I noticed that in the wake of our humiliating defeat to the Oklahoma City Losers, there was an understandable amount of consternation in the Blazer's Edge community. I, too, felt really bummed out after the loss and wouldn't even visit my NBA mainstay sites until a full day had passed. The loss confirmed so many of our fears about this team: lack of defense, poor first quarters, inexperience, the rookie wall, injuries ... everything just seemed to be going haywire and that loss proved it.

Well, at least we can take solace in the fact that it's all relative. Taking a peek at tonight's scoreboard reminded me that we're not the only Western Conference team who hasn't been bringing their "A" game recently:

Tonight's Scoreboard

Yes, that's right: three of our division rivals (and the Clippers, but that's no surprise) suffered embarassing defeats this evening.

Our friends in Phoenix apparently are already making plans for All-Star Weekend because they didn't bother to show in Philadelphia, getting hosed in a wire-to-wire rout by the Sixers. The Rockets lost to the only team in the league that has been more ravaged by injuries than they have, the Bucks. And the Hornets lost to Memphis.

Granted, the Hornets lost because they still don't have Paul back, and we know how they are without him. The Rockets and the Suns, though, don't seem like serious threats to challenge us for playoff seeding if they keep playing like this. And the Mavs are going to struggle now that Jason Terry is out indefnitiely as well.

Currently, we're ranked as the 4th seed by Hollinger'sPlayoff Odds. Even with all the struggles we're having, I don't see us falling far from there because other teams seem to be struggling just as much. Utah won't have their full trio back for a few weeks, so they might make a run down the stretch, but other than that I don't see how anyone is going to bump past us in the playoff seedings unless Paul comes back and the Hornets start to play really well.

当然,那时我们会有我们可爱的咖啡ey back in action. I don't think the sky is falling, but also I don't think we'll be able to catch LA, SA and Denver.

Considering that coming into the season I was optimistically expecting us to get the 7th or 8th seed, this makes me feel much less bad about that OKC loss ...