mmmmagic

el magico numero ... 4
the phoenix suns really are giving me an early birthday present.
thank you cavs for coming back and absolutely man-handling the dallas mavs.
big game on tuesday. we. must. beat. the jazz.
check out the race...

the blazers are 1.5 games out of 1st place in the northwest division
() = games back

denver
portland (1.5)
utah (2)

now, here is the far more important race - the playoff berth. so what we have here is 8 teams vying for 7 spots. phoenix is helping portland clinch a spot by losing (any combo of portland winning and phoenix losing changes our "magic number." if the season was over today, portland would be playing houston. i have to admit, the houston match- up does make me nervous. they have played portland tough this year. the one scenario i don't want to see is denver/portland. that would be a disaster. we just can't seem to defend denver. we'll see in a few weeks when they end the season at home with denver. it should be a HUGE game. oh, did i mention i'll be there in rip city row? my friend anthony's boss bought the tickets and he invited me. how awesome!
portland is playing really great right now. nicolas batum is blossoming, greg oden is playing with confidence off the bench, lamarcus aldridge is quickly establishing himself as one of the up and coming power forwards in the league, we have b.roy and one of the deepest benches in the league. our second unit could easily start on another team.
GO BLAZERS!!

los angeles lakers [the lakers have clinched the west so it's really just a race between the teams below]
san antonio (10)
denver (10.5)
houston (10.5)
portland (12)
utah (12.5)
new orleans (12.5)
dallas (15)
--
phoenix (18.5)