NBA Roundup: Cleveland Does Not Rock, Orlando’s Magic

By Jason M. Williams January 14, 2011 4:00 pm Posted in basketball, Basketball - NBA, Sports Jason M. Williams g+ page

We hope you spent New Year’s Eve partying like Snooki. We’re nearly midway through the season and have seen a lot of action lately as the good teams are beginning to distinguish themselves from the terrible teams.

Nothing is as depressing as the Cleveland Cavaliers at this point. After watching LeBron take his talents to South Beach, the Cavs have struggled mightily. After starting out with a respectable 7-9 record, they have lost 21 of their past 22 games. They just lost Anderson Varejao to an injury for the season, and they just hit rock bottom when they got absolutely shattered by the Lakers in Los Angeles by a final score of 112-57. Wow. That’s pathetic.

On the flip side, the Orlando Magic have been rolling since a pair of trades shook up their roster by bringing in Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jason Richardson while jettisoning Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter. They are winners of nine of their last 10 games including wins over San Antonio, Boston, New York, and Dallas.

Two top performers of the past week were Atlanta’s Jamal Crawford and Philadelphia’s Jrue Holiday. Jamal has been on fire lately, averaging over 27 points and 4 assists per game since the New Year. He’s been a key reason why the Hawks are still amongst the elite in the East and is starting to put up gaudy numbers in his contract year. The 20 year old Holiday has been a force lately for the surging Sixers as they have found themselves battling for a playoff spot in the East. Jrue has been the difference for the team this season and has put up 19 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals per game over the past week and helped lead the team to a stunning win over the Chicago Bulls at home.

For those of you looking for a few good NBA games to watch this weekend, check out Dallas heading south to San Antonio on ESPN Friday night, the Heat taking their talents to Chicago Saturday night on NBA TV, Melo and the Nuggets at the Spurs on ESPN Sunday night, and Orlando at Boston and Oklahoma City at Lakers on TNT Monday night.

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