Random Thoughts on the NBA

I've been out of town recently, and haven't had a chance to blog about things as much as I have wanted to or been able to. Let me start with the Lakers. The Nuggets really killed the Lakers in the second half of their recent game. The Lakers are not playing their best ball at all as evidenced by another home loss. Granted, they have had injury problems - Gasol is still not back, Bynum was out a little bit, and now Kobe has groin issue. Its obvious Kobe has something going on, cause he's been terrible last two games, especially compared to his own Kobe standard. The other Lakers, especially the bench, need to pick up their play. For the most part, I have been happy with Artest's contribution, I think he is getting better as he plays more games for the Lakers. The Lakers have lost 2 in a row as well as the Celtics. The power teams are struggling a bit, but thats also due to some injuries. Paul Pierce is banged up a bit for the Celtics. Record wise, do you know what are three teams that only have 2 losses in the season so far?  Impressively the teams are the Hawks, Heat, and Suns. I'm a little surprised of how well these teams have been playing thus far. I knew they were solid, but didn't think they would have the best records 10 games into the season. Of course, its still really early in the season. Marc Stein has the Hawks number 1 this week for his Power Rankings. If I haven't said it before, I"ll say it now, Joe Johnson is a great great player. He is a well deserved All-Star. He is a true go-to guy and can really shoot the ball. I like Joe's game and he is playing well for the Hawks. I had no idea of the player he would turn out to be for the Hawks. I thought he was just another "shooter" when I saw him play with Nash on the Suns. Now, for Allen Iverson. I wanted to post an article just on this guy previously. I believe Iverson has been kind of baby the way he has behaved thus far. Hey I know he has skills but there is a way of going about things. Allen was coming off an injury at the beginning of the season, and I thought he should have at least given the coach some leeway in bringing back to the starting lineup. First off, you need to prove yourself, and not just rely on the past to give you an automatic start. I'm sure he would have worked himself up to the starting lineup quickly, even by the middle of the month. However, I guess Allen couldn't wait that long. I hope he is able to resolve whatever family situation/problems he is going through. Its being reported that the Grizzlies will waive Iverson today, so I wonder if Allen will be playing any time again this year in the NBA. One last thought, I can't say enough about Brandon Jennings, he is playing so well.