Post Thanksgiving NBA Roundup

Hi All, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I've had a little hiatus from my blog, but now I'm back. I want to talk about several things going on in the NBA, so let me get to it. I'll start out with my favorite topic - the Lakers. Ever since the Lakers got Pau Gasol back, they have not lost a game. Of course a little note should be added here because its only been 5 games and the teams are of lower tier quality. However, they have been dominating the games, which is a plus to see. It will be interesting to see how Andrew Bynum's game continues to develop and grow with Pau in there. Andrew has been having a career year thus far, but his numbers have been slightly down since Pau came back. That is to be expected with another big body around who commands the ball and attention. However, it looks to be that Andrew is still playing solid. When the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies, they took off like a rocket, and its been similar with Pau coming back from injury. It should be clear that Pau is a superstar player. There are only a handful of teams that Pau would not be the number 1 player for the team. Pau's numbers are very good and he's always a solid guy for you. Pau is one of those players that you can depend on and expect good things to happen with him in the lineup. His solid dependability reminds me of Tim Duncan.

Speaking of Gasol, when Pau was traded to the Lakers, part of that trade had the rights to Marc Gasol (his brother) traded to the Grizzlies. Marc has developed his game to be far from a throwaway player. In fact, he is averaging a double-double and is leading the league in field goal percentage. These have got to be two of the most talented siblings in NBA or basketball in general.

So thankfully my worry of the Lakers losing to the Nets and giving them their first win did not happen. The Nets are a pathetic 0-17!!! They currently are tied for the worst start and if they lose to the Mavericks at home in their next game, they will have the record for the worst start. By the way, they fired their coach Lawrence Frank before losing their 17th game to the Lakers. Seems like the only highlight for the Nets has been the play of Chris Douglas-Roberts.

The 76ers unfortunately have their point guard Lou Williams out for 8 weeks following jaw surgery. With this, there have been rumors of 76ers considering signing Iverson. I think Philly fans would welcome him back since he's one of the few remaining players of their most current winning years. However, the way Iverson has conducted himself these past couple years, would the 76ers want to deal with that? I can see it working in my head, but I'm just not sure about it yet.

For the month of November, the Phoenix Suns will technically have the best NBA record. I say technically because they have will have the most wins and least losses. However, I always focus on losses and the Lakers are tied with them with 3 losses. The Suns currently have more wins because they have played one more game in the season thus far than the Lakers. I want to give the Suns a lot of props though. I don't think many analysts, if any, had them with them the best record after one month in the preseason. Steve Nash is play amazingly, and he has the right type of players around him. Alvin Gentry has implemented the right type of play for the Suns that maximize their talent.

Shaquille Oneal has already missed 6 games for the Cavaliers this year. Also, his numbers are not that great at all, and not in the sense of just comparing it to the old Shaquille. They are decent numbers but it looks to me he has been more of a hindrance than an addition. To be fair, it may take the Cavs some time to get accustomed how to use Shaq appropriately. In the games that Shaq missed, the Cavs played pretty well, and Lebron was able to be as I like to say "full" Lebron. I don't think Lebron has had a string of games together that made it that much easier for him because of Shaq. It may be just a matter of time.

Last thing, sad loss for the Nuggets, who lost at home to the Timberwolves. This gave the Timberwolves a grand total of 2 wins for the season.