The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[udosuk]

Opposition cricket countries are unanimous in saying when "Gily" gets in this mood it is virtually impossible to bowl to him.

It's not impossible... The problem with Gilchrist is that he's also vulnerable and might spoon the ball high for an easy catch when he gets in "this mood"... So it's just a matter of whether he has got that little bit of luck to avoid getting out early before he posts his big score... But it's definitely delightful to watch...

Yes, he did just miss out on Viv Richards fastest century but I'm wondering whether Gily's last fifty runs from only 17 balls isn't the fastest half-century in Test cricket history.

I'm afraid you can't count the fastest half-century that way... Probably Viv Richards or other batsmen have obtained 50s in fewer than 17 balls during some stretch of their big innings... For example, when Nathan Astle (NZ) scored 222 in 168 balls (he reached 200 in 153 balls) against England in March 2002, he scored in this manner:

1st 50 in 54 balls
2nd 50 in 60 balls
3rd 50 in 22 balls
4th 50 in 17 balls

So he scored his 2nd 100 in only 39 balls... It's very probable during some stretch within these 39 balls he scored 50 runs in fewer than 15 balls...

The current Test record for fastest 50 (from the start) is 24 balls by Jacques Kallis (South Africa) against Zimbabwe in March last year...

It's disappointing the Ashes Series has already been decided though the Melbourne and Sydney Tests will give England the chance to try to even up the series somewhat.

On the contrary, I expect our boys to play relentlessy and win the remaining 2 matches convincingly and give the Poms a 5-0 whitewash to avenge the humiliation in 2005!

[Hud]

I just heard on TV that Carmelo Anthony got a 15 game suspension. The league is really trying hard to soften its image and takes these incidents much more seriously than it used to. If the Suns think the Nuggets will be easy on Wednesday, they might underestimate them.

I've been doing some thinking about the playoffs last season, and am amazed we got as far as we did without any inside presence. With Amare and Kurt Thomas healthy (touch wood as you say), they will be an altogether different kind of team in this year's playoffs.

It's amazing how Tim Thomas has been hurt by the move to the Clippers. It is a business, and I'm sure money talks, but he can't be happy. The Clips have really slowed down after such a fine start to the season.

You probably don't get this on TV, but a man named Yul Kwon won the latest contest on Survivor. I'll have to Google him to see whether he's of Chinese or Korean Ancestry.

Googled him, and he is of Korean Ancestry.

[udosuk]

Tim Thomas is still getting on average 24 mins per game in LA... I doubt if he would get the same amount of time in Phoenix now that Amare/Diaw/Kurt Thomas are all playing healthily... Anyway I think his 3-pt shooting will come useful in playoff times (if they ever get to that stage)...

For the last 6 games the Clippers lost, the opponents are Lakers, Spurs, Spurs, Jazz, Trailblazers, Rockets... So they slowed down mainly due to the tough schedule they're facing (in stark contrast to the Suns)... I'd expect them to make a long winning streak in the 2nd half of the season against lesser opponents...

The American Survivor will be aired in Australia later... But like most American shows I probably won't watch much of it...

Added later:

Oh... Iverson decided to join the Nuggets after all... Which puts the top 2 scorer of the league in the same team... It remains to be see if he'll play against the Suns tomorrow night... Anyway, it seems the first team to play Iverson and Melo together would be the Rockets next year...

However, it seems Iverson will make the already tough Western playoff spot even tougher... I don't think Nash will get a starting spot, and T-Mac too... The most likely Western starters will be Yao, Dirk, Duncan, Kobe & Iverson...

BTW well done the Suns for the 15th win... If they get past the Nuggets tomorrow (with or without Iverson), the streak should run at least 18 games until Dec 28 at Dallas...

[Hud]

I wasn't very surprised to see A.I. go to the Nuggets after the suspensions were handed down. I saw a little of a Nuggets Game last week, and was really impressed with the athleticism of J. R. Smith. It's too bad he has to sit while Anthony is also out. The Nuggets are taking a lot of heat for playing their starters at the end of the game. At least the Suns let the reserves get some much needed time in at the end of last night's game. Isiah reportedly told Anthony not to go to the hoop at the end of the game, but I don't know all the details. Isiah was a great player, but not a "choir boy". I kinda recall him kissing Magic Johnson before a playoff game years back, then commitnig a hard foul on him when the game started.

I worry about the game tonight vs the Nuggets even if A.I. isn't in it. The Nuggets beat the Wizards (I believe) the other night after the suspensions had been levied. I agree that the Suns need to take care of some business against the elite teams before taking this streak too seriously. I think if they can play the elite teams 50% that's about all I should expect.

It's hard to say how much playing time T. Thomas would have gotten with the Suns this year. He probably wouldn't be averagiong 24 minutes. Diaw is really starting to get comfortable playing along side Amare and company. I wouldn't mind seeing him in a point guard role if the time ever came. When he came to the Suns in the J. Johnson trade, he said he liked to play the point.

[udosuk]

The Suns-Nuggets game was postponed due to a snow storm in Denver... I wonder if it's good luck for the Suns or not... The Suns will probably face Iverson when it's rescheduled...

The Rockets lost to the red hot Blazers by 2... Now they've sunk to the #7 in the West... I thought it would be interesting if the Suns and the Rockets face each other in the first round...

[Hud]

They really had a big storm in Denver. We're having our coldest weather of the year and our furnace decided to call it quits. We'll survive and the repairman is due out this afternoon.

I happened to be watching the Mav/Sonic game last night when Dirk Nowitzki got his ankle rolled up. I would have sworn his leg was broken, but they say it's only a sprain. If so, it must be a severe one. Years ago, an ASU basketball player suffered a compound fracture of the leg on the court and it was gruesome. The race horse who recently broke his leg reminded me of it (ugh).

I believe the Rockets will move back up in the standings when they get healthy and who knows what will happen to the Suns between now and then?

My bro-in-law passed away this AM. It was 3 months to the day since he was diagnosed. We won't be going to Baltimore for the service. He still has 2 sisters and a brother back there.

[udosuk]

Hope your bro-in-law rest in peace... At least he didn't suffer in pain for a prolonged period...

The Suns seem to be riding on a great "mo-jo" for now... I wonder if Dirk will be ready for the Dec 28th game, and even if he does I don't think he'll be 100%... It seems this winning streak could run as long as 20 games or more...

The Rockets play the Spurs tomorrow... T-Mac says he wants to play... But even if he does I don't think he'll be 100%... T-Mac has been a great Spurs-killer (I still remember the miracle game where he scored 13 pts in the last 35 secs to upset the Spurs)... But I think what it takes would be a 50-pts-25-rebs game from Yao which I keep expecting... Meanwhile Bonzi has been given considerable court time but hasn't produced much...

Good luck about the furnace... On this side of the planet it's very warm... Probably will hit the beach during the weekend...

[Hud]

Thanks for the kind wishes about bro-in-law. I'm continually impressed with the calibre of the posters on the Sudoku Forum. Not only do they seem intelligent, but also quite nice.


The repairman came today and I gave him my expert opinion of what was wrong with the heating unit. He put in a new blower motor and it blew up when we tested the "fan" setting. That wasn't a very good sign expecially when I saw him taking the motor back out of the squirrel cage. He came down and said he'd have to get another motor. I told him to wait til tomorrow since I wanted to snuggle with "Turtledove". He said "no way, I'll get you some heat tonight". True to his word, he returned and put in another motor and all was well. Barb had asked me for my estimate of the damages, and I had said $300. When the labor time came out to over 3 1/2 hours, I started getting scared, and cheated and had my fourth beer, exceeding my 2 or 3 beer limit. He went to the truck and tallied up the damages and came in with $232. I kissed his butt and told him it's always good to pay less than expected. We've dealt with that outfit for all the years we've lived here but I dunno if that had any effect on the damages.

The weather in Denver is really bad and I just got an email from a friend in Boulder (near Denver). He's snowed in and the plows keep pushing snow into his driveway right after he gets it shoveled. There was a women's college basketball game played here the other night. It was played in the arena that the D-backs play in, and for some stupid reason, the roof was open for the game. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling used to insist that the roof be closed in spring and autumn since they thought the ball didn't travel as far with it closed. Go figure, it started to rain late in the game and the game was shortened due to rain.

[udosuk]

You're right about the positive atmosphere in this forum, in particular the Off-topics subforum... It's surely very civilised compared to some of the other boards/forums... And it's quite impressive considering Luna has backed down from the moderator role for months now...

About the furnace repairing, I don't know why you set an estimate of $300, but probably it's a reasonable guess considering your experience in life... However, US$232 sounds like quite a lot of money to me, despite the furnace being an essential for the season... It all depends on how much a brand new one would cost, perhaps $3500-$4000? But it's 3.5 hrs of labour (it depends on whether the long time was due to a mistake or if it really takes that long)... If the repaired furnace can go for another 10 years or so I guess it's fair enough... (I'm a tough customer... )

BTW the Wizards visit Phoenix tonight, after beating the Kings last night... Their track record on the road is not great, but I have a gut feeling their offensive power have a chance to end the Suns' winning streak... Perhaps another 60-pts game from Arenas... Don't say I haven't warned...

[Hud]

Aieeee, what a day. My computer crashed and I had to reformat the complete system. I was really dead in the water since when I got to my desktop, the cursor was dead. I called my help phone number and he tried to have me log on holding the F2 key so I could get in DOS, but no dice. At least I had copies of all my photos which were priceless. Needless to say, I have to rebuild my email address book and favorites list.

The Rockets looked great at the end of the first half. This problem is going to cost me sleep tonight.

You're right about the time being high for the heat repair because the tech made a mistake. I probabably extimated high since I'm not as disappointed that way lol.

[udosuk]

My prophetic power was almost in full run when I predicted Arenas would end the Suns' streak with a 60-pt game... He ended the streak alright, but "only" scored 54... They said he held a grudge against Colangelo for not picking him for Team USA... Well, anything to get a player psyched up...

For some reason I don't think the Rockets' 19-pt win against the Spurs in San Antonio means much... They just happen to beat them on a day the top 3 teams in the league (Spurs, Suns, Jazz) all lost for some reason, allowing the Mavs to overtake them all as the new #1 now... Dirk's injury seems to be much overrated... We can expect a good game on Dec 28th after all...

That said, T-Mac didn't play and Bonzi stepped up for 15 pts... I hope Bonzi could keep improving until T-Mac gets back...

Meanwhile, Iverson played great in his Nuggets debut but they still lost to the Kings... I'd think the Suns will face a much stronger team when their game in Denver is rescheduled... I wonder would this snowstorm make an impact to the playoff seedings when all is settled... We'll see...

[Hud]

I think the snowstorm had an effect on 2 games. I don't worry too much about the Nuggets game yet, but the Suns had a marathon day yesterday. They ended up taking a 3 hour bus ride to another city in Colorado, then got to Phoenix a couple hours before the game. If it takes a personal vendetta to get Arenas syched up, so be it. I don't recall his name, but the other guy on the Wiz who scored over 30 really killed them. Hey, the Wiz used to be the B-more Bullets.

I was still impressed about the Rockets game. Beating the Spurs is never not a big deal. Bonzi does seem to be getting acclimated.

I'm slowly getting back my favs and email addresses, but I hopefully will not be caught in this situation again. I had decided to change ISPs at the end of this month, but might stay with who I have.

[udosuk]

Oops... There goes the Rockets' season (again)... Yao broke his knee and will be out for at least 6 weeks... With T-Mac out indefinitely too... Perhaps it's about time for me to stop caring about this sport... The disappointments keep coming heartbreakingly...

The "other guy" in the Wiz team should be Caron Butler, one of the "big 3" in Washington (he, Arenas and Jamison)... He did well in the OT to bury the Suns' chance... But still it was Arenas' 3-ptr at the end of regulation that saved them...

BTW, wish you a Merry Christmas and hope your computer troubles stay away for the New Year!

[Hud]

Same to you, udosuk. I was sorry to see Yao go down to a freak injury in yesterday's game. They showed it over and over on ESPN. I'd equate his loss to the Suns losing Steve Nash. I think they'll win some games without him, and possibly be in contention for a low playoff spot. I really don't think it's very important to be highly seeded in the playoffs as long as you're playing well in them. Everytime the Suns get a high seed and homecourt advantage, they let a home game get away from them anyway.

I've been very surprised to see the Knicks win some games without some of their players. I suppose the players they lost were mostly reserves, but still, it's a good sign for them.

The computer resurrection goes on. I found my discs for the printer and scanner, but can't get my Outlook Express email handler back up for some reason. You don't realize how much you depend on computers til you lose them imo. Before I got mine in the late 90s, I was wondering what I'd do with it.

[udosuk]

T-Mac has come back out and at least the Rockets have somebody to carry them for now... Yao to the Rockets is like Nash to the Suns, and T-Mac should be like Amare to the Suns? The Suns sans Amare could still make the Western Conference Final, I wonder how far they'd get if they had Nash out but Amare and the rest healthy (touchwood speaking)?

Today Battier had a lights-out performance outside the arc and the Rockets routed the hapless Nets... But the game of the day was the Knicks' 3OT win against the Pistons... It seems Isiah decides to completely pick up this "bad boys" style and let his players adopt the roles of villains... But if that's what keeps the team winning then it's fair enough...

It's unlikely but would be funny if the Nuggets and the Knicks would meet in the Final... Some are already jumping the gun and proclaim the Nuggets the favourite in the West if they can get Iverson and Melo to mix well in the offence... Anyway the Suns, the Wizards and the Nuggets (in full team) should be the strongest offensive power in the league right now...

Today's game between the Suns and the Mavs should be a good one... The last time round the Mavs defeated the Suns to end their opening 4-game slump and proceeded to a 12-game winning streak... Perhaps this one will have another great impact on one or both of the teams too...