I Made a Promise

To everyone that I would post every day, but I'll be quite clear that flying east across this fine nation, while advantageous with respect to the jet stream, is not at all conducive to following sports.  I may also rethink booking future travels with a layover in Chicago.  It's a truly gorgeous city from the sky when the sun is shining down, but when the wind and rain howl across the tail of a Boeing 737, it makes you glad you forgot to eat lunch.  Next time, Sky Harbor shall be my layover home.  On the ranting and raving side of things, this may be that one day every not-so-often that I may need to lean on the readers for commentary, since all I'm getting is a box score recap.

From the looks of things, the Lakers handled the Thunder, perhaps riding the tidal wave of momentum they built during an heroic 4th quarter comeback, and subsequent stomping of the Chicago Bulls.  The Bulls won, too, as a side note, and have taken firm control of the East's final playoff spot.  They're still not very good, but from the looks of things, can get about as hot as any team in the league on the offensive side of the ball.  Defense needs a ton of work.  Poor Detroit was just starting to put things together when Hamilton went down.  They're clinging to the 7th seed, Chicago breathing down their necks.  Rip needs to double the dose of Bengay on his ailing groin.

As this post makes its way from my fingers into cyberspace, Utah is in the process of extending their home win streak to 13.  I figured they'd probably win this game, but not with this much ease.  The Rockets poor shooting finally caught up to them when they ran into a team that can out-execute solid defense.  Jerry Sloan's been there before.  Shane Battier was forced to take a few shots tonight -- he made a couple, but it looks like Utah's defensive gameplan worked out just fine in the long term.  If Utah's younger players can figure out how to make ball go in hoop on the road, they may be the one Western Conference team that has enough firepower to compete with the Lakers.  I didn't say they'd beat 'em, but it would be a better playoff series than Lakers/AnyoneElseInTheWest.

Painfully slow day on the fantasy front as well, just a pair of players on the "Watch List":

• Will Bynum - Anybody playing off the bench is subject to some pretty substantial stat fluctuations, and Bynum is a prime example of just that.  If Rip Hamilton returns soon, which looks to be the case, then Bynum will fade off the radar.
• Kirk Hinrich - He has been a fantasy star before, but will likely contribute only until Derrick Rose returns, and he's just day-to-day.  If you think you can squeeze Hinrich onto your roster IN CASE he starts on Thursday, be my guest, but you better not be dropping anybody worthwhile.

Tomorrow, back to full strength on the betting front, as I'll be getting the EST jump on the Vegas line in the early a.m.  Should be able to catch a few of the eleven whopping NBA games on the docket.