Another nomuskles live blog for your viewing pleasure. Pregame Boston holds serve at the Garden (after a few shaky moments) and the Lakers attempt to stay perfect on the Staples Center hardwood floor during these 2008 Playoffs. Well obviously be watching Kobes back to see how hes doing with his extra day off. 1st Quarter TNT doesnt want to show us the game. Theyre making us watch the end of this Boston-Cavaliers torture test. Phew. Lebron doesnt push it. Zoom to LA!  read more »

We're at about the midpoint of the Warriors 2007-2008 season. The good news is that if the regular season ended today the Warriors would be playoff bound for the second year in a row and are only 5.5 games out of the prestigious #1 seed in the mighty Western Conference. The bad news is that they are clinging to only a 0.5 game lead over the Utah Jazz for the right to not count ping pong balls in May.  read more »

Another Nomuskles live blog. Pregame Kobe receives his MVP award in front of the Staples Center crowd. The TNT crew says that watching a person receive an MVP award fires up the opposing team. Lets hope that doesnt hold true tonight. Nomuskles-girl is currently taking an Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry exam so were gonna do the deed with an infamous Live Blog. 1st Quarter Starting five for both teams is as expected. Kobe, Pau, Lamar, Radman and Fisher for the Lakers. Memo, AK47, Brewer, Boozer and D-Will for the Jazz. 11:52 Fisher gets it started well with a quick two. Nothing but net. 11:26 First defensive stand goes very well for the Lakers. They force a 24 second violation. And whoops. Lakers inbound to no one and it goes out of bounds. Utah reboots.  read more »

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski) The Nuggets went through another 53 minutes of basketball with the Utah Jazz tonight with a less favorable outcome than Monday nights victory over the Portland Trailblazers. It was apparent early in this game that the play was going to be physical and that the tougher, both mentally and physically, team was going to emerge the winner. And it pains me more than you know to report the Nuggets lost, 118-115, to the foul happy Utah Jazz.  read more »

One of the most interesting things about the NBA for me is how much of an effect a truly elite player can have on a franchise. The NBA is the only professional league in which almost the entire fortune of a franchise can be driven by one player. My belief in The Superstar Theory was initially established after reading the wonderful article on 82games.com by Dennis Gallagher . A similar three part study was done on NBADraft.net by Robert W. McChesney ( Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 ). Both authors come to similar conclusions.  read more »

Records: Lakers 54-25 (2 seed); Hornets 55-23 (1 seed) Offensive ratings: Lakers 114.6 (3rd); Hornets 113.6 (5th) Defensive ratings: Lakers 107.2 (8th); Hornets 106.9 (5th) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Vladimir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol Hornets: Chris Paul, Mo Peterson, Peja Stojakovic, David West, Tyson Chandler Lakers Notes: After a shaky first 9 minutes (give or take) last night the Lakers played good defense, were efficient on offense and they cruised to a win. It was a good defensive effort by the Lakers, who after the first few minutes got smart and serious about defending Brand in the post, throwing a variety of looks and doubles at him. For the game the Clippers shot just 33% (eFG%) and had an offensive rating of 85.7.  read more »

Records: Lakers 18-10; Jazz 16-14 Offensive ratings: Lakers 111.3(7th); Jazz 112.0 (5th) Defensive ratings: Lakers 105.9 (11th); Jazz 107.6 (14th) Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum Jazz: Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, AK47, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur Lakers Notes: Quick injury update: No Luke, no Kwame tonight. Inside Hoops has done an interesting Q&A with Andrew Bynum , which gives us some insight in to how he went from gangly 17-year-old to breakout player: InsideHoops.com: How’s it going working with Lakers staff as they try to teach you new skills and help your development?  read more »

There isn't a player on Jazz that I don't like - except for maybe Harpring(untalented and uses aggression bordering on thugery to make up for it) and Okur(don't like his playing style), but they aren't like the Nuggets, who have two players in Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony that I despise.(I watched both of their losses to Sacramento and Seattle and giggled my head off)

I love the clever play of Ronnie Brewer.  I still have residual fondness for Andrei Kirilenko when he helped my fantasy team a ton a few years ago.  Paul Millsap is an incredible story and everything I'd want in a backup - or even starting - big.  Deron Williams is a joy to watch.  Boozer, if not exciting, is easily appreciated for all the things he does.  Their offense is amazing.  read more »

There was no 40-point explosion from Linas Kleiza and apparently the Nuggets only win against Utah this year necessitated that kind of outburst by a third offensive option. The Jazz took Denvers best effort to fight back after extending an early 16 point lead in the first quarter, but managed to blow the game wide open in the second half after momentarily losing the lead to win, 124-97. The first quarter was exactly how the Nuggets didnt want to start out the game. Utah drew first blood and quickly led 15-5. The early lead would balloon into a 40-point first quarter as the Nuggets late arrival offensively and lack of defensive agenda left them trailing 40-25 after twelve.  read more »

Matchup: Hornets(32-14) @ Jazz(30-18)
Off Efficiency: 108.4(3rd), 107.4(8th)
Def Efficiency: 100.6(5th), 103.1(13th)
Relevant Blogger: I was going to say My Utah Jazz, then I saw this post.

Last week the Hornets got some hype, some All-Star love, first place in the West, and then promptly forget everything that had gotten them to that position.  The last two games were pretty ugly, with the Hornets clearly thinking their newfound offensive prowess was going to win the games for them.   read more »