Bumps And Bruises, Must-Sees, Terps Season Wrap-Up & RG3

My feelings about being productive at work today are kind of “meh,” so sue me…actually, please don’t sue me. I could really use the money. Anyway, let’s get to some news and notes from the weekend, shall we?

- This weekend was not a good couple days for me injury-wise. Without getting to the how, where, and why, I’ll at least give you the what: fat upper lip, bruised knee, sprained left index finger, sprained right wrist, bruised left elbow, bruised left hip (all sports-related by the way)…I guess that’s the cost of doing business, so I don’t expect anyone to shed a tear for me, but at least nothing seems broken (I don’t think). Give me a couple more days, and I should be good to go.

- 2 things that Krissy and I watched this weekend that are from completely different ends of the spectrum but both highly recommended by us: ESPN’s Magic Johnson documentary “The Announcement” and the Zoe Saldana flick “Columbiana.”

Not a bad movie pick by the ol' hubby if I do say so myself.

- Mark Turgeon’s 1st season as head honcho of Maryland’s men’s basketball team ended in the 2nd round of the ACC tourney on Friday, as the Terps probably had no chance of making the NCAA’s aside from winning their conference tournament. They finished the year 17-15 overall (6-10 in the conference), and the only 2 tournament teams they beat all year were Colorado and Notre Dame. Hell, the Terps didn’t even get an NIT invite, so it might have been the worst Maryland basketball season that I’ve ever witnessed…and yet, the notion that it was a successful 1st season for Turgeon might be true at the same time. Looking at the roster going into the year, I thought this could be a truly awful team, the kind that only wins 2 or 3 conference games and finishes well below 0.500 overall. Their best player from the year before, Jordan Williams, stupidly entered the NBA draft. He would have been a junior this year, and undoubtedly their best player. He’s limited overall, but to me he resembles a poor man’s Jared Sullinger, and he most likely would have been All-ACC this year had he stayed in school. When Gary Williams abruptly announced his retirement last spring, Hauk Palsson (who probably would’ve started at 1 of the forward positions had he stayed for this season) decided to bolt, and 3 recruits chose to jump ship when they heard the news as well. Those were some pretty big handicaps for Turgeon to overcome right off the bat. Add to that the fact that starting point guard Pe’Shon Howard missed early parts of the season recovering from a broken foot and the end of the year after tearing an ACL in practice, and you would think this team would have 2-14 in league play written all over it…but Turgeon seemed to be able to piece together a team that was at least competitive in a year they probably shouldn’t have been. Next year, the Terps will return all the key components of this team sans senior Sean Mosely. If Howard can make a full recovery, Terrell Stoglin can eliminate 2 or 3 (or 5) bad shots per game, and Nick Faust can make the traditional leap from his freshman to sophomore year, the Terps should have a pretty decent backcourt. The development of their 2 frosh bigs should be interesting as well. Alex Len got pushed around too much at times, and Ashton Pankey seemed somewhat rusty (he had been injured his senior year in high school and redshirted last year), but it’s conceivable that both could make a decent leap in their respective sophomore seasons as well. On top of that, Turgeon is supposed to have a pretty strong recruiting class coming in. All in all, I’m definitely buying the Terps as a team on the rise next season.

- While I might be all-in on the 2012-2013 Terps, I can’t say that for my woeful Redskins. Over the weekend, news surfaced that the Skins were going to make a blockbuster trade with the Rams in order to acquire their number 2 pick in this year’s upcoming draft. The Skins swapped this year’s 1st rounder with St. Louis’ pick, and then gave the Rams 2 additional 1st rounders and a 2nd round pick as well to presumably select Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. There are 2 schools of thought here. The 1st is that you have to have a franchise quarterback to win in the NFL, and if RG3 is viewed as that guy by the Redskins brass, you have to go get him. If he’s a bust, well, you were probably going to stink while you played “journeyman quarterback-X” over the next couple of years anyway. Peyton Manning didn’t seem to have any interest in coming to DC, and you couldn’t go into next year with Rex Grossman, John Beck, or even someone like Kyle Orton as your number 1 guy. The 2nd school of thought is the 1 that I’m leaning towards, and that is that you basically just traded away 4 starters for 1. 1st and 2nd rounders are expected to at least start and possess the potential to be All-Pros when they’re drafted. Statistically, it’s about a 50-50 proposition that a quarterback drafted in the top 5 picks will be a bust, so Robert Griffin and Andrew Luck better take a good hard look at each other because 1 of them might be your local insurance salesman in 5 to 10 years. The keeper of the 2 could very well be Griffin, who by all accounts is a beast, a freak of an athlete, and is bursting with charisma and smarts to boot, but who’s to say for sure? Anyone that says the Skins had to make this move regardless of whether RG3 flops or not because they were going to stink without him anyway should take a second to think about that. The Skins have drafted pretty well in Mike Shanahan’s 2 years in Washington. I held my breath every time Rex Grossman dropped back to pass as much as the next diehard Redskins fan last year, but if you’re saying Grossman couldn’t have had a slightly better record last year with a solid right tackle, a stud receiver, or a lock down corner on the other side of the ball you would be out of your mind. The Chicago Bears somehow made it to the (and probably should have won) the Super Bowl with Grossman at the helm several years ago. They probably got there in spite of Rex on some level, but it showed it’s still possible. Now, the crapshoot nature of the draft says that those 4 picks they swapped away for the 1 they got back are all just as likely to be busts as Griffin is, and quarterbacks drive the bus in the NFL, so why not take a chance on a QB you think could be the man for the next 10 years? All true, but the Skins mortgaged their draft future on him, and they are stupidly being penalized about $36 million in cap space over the next 2 years by the league for the contracts they signed in the un-capped season as well, so don’t expect Washington to be able to bring in a whole lot in the way of reinforcements for Griffin over the next couple of years either. RG3 better be every bit as fast as he looked at Baylor and when he ran in tights at the combine, because he might be running for his life next year. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but, lifelong Redskins fan that I am, I naturally fear the worst.

RG3 looks like the real deal...he better be.

To Beard Or Not To Beard And Week 6 Of The NBA Power Rankings

I consider facial hair my 1 area of expertise. If the proficiency by which one can grow a beard could somehow be worked into a money-making endeavor, I would be a very rich man. When I was younger, I tried out probably every conceivable facial hair style. Usually after a week or so I would get bored with that particular look (or the upkeep of it at least), shave it off, and then start all over again. For several years spanning parts of high school and college, this was my thing. That phase pretty much ended when I met Krissy though…girls have a way of ending those kinds of phases one way or another. She liked my face mostly clean shaven, but she found a week’s worth of lazy, unshaven scruffiness to her liking as well. Consequently, I haven’t tried out many beard variations in the 5-plus years I have known her. It’s probably for the best. I definitely can rock a mean looking beard, but I usually prefer myself sans facial hair also. I’m kind of like the tall kid that is pushed into basketball his whole life when all he really wants to do is play the tuba…or something. It’s not that he doesn’t like basketball; it’s just not his passion. Anyway, a week or 2 ago we were with my family, and the conversation turned to baby-making. It was brought up that my Dad rocked a “pregnancy beard” when my Mom was carrying my siblings and I around. I guess it’s akin to the “playoff beard” you see hockey players sport every year, where they don’t shave until they win the Stanley Cup (or are eliminated). This idea appealed to me as well, so that was kind of the genesis for me growing out a full beard over the past week and a half. The problem is that Krissy hates it…well, she doesn’t “hate” it, but she hates the fact that I trim up some of the neck hair portion. She likes it “au naturale” or nothing at all. For me, king of all bearded people, this is not going to work out well. I am a hairy dude, and without any man-scaping my facial hair goes basically from my chest hair almost all the way to my eyebrows…not really a great look for me. I’m really only a step away from being 1 of those “ape people” you see on National Geographic who are shunned from society and have to live out in huts in the woods or whatever. I guess I could just say, “Mind your business, woman,” and keep the beard, but being that she’s my wife, she does control my access to the “fun zone”…yep, definitely going to shave it as soon as I get home from work…on to this week’s power rankings. This week, we have the most movement in the rankings to date, as things finally got shaken up in our top 3, and we have some new blood in the rankings as well. Here we go…

D-Rose and the Bulls have gone streaking.

1. Chicago Bulls (PR=3, 33-8)…As the only team in the top 4 without a blemish last week, it was only right to bump them to the top spot. With Rip ineffective and now injured again, they still have the same ol’ shooting guard woes, but a healthy D-Rose and a suffocating D should be good enough to carry them (especially in this wacky lockout-shortened year). Tough to argue with 8 straight W’s and a 15-2 record since February 1st too.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (PR=2, 31-8)…6 weeks of power rankings, 6 weeks of being ranked 2nd for OKC, as Chicago leapfrogged them this week. A loss in Atlanta was the only thing keeping them from jumping to number 1, but don’t cry too much for the Thunder. They have won 14 straight at home, which is where they play 8 of their next 10.

3. Miami Heat (PR=1, 30-9)…After 5 weeks at number 1, it was only a matter of time before the Heat stumbled a little. And while it was fun seeing LeBron play more power forward, Bosh’s absence really showed his worth to the team, as Miami’s biggest weakness may be their lack of quality bigs. A combination of Joel Anthony and Juwan Howard is not going to get it done. Also, take note of this tough stretch coming up for Miami: Indy, at Orlando, at Chicago, and at Philly.

4. San Antonio Spurs (PR=4, 26-12)…Another ho-hum week for the Spurs. Tony Parker continues to play out of his mind though, averaging 21 points and 6.5 assists per game since the break, all while shooting 55% from the floor.

5. Memphis Grizzlies (PR=Not Ranked, 23-15)…The number 5 spot continues to be a revolving door, but Memphis seems to finally be taking that step forward many thought they would after last year’s playoff run, and Z-Bo’s return looms as well.

Jimmer's 1st year in the pros hasn't been all smiles.

26. Toronto Raptors (PR=27, 13-26)…Went 2-2 last week, but next week could be make-or-break for them in terms of the power rankings, as they play 3 teams (Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland) who’s record is not much better than their own, and 1 team (NJ) that’s just below them. Toronto, you control your own destiny.

27. Sacramento Kings (PR=Not Ranked, 13-26)…With Toronto, New Jersey, and Detroit all around 0.500 in their last 10 games in the East, it’s time to give some love to the next stinkiest Western Conference team. Ended a 4 game losing streak by (barely) beating fellow woeful West team New Orleans, but this team is a mess overall.

28. Washington Wizards (PR=29, 9-29)…The Wiz jump a spot after an up-and-down 2-1 week: a win on the road against the Cavs, followed by a Golden State drubbing on their home court, and then finishing up with a win against the Lakers. As bad as Washington’s been, they boast 2 of the 3 (more on that in a sec) most unlikely W’s of the season (last night’s win and their January win against OKC).

29. New Orleans Hornets (PR=28, 9-30)…So much for my “what if New Orleans played in the East” argument. Losers of 3 in a row and 5 of 6, the Hornets seem to be destined to finish right above the Bobcats in the standings. Can someone buy this team already?

30. Charlotte Bobcats (PR=30, 5-32)…Charlotte had what will probably be their best win of the season against Orlando, but it just goes to show how firm their hold on the bottom spot really is.

Rising: Minnesota (3 in a row, 7 of 10, and it hurts me to say it being a Blake fan, but Kevin Love is the best power forward in the game right now)

Falling: New York (lost 3 in a row and the league seems to be up to speed on them now), Milwaukee/Cleveland (getting closer and closer to bottom 5 territory every week), and LA (both the Clippers and Lakers aren’t the same team away from Staples)

Freestyle: Picking Movies Is A Game...And We Got Played

Obviously, anytime you sit down to watch a movie, you want it to be a “good” movie, but unfortunately everyone can’t be a winner in life. There are some really shitty movies out there. Have you ever just gone on Netflix or iTunes and browsed through movies? I know I speak of MySpace as a virtual wasteland, but there are sectors or quadrants of online movie rental databases that are right up there with it on the worthless-piece-of-garbage scale…just tons of insanely bad movies that you’ve never even heard of, never seen a single trailer or commercial for, that never would have even existed in your consciousness if it wasn’t for something like Netflix. Fortunately though, the next best kind of movie after a good movie is a dreadfully awful one. Watching a mediocre movie can be painfully boring…awful movies are at least filled with unintentional comedy and moments that you can turn to the person watching it with you and say, “What the hell just happened?”

Rewind to Saturday night, when our DVR queue was blank, and there weren’t any college or pro basketball games on that were really worth watching. Krissy logged on to her older brother’s Netflix account (hooray, free movies!) and began searching for something (anything), but the cupboard seemed pretty bare there too. Finally, we found ourselves looking at a still-shot and description of something called “Freestyle.” I made the unfortunate mistake of noticing that in part of the description it said something like, “If you liked Step Up, then you will love Freestyle.” Krissy of course loved the original “Step Up,” so that was enough for her to at least check it out right there, but the movie cover also appeared to somehow incorporate basketball into the plot, which made us even more curious.

Looks suspiciously bad, but how can you turn down new music by Toddla T and Lethal Bizzle?

Before the movie even started, I figured we were in for a night of bad movie watching, but I noticed something about London in the opening screen where the production company is being shown, which made me wonder, “Wait…is this a British movie?” Sure enough, the opening scene shows a 3-on-3 streetball game, and the trash talking includes words like "rubbish" and "cheerio"...ok, I made the 2nd part up, but this definitely appeared to be a "hardcore" game of "streetball" on the mean streets of London. (I'm sure there actually are mean streets of London, but it still made for a funny scenario.)

Anyway, to say the whole movie was a farce would be putting it nicely, but I somehow found it weirdly fascinating. The acting and the plot were terrible and ludicrous, respectively, and there were plenty of those "Wait, what?" moments I was describing before. The movie is centered around a from-different-sides-of-the-tracks love story. The guy is the poor, thug streetballer. The girl is a gymnast who is going to Oxford. They made mention of her being a gymnast like twice the entire movie, and yet in the climactic freestyle tournament (more on that later), the guy uses some kind of like gymnastics handstand dismount move as like his show-stopper. It's supposed to be tribute to the girl and an infusion of one style into another and blah blah...except there were basically no gymnastics throughout the whole movie, so why do I care? There was also the prototypical rape scene where one of the male lead's boys tries to have his way with the girl lead after she gets over-served at a house party. She eventually got away in time thanks to a stiff kick to the groin, but then her love interest (who had been looking for her all over town) finds her as she walks outside. When the attempted date-rapist walks outside moments later, our hero slugs the guy in the face...sounds great, except he had no idea about any sexual assault or anything, so he basically punched his boy in the face for no reason whatsoever...nice job, "Freestyle."

Aside from the typical plot holes in a bad movie, most of "Freestyle's" entertainment stemmed from the "freestyling" that the movie was based around. There were at least a dozen aspects that made me say to myself at one point or another, "Is this what British people think of when they think of basketball?" The freestyle competition is nothing more than a glorified dance contest. There is some random dribbling or spinning the ball on your fingers, but it was mostly like watching some type of combination of dance and rhythmic gymnastics, where the participant uses a ball or a ribbon or whatever as a prop. Heck, in the female lead's freestyle routine, she laid the ball on the ground the majority of the time while she just writhed her body around it. It was all very strange to watch, as even the wildest And 1 Mixtape players would agree that saying this had anything to do with basketball would be a stretch. (The dancing itself was weak at best as well.)

There were also a bunch of other elements that you couldn't help laughing at and saying, "Oh Britain, you slay me." For example, Luol Deng is the idol to these guys. Ok, fringe All-Star who I believe has some UK ties...I get that, but I don't think Deng gets much recognition as a streetball legend or anything. I might have missed that part of the Luol Deng story...but really, of all people, Luol Deng? Another thing was that the ballers' dresscode on the court was comical. They looked like they were more likely to be in a Paul Wall music video than do anything basketball-related. Also, our rapist-to-be wears nothing but brightly colored matching jumpsuits (not to mention a gold pinky ring), and I assure you that his wardrobe choice is not intended to be ironic. Best of all though, in the final scene referenced above, our male lead dons an away-blue Gilbert Arenas Wizards jersey...classic, just classic. Unbelievably, "Freestyle" was rated with 3/5 stars on Netflix (1.9 out of 10 on IMDB though). In terms of watchability, it's pretty cringe-worthy overall. The acting, the "basketball," the plot...I'm not going to lie, it's all pretty horrendous, but that's also why I think it deserves someone trying to start an underground cult-following for it. If not me, then who? So, if you ever have an hour and a half to kill and want to see some truly awful movie-making and butchering of basketball culture, "Freestyle" is your go-to. Let's get this thing going, everybody. See the trailer below...

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (Where Nothing Happens) And Weekly NBA Power Rankings

I’m not going to speak on All-Star weekend very much here. Despite it being a glorified pickup/exhibition game with little intensity or defense (until the last 2 or 3 minutes), it’s still probably the most fun to watch of all the major sports’ all-star games. Can we agree that the dunk contest is officially lame though? It’s basically devolved into a 30 minute circus act of guys jumping over people and objects of various heights while changing jerseys several times in between. Just about everything that could be done seems to have been done, and aside from the occasional year where a Vince Carter, Dwight Howard, or Blake Griffin participates there’s little to no star power either. You can make the argument that the best dunkers in the league are not necessarily the best players if you want, and there are guys like this year’s winner, Utah benchwarmer Jeremy Evans, who are probably up there with other more household names who have in-game throwdowns regularly, but I’m not really buying it. These guys are the outliers, the exception to the rule in my opinion. Evans’ 2 ball, jumping over teammate Gordon Hayward, alleyoop was pretty cool. It took tremendous athleticism and skill, and I had never seen anything like it to be honest, but it didn’t exactly get me hyped. It was a parlor trick. It reminded me more of the weird guys you see at halftime shows who can spin 5 basketballs at once on their head, hands, and feet (or whatever) than a dunk contest clinching jam. And yes, maybe everything that is possible has already been done (thus the seemingly never ending parade of props), but I’m pretty sure I saw 4 or 5 dunks in the actual All-Star game that were better than anything I saw on Saturday night. You don’t think a dunk contest featuring LeBron, Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, and either Durant or Russell Westbrook (let the teammates play H-O-R-S-E or rock-paper-scissors or something to decide who goes) would be electric? The NBA and its sponsors need to figure out a way to make this happen next year at all costs. On that note, on to this week’s power rankings…the All-Star break made for a lack of games and changes, but maybe that will be cause for some brevity on my part…maybe.

Come on, man (and by "man" I mean the NBA).

1. Miami Heat (PR=1, 28-7)…Eviscerated Jeremy Lin and the Knicks prior to the All-Star break, and rattled off their 9th straight in Portland last night, where LeBron showed he is the ultimate Swiss army knife.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder (PR=2, 29-7)…Like Miami, the Thunder don’t appear to be going anywhere unless KD or Westbrook suffers some type of catastrophic injury. Have won 7 straight themselves, and started off a tough East coast road trip right by beating Philly and Orlando.

3. Chicago Bulls (PR=3, 29-8)…Gutted out a tough win in San Antonio on Wednesday, and it’s hard to be critical of a team that has the 3rd best record in the league and has won 4 straight, but they just seem to be missing something on the offensive end (much like last year). Rip Hamilton doesn’t appear to be the answer.

4. San Antonio Spurs (PR=4, 24-11)…The Spurs stay here almost by default, as the top 3 in the power rankings seem to be a class ahead of everyone else (as shown by the Bulls coming into their house and beating them).

5. Indiana Pacers (PR=Not Ranked, 22-12)…Much like the Spurs in their loss to Chicago, the Magic kind of showed why there’s a top 3 and then there’s everybody else in their home loss to the Thunder last night. Even though the Pacers lost 5 straight prior to their current 5 game winning streak (in which the schedule has been kind), they are owners of the 5th best record in the league right now. They might need 1 more year of experience to really challenge Miami and Chicago in the East, but I like what I see.

26. New Jersey Nets (PR=28, 11-25)…I’m telling you, man…the Nets are by no means “good,” but they are not terrible either. They’ve won 3 of their last 5, and those 3 wins all came against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. If Brook Lopez never got hurt, this would be a borderline playoff team (for what that’s worth in the East).

27. Toronto Raptors (PR=26, 11-24)…Have won 2 of 3, beating fellow bottom-feeders Detroit and New Orleans, but the Raptors may be perpetually stuck in the rankings anywhere from 26-29 for the rest of time.

28. New Orleans Hornets (PR=27, 8-27)…Eric Gordon is still technically their leading scorer on a points per game basis for the season. What could be sadder than that?

29. Washington Wizards (PR=29, 7-28)…Can I just say I’m all for Randy Wittman’s recent benching of JaVale McGee and Nick Young? And it’s not like Wittman’s going to be back next year anyway, so it’s no skin off his back, but it’s a big fat (and deserved) “f*** you” to GM Ernie Grunfeld for doing his job in an exceptionally stupid manner…bravo.

30. Charlotte Bobcats (PR=30, 4-29)…The Bobcats might not ever be moving from this spot. Maybe next week I will think of some commentary for their entry, but for this week I’ve got nothing!

Rising: we’ll give the Lakers a mention here, as they’ve steadily climbed to only a game out of 1st place in the Pacific Division

Falling: Philadelphia and Dallas (both losers of 3 in a row)

I'll Never Be A Weightlifter

"Don’t pay attention to what other people are doing." "When you enter the gym, leave your ego at the door." "If you're not using proper form, then you're not doing it at all." These are the mantras that are always hyped up in fitness magazines, so anyone that has ever frequented a gym and got at least somewhat serious into training knows these catchphrases well. I think I have even written similar things in this forum, and yet it’s one of those things where it is tough to follow your own advice. I wrote on here a week or 2 ago that I had felt myself start to plateau (in the upper body at least…I feel like my legs have a lot of room to grow still). I’ve come to the conclusion that the main reason for this is 1 basic premise: my form is crap. If I’m being honest with myself, as I’ve started to lift heavier (for me), my form has started to break down in most of my lifts.

I 1st noticed this when I lifted with Krissy’s brother, Mike, in New Jersey over the holidays. Mike is built like an action figure, and he took me through the most difficult chest workout of my life. Going into the day, I felt pretty good about myself. I had gained some size and strength since the last time he had seen me in the gym, which was a few years before this. It wasn’t long before my confidence (and upper body) was completely shot. I was getting scolded for cheating in most exercises by using too much shoulders and arms. My main takeaway from that workout was that my form wasn’t good, but there were other things that Mike was saying that just didn’t register at the time. For example, when benching, he told me to try to not even thinking about pushing the bar, and instead focusing on "squeezing," or contracting, my pecs all the way through the motion of the exercise and to try to let my shoulders and delts overpower my chest. I basically ignored/didn’t get that part of the advice until I watched the following video earlier this week.

The monstrous dude from the clip’s name is Kai Greene, a pro bodybuilder, and for some reason a lot of the little tidbits (which I had probably heard a million times before) stuck with me when I heard him say them. "I’ll never be a weightlifter." "How much do you lift? It’s really not important to me." "This stuff, this will make you feel good, but it’s not going to benefit you." And what he kept repeating over and over throughout the clip was, "Full stretch, maximum contraction." It should be noted that in the video, Mr. Greene is using the same weight that I use for that curl move, but I’m obviously not seeing the same benefit he is (so, I must be doing something wrong). I’m not saying I want to or ever will look like him, but to say there’s room for improvement is the understatement of the century. Now, some will say that bodybuilders only care about looking pretty with their shirt off, and the real beasts in the gym don’t necessarily subscribe to a bodybuilder philosophy. However, it also should be noted that there’s another video of Greene on YouTube benching 495 for reps, so I think it’s safe to say that the top bodybuilders are beasts too. Anyway, aside from the goofy narration at the end of clip, I would say this video is worth a peek. I am going to try to, as Kai said, lower the weight and clean up the quality of the exercises. I have made some strides from when I 1st started training, but crappy form and poor lifting execution may have taken me as far as it can. Maybe it’s time to try something a little different…doing it the right way.

Week 4 NBA Power Rankings Served Up With A Side of "Boring"

Man, did I pick a terrible NBA season to do a reoccurring power ranking post. So far, this condensed schedule has produced a very top and bottom-heavy league. Consequently, there has been virtually no movement from week to week in my top and bottom 5’s. Through the 1st 3 weeks, both my top and bottom 5’s have alternated between 6 teams each, and the order of my top 3 has been exactly the same every week…boring! If I had time to rank teams 1-30, there would be a lot of movement in the middle, but 1 man can only do so much. A little heads-up: don’t look for that trend to change too much in week 4 either. However, we do have 1 new face in the game this week, so bear with me…on to the rankings!

1. Miami Heat (PR=1, 26-7)…Another week without a blemish, another week (4 for 4) atop the rankings. New additions and improved chemistry between The Big 3 aside, the real reason for the Heat’s dominance this year: LeBron and Wade’s shot selection. James and Wade are both on pace for career highs in FG% and career lows in 3-point attempts per game.

2. Oklahoma City (PR=2, 26-7)…Are tied with Miami for the best record in the league, and just finished another perfect week as well, but Sunday night’s OT thriller against Denver may have showcased why the title might run through OKC for the next 5 years or so. In an off shooting night for James Harden (2 for 12), KD netted 51, Westbrook 40, and Ibaka not only had a triple double but clinched the victory with a game-ending block as well.

3. Chicago Bulls (PR=3, 27-8)…Ho-hum, the Bulls finished another strong week and rounded out the top 3 for the 4th consecutive time. More important than any game results though, the Bulls got back a certain reigning MVP by the name of D-Rose, and he doesn’t seem to be showing any effects of those lingering back and toe issues.

4. San Antonio Spurs (PR=4, 23-10)…Let’s make it 3 weeks in a row for my top 4 while we’re at it. I wanted to drop the Spurs just out of spite for playing their JV squad and losing by 40 to Portland the other night, but just couldn’t do it in good faith after they had reeled off 11 straight W’s. Love it or hate it, Coach Popovich knows what he’s doing.

5. Orlando Magic (PR=Not Ranked, 22-12)…Lookout, everybody! We have some new blood! It’s still inconceivable to me that the Magic can challenge Miami or Chicago (or a young and hungry Indy or Philly team for that matter) in a 7 game series the way their roster is currently constructed, but facts are facts, and following that ugly 4 game losing streak in late January Orlando has won 10 of 13 to get to the 3rd best record in the East. Despite some truly awful free throw shooting and having 1 foot out the door already, Dwight Howard (averaging 20 and 15 a night) is putting together another All-NBA type season.

Not a bad core-4 to have.

26. Toronto Raptors (PR=27, 10-23)…Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming of “boring.” Once again, I really, really wanted to drop Toronto further down. They are responsible for nearly 20% of this year’s wins for the 3 Eastern Conference teams below them in these rankings.

27. New Orleans Hornets (PR=28, 8-25)…The Hornets climbed another spot in the right direction this past week. They have as many wins (4) in their past 6 games as they did in their 1st 27. The bottom of the East is clearly worse than the bottom of the West (as evidenced by who’s populating these rankings), but New Orleans recent stretch seems to support that notion too (4 of those last 6 opponents hail from the East).

28. New Jersey Nets (PR=29, 10-25)…I watched some of that Nets-Knicks game from this past week, and the Nets shouldn’t be this bad. They also beat a Rose-less Bulls team in Chicago, which is still no easy task. They have a top 3 point guard in the league (Deron Williams), a good shooter (Anthony Morrow), 1 of the steals of last year’s draft (Marshawn Brooks), and a guy who is a serviceable, professional starting NBA power forward (Kris Humphries). Other than Humphries, I guess they are pretty weak on the interior, but there is no reason these guys shouldn’t be a borderline 0.500 team in the East. They finally got Brook Lopez back last week, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens as he works his way back into shape, but I expect the Nets to crawl out of the bottom 5 in the coming weeks…just saying.

29. Washington Wizards (PR=26, 7-26)…After climbing to their highest ranking of the year so far last week, the Wizards showed they can’t handle any form of “success,” and promptly dropped to the lowest position in these rankings this week. This team just has so many people that would be not fun to play with. For example, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford played a combined 69 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Kings, took a combined 42 shots from the floor, and together they only had 3 assists. Crawford did score 32 off the bench, but I’m sure that will only encourage him to keep gunning when he’s already 4 for 19 from the floor in the 4th quarter in their next game.

30. Charlotte Bobcats (PR=30, 4-28)…Do I still have to keep writing about this team? At least they ended what was a 16 game losing streak, but they celebrated that win by losing 2 straight to the Pacers by an average of 24.5 points per game. Their average point differential this year is a staggering -14.3, and if you’ve watched them play, you might be surprised it’s not worse.

Rising: Indiana (after a 5 game skid, the schedule helped them out with games against NJ, NO, and twice against Charlotte, and they’ve won 4 in a row) and Houston (sneakily rising in the Western Conference standings)

Falling: Atlanta (usually fake their way to a good regular season record at least, but key injuries may be too much to overcome this year), Milwaukee (seriously, what’s good about this team?), Utah (2-8 in their last 10), and Denver (would be on the outside looking in if the playoffs started today)

My Guilty Pleasure: Going Streaking

Going for a personal record here: 8 posts in a month. And it’s a short month (February) to boot…not too shabby. So, I’ve written before that one of my guilty pleasures is ESPN’s Streak for Cash. Actually, it’s more than just a guilty pleasure…it’s a full blown addiction or sickness or whatever you want to call it at this point. Some people say that insanity is when a person repeats the same task over and over, but still expects a different outcome from that action every time. Well, a quick little look at my Streak for Cash history shows that I’ve been playing since August of 2008. That’s like 3 and a half years of the little monkey pushing the lever expecting to get a food pellet when he gets hit in the head with a mallet instead. My record is far from stellar. A quick little Excel spreadsheet shows that I am 796-701-40 all-time in Streak for Cash. That’s me picking the correct outcome only 53.2% of the time. If that was me betting with a bookie, 53% would be making me a lot of money, but when the object of the game is to pick as many correct games right in a row as you can, 53% isn’t going to get it done.

Now, you play Streak for Cash for free, so it’s not like I’m betting away our mortgage or anything, but it still seems like an exercise in futility most of the time. Whoever decides what games to put up on the site to allow you to pick from (much like the oddsmakers in Vegas) know what they’re doing. These games are legitimately hard to pick, and even if they weren’t hard it doesn’t matter…only 1 person wins every month (each month everyone’s streak gets reset, and the contest starts over). What the difficulty level does do though is weed out even more pretenders. To build a streak, you have to be lucky and knowledgeable (which I like to think I am), but just like in regular gambling you have to have restraint too (which I don’t have much of at all). Know when to fold ‘em, and all that good stuff…thankfully, I never really got into gambling or sports betting because I think I would be terrible at that aspect of it. Even if I get a streak going, I inevitably will try to pick some Euro-league soccer match that I know nothing about, and ka-blam-o…there goes the streak.

My all-time best streak was 14. I was pretty proud of it at the time, but realistically I wasn’t even close to winning. The average winner from month to month has a streak in the mid to high 20’s. Take my picks this month for example: 17-14-1 with a monthly best of 7 in a row. Not bad, but the current leader is already up to a streak of 22. That’s not even a third as long as this month’s current leader, and the eventually winner will probably have a streak even greater than that. And yet every morning (often multiple times a day) I point my browser or mobile device app to Streak for Cash and make a pick, alternating right and wrong picks on average. Sometimes I wonder if this is all just some elaborate psychological experiment, and we are all the willing participants. Think of all the free data some dorky guy in a lab coat would have for a study! Maybe one day this monkey will finally get his food pellet…or maybe he will just keep getting whacked in the head with that mallet…my guess is the latter though. Either way, I don’t see himself not pushing the lever anytime soon.