George O'Brien

Sacramento has opened 0-2. The Lakers looked good in their opener, but then lost two in a row. Houston is only 1-2 and Memphis is 0-2 (Houston's only win was against Memphis). Detroit lost last night to Toronto led by Loren Woods!

Slow starts by projected playoff teams is hardly unusual, but with the West being as competative as it is no team can afford to dig a deep a hole in November. There are several interesting games this evening:

Sacramento at Houston: Neither team is playing well, but the Kings may be in trouble. With their chemistry problems, an 0-3 start could be a serious problem for the Kings. McGrady scored 30 against Memphis last night, but Rockets are coming off a back to back. BTW, McGrady scored more than 1/3 of the Rocket's points last night. it could go either way.

Utah at Denver: The Jazz are coming off two impressive wins, but this is the second of back to backs and is being played in Denver. The Nuggets beat the Timberwolves at home on Thursday, but still do not look like they are playing well as a team. This is a game that the Nuggets should win, but the Jazz have playing better.

Memphis at Dallas: The Mavs have started with a home win against the Kings and a win in New Orleans. Memphis is 0-2 (losing to the Wizzards and Rockets at home). The Grizzlies have been shooting only 42.2% while permitting 45% shooting by their opponents. Memphis is coming off a very poor game last night where they shot only 35.1% and scored a mere 81 points against the Rockets. Memphis faces a serious risk of going 0-3. To make matters worse, they have a moderately difficult schedule for November which includes against Houston, Lakers, Portland (starting strong), Sacramento twice, San Antonio, and Minnesota. If Memphis continues to struggle they could be out of contention by December.

BTW, Portland is like Phoenix in that their first two games were against weak opponents. In their case, they beat Golden State and the Clippers. Sunday's game in Toronto will be their first test. Toronto has defeated the Rockets and Pistons, making them the biggest surprise so far.

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azirishmusic

Chaz

With all the player movement, it makes the start to this year really interesting. Some of the games I have seen are still total snooze fests but it is interesting to see the outcome and how teams are playing together. It looks like over all the scoring is up.

The Suns have been very entertaining and it is nice to get off to a good start.

From the Games I have seen Utah and San Antonio look like they are playing well. I haven't seen one of their games yet but the Mavericks are 2-0 and scoring 106 ppg.

thegrahamcrackr

Back in July I said the Suns were going to get a great start, and catch a lot of teams by surprise, while several other teams would start slow. This has to do with all the new faces for many teams. The suns took a lot of time this summer to get used to each other, while many teams will have to take the first 10 or so games to get ready.

I expect by January all teams will have caught up or slowed down leaving us with what we expected in the rankings.

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Chad is a very special person with a very special job!