Who to root for tonight? 02/10/10 plus some news and notes

The Spurs may be off tonight but the NBA is not.  There are 10 match ups tonight with the majority of the action on the east coast.  However, 2 games stand out as key Western Conference showdowns; Portland at Phoenix and Utah at the L.A. Lakers.

The Spurs currently sit in 7th place in the Western Conference standings, 1 game behind Phoenix for 5th place and 1 game ahead of 8th place Portland.  If the playoffs were to start today, San Antonio would be starting off with the Denver Nuggets.  However, if they can catch the Suns for 5th, they would play Dallas.  With this in mind, Portland is my pick for who to root for in this match up.

The Western Conference’s other big game of the night is the red hot Utah Jazz traveling to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers.  The Jazz have won 9 straight, including wins over the Mavericks and the Nuggets, and currently are 3rd in the west 3 games ahead of the Spurs.  For this reason, the Lakers are the clear choice on who to root for.  It may seem odd, but the Spurs probably aren’t going to catch L.A. for the 1st seed this season but can easily catch Utah for 3rd.

Blair makes rookie rankings

Spurs rookie forward Dejuan Blair enters the T-mobile NBA rookie rankings at #10 this week.  Drew Packham, who does the rankings had this to write about him:

After a week away from the rankings, Blair scored in double digits in three of four games this week. Blair started the week (and rodeo road trip) off right with a 20-point, six-rebound performance in the Spurs’ 115-113 win in Sacramento. He hit his first nine shots (finishing 9-for-11) and started the second quarter by scoring 11 of the Spurs’ first 13 points. “That was just me playing hard,” Blair said. “Hard playing pays off.”

Watch the Toros play the Maine Red Claws tonight!The Spurs NBA Developmental League team, the Austin Toros (18-10) are playing at the Maine Red Claws (19-10) tonight.  The game can be seen for free on the NBA’s website through a tool called “futurecast.”

Malik Hairston, who has appeared in 21 games for the Spurs, leads the Toros with 29.3 points per game.

The Maine Red Claws are the minor league team of both the Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats.