Had 1 of those dreams last night where I would have been scared out of my wits if I was a kid…actually, I’m man enough to admit that when I woke up I was still a little scared (as evidenced by me hiding my head under the covers for a few seconds). For some reason, I was staying at a motel with 2 guys from work is some random locale, which is odd because while business trips are not uncommon at my work I have never actually been on one. Anyway, I had that “Inception” feeling that I was in fact in a dream rather than reality, but it was still eerie to look out my motel room window to see 3 dudes wielding big, big guns and asking a hotel worker questions. Next thing I knew, bullets were flying through the room, and I was hightailing it out the back door and through some neighboring woods. I assume I had to live “Man Vs. Wild” style for a while until I got in touch with the authorities, but that’s around the time I woke up. I’m never sure whether dreams like this are stress-induced or just the leftover dribblings of the brain (maybe due to Krissy making me watch too many slasher movies lately or something), but my 1st conscious thought after waking was, “How’s my hand?” The answer: very sore…I had tried to do chest at the gym yesterday, and apparently the required grip strength needed to perform most of those exercises was enough to cause my hand/finger to really stiffen up again overnight. I was hoping that it had progressed to the point that I should start forcing myself to use it as I normally would again…not just lifting, but using that hand to open doors and water bottles, etc. Turns out it may have not been the best approach just yet. I still don’t think it’s broken, but I’m disappointed that it hasn’t progressed further by now. If it feels like this tomorrow, I should be able to deal with the pain enough to play, but I would rather it feel at least a little better than this, so maybe a day of strict R&R will do me some good. And if it doesn’t feel any better by the end of the weekend, a trip to the doctor for an x-ray just to be safe might be in order too…boo.
Other notes…day 1 of the NCAA tournament started off promising in terms of my bracket (emphasis on “started). I think I picked the 1st 7 games of the day correctly, but then stumbled to an 11-5 record overall. Mediocre, but such is life in filling out an NCAA bracket. Just to rub it in, Krissy was 14-2 for the day. Alright, on to the weekly NBA power rankings.
1. Chicago Bulls (PR=1, 36-9)…Chicago is probably justified in standing pat as the trade deadline passed. As they proved again in Wednesday’s win over Miami, this team is more than just the reigning MVP. D-Rose has now missed 11 games so far this year due to injury, and the Bulls are an impressive 8-3 in his absence.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder (PR=2, 33-10)…In the midst of the happenings of the Bulls, Heat, and Knicks as well as the start of March Madness, OKC’s less than stellar week was kind of lost in the shuffle. The combination of Miami’s rough patch and their 4 game cushion over San Antonio served as a nice buffer for that number 2 spot though.
3. Miami Heat (PR=3, 31-11)…Didn’t I say this was going to be a tough week for the Heatles? Tough to kill Miami too much losing for losing back-to-back road games against the 2 other best teams in the East (even if Chicago wasn’t at full strength)…interested to see if they bounce back in Philly tonight and with a home date with the Magic on Sunday.
4. San Antonio Spurs (PR=4, 28-13)…With Miami and OKC stumbling last week, San Antonio probably had a chance to at least move up 1 spot, but their home loss to the Clippers canceled out that possibility. So, we’re back to no movement among the top 4.
5. [Tie] Los Angeles Lakers (PR=Not Ranked, 27-16) and Orlando Magic (PR=Not Ranked, 28-16)…While Orlando visited the top 5 briefly once before, this is LA’s 1st appearance. The Lakers went 4-0 last week against weaker competition, and the Magic went 3-1 with impressive wins over Chicago, Indy, and Miami. Both find themselves with the 3rd best record in their respective conferences after slow starts, and despite being fringe top 5 teams all year both made good trade deadline decisions. The Lakers got younger and more athletic in their backcourt with Ramon Sessions, and the Magic finally got the Dwight Howard saga off their collective back (for another year at least), which put the team’s mind at east for the rest of the season. Plus, Orlando’s quirky Dwight-and-4-shooters offense is starting to look eerily like that of the team that went to the Finals 2 years ago.
No change to the bottom 5 at all, so they are hardly worth providing any type of descriptive analysis. It’s depressing to write about these teams in great detail every week as it is. The only thing I will say is that my Wizards did pull off what I think is a good deadline trade for them. They rid themselves of 2 of their 3 knuckleheads (Nick Young and JaVale McGee), and they got a proven post player (Nene) who they sort of went after last offseason anyway when he was a free agent. So what if he’s aging, battled injuries, and underperformed so far this year…if he can stay on the court, I personally like his game, and honestly I would have taken back a ham sandwich if it meant I could unload Young, McGee, their 3rd knucklehead (Andray Blatche), or contract albatross Rashard Lewis…2 out of 4 ain’t bad.
26. Toronto Raptors (PR=26, 14-29)
27. Sacramento Kings (PR=27, 14-29)
28. Washington Wizards (PR=28, 10-32)
29. New Orleans Hornets (PR=29, 10-34)
30. Charlotte Bobcats (PR=30, 6-36)
Rising: Milwaukee (won 4 in a row, and are currently 8th in the East)
Falling [still]: LA Clippers and New York
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