Welcome to The Basketball Chat. Every week, Mike Slane, co-founder of ElevationMag.com and myself will chat about the latest news in the NBA. We'll take a look at players and teams, as well as any trades, suspensions, and other NBA happenings. Enjoy!
Dennis: Okay, welcome to another edition of The Basketball Chat with Mike Slane and myself, Dennis Velasco. Let's start off with the absolute hottest team in the league right now... Mike, how hot are the Dallas Mavericks and do you see them continuing to stay nuclear?Mike: I picked the Mavericks to win it all during the preseason and was a little nervous after they started the season 0-4. But ten straight wins later, they definitely are the league's hottest team and there is no doubt in my mind that they can win it all this year. Dirk, my pick for MVP, is on fire and will carry this team all season.
Dennis: Well, there's still a lot of seaosn to play, so we'll see, but they did continue this run of wins without Josh Howard, which speaks well for the Mavericks depth. However, I doubt they would have won ten straight games without Dirk. And at this point, he has to be the MVP. I still believe LeBron James will pull it out after it's all said and done, but we'll see. Tonight the Mavs play the Raptors, so we should all be talking about 11 in a row tomorrow morning. As far as I can tell, the following game on Friday against the Sacramento Kings will be a tough game.
Mike: Speaking of the Raptors, what's up with the Atlantic Division? The five teams in the division have a combined 25-46 record and the first place team, the Boston Celtics, have a 5-8 record!
Dennis: Yeah, man, that is a sad, sad, sad division. Will it get better? Well, it can't get any worse, can it? Let's take a look at the teams one by one. Boston Celtics - I can't get a pulse on this team and is it me or is it chaotic over there? Is Doc Rivers staying or going? What's happening with Danny Ainge's long-term plan? It doesn't look like anything is happening. Is it time to give up on Al Jefferson as still having upside or does he still have potential. Can he even stay healhty? I don't know... there are questions there. I don't see them getting that much better.
Mike: The team that I'm shocked about is the New Jersey Nets. After a 5-3 start, the Nets have lost six straight and are absolutely struggling. And it's not like they've been losing to quality teams either. They've lost to Portland twice, Seattle twice and the Bobcats last night. The worst part about the losing streak is that Richard Jefferson has been in the lineup for five of those games after suffering an early season injury that kept him out of five games.
Dennis: Well, one team the Nets actually did beat, the Toronto Raptors, have a similar record at 5-9. However, they did lose most of their games on a very tough West Coast swing, losing at Sacramento, Golden State, Los Angeles (Lakers), Denver, and Utah all in a row. Now tell me that isn't a TOUGH schedule. But, they get that traveling out of the way. Remember, it makes a difference playing on the road because you don't have the comforts of home and you can't get much further from Toronto, Canada than that tough West Coast schedule. However, since coming back East, they did beat the Central Division leading Cleveland Cavaliers, beat the Indiana Pacers and the New Orleans Hornets on the road. All quality wins, so once the Raptors get settled they should be fine and contend for a playoff spot as many people predicted before the season. However, there is no forgiving them for losing to the Atlanta Hawks twice in a span of two weeks.
