The New Sudoku Players' Forum

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Kobe scored 60 against the Griz... They said it's the 4th time in history a player got 3 50-pt games in a row (the other 3 are Baylor, Chamberlain and Jordan)... All eyes to see if he can make it 4 games in a row...

The Rockets defeated the Pistons by 6, after almost blowing a 20-pt lead in the 4th... T-Mac continued to struggle with his FG% (9/24) but Yao is playing more and more impressively, 27 pts against the defense of C-Webb and Rasheed is surely quite something... Billups did play but was probably not 100% yet...

The Suns are struggling a bit early with the Kings, but I expect them to pull through in the 2nd half...


Something on the cricket: after last time I commented on Pakistan losing to Ireland in the world cup, their coach Bob Woolmer, from England, was murdered in his hotel room (by strangling)... Police are investigating everyone involved with the team, even including the players...

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It's an amazing feat for Kobe to score that many points, but I don't think it bodes well for the Lakers. They barely beat the Griz. That was an impressive win for the Rockets last night and Yao is really coming back to form. I'm glad the Suns are finally starting to use bench players and maybe they'll continue to use Jalen Rose?

I was going to comment about the Pakistani Cricket Coach but didn't know the details til today. They surely take their sports seriously in that part of the world. Soccer coaches didn't fare well in Iraq awhile back either. (I believe it was soccer?).

Edit: added later.
I read up on Vernal Equinox holidays but it appears Japan is the only one I could find who has a Vernal Equinox holiday. It said that Hong Kong has a holiday 15 days after the VE. I think it was called "Ching Ming" or something like that (I looked it up yesterday).

All the good western teams seem to be able to handle the Pistons except the Suns. Kobe gets his 50 but the Lakers struggle to win. What's with the Pacers beating the Heat so badly?

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I found it absurd you think the Lakers are "struggling to win"... They were in a 7-game losing streak before Kobe hits his strides... If I'm Phil Jackson I'd be glad if the team wins every game by 1 pt against any minnow, provided they keep on winning... What's the prize of blowing every bad team by 20 pts but losing to all the good teams?

The main thing is the Lakers found their formula to success - that is to keep feeding Kobe the ball and let him do his stuff... If that's what keeps the team winning I don't see the problem... Especially as I don't see any of his teammates complaining... Jordan was carrying 50%+ of the Bulls offense and they won 6 championships...

I feel unfortunate for the Pistons, as they played well enough to win these last 2 games... Hopefully they'll be strong enough to defend the #1 seed from the Cavs... The Heat is in a mess right now, it seems the mojo after the Wade injury has faded out... Shaq is always in foul troubles and the old players such as Walker, Payton & Mourning are either injured or out of form... Without Wade, they need everyone to play 120% every game and perhaps it's taking it's toll on those aged bodies...

The Rockets are only 1/2 game behind the Jazz at the moment... Some are even speculating their chance to grab the #3 seed, which would need the Spurs to fall into a bad slump... I myself don't see it as a good idea, as a 2nd round matchup with the Mavs is perhaps better than one with the Suns (provided the Rockets can actually win a 1st round series for the 1st time in the T-Mac/Yao era)... And also there is always doubts about the Mavs-Warriors series... At the moment Lakers is looking more likely to get #6 and Nuggets #7... Wonder which team the Suns would like to face more?


Regarding the vernal equinox questions, I've meant to reply last time but I forgot... Actually vernal/autumnal equinoxes are just 2 of the 24 solar terms in Chinese and other Asian calendars... The Ching Ming festival (meaning "clear & bright") is the next one after vernal equinox and is a traditional day for Chinese to visit the graves of the dead relatives/ancestors... While Japanese hold their holidays on vernal equinox, Hong Kong people have this holiday on Ching Ming (normally April 4/5) which often is combined with the Easter holidays to form a long weekend (talk about cultural fusion )... China, on the other hand, cannot use these as reasons for holidays because of the government's atheist/anti-feudalist standpoint... However the people are compensated in the next month with their "golden week" holiday which starts on Labour Day (May 1)...

On the other hand, both HK, China as well as other Chinese countries hold holiday on the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is parallel to the autumnal equinoxes (though usually not on the same day)... On that day the moon is supposed to be the fullest & brightest throughout the year... Activities include "admiring the moon", eating mooncakes/pomelos and playing lanterns...

I wonder why these stuffs would interest you in the first place...

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I watched some of the Pistons/Heat game and a tiny bit of the Suns/Mavs. I thought the Heat had its game under control, but the Pistons closed well. It's amazing that McDyess has brought his game back the way he has.

I didn't know what to expect of the Suns since they have struggled lately. They played one of their best games in awhile. I think Dirk's ankle has to be bothering him. I don't know how these guys can play on ankle sprains like they do. I like Dirk for MVP this season, and would be a bit embarrassed if Nash were to win again. I would have liked Kobe's chances also until he went on his scoring tear and the rest of the team seemed to get uninvolved. I suppose we'll see how it shakes out?

I saw most of the Rockets/Lakers game the other night and I think Yao is playing better than he ever has. I haven't seen all that much of him, but he's very fundamentally sound. They showed a clip of him while in rehab practicing baby hook shots using alternate hands and not missing any. What an asset that shot is.

I was talking to my son at noontime and I said I'd like to see the Suns have to play the Jazz, Spurs and the Mavs to get to the finals. At least that would show who is best win or lose. I don't think they'll make the mistake of posturing to get a particular opponent in the playoffs. The Suns are slated to get the Hawk's first round pick if it's not in the bottom 3. It appears the Hawks will slip into the 3d worst position.

I guess I was wrong about the Wolves making the playoffs. A commentator mentioned that they really need a true point guard.

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It was a good win for the Suns... Should boost their confidence in case they play the Mavs in the West final... It's almost impossible to beat them when their shots are clicking (65% FG? Unbelievable!), but it's a matter of whether they can keep this shooting touch 4 times in a 7-game series...

The Pistons beat the Heat because of Miami's poor FT shooting (16/30, 5/11 from Shaq)... But without Wade and they could still make it that close, I don't think this game would help Pistons' cause in the playoffs...

The Rockets crashed down hard against the Jazz in their own backyard... T-Mac's shooting slump continues (9/23 FG)... Yao worked his due but also missed too many (11/24 FG)... I don't think they'll get home court in the 1st round...

I don't know if you've watched the Swimming World Championships in Melbourne, where Michael Phelp's 8-gold bid was ended by a teammate's mistake in the relay... But thankfully for that Australia got one more gold...

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I noticed Phelp's exploits in Melbourne, but don't follow swimming as much as I should. My oldest grandson (almost 16) is a terrific swimmer and it'll be interesting to see if he keeps at it. He's been on a swim team at ASU since he was 7 or 8. The team is sponsered by ASU obviously lol.

Just when I dissed Kobe for not getting his team involved, he obviously must have tonight. I like them when they use more of their team. I just noticed that the Spurs lost to the Pacers by one. Diagu (?) had a very good game for the Pacers. Ike D played for ASU and left early when ASU changed coaches.

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Today your Suns beat the Grizzlies by 5... Surely the Grizz are playing too well these days... Next up is the Spurs, in what I think would be a critical game for the battle for the #2 seed... For the Suns, I think a matchup with the Nuggets would be much better than one with the Lakers...

And the NCAA tournament was finally over, with Florida repeating as champion... Did you know their starting center, Joakim Noah, was the son of French tennis player Yannick Noah? It's quite amazing as Yannick is just 6'4" while Joakim is 7'0"... However, the #1 draft pick would probably go to the center of the runner-up (Ohio State), Greg Oden...

The MLB season just starts... I think Barry Bonds probably will get 22 homers this year...

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Our sports commentators always say the Suns play down (or up) to their opposition. I don't totally agree with that since some of these teams are improving and will beat higher ranked teams now and then. I didn't like to see the 17 turnovers, but a win is a win.

Speaking of teams on the way up, it should be interesting to see how the Warriors measure up against the Rockets tonight. Both teams are playing pretty well.

I never did put the pieces together that Joakim Noah is Yannick Noah's son. One of our local sportcasters speculated that "Brewer" (hope that's the name, but unsure) might be the number 1 pick in the draft. I'll go along with the best big man instead.

I can't seem to get into baseball right yet, but do follow the box scores. Early on, it seems that some of the higher regarded pitchers are struggling. It seems inevitable that Bonds will break the record and that A-Rod will break his record someday.

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Just checked out this page, Corey Brewer is currently #8... The consensus top 2 is always Gred Oden & Kevin Durant... Yi Jianlian from China is currently #6... But I secretly wish he'll be selected by the Suns because I'm sure Nash will bring out the best of him... And you're right, it seems the top 5-6 positions would be filled out by bigs...

Not only the top pitchers are struggling, 2 of my favourites (Wang and RJ) are currently on DL... Today the D-backs lost to the Rockies, guess who was the winning pitcher? BK (Byung-Hyun Kim) of course... He gave up a run in the top of the 11th, but was savoured by his batters with a 2-run rally in the bottom inning...

I'm also worry about the Rockets-Warriors game... I think the Warriors is in a good chance if they can dictate the pace (run & gun)... The Rockets always have trouble against great speedy PGs (Nash, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Baron Davis, etc)... Rafal Alston's defense is very shaky (perhaps even more so than Nash)... I hope next season the Rockets can acquire someone like Billups, but probably too wishful... Actually they should grab Steve Francis back from the Knicks... I know he'd be thrilled to play with Yao again...

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The draft rankings was interesting. I wonder if Memphis would trade down to the Suns #4 if the Suns gave them all three of their first round picks? The Suns have no intention of drafting 3 players in the first round and could really use a big defensive minded player. They could even trade to #2 if they didn't want Oden. I wish I knew more about Yi. I'll look him up to see his background.

I didn't know BK got the win yesterday. A couple shaky defensive plays helped give it to him.

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T-Mac hurt his back again, and the Rockets got rolled by the Warriors...

There goes the Rockets' playoff chances... Well there's always next year...

Perhaps I should switch to the Mavs... I'll probably jinx them for the Suns to win it all...

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The Rockets game wasn't on TV here last night. I wonder why Yao didn't get many shots? I suppose Tmac and he probably had a 2 man game going and with Mac out, it went away.

I was presumptious saying the Suns could trade up from 4. It looks like the Hawks have packed up and left for the season and will fall into the bottom 2 or 3 teams. They will keep the pick in that case.

After tonight the Suns will either be 2 or 4 games ahead of the Spurs. I'd prefer it be 4. I just hope they can stay healthy for the playoffs.

I suppose the Rockets can do no better than the number 5 seed. I believe that division winners can be seeded no lower than 4th.

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From what I read about that Rockets-Warriors game, T-Mac got injured and left the game after just a few minutes from the tip-off, and then Yao was consistently double/triple-teamed by the Warriors big-men, and the Rockets kept making turnovers trying to pass the ball to Yao (they ended up with 23 TOs, more than doubled the Warriors')...

One big weakness in Yao's game is he's too slow to shake off the defenders, so it's not easy to pass to him... With T-Mac playing he could draw defenders by driving towards the basket, and create open shots for Yao... So the Rockets without Yao can still be a B-rated team and win ~60-70% of games, but without T-Mac they're at best a C-rated team and can lose against anybody...

If the Rockets cannot overtake the Spurs (which is almost definitely true now), they can't finish higher than #5. But they can have the home court advantage if they finish with a better record than the Jazz (#4). But not only is this highly improbable, even if they get the home court advantage I doubt if they can beat the Jazz 4 times without a 100% T-Mac...

Even if the Hawks finish with a bottom-3 record, it doesn't guarantee them a top-3 pick. It only gives them more ping pong ball combinations in the lottery draw... In theory, they could have the worst record and not having a top-3 pick... It also could happen that if they're #9 in the East (just missing the playoffs) but got lucky and draw the #1 pick. We'll know about it next month... No need to ponder too much for now...

(Take a look at this article if you're interested in how the lottery works... )


Added later:

First T-Mac, then Yao (out with a back problem)... I guess they have given up hope for the home-court advantage... The irony is, the Jazz has also lost the last 2 games and the Rockets were gaining zero grounds on them...

Perhaps the Rockets will lose out and drop to #6 or #7 and the Suns-Rockets first round matchup that I speculated would actually happen... Which could be a great thing for the Suns, as the Nuggets (who ended the Mavs' hope of a 70-win season today) and the Lakers are looking much more dangerous... With the Suns lost to the red-hot Spurs yesterday I think the Spurs will actually finish #2... So Suns-Rockets as #3-#6 is quite plausible...

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It looks like this is the time of the NBA season whenguys are getting physically or mentally dinged. The Suns are having some chemistry problems that they aren't talking much about. D'Antoni and Amare had a little closed door chat after the Spurs game and Nash is saying that someone isn't dishing the ball enough. I wonder if it's the same guy? I think they'll get it together by playoff time, but who knows? Last season, the Suns coasted into the playoffs and almost coasted right back out. Parker lit them up again, and that kinda goes with your assessment that athletic point guards hurt them a lot. In some ways, I'd prefer to play the Lakers more than the Nuggets if it comes down to a choice. I hope they don't make the mistake of posturing to play a certain team in the first round.

I hope Yao and T-mac get over their back woes quickly. That's the first time I've heard of Yao having any and hope it's not serious.

Dice-K pitched a strong game and didn't look at all like a rookie. I suspect the competition in Japan got him ready for it?

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To disheartened to talk about NBA right now... Hopefully the baseball, cricket & golf can keep my spirit up...

Dice-K surely played great in his debut. Meanwhile the Yankees' Kei Igawa was banged up big-time by the O's batters before A-Rod's bottom-of-9th-2-out-2-strike grand slam from 6-7 down saved them from the loss... Apparently all Yankees' aces are struggling right now... All this while Wang is down at the minor league in rehab...

In US Masters golf, Appleby is leading Woods by 1 stroke with 18 holes to go, and understandably nobody thinks he'll win it... I hope the spirit of his late wife (which we talked about several pages ago) could help him pull it off and bring home our very first green jacket... Were you watching in 96 when the Shark blew a 6-stroke 3rd-round lead and lost by 7 strokes at the end?