The Celtics are still many people’s pick to win the NBA championship this year and the team is still playing quite well. But the other day, the team dropped a rather big game to the Orlando Magic. It’s not that they were bad as such, but their first half was pretty awful. They didn’t really show up to the game until the second half, after they’d already dug themselves into a hole that they simply couldn’t escape from. They are having big trouble with injuries, but the coaches are talking about the problems with the team keeping the right amount of focus. They’re just not beating up on the teams that they usually do, it seems to us. We’ll be watching this team, because they’re probably still going deep into the playoffs.

The Phoenix Suns improved to 5-3 in exhibition play after a 102-93 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are 1-5.  Both teams will finish up their preseason games in the next couple of days.  The Thunder were seriously shorthanded in this game, with four of their main players on the injured list.  The Suns, however, will miss Amare Stoudemire, who dislocated his finger after scoring 17 points during last night’s game.  Stoudemire missed the first 5 games of the preseason with an eye problem and will miss several games.  Steve Nash returned during this game to score 15 points after a sprained left ankle kept him out of the last three games.  Shaq O’Neal, who has joined the Suns this year, may not play much on back-to-back nights this season, in order to keep him healthy.  For the Suns, the season begins on Wednesday in a great southwestern showdown against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Los Angeles Clippers who are on a signing spree has added Houston Rockets forward Steve Nowak to their team last Wednesday.  The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, will have the option of exchanging second round picks with the Clippers during the 2011 draft. The Clippers Vice President of basketball operations, Elgin Baylor, is happy to have Steve Nowak in their ranks and is hoping that they utilize his shooting skills to the fullest extent in the forthcoming NBA season. The management of the Los Angeles Clippers is happy to have this famed basketball player in their side. There is going to be an increase in the ticket sales to most of the Clippers sales next season with the addition of Nowak to the team roster. 

It was announced last Tuesday by Toronto Raptors that their rookie forward Jamario Moon has been named to the 2008 NBA ALL Rookie Second team and is the ninth player in the Raptors history to receive this prestigious opportunity. He was signed into the Toronto team during the 2007 free agent tryout summer camp. He had 75 record starts as a rookie in 2007 and was ranked first in the steals among all the NBA rookies. He also got the opportunity to showcase his basketball skills in the 2008 Rookie Challenge and Slam Dunk competitions. Moon also received the NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the month for his performance in the month of January.

Ben Wallace, starting forward of Cavaliers, is doubtful about playing in the remaining game against the Boston Celtics in the Cleveland’s playoff series of basketball, as he had to stop playing after feeling dizziness while playing a match last week. He was seen staggering while going to the bench. He underwent medical checkup and was diagnosed with left inner ear infection and allergies. The team officials said that the chances for his play in the next game are 50-50. Mike Brown, the coach of Cavaliers, said that most probably Anderson Varejao will play in Wallace’s position till he recovers.  At present, the Cavaliers are behind Celtics in the series.

You scratch my back, I scratch yours. This statement best describes the scenario that is the new partnership between Larry Brown and Michael Jordan, both whom are former North Carolina basketball players. Jordan has asked the 67 year old Brown if he is able to take up his ninth NBA coaching stint as head coach for the Charlotte Bobcats, and Brown needed little persuasion to agree. For that he was rewarded a four-year contract. Jordan is relieved as he now has the veteran Brown on his side to revive his sagging career as NBA executive while Brown now has the chance to increase his reputation as Hall of Fame coach. Ironically Brown is now back to where he first started his long standing teaching career.

Brown was hired to replace Sam Vincent who was brought in by Jordan himself even though he has had no prior NBA coaching experience. Vincent was let off last Saturday for failing to do his job well.

Many attempts by various teams throughout the years have been done to persuade John Hammond to be their new GM but to no avail. Finally, the Milwaukee Bucks succeeded in luring Hammond away from the Detroit Pistons.

Unsuccessful attempts by Portland and Toronto have been done in the past but Hammond was never swayed. Finally Hammond accepted the Bucks’ offer and is set to replace Larry Harris as their new GM this coming Monday. Harris left on March 19 after a series of unsuccessful meetings to negotiate his soon-to-expire contract.

With his new post, Hammond is expected to hire a new veteran coach to boost the Bucks’ winnings. He is eager to seek help from former Pistons’ coach Rick Carlisle, having worked with the vet boss previously. On the other hand, Carlisle is also sought after by the Chicago Bulls. Can Hammond persuade Carlisle to join them instead of being the Bulls’ prolific coach? Only time will tell.

The Phoenix Suns top players, Amare Stoudermire and Stewe Nash, were in the top of their game as they beat Denver nuggets 132-117 to register the Suns 50th win in four consecutive seasons. This win also takes the Phoenix Suns to a tied lead position with the Los Angeles Lakers in the Pacific Division and also puts them in a gripping position on the ever so close Western Conference. An interesting thing about this Suns win is that they rallied from a 22 – point deficit at the end of the second quarter to win the basketball game and credit must be given to Nash for the way in which he fought through to score 36 points.

Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni was very happy to see his boys fight hard from behind and appreciated both the offensive as well as the defensive efforts showcased by the Phoenix players. Amare made the bulk of the scoring for the Suns with 41 points and 14 rebounds.

The rookie player Thornton who is currently in rich vein of form helped the Clippers to register their first win in ten games with a 110-97 win over Memphis Grizzlies last Saturday night. The injury filled Los Angeles Clippers should thank the rookie for putting up a stupendous career high performance of 39 points and the best part of his basketball game was that he made 20 out of the 39 points in the fourth quarter of the game to seal a victory for his side.

Thornton said that he enjoyed the game even though he had to really grind himself out at the court. He feels that he has improved quite a lot under Coach Mike and gives some credit of his success to the coach. His teammates were of the opinion that Thornton knew his game pretty well and cannot be classified as a rookie anymore. Even the Memphis players complimented him on his outstanding performance.

The San Antonio Spurs have announced recently that they have roped in guard Brent Barry into their team. Brent Barry was earlier playing in the Spurs team as a free agent player. In his four year stint with the San Antonio Spurs basketball team, he has scored an average of 7.3 points, 2.2 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 259 games. He has scored an amazing 354 three pointers and is currently in the fifth position of All time list of three pointers for the Spurs.

Barry has a thirteen year experience playing in the NBA and has played a total of 854 games and has played for the Bulls, Clippers, Heat as well as the Sonics in his NBA career. He won the NBA Slam Dunk award in the 2005-06 season and was also named in the All Star Rookie Second team that season. Barry has averaged 3.3 assists and 9.7 points in his NBA career so far.