SBNation.com - NBA Full StoryStreams

Rockets Jump Out To Early Lead, Beat Cavaliers

2009-12-10T04:32:34Z

by David J. Phillip - AP

about 24 hours ago: Houston Rockets' Luis Scola (4), of Argentina, goes up for a shot as Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao, front left, of Brazil, defends during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

	Team (First place votes)	Last Week	Movement	Record	Team Blog	Comment
1	Los Angeles Lakers (12)	1	-	16 - 3	Silver Screen and Roll	Peninsula is Mightier, "When the gods are Kobe fans...look out world."
2	Orlando Magic	2	-	16 - 4	Third Quarter Collapse	CelticsBlog, "Knicks twice and Warriors once makes for an easy week. Actually their entire December schedule seems to be a nice gift from Santa."
3	Boston Celtics (1)	4	1	16 - 4	Celtics Blog	Third Quarter Collapse, "Tough to rank a team as good as the Celtics this low, especially after a 4-0 road trip and a 7-0 overall streak. Their next 7 games look extremely winnable. Should they run the table, they'd enter Christmas Day's matchup with the Magic on a 14-game winning streak, having not lost since mid-November to--you guessed it!--Orlando."
4	Cleveland Cavaliers	5	1	15 - 5	Fear The Sword	Silver Screen and Roll, "They've yet to pick up the kind of steam LA, Boston, and Orlando have, but they're back to being outside contenders."
5	Denver Nuggets	6	1	16 - 5	Denver Stiffs	Silver Screen and Roll, "They've won 8 of their last 10, by a margin of 10.7 points per game, and have solidly established themselves as the second best team in the West."
6	Phoenix Suns	3	3	15 - 6	Bright Side Of The Sun	Posting and Toasting, "Teams that can't hang with my Knicks fall short of elite."
7	Dallas Mavericks	7	-	14 - 7	Mavs Moneyball	SLC Dunk, "The Mavs are a quiet 15-7 while Dirk is averaging a career-high of 27 PPG. He's also getting to the free throw line a lot."
8	Atlanta Hawks	8	-	14 - 6	Peachtree Hoops	Silver Screen and Roll, "The buzz has quieted down a bit, but they still look 4th best in the East."
9	Utah Jazz	12	3	12 - 8	SLC Dunk	Third Quarter Collapse, "Carlos Boozer's rounding into form and the team's offense has been lights-out of late."
10	Houston Rockets	13	3	11 - 9	The Dream Shake	The Dream Shake, "Well, Aaron Brooks, thanks for finally showing up. Suddenly, the Rockets win three straight - is it just a coincidence that ABZ was on his game during that span? If it weren't for Brandon Roy's ability to make anything against Houston within forty feet, we'd be ahead of Utah in the standings..."
11	San Antonio Spurs	9	2	9 - 9	Pounding The Rock	SLC Dunk, "The Jazz are now 3-0 against the Spurs on the season. I don't know if I can live in that world.
12	Portland Trail Blazers	10	2	13 - 9	Blazersedge	Blog a Bull, "Am I the only one who's miffed when Portland's stars insist they play better with or without certain teammates on the floor? If you were that good it could work with changing parts."
13	Miami Heat	11	2	11 - 9	Peninsula Is Mightier	Third Quarter Collapse, "11-9 is not a bad record, and the Heat are getting better-than-expected contributions from Jermaine O'Neal and Quentin Richardson. Yet I can't regard this team as anything better than mediocre: they're 3-1 in games decided by 3 points or less, and would've been 4-0 were it not for Kobe Bryant's dagger over the weekend. That trend won't continue throughout the season, which is why this team isn't a playoff lock just yet, even with Dwyane Wade.
14	Oklahoma City Thunder	14	-	11 - 9	Welcome to Loud City	SLC Dunk, "With Denver, Portland, Utah, and the exciting Thunder, the northwest division is one of the best in the league (sorry Minnesota)"
15	Sacramento Kings	16	1	9 - 10	Sactown Royalty	CelticsBlog, "Every team from here down stinks."
16	Charlotte Bobcats	17	1	8 - 11	Rufus on Fire	Clips Nation, "A team of contrasts. Great defense, terrible offense. Good home team, horrible road team."
17	Milwaukee Bucks	15	2	9 - 10	Brew Hoop	Celtics Blog, "What happened?"
18	New Orleans Hornets	19	1	8 - 11	At The Hive	Clips Nation, "They have a better record without Chris Paul than with him. Go figure."
19	Los Angeles Clippers	21	2	9 - 11	Clips Nation	Clips Nation, "Found out this week that Griffin won't be back as soon as hoped. "Around .500" will be a lot tougher in Dec. than it was in Nov. given their schedule."
20	Toronto Raptors	20	-	9 - 13	Raptors HQ	Raptors HQ, "Two straight wins is nice, but this team will need to put three or four more wins together in a row before anyone can say that the fiasco against the Hawks last week is behind them." [Ed. Note - This was submitted before their win over Minnesota."
21	Washington Wizards	26	5	7 - 12	Bullets Forever	Third Quarter Collapse, "In their loss to Detroit on Sunday, the Wizards' "Big 3" of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jamison scored 41 points on 41 shots; the Pistons' starting lineup will earn a combine $9.2 million this season, which is less than what Arenas will have banked by the All-Star break. Is it time to rebuild?"
22	Detroit Pistons	23	1	8 - 12	Motown String Music	Blog a Bull, "I sort of enjoy that the old 'entitlement' Pistons are gone, and Dumars went back to his roots: acquiring cast-offs with a chip on their shoulder."
23	Memphis Grizzlies	24	1	8 - 12	Straight Outta Vancouver	Silver Screen and Roll, "They've won 7 of their last 11 games, including their most recent victories over Dallas and Cleveland. Not bad."
24	Golden State Warriors	25	1	6 - 14	Golden State Of Mind	Third Quarter Collapse, "Mikki Moore starts over Anthony Randolph. I'm not sure what else needs to be said about Don Nelson, whose desperate pursuit of Lenny Wilkens' all-time victories record becomes sadder after each self-consciously unorthodox personnel move. The shame is that, in Monta Ellis, Randolph, and Anthony Morrow, Golden State has a solid core in place. It deserves better."
25	Chicago Bulls	18	7	7 - 11	Blog A Bull	Blog a Bull, "People may think that a couple short injuries are no big deal, but the Bulls have a spectacularly awful bench outside of the top-7 rotation. And one of them already starts."
26	Indiana Pacers	22	4	6 - 12	Indy Cornrows	Silver Screen and Roll, "High on the list of things not to be proud of is collecting as many wins as New Jersey in the last 10 games."
27	New York Knicks	28	1	7 - 15	Posting And Toasting	Posting and Toasting, "Lesson learned: You can get away with spotty if you just hit your shots!"
28	Philadelphia 76ers	27	1	5 - 16	Liberty Ballers	Peninsula is Mightier, "Iverson returning could turn things around...but until I see it, I'm not buying."
29	Minnesota Timberwolves	29	-	3 - 17	Canis Hoopus	Canis Hoopus, "Having Kevin Love as a teammate apparently makes players more confident in themselves. His double doubles and Rambis' move away from a complicated offense haven't hurt, though."
30	New Jersey Nets	30	-	1 - 19	Your Blog Here	CelticsBlog, "We did it!"

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