Good Ass Game

Just the Tip

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Things are starting to get pretty interesting out on the roundball court. There were some good ass games this past week. The Cavaliers-Lakers game was weirdly entertaining. It felt like I was watching a really fun pickup game. Nothing was at stake, it was just a regular season team between two losing teams. It was cool just watching Kobe and Lebron interact throughout the affair–laughing and joking during timeouts and in less active transitional periods.

Clippers-Blazers won the “Good Ass Game of the Week” award by default, barely beating out Phoenix-Cleveland from Tuesday night’s slate of games.

I got a chance yesterday to watch some college hoops, and though Duke-Louisville let me down, I was certainly impressed with Jahlil Okafor’s game. He dominated the post in the second half of that game yesterday, with most of his scoring coming after the half. He has great footwork and soft hands. He is clearly the first pick in next year’s draft. I think Montrezl Harrell can carve himself a niche in the league too. Bro just looks built to ball.

Kansas-Iowa State was a great affair, and the cyclone fans were HYPE!!! during last night’s engagement. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was about as loud and adverse and atmosphere that a team can go into. Kansas played sloppily and the Hoibergs made them pay with every mistake.

Their guard play was pretty phenomenal, Naz Long put up 20 points and had 5 boards. 6 Iowa State players hit double figures in scoring. Even after the Jayhawks scored, the Cyclones were already pushing the ball up the court with crisp outlet passes–rather than trying to dribble the length of the floor.

They are a good passing team, and should be respected. Fred Hoiberg is legit, and he’ll be bringing his boys to Lawrence the first week of February, in a can’t miss affair.

Good Ass Games of the Week:

Monday

What better way to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther (the) King than by watching bruthas make millions of dollars for playing the most beautiful game ever created.

It would be dismissive of me not to include a couple of Eastern Conference teams on this slate, both Detroit and Atlanta have been playing great ball of late. Atlanta has won 12 straight and has a 10-3 record against the West this year. They are legit. I was one last year who was kind of skeptical of what “good” meant in the east, but the Hawks are the real deal.

Their games are fun to watch too. They pass the ball as well as the Spurs, Warriors, and Phoenix Suns. They have some ballers in Paul Milsap (who I thought the Thunder should have made a run at years ago), Al Horford, Kyle Korver (the 50-50-90 club????), and Jeff Teague have made it impossible for me to ignore their ballclub. ATLIENS, I stand corrected.

Denver-Golden State Speaking of balling, Golden State smacked Houston on the second end of back-to-back games. 131-106.

Dallas-Memphis If Mike Conley played in the Eastern Conference, he’d be a sure fire All-Star. Unfortunately the West is loaded right now. How do you sort that out? Kobe will probably get voted in since its his last productive year, which takes up another guard spot. We’ll see. The Grizzlies backcourt matches up well with the Mavericks’ Ellis and Rondo.

Sacramento-Portland will be highly competitive, and might be better than the Chicago-Cleveland game that night. Neither the Cavs or Bulls are playing all that well of late (the last 5-7 games).

Tuesday
Thunder-Heat Thing were turnt up in OKC on Friday. Durant shot 14-18 and scored 36. Westbrook had an insane stat line of 17 points, 17 assists , and 15 rebounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg0wPW0fEVw

They are poised to make a run soon, and it looks like Dion Waiters may be a good fit after all. Word on the street is that “Perk” and Reggie Jackson will be the next pieces moved. Does this mean Brooklyn is willing to part with Brook Lopez for a big man, a draft pick and a little Reggie thrown in for good measure? Stay tuned.

Wednesday

Toronto-Memphis I’ve always wondered what a fight between a Grizzly Bear and a dinosaur would look like.

Houston-Golden State
Yes. Please.

Portland-Phoenix Oh so much good ass basketball this week.

Lakers-Pellies Only if you are desperate.

Oklahoma City-Washington
Worth checking out only because the game is in D.C.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VlGyMG0ksg

KD goes HOME.

Thursday

Spurs-Bulls
 There are going to be some sick dimes thrown in this game. If you like big men who know how to pass, don’t put an ad out on Craigslist, just tune in to this game. Trust me. I was a doctor for Halloween once.

Friday

Happy Hour can’t get here soon enough with this Oklahoma City-Atlanta game to kick off the weekend.

Houston-Phoenix will be a game that gets into high 100’s for both teams. Sacramento will get slapped by Golden State. In case you forgot about this game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9L-u_Zk_VY

‘Nuff Said.

Saturday

Wizards-Blazers. The best matchup of backcourts you will see that night.

Sunday
HEY! DO I HAVE THE HANGOVER CURE FOR YOU!!!!!!!

Oklahoma City-Cleveland
Clippers-Suns

What else you gonna do, watch the NFL PRO BOWL?

BUSTER OF THE WEEK AWARD:

Oh it pains me so much to do this. This is a man’s whose career I have followed since he was running the show in Las Vegas. I watched him with the Knicks and Blazers, and enjoyed his voice as a basketball analyst for CBS and TNT.

My man Greg Anthony got busted Friday night on charges of soliciting a prostitute when he was in D.C. He was supposed to call the Maryland-Michigan State game and decided to see more than the usual tourist sights. CBS has suspended him for the rest of the year, and so has Turner Broadcasting. The only way this story can get worse is if Marion Barry and Rob Ford were hiding in his bedroom with cocaine and a videotape.

Now I don’t know what happened. Apparently he just picked the wrong day to get a pro.There was a sting operation by the police. We still don’t know if she was a streetwalker or an escort, but I figured my man had more game than that. I’m not one to judge.

Things happen, and I’ve been to Amsterdam so you can probably guess what my opinion is on prostitution. I guess the law is the law. It’s terrible news though, this man’s career is in jeopardy because he is accused of trying to purchase sex. Maybe my sympathies are in the wrong place, but I feel for him. It can all be taken away so easily.

Enjoy this week’s slate of games, and remember to make good choices. As these NFL Playoffs have shown, there is a very thin margin of error that separates the winning and losing locker rooms.

PEACE.
BM

#THISAGOODASSGAME
@clickpicka79
bobbymickey@gmail.com

A Flurry of Activity

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This was an interesting week in the NBA, as we get closer to the season’s midgame.

Cleveland got better this week, but it was almost impossible for that to not happen. Getting draft picks for Dion Waiters was a steal, as the Thunder should have asked Cleveland to give them something to take Dion off their hands. In a vacuum the deal would not look that bad.

But consider that the Grizzlebees managed to pick up Jeff Green and Russ Smith, the Suns got Branden Wright; and the Pelicans found a way to trade Austin Rivers for Quincy Poindexter. The streets don’t look so hot in Oklahoma City right now. The more I watch them, the more convinced I am that Reggie Jackson won’t be there when the season begins next year.

Back to Cleveland though, Picking up Timofey Mosgov to replace Anderson Varejao was a clutch move. I like the J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert moves for them too. Will this be enough to beat a western team. Hell No! But it does make the East a little bit more interesting–though not interesting enough to spend time watching to east teams go at it.

Good Ass Games of the Week

Monday

Oregon Ducks play Ohio State for the NCAA Football Championship, in Jerryworld. You could watch Brooklyn play New Orleans or you could watch young men beat each other’s heads in for no pay, as old rich dudes make money off it. We could make jokes about it being the equivalent of Mandingo fights, but its just too soon for that joke.

I’d rather just sit back and watch Urban Meyer collect yet another National Championship, and wonder how the NCAA piss tested a whole football team that resides in Eugene, Oregon and only got one dirty UA. I find that more shocking than WR Darren Carrington being ruled ineligible for smoking weed during the holiday break. How is that not discussed with the players? If I’m Mark Helfrich, I’m driving my players by the local head shops so they know where they can get something to beat the piss tests. #poortiming

Tuesday

Spurs-Washington
Cleveland-Phoenix
Dallas-Sacramento

Wednesday

Wizards-Bulls is a great primer before two delicious match-ups. Miami will get the brakes beat off of them by the Warriors, while the quietly hot Clippers face off against the the Trailblazers. “Late Game Dame” vs. “CP-3” in what I think will be the Good Ass Game of the Week.

Thursday

Oklahoma City vs. Houston

There will of course be talk of James Harden leaving RUN OKC this week, and why KD will need to leave Oklahoma City to get that chip, because Thunder ownership is pulling the “okey doke” on fans and the team. Forget all that nonsense for a little bit and just marvel at this guy. Kevin Durant is the best.

If you wanna tap that vein, peep Cleveland vs. LOL Lakers. Even if Lebron and Kobe play I may still say “NO THANK YOU.” Oh who am I kidding? I’ll probably tune in around late 3rd quarter. What else am I going to be doing? Blogging? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Friday

Portland and San Antonio get it on again, while Golden State comes down to the OKC. If I were the type to buy myself a birthday present, I’d throw down on this game………

Saturday

It is tempting to throw Golden-State-Houston and Portland-Memphis on the list, but Houston and Memphis get to play fresh while Warriors and Blazers are on that back-to-back tip. Believe it or not, I think Sacramento-Clippers will be competitive. Don’t sleep on an ornery “Boogie Down Productions” smacking “CP-3” and “BG Knock Out” in the face and causing a ruckus.

Sunday

You can tap the vein with Toronto-New Orleans, but I will be wasting my life watching the Conference championships, which brings me to the Buster(s) of the Week award:

The NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. It’s bad enough that the NFL thinks its viewers are idiots and that people can’t see behind the smoke and mirrors of this Ray Rice Fiasco (among other hypocrisies–I’m not going to pretend to be outraged because I’m not in the least bit surprised), but the flurry of really awful officiating in this year’s playoffs just reinforces why I barely pay any attention to football. The Calvin Johnson rule is idiotic and a giant middle finger to what makes football fun to watch. No matter who wins next weekend, I’m already over it. We all lost this weekend when they OVERTURNED that Dez Bryant catch today.

Be careful out there. The world is f%$#ing crazy!

Peace.

BM
#thisagoodassgame
bobbymickey@gmail.com
@clickpicka79

#AGoodASSWeekend

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Spent the weekend up in the “Larry” for Friday nights Florida-Kansas matchup. It was an 8 O’clock game, which is usually plenty of time to get turnt up on that drank. We got a little flaskE dub hit the E-Dub a little and followed this big booty girl up to the Fieldhouse. We stumbled upon some good seats at face value for a cool hondo, thinking it was a good deal, until we ran into the guy’s brother-in-law, who was practically giving his away for 20 bucks. Turns out 100 dollars was NOT the cheapest offer we would find, our man “Mack” swore up and down the cheapest we’d find would be 200 bones. #lessonlearned.

Wigs

It seemed longer than 8 months since my last visit to Allen Fieldhouse, the Texas drubbing that culminated with this dunk.

With more than an hour to go I couldn’t figure out why bro-in-law couldn’t get rid of his tickets. An hour later, and minus a buzz, the stadium looked like this
allen.

The first half was dominated by the Gators, their guards kept penetrating into the paint and dishing off to their big men for easy dunks and layups. When the Jayhawks did get stops, they’d undermine their efforts by failing to get a defensive rebound. Kansas’ Frank Mason hit a shot at the buzzer, but the team was down by 18 points at the half. As listless as the Jayhawks looked, I knew that all they had to do was quit giving up penetration, get some rebounds, and shoot better shots.

The second half didn’t start off that great, but a hustle play by Perry Ellis, and Frank Mason got the crowd into the game (standing ovation even though Florida maintained possession). The crowd got loud and things got realy hype once the Jayhawks knocked the lead down to single digits. It was the loudest I’d ever heard the crowd since I’ve been going to the games, and by the 2 minute mark, it was clear who was going to win. As hype as Allen was, the town was pretty chill for a Friday night. Even the college radio station was playing some sleepy, whiny indie music that was killing my buzz.

Watching the sloppy first half reinforced my bias towards NBA over NCAA–just a better product to watch. I mentally crossed off three games I had circled on the Jayhawks’ schedule, Texas (missing their pg and not looking that great either), Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State (I may still go just to see what a game in Gallagher Arena is like). I plan to be at the Big Monday game against the Iowa State Hoibergs. That may be the Big 12 good ass game of the year as far as I’m concerned. On to the Good Ass Games of the Week:

Monday
Boston just lost a 2OT game to Washington. John Wall went gangbusters, 26 points 17 assists, but i’m trying to finish this thing up so I can watch that Suns-Clippers game. It’s been a long day so I’m happy there isn’t much action to cover tonight. I plan to be in bed no later than 12:30 tonight.

Tuesday
Dallas-Memphis in the battle of the barbecue states. I’ll be watching this one fa sho.

Wednesday
I’m curious how Dallas will feel on the back end of this back-to-back, but the good ass game of the night will certainly be Houston at Golden State (I hear it is going down out in the Bay Area with all the protests going on out there and in D.C. and New York–more on that later)

Thursday
Lebron comes to Oklahoma City. Wait. I live an hour and half from Oklahoma City. Why aren’t I trying to go to this game? Oh that’s right. I don’t want to put any money into Clay Bennett’s pockets. I’ll be watching this joint on tv at my favorite pub.

Friday
Portland-Chicago The Bulls may end up being involved in the Good Ass Game of The Week two weeks in a row. I can’t wait for this one. If you really need to tap that vein, peep the Lakers-Spurs or the Cleveland-New Orleans game.

Saturday
Start the night off by watching Golden State-Dallas and then go get a drink to celebrate. That one is definitely going to be worth stopping in on.

Sunday
mmppphhhhhhh Oklahoma City-Phoenix If you miss it, at least catch the highlights on this one. I can’t say I will attend it, but if I did, best believe I’m getting my ticket off a scalper.

But in all seriousness, this police brutality shit has got me bugging on some somber wavelengths. I love basketball, but it is hard to separate my political leanings with the people responsible for militarizing the police. It has been an emotional couple of months, and it hurts to think about the families who lost loved ones unnecessarily due to police violence. It is crazy as it ever was, and we all gotta take time to just breathe. Shit has got to get better in this country.

Peace,

BM

WHAT’S GOOD?!!

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What’s Good?

Everythang!!!

There were a slew of Good Ass Games last week, including a B-Ball watching extravaganza on Friday. Six straight hours of watching basketball on a Friday night, and I couldn’t have been happier. Of course, once those games are over, reality sets in, and I realized that I made no plans for the late night tip. #poorplanning

Since I’ll be going to the Florida-Kansas game on Friday, let’s start with some college hoop. Kansas clearly has a lot of talent, but some of the pieces are not fitting. Bill Self recruits the guys to fit his system, and he always has talented big men, but there is only one basketball. If the ball is distributed evenly each player gets to touch the ball 20 percent of the time. The other 80 percent of basketball involves things other than scoring.

Obviously the Jayhawks are talented, but there is always someone bigger and badder on the block. Kansas ran into the big and bad Wildcats and got stomped. Part of that was talent (Kentucky is clearly the most talented team in the country), but Kansas also didn’t play that smart—which also contributed to such a lopsided score. Kentucky will be impossible to beat if a team is depending on isolation sets and one primary ballhandler. Kansas is not a very good passing team, and Kentucky just waited on the Jayhawks to drive to the rack so they could block their shot.

Michigan State didn’t fare as well defensively against the Jayhawks strategy. They fouled Kansas and put them on the free throw line. Every time the Jayhawks got fouled taking it to the rim, you could see an extra pass leading to an easier bucket. Kansas has to learn how to make that extra pass. Svia Mikhailhiuk gets it, and Frank Mason is looking more comfortable with each game (I really like that backcourt combo–I think they have good on court chemistry).

The problem with recruiting the “one and done” player is the constant turnover messes with cohesion. This is still a young Jayhawks team and the learning curve is almost as steep as last year’s squad. Roles have yet to be established and defined, and all the highly recruited cats come in thinking they are “the man.” Kelly Oubre has yet to look comfortable on the floor, and Cliff Alexander shows flashes of highlight reel potential, but they definitely play like Freshmen.

Cliff Alexander is definitely going to be ill, but I get nervous anytime the Kansas big men (outside of Perry Ellis)put the ball on the floor (do I have an affinity towards big men who can pass? Yeah you could say that). There are no “stretch fours” on the team and you see a lot of clogged lanes on the offensive end—not a good thing if your team doesn’t shoot well from the perimeter.

A basketball team is a community, and in a community different people take on different roles to make that community work. Some people do multiple things well. Some people are really great at one particular thing and mediocre at other things, but communities thrive when everyone is put in a position to succeed at what they are best at. By conference play, the Jayhawk players are going to have to figure out what roles to assume in order to help their team win.

Maybe Cliff Alexander decides that no one is going to outrebound him or get past him on defense, and whatever points he scores along the way is gravy (Kentucky’s Anthony Davis was the fifth leading scorer on that championship team but managed to control the game in every other aspect).

Maybe Wayne Selden decides that no matter how many points he gets on the offensive end (Can he be a “3 and D” guy in the NBA?) that his guy will get locked down on the perimeter. Maybe Frank Mason looks to drive and kick rather than drive and finish, with Svia Mikhailiuk there on the perimeter to keep defenses honest. And maybe Bill Self can get his guys to feed Perry Ellis 15-20 touches a game (he looked really good this weekend in Orlando).

Let’s switch gears and talk about that other team in Kansas–no not the Wildcats silly. I’m talking bout them Shockers. Despite losing Cleanthony Early to graduation last year, Wichita State is just as fun to watch this year. Ron Baker and Fred Van Fleet is the best backcourt combo that no one is talking about.

The way those two guys get their teammates involved is beautiful to watch. Van Fleet had 21 points on 6-11 shooting, 9 assists and ZERO turnovers. As a matter of fact, Ron Baker didn’t have any turnovers either, and he shot 6-14 with 19 points. Of Wichita State’s 25 made field goals, 18 of them were assisted.

People hate on the Shockers for playing in a less renowned conference against “inferior” competition, but if you like smart, beautiful basketball, then catch a Shockers game. They are a real treat to watch and play against Utah on Wednesday. I’ll be watching them play as much as possible this season (and possibly next if both Baker and Van Fleet come back to play with transferring guard Conner Frankamp).

GOOD ASS GAMES OF THE WEEK

Tuesday
OKC vs. New Orleans Would you believe it if I told you that I haven’t watched an OKC game since Russ Westbrook broke his hand. It feels good to put the Thunder on the Good Ass Games list again (for however long it lasts).

Toronto vs. Sacramento Damn. Demar Derozan……I hope he gets well soon. A groin tear sounds really painful, and I was just coming around to enjoy watching the Raptors play too. If you happen to catch this particular game, try to imagine playing an updated version of NBA JAM with these two teams. Which 3 players would you go with? I was thinking about this when I was watching the Hornets the other night (another good NBA jam team). You gotta admit, it’d be fun to play.

Memphis at Houston
Before the season began, both of these teams were my “bubble” teams. I’m still not sold on Houston’s role players just yet and I think they’ll come down to earth by March. As for Memphis, I’m not surprised by how well they are playing at all–Gasol has kicked it into another gear this year. What does surprise me is that they are healthy. It is a loooooooonnnnnggg season, so who knows what will happen.

But Memphis has been looking really tough. I also like that former Michigan State sharpshooter Shawn Respert is an assistant coach there, while Brevin Knight is a color commentator for the organization. It is little things like these that make me realize how fucking old I’m getting.

Chicago at Charlotte
I’m not crazy about the Hornets this year, but there is something very comfortable and relaxing about their announcing team of Steve Martin and Dell Curry. Listening to their play-by-play makes me want to eat Bojangles Chicken and drink sweet tea (or maybe I just had the munchies).

Also, how did no one tell me how hot the dance team was for the Hornets? I’ve been to Charlotte so maybe this shouldn’t have been a surprise but damn! i mean peep this photo from Carolinablitz.com, MAH LORD I DO DECLARE!!! ITS GETTIN

I just may peek in on Lakers vs. Wizards, if only to see that Washington backcourt knock Kobe and co. back to earth. But again, that may be a case of “doing too much.”

Thursday
Cleveland vs. New York It is always fun to see what Lebron will do when he steps onto the floor at MSG. Will his performance spawn inspiration for another rap tune?

Portland-Indiana This is the best I’ve seen Chris Kaman and Steve Blake play which leads me to conclude that Portland is a haven for white and light skinned players. Seriously, this demographic just thrives up in the Pacific Northwest. Imagine what Brent Barry’s career would have been like had the Trailblazers drafted him? then again it is too cold to surf up there, so maybe he wouldn’t have dug it.

New Orleans vs. Golden State This is going to be a good one, and I will probably only get to catch the highlights because I’ll be en route to Lawrence, Kansas. This one has “Good ASS Game of the Week” written all over it. in a couple of years, if Portland and Golden State play their cards right, these two teams could be jockeying for the Western Conference top spots for the latter part of the decade.

The Spurs will hit a small snag where they will be middle of the pack but still making the playoffs, and once Dirk retires, the Mavs will suffer a slightly worse identity crisis. There is nothing that anyone can say that can convince me that Westbrook and Durant are going back to OKC. Who will fill that power vacuum in the west?

Friday
Cleveland-Toronto Eastern Conference Finals Preview? Any takers? By the way, what’s up with this #mynorth commerical? #TorontoAINTHOOD

Memphis-San Antonio
Western Conference Finals Preview? Any takers?

Phoenix-Dallas You can tell Phoenix is really missing the spacing that Channing Frye (another light-skinned guy who flourished in Portland–he still has a home there) provided for the team. Everyone has to work just a little harder to get buckets. It’s so crowded that Gerald Green is throwing alley-oops to himself. Cue up the old ’05, ’06 playoff games NBATV. Those were the days!

Saturday
Clippers-Pelicans Two of the best power forwards. Going at it. ‘Nuff Said.

Golden State-Chicago No way in hell I’m missing this one. There are gonna be some sick dimes dished out in this one. The overused phrase of the night will be “Oooh Filthy!”

Sunday
Rest.

Basketball Movie of the Week:

Gunnin for That #1 Spot. Directed by Adam Yauch.

This is from the first Elite 24 game back in 2006. I first watched this movie back in ’08 when all these young cats were still in high school and college. Cole Aldrich, Lance Stephenson, J.J. Hickson, Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, Kyle Singler, Jerryd Bayless, Kevin Love, and Michael Beasley were all apart of this event as high school kids. I watched it again this past week, and was struck by how so much had happened in 8 years.

These guys are all NBA veterans now. It is always interesting to go back and watch that kind of stuff with the knowledge of what their futures hold. It’s kind of weird. Anyway, it is worth checking out. There was a bonus disc with my copy of footage of a 2-on-2 pick up game with Beasley and his coach vs. Yauch and someone else. MCA had a little bit of game. I bet he was fun to play ball with. By the way, what is up with Beasley? He must have some serious stuff going on if he hasn’t been picked up by a team. Damn.

Big week of hoops. The first week of December is off to a good start. Enjoy these good ass games.

BM

Don’t Believe the Hype

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You’re going to smell a lot of burning tire from the quick reversal of early season predictions. I still think Minnesota will do better than people think they will, but I must have been on one when I said they would contend for a playoff spot. Out in the west? This is what happens when I quit smoking weed, all logic just goes out the window. This week I’m almost certain the narrative will be “What’s wrong with the Cavs? Will the Cavaliers make the playoffs?” etc. etc. That is the thing about the media, they will create a narrative, then when the reality doesn’t live up to the manufactured product, they flip it.

With a first year NBA head coach in David Blatt, two megastars who have never been to the playoffs, and aging, and very thin bench, the hype was a little swollen. Now people are jumping off a bandwagon they should have probably never jumped on. It’s the first full week of the season folks Ya’ll needs to chilllllll. The Cavaliers will be fine, they need time to gel, make another move or two, and they play out in the East. There is nothing to worry about.

Now if I were OKC, I would be a little concerned. I initially thought that this early adversity would be good for the role players so they would learn how to play without their superstars. But as Zach Lowe pointed out in his column today (this is before Perry Jones III got hurt tonight), a slow start could impede this team winning the 49 games it usually takes to get an 8th seed into the Western Conference playoffs.

I have not been able to watch as much hoops as I hoped this past week and a half, but I’m scaling it back like Little Dragon. By next week I’ll be okay.

I completely missed the Cavs get beaten by the Trailblazers. My evening nap ran long and woke up in time to watch the last 8 minutes of the Lakers-Suns game. Phoenix is really fun to watch. They play fast and loose and aggressive defense. They have at least 4-5 highlight plays from that team. More on them later. Watching the Lakers lose is always fun, and watching Kobe just chuck it up is equally entertaining. The Kobe fans get what they want and Lakers haters get what they have wanted to see for years. Everyone wins.

Good Ass Game of the Week:

Golden State vs. Phoenix this Sunday. This is one of those games that I’ll hate myself forever if I don’t catch it. Believe me when I tell you this is gonna be a GOOD ASS game.

Other games

Miami-Charlotte (could be ugly with both teams coming off of a back to back)

Memphis-Phoenix (Memphis had tonight off and the Suns just played an intense game out in Los Angeles. Might not be pretty.)

Another candidate for GOOD ASS Game of the Week right here with Clippers-Warriors on Wednesday night.

San Antonio-Houston (I imagine my Rockets friends and Spurs friends will have a good time with this possible playoff preview)

Dallas-Portland will be fun for sure. Dirk vs. LaMarcus was a great match-up last year.

Washington-Toronto will be a good way to unwind after the work week. I may even have a beer while I watch.

Portland-Clippers, Golden State-Houston, and New Orleans-San Antonio on Saturday night. Watching Anthony Davis match up with Tim Duncan is a treat for the ages. NBA past against NBA future. Imagine if Anthony Davis is lucky enough to play with some champions on his team. That guy is quickly becoming a top 5 player.

Actually I change my mind, Wednesday is going to be the GOOD ASS GAME of the WEEK. Golden State-Phoenix is on the back end of a back-to-back.