IN THE PAINT: ROCKETS-BLAZERS BATTLE

The Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers battle tonight in what could be the biggest game of the regular season for both clubs. Both teams are in a battle for 3rd place in the tough Western Conference. The Rockets (43-20) currently have a one game lead over Portland (41-20). However the teams are tied in the most important category, the loss column, at 20.

The season series is also tied at 1-1, so the winner tonight gets the tiebreaker if both teams end up with the same record. A Rockets win would give them a virtual 3 game lead over Portland (2 games + tiebreaker) with 18 games to go.  A Blazers victory would place the teams in a virtual tie, give Portland the advantage in the loss column (20-21), plus the tiebreaker.

This game tonight is huge because the 3rd position could be crucial to the Rockets long term success in the Western Conference playoffs. If the 3rd seed survives the first round of the playoffs, they will likely play the 2nd seed in round two, currently Memphis. The Rockets split the season series with the Grizzlies this year 2-2.

Most importantly they would avoid the likely 1-8 matchup winner of Golden St vs Oklahoma City. Houston is winless (0-4) against Golden St this season. They are 2-0 against OKC, but an OKC team in the playoffs will look much different than the team Houston has faced in the regular season. Its basically trying to find the path of less resistance to the Western Conference Finals.

Portland will be playing just their 2nd game since losing starting guard Wesley Matthews to a ruptured achilles tendon. He is gone for the season. Recently acquired Aaron Afflalo will start in his place. Afflalo was acquired from Denver at the trade deadline to bolster the Blazers bench. But now with him in the starting lineup, Portland's bench becomes weaker once again.

The Rockets of course are still without center Dwight Howard (knee), who by the way says "he's feeling more explosive" these days. But MVP candidate James Harden has torched the Blazers this year. In the 2 games against Portland at Toyota Center, Harden has averaged 44.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 7.5 assists.

Both teams will be well rested. Neither has played since Saturday. Portland has the 3rd best home record in the NBA at 26-6.  The Rockets are 19-11 on the road, and are playing the 2nd game of a 4 game roadtrip. They won in Denver on Saturday night while Portland was losing to the worst team in the west, Minnesota.

Last year the teams tied for the 4th playoff spot, but the Rockets won the tiebreaker and earned home court advantage in the playoffs. It didn't matter because the Blazers won the first 2 games at Toyota Center and ended up winning the series 4-2 on Damion Lillard's dramatic game-winner in Game 6 in Portand.


twitter:  @kmooresports
website: www.fanhoops.net

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WILD WEDNESDAY IN FANTASY LAND

Another epic night of fantasy numbers went in the books Wednesday night. Some were scored, while others missed out while being benched.

Russell Westbrook (Da Mask) and Anthony Davis (Da Brow) led the way, each just missing out on the century mark. 16 players cracked the 50 mark, and another 22 hit the 40 slam rating.  Here's a look at the top performers:

Rank	Value	Name	Team	Pos	g	m/g
1	99.50	Russell Westbrook	OKC	PG	1	42.4
2	96.25	Anthony Davis	NOR	PF/C	1	41.8
3	70.25	Draymond Green	GSW	SF/PF	1	40.4
4	62.00	LeBron James	CLE	SF	1	37.5
6	61.75	Hassan Whiteside	MIA	C	1	32.6
5	61.75	Andre Drummond	DET	C	1	34.5
7	61.50	Chris Paul	LAC	PG	1	42.0
8	56.25	Nicolas Batum	POR	SF	1	40.5
9	54.25	James Harden	HOU	SG	1	41.4
10	53.25	Dwyane Wade	MIA	SG	1	31.0
11	51.50	Zach Randolph	MEM	PF	1	33.0
12	50.75	Isaiah Canaan	PHI	PG	1	41.6
Rank	Value	Name	Team	Pos	g	m/g
13	50.75	Luc Mbah a Moute	PHI	SF/PF	1	39.7
14	50.75	Rudy Gobert	UTA	C	1	35.7
15	50.50	Jonas Valanciunas	TOR	C	1	30.8
16	50.00	Kenneth Faried	DEN	SF/PF	1	32.9

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WHAT IF BOSH OR MELO WERE ROCKETS?

Seven months ago most Rockets fans, employees and supporters were mad at the world when Houston struck out on landing two of the biggest free agents from last summer's talented pool, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. Fast forward 210 days or so and its probably the best signings that "didn't happen" in the history of the franchise.

Chris Bosh has been diagnosed with a blood clot on his lung that has ended his season, and possibly put his career in jeopardy. Carmelo Anthony just underwent knee surgery on Thursday that ended his season, and it will be 4-6 months before he can resume basketball activity. Both guys signed 5-year max contracts in excess of $118 million dollars guaranteed! And they will see every single penny of it even if they never dribble a basketball again.

Bosh has clearly the most serious of the issues. His condition is especially scary considering longtime NBA veteran Jerome Kersey passed away this week from a blood clot on his lung. Kersey, who spent the majority of his NBA career with the Portand Trail Blazers was only 52 years old. Bosh is 30. Basketball is the last thing he and his doctors are concerning themselves with at this point. Just making sure he can survive the blood clot with no long term effects is all everyone wants for Bosh right now.

Anthony, also 30, finally decided to end his season and have surgery on his ailing knee at the urging of Knicks management. Anthony was still putting up productive numbers despite the injury (22nd overall Slam rating of 40.16). But with the woeful Knicks having no shot at the playoffs, it was in the organization's best interest to shut him down and hopefully have him ready for the start of training camp next season.

One would think if Anthony was in the middle of a championship run with the Rockets he would probably continue to play through the injury and have surgery in the offseason. Therefore he would probably miss the beginning of the 2015-16 season.

But considering the Rockets are already without Dwight Howard for at least the next month with a knee injury, the season could have turned into a complete disaster if Bosh or Anthony were here. They would still have Chandler Parsons at an overpaid price of about $14 million per year. But there wouldn't be a Josh Smith, Corey Brewer or Trevor Ariza, and maybe no Jason Terry. The Rockets would be in salary cap hell with no way out. It could be Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady all over again.

But luckily its not. And despite recent struggles on the court and the inability to solve their point guard problems, the Rockets are still in relatively good shape compared to the rest of the NBA contenders. They have the 5th best record in the NBA. They still maintain some cap flexibility going forward. And if they can get Howard back healthy for the playoffs,  the Rockets maybe able to win a couple of playoff series and make things interesting around here in May.

Best wishes to Bosh and Anthony on full and speedy recoveries. But the Rockets have to be somewhat thankful both guys decided to stay home.


twitter:      @kmooresports
website:     www.fanhoops.net

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ROCKETS-BLAZERS PREVIEW

A huge matchup at Toyota Center this evening as the Houston Rockets (35-15) take on the Portland Trail Blazers (34-17).  Houston is currently 3rd in the Western Conference standings and have won 6 of 7 games. Portland is right behind them in 4th place, but has lost 7 straight on the road. 

This will be the Blazers first time seeing the Rockets with Josh Smith. Expect Smith to have the task of slowing down LaMarcus Aldridge who torched Houston in the playoffs last year.  Portand won that series 4-2. Smith had a huge game on Friday night against Milwaukee, just missing a triple double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.

A win by the Rockets tonight would give them a 3-game lead over Portland, and give them the tiebreaker advantage over the Blazers. A Portland victory would put them only one game behind the Rockets with the final regular season meeting between the teams on March 11 in Portland.  So this one is huge tonight.

Notes: 
Damian Lillard was named as an All-Star replacement today for Blake Griffin (injury).

The Rockets won the first meeting this season on 110-95 back on Dec. 22. James Harden had 44 points in that contest.


twitter:  @kmooresports
website: www.fanhoops.net

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FRIDAY FANTASY BONANZA

I'm not sure if anyone will hit the $380 million Powerball Saturday night.  But alot of NBA players hit the fantasy powerball on Friday night.

34 players scored 40+.

16 players hit 50+.  

6 players broke the 60+ mark. 

48 pts, 11 ast, 9 reb vs Pelicans

Russell Westbrook was the "King of the Hill" with a 91.50 for the night and a 77.75 for the week for A-Team.   Here's a look at Friday nights crazy fantasy numbers!

Rank	Value	Name	Team	Pos	g	m/g
1	91.50	Russell Westbrook	OKC	PG	1	39.7
2	64.50	Greg Monroe	DET	PF/C	1	36.1
3	63.75	DeMar DeRozan	TOR	SG/SF	1	31.8
4	63.50	Tyreke Evans	NOR	SG/SF	1	42.2
5	62.25	Anthony Davis	NOR	PF/C	1	44.4
6	61.25	Nikola Vucevic	ORL	C	1	40.7
7	59.75	Blake Griffin	LAC	PF	1	35.7
8	58.75	Stephen Curry	GSW	PG	1	36.2
9	57.75	Jared Sullinger	BOS	PF	1	30.4
10	57.50	Draymond Green	GSW	SF/PF	1	35.4
11	56.25	Giannis Antetokounmpo	MIL	SG/SF	1	34.7
12	55.50	David West	IND	PF	1	28.5
Rank	Value	Name	Team	Pos	g	m/g
13	55.00	Marcus Morris	PHO	SF/PF	1	32.7
14	53.00	Jeff Teague	ATL	PG	1	32.3
15	51.25	Brook Lopez	BKN	C	1	32.9
16	50.75	Tobias Harris	ORL	SF/PF	1	45.4
17	49.75	Chris Paul	LAC	PG	1	39.8
18	48.00	Brandon Knight	MIL	PG	1	36.0
19	47.75	Kevin Durant	OKC	SF	1	42.8
21	47.25	Trevor Ariza	HOU	SF	1	39.0
20	47.25	Klay Thompson	GSW	SG	1	36.3
22	47.00	Rudy Gobert	UTA	C	1	27.0
23	46.00	Kawhi Leonard	SAS	SF	1	33.4
24	44.50	Ryan Kelly	LAL	SF/PF	1	33.5
Rank	Value	Name	Team	Pos	g	m/g
25	44.25	Kyrie Irving	CLE	PG	1	39.3
27	44.00	Al Horford	ATL	PF/C	1	27.9
26	44.00	Eric Bledsoe	PHO	PG/SG	1	31.1
29	43.50	James Harden	HOU	SG	1	40.2
28	43.50	Josh Smith	HOU	SF/PF	1	32.8
30	42.75	CJ Miles	IND	SG/SF	1	32.1
31	41.75	Andre Drummond	DET	C	1	32.4
33	40.75	Jose Calderon	NYK	PG	1	33.5
32	40.75	Paul Millsap	ATL	SF/PF	1	34.3
34	40.25	Langston Galloway	NYK	PG	1	36.0

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SuperBowl Day Fanhoops Trade

Glass put instant sensation, big man (C) Hassan Whiteside up for sale this week to the highest bidder. Apparently there weren't many buyers as Glass sold Whitside for pennies on the dollar to Bucks for (SG) Wesley Matthews.

Over the past 8 games Whiteside has a Slam rating of 40.  Matthew's has a Slam of 29 over the past 8 games. The move may help Glass slightly at the SG position with Wade injured. However, he may have netted more for Whiteside by holding on to him a bit longer.

For Bucks its an instant upgrade at the center position if Whiteside's numbers hold.

twitter:  @kmooresports
website:  www.fanhoops.net

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Super Bowl: What to Watch For

This Super Bowl will come down to one thing, and one thing only. The championship will be decided on the health of the Legion of Boom.  Seattle's star studded secondary is not healthy.  Safety Earl Thomas has a bad shoulder.  Corner Richard Sherman has a bad arm. Strong Safety Kam Chancellor has a minor knee injury.  If these guys are not up to par it could be a long day.
 
Look for Tom Brady to attack the Seahawks with an up tempo offense today to keep them off balance.  The Patriots will also try to use the power of RB LeGarrett Blount and TE Rob Gronkowski to test the tackling ability of Seattle secondary. The Patriots will also not be as conservative as Green Bay was in the NFC title game. If they have a chance to score touchdowns from inside the 5 yard line on 4th down they will go for it.

Of course for Seattle they will have to be in BeastMode with the running game. Baltimore had alot of success against the Patriots on the ground in the AFC divisional playoff matchup.

Bottom line, if the Seattle secondary can stay healthy and effective they will win.  If one or more of them has to leave the game with injury, Brady will exploit the backups and walk off with title number 4.

twitter:  @kmooresports

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2014-15 FANHOOPS ALL-STARS

Gasol brothers to start ASG

Here is my list of Fanhoops Allstars. My list is based on a combination of Slam Ranking, games played and NBA team performance.


Western Conference Starters

PG--  STEPHON CURRY
SG--  JAMES HARDEN
SF--  DRAYMOND GREEN

PF--  ANTHONY DAVIS
 C--   MARC GASOL

Top vote getter

Reserves

PG--  RUSSELL WESTBROOK
PG--  CHRIS PAUL
PG--  DAMIAN LILLARD
SG--  KLAY THOMPSON
PF--  LEMARCUS ALDRIDGE (IR)
PF--  BLAKE GRIFFIN
  C--  DEMARCUS COUSINS

IRR- TIM DUNCAN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eastern Conference Starters

PG--  JOHN WALL
SG--  JIMMY BUTLER
SF--  LEBRON JAMES
PF--  PAU GASOL
  C-- NIKOLA VUCEVIC

11 time All-Star

Reserves

PG-- KYLE LOWRY
PG-- JEFF TEAGUE
PG-- KYRIE IRVING
SF--  CARMELO ANTHONY
PF-- PAUL MILLSAP
  C-- AL HORFORD
  C-- ANDRE DRUMMOND

*IRR:  Injury reserve replacement*

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M.L.K. MIDSEASON REPORT. PART II

We continue the M.L.K. midseason report by looking at those currently holding spots 7-12 of the 2014-15 Fanhoops season.

7th. KMAC:
It's been tough sleding for the defending champ through the first half of the season. A shaky draft and a litany of injuries has forced Kmac into 14 transactions and a 6-player trade.  Carmelo Anthony was the big chip in the trade for Kmac, but he's been mostly on the bench due to injury since he arrived.  His presence along with Zach Randolph will be critical to the champs making a run for the money in the second half of the season.
   Only 4 active players remain from the draft. 2 others, Terrance Jones and Ricky Rubio have been on the injured list since November.  First round pick Chris Paul has been solid but not spectacular. Cliff Paul has occassionally shown up in his place with stinkers every once in a while.


8th. BnG:
If you're in a situation where you trade your 2nd and 3rd round picks for somebody else's 5th and 6th round picks, your season is probably not going the way you expected. That's the situation here as Barry acquired Jimmy Butler and Marcin Gortat for Andre Drummond and Tyreke Evans in mid December. As discussed in Midseason Report I,  Butler has been solid upon his arrival. Gortat, not so much. But the free agent acquistion of Gorgui Dieng (C) has helped ease the pain in the middle.
   4th overall pick Kevin Love has struggled to find his way in Cleveland, thus he has handicapped this fantasy team. His current slam is 39 (23rd overall). Barry only has half his players (6) remaining from the draft. 8 transactions have been used so far.

9th. DC Ballers:
DCB struggled early, posting three sub 30 point weeks in the first 9 weeks of the season. However the emergence of the Piston's Greg Monroe the past couple of weeks has given this squad a shot in the arm. Blake Griffin has been a solid producer (10th overall Slam ranking). A healthy Al Jefferson would provide a solid rotation the 2nd half of the season and provide a ray of hope.  DCB has been quiet on the transaction front with only 3 spent. Thus 11 of his 12 draft picks remain on the roster. Unfortunately the results don't suggest that's a good thing.


10th. Nellie:
On paper this looked like a very good squad to begin the season. But it has imploded in epic proportions the past month. Josh Smith got released in Detroit and picked up in Houston. Chris Bosh was hampered by injury for awhile. Derrick Rose has been in and out of the lineup, and hasn't been good when playing. The result has been the weekly low score 3 of the past 4 weeks. Nellie has used half of his transactions, and still has 3/4 of his draft class.


11th. Buc:
The other rookie of the league had a good first round pick in John Wall. But then the draft kind of imploded after that and he's been pretty much M.I.A. ever since. All draft picks are still in place and no transactions have been used to try and improve the team, even though 2nd round pick Kawhi Leonard has missed most of the season due to injury.

12th. GFCrew:
An interesting draft strategy of drafting Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant back to back backfired, and put GFCrew in a dicey situation to begin the season. And while the starters struggled with poor production and injuries, the bench players did nothing to plug the holes. An early season trade of Melo for Deandre Jordan solved the problem at center, but the other players in the deal, Demar Derozen and Tony Wroten immediately went down with injuries the moment they arrived.  All the injured parties are now back and healthy. They should be able to move GFCrew out of the basement by season's end. 7 of 12 players remain from the draft, and only 5 transacations have been used.

twitter:  @kmooresports
website: www.fanhoops.net

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M.L.K MIDSEASON REPORT. PART 1

M.L.K day generally symbolizes the unofficial half way point of the 2014-15 Fanhoops Regular Season.  Its been a challenging season thus far for each of the dozen owners. Inconsistent play and injuries have had transactions flying like hotcakes at a breakfast buffet.  There have even been a couple of trades. With 11 weeks down, and 12 to go, lets evaluate each teams performance so far.

1st. Glass: 
One of the newbie owners came out full throttle and hasn't taken his foot off the gas in the first half of the season.  Glass took over first place in Week 10.  He's on pace to shatter the charged transaction record in a season. Not that we ever had a record, but with 17 transacations to date Glass is already $25 in the hole.  All of the transactions have been to turn over the bottom 1/3 of the roster as 8 of 12 drafted players still remain and are contributing nicely.  Suprisingly, none of the 17 transactions have produced a significant rotation player.
  However, Glass netted the biggest steal of the draft in Draymond Green who was drafted in the 11th round (#126). Green is currently 31st in production, a 3rd round value.


2nd. Cali Mark: 
Mark landed the coveted #1 Pick in Anthony Davis, and "Da Brow" has not disappointed. Davis leads the league in Slam rating at 55, six points better than his closest competitor DeMarcus Cousins (Team Glass). Mark held 1st place for most of the first 10 weeks of the season. Recent struggles at the SG and SF have caused a recent slide to 2nd. Mark had a solid draft as he still holds 10 of 12 draftees. Only 4 burned transactions leaves him plenty of flexibility in the 2nd half of the season to strenghten his roster.


3rd. A-Team: 
Aaron has the proverbial 3-headed monster of Lebron James, Russell Westbrook and Pau Gasol to lead him into the 2nd half of the season. Each guy is currently in the overall top 10 in production. Westbrook was an obvious steal in the 5th round.  He's currently 4th overall and is running neck and neck with Chris Paul for best point guard production. Lebron has climbed to 5th with his recent surge. Pau Gasol has been a monster all season and is currently 9th overall.
  However the rest of the roster and rotation is in flux.  A-Team has used its 12 free transactions, so they will dig into the pocket book for their next pickup. And outside of a few plug and play situations, neither of the 12 signings has really made a dent in the rotation.  8 of the 12 draftees remain. The one glaring omission is 4th round pick Larry Sanders who has been suspended by the NBA for substance abuse and subsequently waived by
A-Team.

4th. Knicks Junky
Eddie's team is quite interesting. It's almost single handedly being carried by fantasy and NBA M.V.P. candidate James Harden right now. Harden is currently 3rd in the league in slam rating, only behind Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. With the exception of Joakim Noah, Knicks Junky has had minimal injuries to deal with. Thus Junky hasn't used any transactions, and all 12 drafted players remain on the roster. Its been an easy ride to the 4th spot for now.


5th. Mo City:
Mo City started off the season hot, posting 40 points performances in 2 of the first 4 weeks.  Its been a steady slide since then with top picks Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant being in and out of the lineup (its still funny that they're on the same team).  Mo City has burned up the transaction wire as well with 15 moves (3 above the max). But he still has 10 of 12 drafted players.
 Ole Man River, Tim Duncan, continues to carry the load on this team as the 38-year old is currently 13th in the league in slam rating.

6th. GBockers
Gil rounds out top half of the league through the midway point. The Andre Drummond trade has worked out well for Gil, even though he had to give up Jimmy Butler in return. Drummond has a slam rating of 45+ since arriving on December 14th. Tyreke Evans who also came along in the deal is a 34+ since the trade. Meanwhile Butler and Marcin Gortat have a slam of  43+ and 27+ since leaving. Consider it a positive deal for GBockers at this point.
  M.V.P. candidate Stephen Curry leads the team with a 47 slam and is 6th overall in the league.  Big Al Holford has been coming on strong, averaging just under a 40 slam since the Drummond trade. #Fantasy Coincidence
  Gil has only used 5 transactions thus far. 7 of his 12 draft picks remain.

Part II coming soon.

twitter:  @kmooresports
website:  www.fanhoops.net

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ROCKETS FORMULA FOR SUCCESS: JOSH SMITH 6th MAN

The first six games of the Josh Smith experiment in Houston has had more ups and downs than a Six Flags rollercoaster. The Rockets are only 3-3 since Smith arrived, and he has struggled mightily at times to find his nitch in coach Kevin McHale's system. But a deeper look inside the numbers suggest Smith and the Rockets have a formula for success, and that is bringing him off the bench.

Bad Josh: (starter)  record 1-3, shooting 9/31 (29%), 5ppg, 4.5 reb, 1.5 assists, 23.5 mpg

Good Josh: (6th man) record 2-0, shooting 15/30 (50%), 16.5 ppg, 7 reb, 2.5 assists, 30 mpg.

Those numbers clearly reflect Smith is much better coming off the bench and only having to share the court with Dwight Howard or James Harden, not both. Smith often times looked lost as a starter playing with Harden and Howard as the 3rd or 4th option. And even though 4 games as a starter is a small sample size, the combination didn't fit. Give credit to Kevin McHale for not continuing to force it.  He put Smith back in the 6th man role against the Miami Heat on Saturday night, and the result was a resounding 115-79 blowout of the Heat. Of course this isn't Lebron's Heat, and past results don't indicate future success. However, the Rockets offense against Miami looked very good, similiar to how it did against the Memphis Grizzlies in Smith's debut.

In the last outing the Rockets also implemented a 3-man rotation among the big men of Howard, Smith and Donatas Motiejunas.  The other big, Joey Dorsey only saw mop up duty in the 4th quarter. If the Rockets continue this trend it should be more than enough minutes for Smith, as each of the three primary big men could average 30-32 minutes per game.

The Rockets should still keep the option open of moving Smith back into the starting lineup at some point later in the season, as they will need him in playoffs against the likes of Tim Duncan, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin. But for the time being, coming off the bench maybe the best option for all involved.

twitter: @kmooresports
website: www.fanhoops.net

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