It appeared Tracy McGrady just ran out of gas.   He started settling for long jumpers late in the third quarter on.  Houston needs another reliable scoring option.  They have some very good defensive players in Battier, Chuck Hayes, and Scola, but none of them is a real scoring threat.  Battier is the only one of the three that does have a perimeter presence.  Dikembe is like Ben Wallace, a liability to a team that has trouble scoring.  I hate to use a cliche, but put a fork into Houston.

Well, the Suns need to call the game at halftime and leave and the Raptors should wait until the second quarter before showing up.  The third quarter of the Suns-Spurs game was hard to watch.  Shaq is showing his age and it is no longer an automatic when he gets a rebound or pass right under the basket. 

Nash cannot stay with Tony Parker.  If you move Raja Bell over, who is going to cover Manu?  Giricek isn't quick enough, that is one reason why he is no longer with Utah.  Parker right now is series MVP.  Nash also seems to be getting a little too relaxed with some of his passes. 

It will be interesting to see how Denver does taking Anthony Carter out of the starting lineup and puting former Missouri star Kleiza into it.  Kleiza does give them a lift off of the bench.  Sometimes that is needed during the game.  Bobby Jackson when he was with Sacramento brought instant energy to a game when he entered. 

You want to believe Detroit is going to crunch Philly.  However, they did this last year with Cleveland saying they would win when they had to.  Cleveland was in the Finals, not Detroit, last year. 

Al Horford of Atlanta showed he is a reckoning force of the future.  Can Johnson and Smith perform well enough to make this a game?  I use a database a bunch in my handicapping.  It says to take the OVER in the Hawks-Celtics game.  Tough doing that against such a great defense.

Good luck!

Jim K.