Ok, no surprise here in the NBA.com Power Rankings.
Yes, it is the Los Angeles Lakers number 1 as they should be, but maybe you should take a look, because they added Ron Artest. If handled correctly he can be a force. And Lamar Odom? They resigned him and he is a difference maker.

There was little doubt that fans in Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, San Antonio and other cities were holding out hope that Lamar Odom(notes) would just sign with Miami instead of returning to the Lakers.

As it turned out, Odom never really intended to leave the Lakers—and he wound up taking less money than Lakers owner Jerry Buss initially offered him upon the opening of free agency to return. Odom signed a four-year deal worth $33 million—if the Lakers pick up a fourth-year team option.

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Scanning further down the list to the seventh spot you find the Denver Nuggets. Hey, didn’t they kind of pass all of the West teams except for the Lakers? And all they get are a seventh place ranking? Whoa, that is tough! That may cause Chauncey Billups to shrug his shoulders and say something strong like “We’ll see.”

Chauncey Billups may shrug

Wait a minute; Portland and Washington are rated 8th and 9th? When did this happen? Agent Zero returns and the Wizards and going to play great ball? Andre Miller moves to Portland and they are going to play great ball? Why don’t you ask Utah, Atlanta, and Philly about that?

Oh wow, Phoenix Suns in 15th and belonging there. That is hard to believe with a healthy Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, but it is probably right.

Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks after about 425 player deals sit 27th and 28th. Ouch!

Rounding out the 30th spot are the Sacramento Kings and your intrepid author defies you to name one single King player. They earned that spot.

Photo source Newscom

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It goes without saying that LeBron James cannot be stopped by the Hawks and the series could turn into a sweep.

James leads everyone in the postseason with a 33.7 points-per-game average. He is averaging 36 points per game in this series against the Hawks.

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That is right. 36 points per game. Ouch!

LeBron James unstoppable

The game is 40 – 38 Cavaliers at halftime and LeBron only has 12. Since when has 12 been an ‘only’ at halftime?

Remember when LeBron came into the league and most observers said he was great, but can’t really shoot the outside ball? Well, in the last game the Hawks were switching all over the court on defense and every time someone shorter than LeBron was guarding him, he just put it up and it went in. What happened to can’t shoot the outside shot?

The reason LeBron James is shooting the ball better from the outside than he did several years ago comes down to four-letter word … work. He really does practice his shooting. A few hours before the game, he will take 30 shots from six different spots on the court — and four spots in between. Then he takes another 40 shots or more near the basket, practicing short hook shots. He mixes in free throws. Assistant Chris Jent puts him through the paces.

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Photo source Newscom

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Game 5, Heat vs. Hawks and Josh Smith goes in for a fancy dunk with a between the legs move and misses. It was bad. He was all alone and just blew it.

So that is that and lesson learned, right? Not for Josh Smith. He plans on trying it again and claims that next time it will go down. He is even confident enough to do it in game 7, which is where the Hawks are heading.

Check out this YouTube of the dunk and make your own assessment.

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These are the type of comparisons we all love to make and your intrepid author is no exception.

Joe Johnson can’t carry Kobe Bryant’s jock strap you may say, but if you break down the stats it turns out he can carry Kobe’s jock strap and carry it rather well.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Bryant was averaging 27.7 points on 47.5 percent from the field, 35.0 percent from 3-point range and 86.9 from the line. Johnson was averaging 21.6 points on 43.3, 34.4 and 80.5 percent, respectively.

Break down Bryant’s points and you’ll find that 14.6 percent of them come on 3-pointers, 27.5 in the paint, 22.5 on free throws and the other 35.4 percent from midrange.

Johnson’s breakdown is 27.3 percent on treys, 26.7 in the paint, 16.9 on freebies and 29.1 percent from midrange.

They score in a similar fashion.

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But you know that there is more to it than that, don’t you? You do, don’t you? Well?

Yeah, there is that intangible part that makes Kobe great and Joe really good. The difference is in that skull thing that sits above the neck on both players. Kobe has what some would call a genius of athletics. Can we say that? Guess we already did. Kobe knows he will take your team to the mountain, he will win the game, make the big shot, the big pass, whatever it takes and he has done it before.

Isiah Thomas used to say that Michael Jordan was the most competitive athlete he ever met. If you beat Michael Jordan at hoops then be prepared to play until he wins or you drop dead. If you did drop dead then Michael would probably be a bit upset at not getting a chance to beat on you. You can just picture Michael dragging your dead body out on the court and jumping over you to jam the ball and shouting out, “That is 1 to nothing, your outs!”

Kobe has that and Joe would like to get it.

Maurice Evans, Bryant’s former backcourt mate in L.A. and Johnson’s current backup in Atlanta, agrees. “I think you see a little bit of the mental edge [with Bryant] as far as the confidence level, as far as winning championships and having a greater level of success,” Evans said. “When [the Hawks] played Boston last year and they went to Game 7, Kobe’s been in situations where he’s actually won that game and had that type of success. Once Joe gets that under his belt, I think he can start playing on that level.”

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When Joe gets that edge then maybe, just maybe he will earn a category on my blog. Until then, Joe better keep taking it to Kobe until he wins!

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Takes more than 2 Lakers to guard Dwight Howard

Give credit where due. Marc Stein of ESPN.com writes the Power Rankings for the NBA and it is like a sugary cereal to fans.

This week Orlando is Number 1! Dwight Howard rules.

They swept their season series with the Lakers and the Spurs. They’re 17-5 on the road and 18-4 against the West. And they just beat three division leaders (Spurs, Lakers and Nuggets) on their last trip. Any questions?
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Orlando has an 8 game lead over Atlanta in the Southeast Division.

The Magic are followed by the Cavs, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, and Nuggets. No surprises there. They all lead their Divisions in the NBA.

By the way, these rankings came out before the Cav’s lost in Laker land Monday night, Kobe playing with a dislocated finger. Ever get one of those? They hurt.

The Hawks are a 2nd place team in 15th (injuries) and the Pistons are a 2nd place team in 18th (confusion).

Big Games

The Magic play Boston Thursday night.
Next Thursday the Cavs and LeBron James visit Orlando for a slugfest.

Photo source Newscom

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Gillette wants you to win a copy of EA Sports NBA 09 for your XBOX 360 right here at NBAObsessed! Details for the giveaway are at the end of this blog.

Gillette Champions of Gaming

Gillette and EA Sports are also sponsoring a big time tournament called the Champions of Gaming. You know you are ready for the big time in EA Sports XBOX 360 Live Gaming. You have worked hard and now it is time to show your stuff.

Play your favorite EA Sports game and win!

Now for the cool part. You can compete in the Tournament of Champions by playing NBA ‘09, but if you want to, you could play Madden ‘09, Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘09, NASCAR ‘09, or Soccer ‘09 and there will be no teasing if someone chooses the Soccer. How cool is that? This is where you say, “Wow that is cool!”

The tournament site is at Gillette.com. Get there and sign up now. First you play some qualifying rounds and if you become the finalist of one of the three regions, North America, Asia, or Europe, you then get flown to sunny Orlando Florida to compete against Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Roger Federer, Denny Hamlin, or Thierry Henry.

For those of you that like to read the official rules, have at it.

Go to Gillette.com right now and sign up, then practice, practice, practice. Your gallivanting author has spoken!

NBA 09 Giveaway

NBAObsessed will be giving away 1 copy of EA Sports NBA ‘09 for your XBOX 360 enjoyment. All you have to do is to predict how many total points will be scored in the Detroit Piston/Atlanta Hawks game Sunday December 21. The closest guess wins.

Just send it in a comment. Comments have to be in by Saturday night. You must live in North America. In the case of a tie; your intrepid author will put the tied entrants in a hat and draw out the winner. Limit one entry per day. NBAObsessed retains all rights to determine the winner.

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Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks or soon the Memphis Grizzlies?

In a surprise move, one of the only teams left with money, the Memphis Grizzlies, have signed Josh Smith to an offer sheet of 58 million dollars for 5 years.

Hawks management had said they would match any offer. They have seven short days to do it.

Josh Smith averaged over 17 points and 8 rebounds last year and is a key part of the playoff Atlanta Hawks team.

Atlanta recently lost 6th man Josh Howard to Greece.

Before losing Josh Howard the Hawks led the league in Josh’s with Josh Childress also on the team.

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Josh Childress will be taking his game to Greece

Hey, it is called free agency and Josh Childress took it to its extreme by signing with a Greek team. The team is called Olympiakos.

So did Josh just get Olympic fever and get confused?

No, he got 32.5 million bucks. Comparable to what the NBA was offering and for fewer years.

Read that again, comparable to what the NBA was offering and for fewer years.

Atlanta had offered him a five-year, $33 million contract. But the Hawks’ slow-paced negotiating tactics and the limits of restricted free agency, combined with what Childress called Wednesday the “opportunity of a lifetime,” resulted in his decision.

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The luxury tax and slow U.S. economy are changing the landscape.

This year, it’s changing even more. Over the past couple of weeks, those NBA free agents with international roots seemed inclined to leap. Carlos Delfino has left the Toronto Raptors and opted for BC Khimki; Bostjan Nachbar is finished with the New Jersey Nets and is on his way to Russia to play for Dynamo Moscow; the Memphis Grizzlies were so excited about acquiring Juan Carlos Navarro last year only to find him heading home to Spain to play for Barcelona next season. And Nachbar’s teammate with the Nets, 7-footer Nenad Krstic, is reportedly mulling over an overture from Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli league.

The reasons are obvious. A lot of young restricted free agents are getting nothing more than qualifying offers in the $2.5-million range, and the European teams are offering them twice that money with the much stronger Euro also trumping the dollar. Splitter, meanwhile, scoffed at the Spurs’ offer because — thanks to the rookie salary cap — a handcuffed San Antonio front office was only able to offer half of what he got to stay in Spain.

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Seems bizarre doesn’t it. We just got used to Europeans coming over here to play.

David Stern has taken notice and you can bet he will step up his effort to create more NBA ties in Europe.

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Joe Johnson had 20 in the 4th quarter

Image details: Boston Celtics v Atlanta Hawks – Game Three served by picapp.com

You must admit it.

You did not see this coming.

Atlanta has taken both of their home games and now the series with the Boston Celtics is tied at 2 to 2.

Game 5 is back in Boston.

So how did Atlanta do it?
Well, it may have started with the trade for Mike Bibby.

Oh, you want to know what happened in the game?

After starting the game on a 16-3 run, the Celtics cooled down as Atlanta secured a 97-92 home win in Game 4 on Monday.

On an off night for rookie Al Horford, Joe Johnson and Josh Smith combined for Atlanta’s final 34 points. Johnson led the way with 35 points and six assists, while Smith chipped in 28 points, six rebounds and seven blocks.

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This is a Hawks team that now believes that they can win. Sure, the Hawks know that Kevin Garnett is a great player, and so is Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but they can be beaten!

The game was still close going into the fourth quarter when Joe Johnson took over and left the Celtics wondering what happened.

The credit for this Atlanta stunner goes largely to Johnson, who took control in the final quarter. After Smith’s jumper put the Hawks ahead to stay 81-79, Johnson scored nine straight points to keep the Celtics on the ropes.

The knockout came when Paul Pierce drove to the hoop and left it short, then tumbled over a cameraman alongside the basket. When the Boston star finally climbed back to his feet, he had a look of disbelief—which pretty much sums up the way the Celtics are feeling about this series.

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You have to wonder if any Boston fans bought game 5 tickets. They had to be sure this series would be over in 4 games.

NBA Basketball special comment Will Atlanta win this series? No, but they have acquired a huge dose of confidence and experience that has to pay dividends.

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The Nuggets are upset, because they just lost to the Utah Jazz in Utah.

They shouldn’t be.

As your intrepid author predicted two days ago, Denver would lose to Utah, while Golden State would probably beat the Clippers at home. Denver is still safe. Denver has the tie breaker.

Golden State is on the road with the Suns and home with the Supersonics. Call that one loss and one victory.

Denver has two home games remaining. One with the Rockets and one with the Grizzlies. Most likely they only need to beat the Grizzlies to limp into the playoffs.

Over in the East

Meanwhile, Atlanta failed to beat Boston due to a hot Sam Cassell and thus failed to clinch a playoff spot.

Atlanta would have ended the NBA’s longest playoff drought with a victory, because Indiana lost to Charlotte earlier Saturday. The Hawks remained two games ahead of the Pacers with two to play, lowering their magic number to one for the right to face the Celtics in a first-round series.

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Even is Atlanta clinches, they are nothing more than mince meat to the Celtics.

Here are the Eastern Standings.

Eastern Conference
Team GB
1. z-Boston —
2. y-Detroit 7.5
3. y-Orlando 14.5
4. x-Cleveland 20.5
5. x-Washington 22.0
6. x-Toronto 23.5
7. x-Philadelphia 24.0
8. Atlanta 27.0
9. Indiana 29.0

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Good Luck, Atlanta. At least you will be in the playoffs, which is a big step.

NBA Basketball special comment Don’t these last few games just seem to drag on?

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