Three Up, Three in the Middle, Three Down

Time for the second, and final installment of Three Up... of the regular season. Let’s get right into it.

Three Up
Chicago Bulls: The Bulls are still rolling and clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They have been the team to beat since the All-Star break and have played the most consistent basketball the past few months. At this point if Derrick Rose doesn’t win the MVP, it’ll be a robbery. All the Bulls need now is for Noah’s ankle to heal up and be ready for the playoffs.
Oklahoma City Thunder: The Thunder have won eight of their last ten, and could be poised to make a nice run in the playoffs. The addition of Perkins has given them some much needed low post toughness and helped them to beat their likely first round opponent and team that just missed out on the three up this week in the Denver Nuggets. Denver has been surging since the ‘Melo deal and that win is a big one for OKC. If they can pass Dallas for the three seed, the Thunder have a good shot at a run to the conference finals.
New Orleans Hornets: I was going to pick Denver or Memphis here, but the Hornets deserve some props. Their second best player in David West went down with a torn ACL, but the Hornets have scrapped their way to a 7-3 mark over their past ten games in a tough bottom half of the Western Conference. Despite the injury and an up and down season, the Hornets have managed to hang tough. That deserves some props, even if it means they are just going to get mauled by the Lakers or Spurs in the first round.

Three in the Middle
New York Knicks: The Knicks have managed to recover from losing four straight by reeling off seven wins in a row. They still don’t have much depth, but it appears as if the team is starting to mesh a little better than it was a few weeks ago. It looks like they’ll end up against Miami (so long as Boston doesn’t continue their freefall) in the first round and that could be a competitive series.
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers would have been in the three up, but they have gone from looking like worldbeaters again to losing five in a row, including ones to possible playoff opponents Portland and OKC. Of course, none of this matters once the playoffs start, but it has to be disconcerting to not be playing your best ball at this point of the year.
San Antonio Spurs: They almost made the three down part, but have recovered from their swoon now that Tim Duncan is back from injury. They managed to clinch the one seed in the West, but part of that is due to the Lakers suddenly falling apart. Unfortunately, I don’t know that the Spurs can make it very far. Memphis would be a tough first round matchup, but they could squash the Hornets. In the second round, the Thunder could bounce them, but they could beat Dallas or Denver. If the Lakers lose early, the Spurs could make a run to the Finals.

Three Down
Dallas Mavericks: Dallas is done. Dirk is the only one playing well right now, and there is no solid second option. To boot, Chandler is playing hurt and Jason Kidd is pretty much done. If the Hornets somehow make it to the six seed, Dallas could earn their way to a second round exit courtesy of the Lakers. Otherwise, its going to be another first round bow-out for Dallas at the hands of Portland or Denver.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Minny are losers of twelve straight and are tied with the Cavs for worst record in the NBA. They aren’t even competitive at this point, unlike the beginning of the year where they at least played teams close. Rambis is an abyssmal coach, clinging to the Triangle Offense despite the fact the personnel needed to run it is not present. They are terrible, to the point where they might end up with an even worse record than Cleveland and that’s saying something.
Boston Celtics: What the hell is going on in Boston? They are getting trounced by everyone now and it appears that they have lost all that swagger they had heading into the season. Rondo has played poorly, the rest of the team has been inconsistent, Shaq has been MIA, and the chemistry has hit an all-time low since the Perkins trade. Since February, they’ve fallen from one to three in the East and it looks like it isn’t even a matter of biding their time and staying healthy until the playoffs. Of course, as with the Lakers, once the playoffs start anything could happen.

NBA: Three Up, Three in the Middle, Three Down

This is a new feature that I'm going to try to update weekly during the NBA season, and I'll try to tweak it for the Playoffs and maybe for MMA cards to show who's on the rise, treading water, and slumping.  I would like to note that this was written yesterday, before the Heat got beat by the Thunder, the Celtics showed some signs of life again, and the Mavericks beat the Warriors.

Three Up
Chicago Bulls: Winners of nine of their past ten, the Bulls have surged into first in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the Jordan Era.  Notable in that span are two wins over the Heat and wins over Atlanta, Orlando, and New Orleans.  ESPN has them currently rated as the team most likely to win the NBA title and are number one in ESPN's future power rankings, measuring who should be the best over the next three years.  Derrick Rose is the leading candidate for MVP and Tom Thibodeau is amongst the leading candidates for Coach of the Year.  All in all, not a bad time to be a Bulls fan.
Denver Nuggets: Denver is surging post-Carmelo Anthony with a 9-2 record after the trade, which is quite a bit better than the Knicks' mark during that span.  George Karl has the team playing an exciting brand of basketball and it is obvious that a weight has been lifted off the team's shoulders.  They actually look like they enjoy playing basketball again.  They are currently a five seed in the West, and could potentially play spoiler to the Thunder in the playoffs.
Los Angeles Lakers: Also winners of nine of the past ten, the Lakers are finally starting to round into playoff form.  Following the close loss to Miami, they beat the Mavericks and Magic, and prior to the Heat game they thrashed the Spurs.  Of the top four seeds out West they are probably the most dangerous, although they should hope they don't have to play the Grizzlies, TrailBlazers, or Nuggets in the first round as they struggle against them.

Three in the Middle
Boston Celtics: It seems that Boston is content to let everybody heal up before the postseason, hence the struggle over the past five or six games.  They obliterated the Bucks over the weekend, but those losses to the Clippers and Nets are brutal and losing to potential first round opponent Philadelphia hurts.  The 76ers have matched up well with Boston all season and would make it a tough series for the Celtics.  That being said, Boston still holds tiebreakers over Chicago and Miami and they don't really care about beating a team on the road, so seeding for the playoffs isn't that important.  What is important is that Rondo has been playing poorly and when he doesn't go, neither do the Celtics.
Miami Heat: Recovered from that losing skid to beat the Lakers in a close game, then blow out the Grizzlies and Spurs by thirty each.  I still don't think they can beat Boston or Chicago in a seven game series due to their lack of cohesiveness and effectiveness in the halfcourt game.  Wade and LeBron still don't really know how to play together unless it's on the fast break.  With a few tweaks and a healthy Haslem, the Heat could still make some noise in the playoffs.
Philadelphia 76ers: Beat Boston last week and played the Thunder close, but lost to Utah and got thrashed by the Bucks.  Still, they have recovered from a poor start and are now above .500 and have the second best record in the East since the All-Star break behind Chicago.  They have the potential to make the first round of the playoffs very interesting.  Doug Collins has done a great job coaching a young team that has no one scoring more than 17 a game.

Three Down
San Antonio Spurs:  Have bookend blowout losses to the Lakers and Heat, with wins over bad teams in the middle.  They should finish with homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, but their play against good teams has been troubling as of late.  Their defense has been sub-par this season and it has shown against the better teams.  They need a win over Dallas at the end of the month to reassert themselves as the favorite in the Western Conference.
New York Knicks: After the excitement of trading for Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks have gone 6-6.  Knicks fans are shocked to see that 'Melo doesn't play defense or pass the ball very much/well.  They also can't defend.  Anyone.  At all.  It doesn't matter how great a clutch shooter 'Melo is if you can't stop anyone in a close game.  The two straight losses to the Pacers put them in the seventh seed, where they would have a difficult time competing against the Celtics.  If the Knicks want to make any noise, they need to get to the sixth seed and a more favorable matchup with the Heat.
Dallas Mavericks: Their losses to the Lakers and potential first round opponent Portland have dropped the Mavericks into the third seed out West.  They could still conceivably win the conference, but they could also conceivably lose to the TrailBlazers in the first round.  The seventh seed Hornets are a much easier matchup.  They play the Hornets and the Spurs before the month is out and wins there would help their caue a great deal.

That's it for this week's installment.  Feel free to comment if you agree, disagree, or think I missed something.