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From: bruce@godot.UUCP (Bruce Nemnich)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hoops
Subject: halfway through the NBA
Message-ID: <804@godot.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 22-Jan-85 00:48:56 EST
Article-I.D.: godot.804
Posted: Tue Jan 22 00:48:56 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 23-Jan-85 04:54:45 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Thinking Machines, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 57

What a race we have going in the Atlantic!  The 76ers ran off 13
straight wins to catch (and pass, for two days) Boston before losing to
the Celtics at the Garden yesterday.  Halfway through the season, both
teams have a shot at the all-time victory record (69 by the '71-2
Lakers); they are currently on a 68 win pace.  

Round 3 yesterday was a relatively easy (considering the rivalry) Boston
win.  Boston went on a 14-2 tear early in the 2nd quarter, and the
Sixers never recovered.  Philly is a very good defensive team, but they
don't really have anyone to guard Bird (not many do).  Julius usually
gets the job and has done pretty well on him in the past, but Bird has
been eating his lunch this year (outscoring him 114-39 in the three
games thusfar).  The Sixers problem yesterday was turnovers (23).  They
outrebounded the Celts by 50-33 but took one less shot.  Quote of the
day, from Charles Barkley:  "We can't beat them here.  I honestly
believe that in my heart."

Boston is now 29-0 when ahead after three quarters.  Philadelphia is 9-5
when *behind* after three quarters.  Boston is 18-1 at home; Philly 17-4
on the road.

The Lakers had finally got themselves on a good roll until they came
east and lost consecutive games in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Boston.
Speaking of East vs. West, here are the cumulative division records so
far:

	Atlantic	122	 84	.592
	Midwest		121	124	.494
	Central		112	129	.465
	Pacific		115	133	.464

	East		234	213	.523
	West		236	257	.479

Given that about 28% of games are interconference, one can deduce that
the East has about a 79-58 .577 record v. the West.

The latest ballot tallies show that Larry Bird will probably not be
voted to start on the all-star team.  That is completely absurd.  My
personal picks:  Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Bernard King, Michael Jordan,
Dennis Johnson.  The guards are the hardest: Sidney Moncrief and Isiah
Thomas are right there, too.

This year's crop of rookies is the best since at least the '79 group
including Bird and Magic.  Jordan is almost a shoe-in for
rookie-of-the-year.  I can see why Houston was under local pressuse to
pick Akeem, but they would be better off with Jordan in the backcourt
and Sampson at center.  Akeem is a very good athlete and will get better
as he learns the game, but he's no Pat Ewing.  But Portland really blew
it by passing up Jordan, not to mention trading everyone to Denver for
Kiki.  Barkley is a very impressive rebounder with Philadelphia (and a
definite improvement over Ivaroni).

Bird on Jordan: "He's the best player I've ever played against."
-- 
--Bruce Nemnich, Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
  ihnp4!godot!bruce, bjn@mit-mc.arpa ... soon to be bruce@tm.arpa