Danny Chau writes about basketball at Plantar Fasciitis. If you haven’t been reading his stuff over there, well… catch up because it’s awesome. I recommend you start with his latest piece, which is about this year’s Golden State Warriors. Anyway, I’m extremely pumped to announce that he’s not just the biggest Semih Erden fan in America and the world’s foremost basketball/food writer, he’s the newest member of the OTN team. -Ed.

Surrendering your conscience to the game is an indescribable feeling. Focus is insular, every motion is predetermined, and the mind becomes the most powerful weapon. It’s the feeling Brandon Rush must’ve felt in the fourth quarter of his first game back after a five-game suspension.

Taking down a defensive rebound, Rush glided down court like a wraith pulling up for a quick 3-point shot. It was a perfect instance, in the aftermath of one of the most compelling offensive performances in NBA history. Rush stopped. There wasn’t a Nugget in sight. In that one moment, Brandon Rush was water. 5:51 left in the game. Pacers with a 128-96 advantage. Rush, who hadn’t sniffed the court since last month, scored his 16th point easily. It was just one of those nights.

The Pacers, who entered the game with one of the worst offensive ratings in the league, tore a dimensional hole with their (almost) flawless third quarter shooting performance, sucking the life out of a tired Denver Nuggets team on their second game of a back-to-back.
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Remember how crazy the West was 2-through-9 last year? We knew no one would catch the Lakers, and we knew you’d have to win close to 50 games to make the playoffs, but we had no idea how everything would shake out in the end. There was one great team in the conference, a bunch of very good teams, and then a whole bunch of crap. No Western team won between 29 (Golden State) and 46 (Phoenix) games.

Well, the East is even crazier than that this year, but the action is all in the middle. I see three teams that should easily win more than 46 games as presently constructed and only two that might finish with fewer than 29. That’s almost what happened last season, but what’s even more interesting is that, if forced to predict team records this season, I’d argue that there are ten Eastern teams that could hover around the 40-42 win mark. Continue Reading