teams in trenches and the east title contenders

things are finally settling down a little in NBA. lakers doesn't seem as spectacular anymore now that everyone's keying in on kobe and no one else is stepping up. it's still early but it's suffice to say that kwame brown is still a bust, and most likely will remain one for a long while, if not forever. denver still haven't really regain their form from last season when they just steamrolled over everyone. well, more like outrunned everyone. i still wonder what the hell they are gonna do with earl watson sitting on the bench. camby's playing out of his mind right now, grabbing mad boards and blocking everything that he can get to.

knicks finally won a game. at the expense of the freefalling kings, who unexpected couldn't find ways to score. maybe it's taking them a while to get comfortable at playing with each other, but they are all good offensive players, maybe it's the inability to play defense that kills them.

rockets are at the bottom of their division at this moment, with t-mac out for a few games. yao's still not playing up to his potential. it's a matter of skill around the basket, as he always needs to gather himself before doing anything, missing his first shots as a result. rebound dunks are great, but maybe they just need to get him the ball where he can just dunk every time. his basketball IQ is getting better, so i think it's more of his conditioning than anything that's keeping him from dominating at the end of games. and undoubtly he's slower than many nba players, where he's being killed on reaction time (read: rebounding). i guess it's tough work to drag around a 7'6" 300 lb frame. hopefully stromile swift will come along sooner so that he can have yao's back.

while san antonio is pretty guaranteed to get back to the finals (unless tim duncan goes down), the east seems a little less clear cut, with pistons, pacers, and heat being the 3 headed monsters. heat is still quite unorganized, but they will at least reach 2nd round on talent alone. pistons and pacers have much less adjusting to do, with pistons running at full speed already. they currently have 6 wins and no losts yet, and no matter what happens in the first 3 quarters of the game, they seem to have that confidence and killer instinct that gets them the W in the 4th quarter. they are a clutch team, collectively. they'll get whatever it takes to win the game, whether it's a block, a rebound, a bucket, or a steal. you can't say the same about another team, maybe except spurs.

pacers are actually looking quite good too, and i think the pacers rookie Sarunas Jasikevicius (pronounced as ya-sa-keh-ve-gious) will be the closer at the end of close games. this guy is no rook as he was MVP of some sort in euro leagues. i mean he's a season veteran. maybe defensively he's not superb, but you have the rest of the team to protect his back. on the other end of the court though, he is terrific, as he makes intelligent decision, finding the open man at the right places, or creating his own shots since he's probably the best shooter on the team. i guarantee he will make a series-defining play this coming playoff. just watch for it.