phoenix	17	6	.739	½	7-3	10-3	6-4	3-2	110.0	104.7	+5.3	Won 1	6-4
Denver	14	8	.636	3	10-3	4-5	8-5	4-0	107.0	102.0	+5.0	Won 3	6-4
Dallas	15	9	.625	3	10-2	5-7	10-4	5-2	101.6	98.5	+3.2	Won 1	6-4
New Orleans	14	9	.609	3 ½	6-5	8-4	10-6	3-2	96.0	94.3	+1.7	Lost 2	5-5
LA Lakers	13	9	.591	4	8-4	5-5	10-5	2-1	106.9	102.5	+4.4	Lost 1	6-4
Golden State	13	10	.565	4 ½	7-5	6-5	7-6	4-2	109.0	106.9	+2.1	Won 1	7-3
Utah	13	11	.542	5	8-2	5-9	7-8	1-2	105.3	100.5	+4.8	Lost 6	3-7
Houston	12	11	.522	5 ½	6-3	6-8	8-8	2-4	94.3	93.2	+1.0	Won 1	6-4
Portland	11	12	.478	6 ½	9-3	2-9	8-6	2-1	94.6	97.6	-3.0	Won 6	6-4
LA Clippers	9	13	.409	8	4-7	5-6	5-6	2-2	94.5	98.1	-3.7	Won 1	3-7
Sacramento	9	13	.409	8	8-4	1-9	5-11	0-4	99.2	102.1	-2.9	Won 1	5-5
Seattle	7	17	.292	11	3-8	4-9	2-11	1-2	99.1	105.7	-6.6	Won 2	5-5
Memphis	6	16	.273	11	4-7	2-9	4-10	1-6	102.6	105.2	-2.6	Lost 6	3-7
Minnesota	3	18	.143	13 ½	2-9	1-9	3-10	0-3	92.8	101.3	-8.5	Lost 3	2-8

i dont care what people have to say about boston and orlando...that playoff picture right there is what's scary. any of the 8 teams making the playoffs in the west this year will not be able to get comfortable at any point in the post-season. and it's not even like there is a huge drop-off in talent after the first 8 teams. take note:

• houston is down there dickin' around, but if they can devise some kind of system where t-mac can play in a suit of armor and be around for the whole season, you know they'll be around come late april. the same kind of applies to yao too (in terms of injuries), who i'm proud to say has taken huge strides the past couple seasons in overcoming the natural passive-aggressive nature of mainland slanty-eyed folk.
• if the other LA team can stick around long enough until (if?) brand comes back, who knows what could happen? two years ago you saw what kind of guts they had (despite a coach who is iffy at times), and last year they just missed the playoffs (thanks in part to a spectacular run by...you know...), so if they can remain relevant come february or march (which, playing in this conference, may be a pretty tall order), that extra boost from brand my help them slip into that 8 spot. props to chis kaman so far this season after an uninspiring one last year. i guess he's trying his best to fill that void left by brand.
• on a side note, here's to hoping shaun livingston makes a strong comeback from his knee injury...he tore about 47 different ligaments his mcl, pcl, acl, and lateral meniscus in a horrific fall last march, and coming back from this, not just physically, but also mentally, will be tough to overcome. good luck dude.
• remember when sac-town was actually good? they were actually our rivals a few years back, as crazy as that sounds now. that said, when bibby (1/2 of the greatest duo of point guards who dont know what race they are. who's the second? you...most definitely...know.) comes back, they'll still be a moderate force to be reckoned with. don't laugh, but i think the starting lineup of artest, martin, miller (that fucker), bibby, and moore is pretty solid. we'll see how this goes when martin and bibby are at full strength.
• this one may be more of a long shot, but dont sleep on portland yet. they're currently riding a 6 game winning streak, beating utah (twice) and a still pretty hot golden state team (baron davis' clutch 3 to put away the game against the lakers...sick. baron davis in general...awesome player when not injured and/or fat. baron davis against the mavs...i dont wanna talk about it...). they've lost to a lot of crappy teams, but have also picked up a few wins against good teams (dallas, utah, gs, no, detroit). my boy lamarcus is holdin it down over there with roy, and i'm sure all the young folk are learning daily lessons from darius miles on how not to mess up your career (btw, he's still only 26! does he have the will to turn it around when he comes back from season-ending surgery? probably not...couldn't even find the will to get a consistent jumper...or just a jumper). they have a good, young team up there (along with their northwest buddies, seattle), and i'm excited to see what they got in-store the next few years. oh yeah...there's also some thing about some guy called oden...

i just spent a long time writing about 4 teams that aren't even in the playoff picture right now. i think that in itself is a testament to how strong the west is overall. sure, three of the above may end up being marginal teams at the end of the season, but they'll have at least some kind of shot.

i originally was going to write about boston and orlando, but i dont think i can push off studying any longer. more on those two later. but basically the east is still pretty abysmal. and i can't wait for the top two leastern conference teams to take a dip in the southwest. that'll be fun...we'll give them a little taste of how we do it in the western conference.

that will be all for now. good luck on the rest of your finals...god knows i'm gonna need some.

p.s. more on the mavs in the coming weeks. i am admittedly a little worried, but i think we'll get our feet under us in due time. however...dirk, we need you.