NBA High Five

1. Golden State score 146 in win against Minnesota

In a season where the Warriors have made headlines for all the wrong reasons, finally a feel good story has emerged from this franchise.

With rumours surounding Stephen Jackson's future on the team, he and his team mates piled on the points against the T-Wolves. It's not that the Timberwolves are that bad offensively, the Warriors just had one of those games contest since 1994when they scored 146, also against the Timberwolves.

The scoring load was well spread, with over half of the points (77) scored off their bench. Kelenna Azubuike had 31, Anthony Randolph posted 23, and Anthony Morrow chipped in with 20.

2. The Suns' Road Trip

The Suns are off to a great start and interest has once again returned to the Valley of the Sun after their 2008-09 playoff absence. After starting well on the west-coast (3-0) the Suns were expected to return to earth with a thud when they ventured East for 5 games in 7 days.

Date Opposing Team Result W/L Record Hi Points Hi Rebounds Hi Assists
Tue, Nov 3 @ Miami W 104-96 4-0 S. Nash 30, G. Hill 12, S. Nash 8

Wed, Nov 4 @ Orlando L 100-122 4-1 A. Stoudemire 25, A. Stoudemire 14, G. Dragic 6

Fri, Nov 6 @ Boston W 110-103 5-1 J. Richardson 34, J. Richardson 10, S. Nash 12

Sun, Nov 8 @ Wizards W 102-90 6-1 J. Richardson 22, G. Hill 13, S. Nash 17

Mon, Nov 9 @ Sixers W 119-115 7-1 J. Richardson 29, G. Hill 8, S. Nash 20

I think the Suns success can mostly be attributed to their 2nd year cast of Dudley, Dragic and Amundsen who have helped turn the Suns weakness, in years past, into their strength.

J-Rich also played out of his head on the road trip going 16-22 (73%) from the three point in wins against Boston, Washington and Philadelphia.

While question marks are still floating about as to whether the Suns can contest in the West, the best tonic for that will be wins against the Hornets and Lakers on Wednesday and Thursday. Tune in to ESPN and TNT and watch the Suns offense in high gear. Believe it or not, they actually have a great chance to win against the Lakers on Thursday as LA are without their top two inside threats.

3. Text Message Voting intruduced for All-Star Ballot

Good to see the NBA have finally caught up with the rest of us. Texting is like living and breathing for most of us these days. (I watched a show last night where a 10 year old had wracked up a $2400 bill for his parents by sending 8000 text messages in a month). At least the NBA have been smart and limited voting to once per day.

Anything that makes it easier for the Asian Contentent to vote for Yao Ming (despite him being out for the year) is a tick in my book.

On the subject of the All-Star Game (groan... complaining already??!?) I think the All-Star Voting is a bit of a weak process, not so much with fans voting for the starters. After all, it is a game for the fans so we want to see our favourites. Asides from maybe a geographical weighting system to balance out the vote I think the NBA has the right idea, but a more serious re-think as to how reserves are selected is needed.

The All Star game is meant to showcase the NBA's best individual talent, not the best teams - we have the playoffs for the that. I'm sick of commentators and experts giving props to selections of players just because they are on a winning team. Let's see the players who have the real razzle-dazzle and are fighting the good fight for their loosing squads. At least let the largest audience have a chance to see these players in a nationally televised game, giving the player a chance to attract new fans to a franchise that may be struggling due to poor marketing.

4. Kaman and Johnson named players of the week

I've been pumping Chris Kaman's tyres up all season after watching him early on and liking what I was seeing, and he has received a nice little accolade in the form of the Western Conference Player of the Week.
Think of who he was up against - Steve Nash racked up 49 assists in 3 games, Chris Paul has been a one man show for the Hornets (but team losses disqualify him from the official conversation), and Kobe has begun trying to catch MJ's number of 40+ point scoring games. Thats big props for Kaman, and deservedly so.
Helping the Clippers to a 3-0 week his averages looked like:

24.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Most impressive however is Karman's shooting touch which had him shooting at 57.4% last week.

The Eastern Conference Player of the Week was Joe Johnson, who helped the Atlanta Hawks to 3-1 record for the week with wins against high calibre teams Denver and Portland. Last week he averaged

20 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

Despite the Hawks good start and Johnson's award (what about D-Wade? ), he is still somewhat of a disappointment to me. I saw him in Phoenix five years ago playing much as he does now. While his offense was fantastic for a youngster and fitted the Suns' needs in terms of both a back-up PG and slasher, his game has not evolved as many thought it would, or should in a team where he is arguably the bonafied star.
It's a contract year for Johnson and each year the team has improved in both regular season record and in the playoffs. This year with Jamal Crawford coming off the bench the Hawks have their eyes on no less than the number 4 spot in the East.

5. Thank god for the NBA's 'Off Day'...Where did it go?

When i look ahead at the week's schedule I sometimes glad that Monday's are typically the quiet NBA day in terms of matchups. Last night I wanted to know if the Suns could top the Sixers, if the Raptors could knock of a struggling Spurs team (I didn't even know that Parker and Duncan weren't playing until i watched the opening line-ups), and then you had Utah trying to hold on against New York in a game where Jerry Sloan was wondering if DIrk Nowitzki was secretly mooonlighting as a member of the Knicks

And all this on a Monday!

After an entertaining first two weeks it only gets better as we kick off Week Number 3. Up-coming highlights for the week:

Tuesday - Houston @ Dallas
Tuesday - Denver @ Chicago
Tuesday - Washington @ Miami

Wednesday - New Orleans @ Phoenix
Wednesday - Cleveland @ Orlando
Wednesday - Dallas @ San Antonio

Thursday - Cleveland @ Miami
Thursday - Phoenix @ Lakers

Friday - Atlanta @ Boston
Friday - Portland @ New Orleans
Friday - Lakers @ Denver

TOP PERFORMERS

Chris Bosh (TOR) - 32 pts (8-16), 10 rebs, -5 rating
Chris Paul (N.O) - 24 pts (10-14), 2/3 3's, 5 rebs, 10 asts, +25 rating
Steve Nash (PHX) - 21 pts (6-9), 20 assists,  +19 rating

The MAYNE MAYNE is

Manu Ginobli - 36 pts (8-15), 6/8 3's, 4 rebs, 8 asts, 4 blks, +21 rating

Manu Ginobl is not done yet and with Parker and Duncan out of the line-up it was the perfect opportunity for Ginobliiiiii!! to get his groove back.