Ron Burgundy is back!

Take them rhymes back to the factory....

Roundball March 28

It was somewhat of a slow night in the NBA last night, with only 7 games on the schedule and only about half of those were really all that interesting.

The Cavaliers continued to fade last night, getting handily defeated from start to finish by the Philadelphia 76ers.    Philadelphia was once again without Andre Iguodala, who sat out the game with left knee tendinitis.  That does not sound good for 76ers fans.  On this night however, it did not matter as the 76ers used a hot shooting night from Jodie Meeks while running away with this game.....One night after losing a pickup game to a depleted Knicks squad, the Bucks looked a lot better at home against the Hawks.   The Bucks used a hot shooting first quarter and an early injury to Joe Johnson (thanks Zaza) to help them control this game.  The Hawks were able to come back and even take the lead for a good part of the second half.  Monta Ellis was too much for the Hawks down the stretch though.  He finished the night off with a game high (and personal high with the Bucks) 33 points.  This Bucks team has an outside chance at making the playoffs depending on what happens with the Knicks.... The Grizzlies and Timberwolves continued to move in different directions last night.  The Grizzlies continued their climb in the Western Conference standings.   Sorry, but the Timberwolves just aren't going to win many games with Luke Ridnour as their starting point guard.  They were able to keep this game close, before Memphis closed the game out in the fourth quarter.  Mike Conley did leave the game early with a sprained ankle, but he was able to return and he finished the game with a respecetable 12 points and 8 assists.  Ricky Rubio is still young so Timberwolves fans will have plenty to look forward to in the coming seasons.....The Mavericks settled in after the first quarter to continue their recent dominance of their interstate rivals the Houston Rockets.  Houston jumped out to an 11 point lead after the first quarter, but the Mavericks depth proved to be far too much for Houston to handle in the long run in this game.  Dallas' bench outscored Houston's 48-17 in a nine point victory.  Each loss brings Houston that much closer to three first round draft picks.....The Spurs and The Suns was a game that pitted two of the hottest teams in the NBA over the last month.  Resting their older players has proved to be valuable for San Antonio, especially against the high octane Phoenix Suns offense.  Tim Duncan and Tony Parker led the Spurs down the stretch to a seven point victory over the home suns.  Every year, the Spurs are right there.  This year is no different.....The Thunder continued to roll last night over a fast fading Trailblazers team.  While Portland did go on an 18-2 run in the second half, they were really never in this game.  Raymond Felton was surely missed for Portland.  Nolan Smith had his first career start and got completely outplayed by Russell Westbrook.  Take a look at Portland's current roster.     Lamarcus Aldridge might be in for a long couple years......The Lakers walked away with a very close victory over Golden State last night.   The win was keyed by a big first quarter from Los Angeles.  Kobe Bryant came through down the stretch in this one and led LA to a close win over a pesky Golden State team.  The Warriors might not win a lot of games, but they are in a lot of them right to the end.  Los Angeles will need to get its act together a little bit more if they intend to go on a long playoff run this season.....


Numbers that stick out to me:

31- Jodie Meeks point toal last night, a new career high.  He also had 7 three pointers last night, also tying a career high.  Meeks has been no stranger to scoring outbursts in his basketball career. 

18.4/9.9/3.9/1.5/1.9- Josh Smith's respective averages in Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, and Blocks this season.  He did not make the All Star team this season.  I am pretty sure he will be on the roster next season.

9- The number of games the Golden State Warriors have lost by 5 points or less this season.  They also lost an overtime game by 7 points and another by 8.  Their current record is 20-28.  If they could have won 8 of those 11 games, they would be 28-20 good for fourth in the Western Conference.   Hang in there, Warriors fans....

32- Shannon Brown got busy in a losing effort for Phoenix last night.  He put up a career high 32 points.  

Toronto Raptors pizza party

In addition to the Raptors wearing those ugly camouflage uniforms and losing in dominant fashion to the Magic, there was one lone bright spot for Toronto fans: a free pizza slice!  When the Raptors score 100 points at home, they give away a free slice of pizza.  If it's the place I am thinking of, I once stood outside one of those on Yonge Street while really drunk in 2004 freestyle rap battling with some random Toronto people.  Stan Van Gundy had the following to say about the free slice....

This was just the fourth home game where the Raptors have scored 100 this season.  Enjoy, Raptors fans.

Bitter End- The Hand That Feeds

Now that I am catching up on this blog, here is a video released around the Holidays by Texas Hardcore band Bitter End.  This video is off their last LP Guilty As Charged, available on the Deathwish Label   This band rips and they are one of four or five bands I plan to see this year.  I will probably find a stacked festival lineup and make that my summer travels....

Roundball March 27

Welcome to the first installment of Roundball in about a year.  This was a segment created in this blog during the 10-11 NBA season to catch up on the events of the previous day.   With the recent resuscitation of this blog complete, I figured it would be a good time to get this section going again.  Now that college is wrapping up, I am watching a ton of NBA again.

In both Conferences, it is going to be a race to the finish during this final month strech run.  With a little under a month to go, there are still 22 teams fighting for the 16 playoff spots.  The Cavaliers and Trailblazers will both probably continue to fade, but they still have outside chances. 

In the Eastern Conference from the Bulls to the Bucks, you have nine teams fighting for playoff positioning.  While the seeds are far from a lock in this conference, you at least have a more clear picture of where some teams are headed with the playoffs looming.  The Bulls and Heat will more than likely continue to duke it out for first place and a potential home court advantage throughout the entire playoffs.  Unless they have a big collapse in the final month, look for the Magic to finish third.  After that, the seeds could move one or two depending on what happens in the final weeks.  The Celtics and 76ers will fight it out for the Atlantic Division with the winner finishing fourth and the other team finishing as low as 7th or 8th.  This division championship is huge because the winner will face either the Hawks or the Pacers, while the loser will face a motivated Heat or Bulls team.  Look for the Celtics to get their act together and win the Atlantic.  It is always interesting when the Hawks and Celtics face each other in the playoffs..  The 76ers meanwhile, will continue to fade and might even finish eighth.  It will be a toss up between the Pacers and Hawks for 5th and 6th, but I think the Hawks will continue to play well down the stretch and finish 5th.  It would not suprise me all that much if the Hawks even can get themselves into the top four with the way they have played recently.  There is still the outside potential of Al Horford returning for the playoffs, especially if the Hawks get into the second round.  This would be huge in the playoffs, when the tempo is slowed down.  I expect the 76ers and Knicks to fight it out for 7th and 8th, with the Bucks fading slowly over the final weeks.  That team could be good in a year or two, though. The Knicks playoff hopes are relying pretty heavily on what happens with Amare Stoudemire obviously.  The news yesterday did not appear to be good and he is headed to Miami for a second opinion.  The Bucks do have a pretty easy schedule down the stretch in comparison to New York's too.

Out West, things aren't nearly as clear.  Granted, The Thunder, Spurs, and Lakers appear to be more than likely headed into the playoffs with the top three seeds in the West.  You never know, but I can't really see any of the 4-12 seeds creeping up into the top three.  Maybe the Clippers, but probably not.  The 4-12 teams have their own issues as it stands, with 5 games separating the nine teams.  As I stated above, I think the Blazers will continue to fade.  I think the Timberwolves will miss Ricky Rubio during these final weeks.  Like the Bucks in the East, that team is going to be exciting for years if they keep their roster pretty similar.   As a Rockets fan, I would more rather see them miss the playoffs so they can get three First Round draft picks.  They might be missing key players still when the playoffs start anyway.  Their recent run has been great though, especially with Lowry and Martin out.  The teams that currently sit 4-9 in the west have 1.5 games separating them, so it's really anyone's guess as to what will happen in the final weeks.  As of this writing 4-9 in order is Clippers, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Jazz, Rockets, and Nuggets.  The Suns are right there as well though.  They have been playing as well as anyone in the West since the all star break.  Steve Nash is the Jamie Moyer of the NBA.  This playoff race will be fun to watch.  I will speculate on it more as things become a little more concrete. 

Onto last nights action....

The Orlando Magic went into Toronto and even a sneaky camouflage uniform couldn't stifle them.  They rode a hot shooting night from Ryan Anderson in an easy victory 117-101.  The Magic got off to a fast start before the Raptors closed the first quarter out on a run of their own.  After that, it was pretty much all Ryan Anderson and Orlando.  Anderson finished with 28 points and a season high 8 threes.  He has been the lone bright spot on my fantasy team this year....Who would think that a matchup between two of the Eastern Conference bottom feeders would provide for one of the two most exciting games?  Such was the case when the Pistons faced the Wizards last night.  Granted, the Wizards have been improved since they cut a lot of their dead weight.  This was also Rodney Stuckey's first game back for Detroit after missing the previous three games with a toe injury.  He was the difference maker in this game, as he scored 24 points including the game winning basket.  While the Wizards have been improved, it also needs to be noted that this was the third consecutive game they have lost after leading by double digits..... 

Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo got busy as the Celtics went into Charlotte and held off the Bobcats in the second half.  Pierce finished with a season high 36 points as the Celtics won this game by seven.  The Bobcats continue to lose.  At least they have Gerald Henderson and Kemba Walker...One night after losing to the Thunder, you would think that the Heat would come out strong and continue their dominance over the Pacers last night.....The Pacers had ideas of their own last night as they used a key third quarter run in handing the Heat their second consecutive defeat.  Danny Granger finally decided to show up for a Heat game, leading the Pacers with 25 points.  The Heat have now lost their last two games by a combined 31 points....One night after losing a heartbreaker in 4OT, the Jazz went up to New Jersey to face the Nets.  While the Jazz looked tired, they were able to use a combination of defense and a poor shooting effort from the Nets while running away with this game by 21 points.  The Nets did close the gap to 5 at the end of the third quarter, but the Jazz went on a run down the stretch and the Nets had no answer as usual.  The Jazz look to be in decent shape for the playoffs with their recent play.  The Nets might be in complete disarray again depending on what happens with Deron Williams at the end of the season.....The Knicks got word yesterday that they would be without Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin for this game.  With a potential half game separating them if they came in and won, you would think Milwaukee would have been chomping at the bit to win this game.  The Bucks were horrible last night and unable to take care of the situation, as the Knicks closed out down the stretch and won 89-80.  This game looked like a pickup game from start to finish, as neither team really had any flow going.  Both teams ended up shooting 36% (NYK) and 35% (MIL) for the night.  One of the uglier games I have watched all season for sure......

The Bulls have been without Derrick Rose for some time now. He has missed 16 games this season with a myriad of injuries, including the last seven.  Clearly the Bulls missed him last night, as the Nuggets guards outplayed Chicago from start to finish.  Ty Lawson, Aaron Afflalo, and Andre Miller combined for 61 of Denver's 108 points last night. They also combined for 16 assists. That was the difference, as Chicago lost this game by 17 points. Chicago fans must be hoping Derrick Rose will be ready in a few weeks.....The Houston Rockets continue to play well without their two starting guards.  They once again did not miss Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin as Houston came back and won this game in overtime.  The Kings got to a big lead early and were able to close out the first quarter with a 12 point lead. The Rockets continued to chip away from there and then took over in the overtime and won the game by a final of 113-106.  There was some bad news with the good of course, as Goran Dragic went out in overtime with an apparent ankle injury.  Good thing they signed Earl Boykins yesterday!.....I have been watching a lot of basketball in my 30 years on this planet, but I don't know how many times I have seen an NBA player miss a dunk because he jumped too high!  Last night, Blake Griffin did just that.  Who else, right?  It was a late game here, so I fell asleep before halftime, but the Clippers got their revenge on the Hornets from last Thursday's defeat.  They started off on a big run, it was even 18-2 at one point.  The Hornets were actually competitive after that, but the Clippers came away with a 12 point victory.  Vinny Del Negro's job remains safe, for now.....

Numbers that stick out to me:

30.8/13.9- Kevin Loves scoring and rebounding average for March.  Like me, you may have a reason  or even two reasons to dislike Kevin Love.  Note the loud, annoying, and obnoxious UCLA fans in the second video.   Around the time they starting yelling Final Four, I smashed my cell phone.

2- The number of games the Lakers have lost by double digits this year.  I realize there is still close to 20 games left, but I haven't seen any other teams with fewer than four double digit losses.  Could just be a coincidence...

143- Ryan Anderson's three point total for the season to date.  In a full regular season, at his current pace, he would have a shot at 250 threes.  Still, Anderson does still have an outside chance at becoming just the 22nd player in NBA history to hit 200 3 pointers in a season.  Not bad, considering there are only 66 games this season...

42- New Jersey's field goal percentage at home.  The Bobcats are the only team with a worse shooting percentage at home, 41.3.  These two teams are terrible. 

Work the Angles

Houston Rockets bringing Earl Boykins on board?

Word on the street this afternoon is that The Rockets will be signing Earl Boykins to a 10 day contract.  While he might not get that much burn, this is still exciting news.  Earl Boykins is a good a hard worker and a great person to have around the locker room.  At 5'5" Boykins is one of the shortest all time basketball players and it is really exciting to watch him play.  Well it is to me anyway.  Boykins has been a bench player for most of his NBA career, save for some of his time in Denver.  He hasn't played at all this season and will probably only be in Houston until Kyle Lowry returns.  With the recent play of Goran Dragic, Boykins will probably only come in to relieve their players at the end of halves.  Welcome to the Rockets!

Amare Stoudemire out indefinitely

In what most New Yorkers must be referring to by now as ""deja vu all over again"  Amare Stoudemire will miss tonight's home game against the Milwaukee Bucks with a bulging disc in his back.  He is traveling to Miami for a second opinion and will be out indefinitely.  This has certainly been an up and down season for Knicks fans, but this can't bode well at all with the playoffs potentially looming in just over a month.  Tonight is a key game as well, as the Milwaukee Bucks come to the Garden trailing the Knicks by a mere half game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.  Jeremy Lin (knee) is expected to miss tonight's game as well.  Now is the time for Carmelo Anthony to prove his worth to New York fans.  Afterall, they did pretty much give up an entire starting five for him last season.

Unbelievably Vegan

About a year and a half ago, just before the holiday season of 2010, my girlfriend told me she had an idea for making vegan nog for the holidays.  I thought that this would be a great, delicious addition to a pretty boring holiday.  I did not realize exactly what she had in mind or what it would lead to, but I am very happy that I agreed to her suggestion.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I watched her get a little frantic as the days got closer.  Again, I did not exactly realize what the plan was.  In all, there was a lot of egg nog bottled that holiday season, some with adult flavors and some without.  After all the stress and chaos had cleared out, I realized that with this nog and all of the other cookies that recently been prepared and set up for holiday delivery, we might have a little idea on our hands.  Well that little idea has eventually turned into a full fledged dessert catering service that is ALL VEGAN!  For now, we are focusing mainly on cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and other popular dessert items.  But with the idea having been originally sprung from the Vegan nog, we obviously have eventual goals to one day open a full service restaurant and bakery!  I have spent most of the last 15 years working for mostly chain restaurants.  While I have been able to learn some basic service techniques as well as some administrative tactics, most of these jobs at the end of the day don't give back as much as I feel they should.  I have always had the goal of one day operating a business that was original and maybe meet some great people on the way.  Now with the love of my life, we are both ready to take that next step together.     Here is a sample of what we have made.  A like might be required first, HERE.....

Take a look around....