Fortunately, New York played Orlando on Friday and beat the Magic pretty good. The second win in as many nights put the Knicks ahead of the Nets in the worst division in the league. The Nets play on Saturday against the Bucks.
The game should be a flip of the coin though the Bucks will be playing on the second night of back-to-back games after the first game went to overtime. The Bucks defeated the Wizards 109 – 105 in overtime to add a win to their total. That gives every team in the league at least four wins.
Which should make Utah and the quest for Jazzbari or the Riggin’ for Wiggins happy, especially since they lost to Portland.
The only problem with the word lost is that it does not adequately describe the beat down that Portland put on the Jazz. No Portland starter played more than 30 minutes, and the Blazers were up by 41 points with six minutes left in the fourth. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 15 rebounds in just over 29 minutes of action. Damian Lillard had 5 three pointers and shot 7 of 9 from the field.
You have got to believe that this kind of demoralizing loss is bad for every member of the Jazz involved. The Trailblazers are on a tear as of late with wins against OKC and the Pacers, but the Jazz had put together a couple of wins – one against the Houston Rockets.
How does a team recover from something like this? The draft might not be enough.