NBA: CURRENT STANDINGS, TOP TEAMS; NETS DEFEAT NUGGETS // MLB: THE BIG EIGHT, 2014

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . // . . . NBA: CURRENT STANDINGS. TOP GUNS; NETS OVER NUGGETS // MLB: THE BIG EIGHT, 2014 . . . // . . NBA---SINCE two weeks ago, the one steep fall within an NBA division happened to the Eastern Conference-Southeast’s 26-31 Atlanta Hawks, going from second to fourth place, now 16 games behind first place team, the 41-14 Miami Heat. Holding the Hawks former slot are the 30-28 Washington Wizards, 12 wins behind the Heat, the latter second best in the East behind the Central Division’s number one + NBA top team, the 44-13 Indiana Pacers, followed close for the league’s leading position by the Western Conference-Northeast’s 42-12 Oklahoma City Thunder. The Pacers also own the best edge among division leading franchises, being 13 games atop the 31-26 Chicago Bulls. The West’s Southwest Division leading team, the 41-16 San Antonio Spurs, has the more fragile lead within the league, just two games above the 39-19 Houston Rockets, and the East’s Atlantic Division leading team, the 32-26 Toronto Raptors, they’ve but a four game lead over the 26-29 Brooklyn Nets. The only other franchise to fall from second place since February 14th is the West’s Pacific Division’s now third place team, the 33-24 Phoenix Suns, replacement the 40-20 Golden State Warriors. Only two division third place teams appear to have a stretch of lost games that can be overcome before April, the West’s Southwest 36-23 Dallas Mavericks, six games rear of the Spurs and four behind second place team, the Rockets, and the West’s Suns, now four back of the Clippers, one behind the Warriors. The four other third place teams---the East’s 21-37 N.Y. Knicks, 27-30 Charlotte Bobcats, 23-35 Detroit Pistons, and the West’s 28-29 Minnesota Timberwolves and the 36-23 Dallas Mavericks---, all are eight and more games behind their respective division leading teams, worst being the Pistons, 18 to the rear. Of last place franchises of two weeks ago, only the West’s Pacific 19-39 L.A. Lakers have joined the dismal party, reaching last place from fourth, replacement team the 20-37 Sacramento Kings. Worst in the league still---the 11-46 Milwaukee Bucks. . . // . BROOKLYN NETS, DENVER NUGGETS---THE now 26-29 Nets and the 25-31 Nuggets began the current NBA season with noticeable similarities. Both would be steered by rookie head coaches, both would be integrating numerous new players. And, each punched in at third position within their divisions early on, maintaining that awhile, then shifting down for long spells, elevating occasionally. Yet within these similarities existed key differences, for example, the Nets new head coach, Jason Kidd, has had no management experience; he parachuted in with player/point guard experience only, coming to the Nets the N.Y. Knicks, before that the Dallas Mavericks. Meanwhile, Nuggets new coach, Brian Shaw, brought to Denver several years of assistant coaching expertise from stints with the L.A. Lakers and the Indiana Pacers, this atop his player savvy. Offsetting the Nuggets coaching advantage would be the Nets acquisition of center Kevin Garnett and forward Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics. But while the Nuggets began the season with guard Ty Lawson, center JaVale McGee, forward Wilson Chandler and savvy, sometimes savior guard, Andre Miller, neither Lawson, McGee nor Chandler could be on the floor last night for point points per minute, this due to injuries except in Miller’s case, who injured his status and reputation via out-of-line comments to HC Shaw, anyway Miller traded to the Wizards this month. Nor could guard Nate Robinson put up his effectiveness over a sufficient course of minutes versus the Nets. So, it wasn’t the Nuggets A-Team that battled the Nets last night and lost, 112-89, handing the Nets their first win at Denver in seven years. Nor was it the Nuggets that in January defeated the Indiana Pacers, 109-96, the Golden State Warriors, 123-116, and on February 3d the L.A. Clippers, 116-115. The only other Nuggets wins this month have been against the league’s last place franchise, the 11-46 Milwaukee Bucks---110-100, and 101-90. To date, the Nuggets are 3-12 for February, 2014. Yet were the Nets and the Nuggets of the same division, they’d be close in the standings, the Nuggets back by one game. Impressive last night was the Nets superiority as turnover speedsters, as shooters from all angles and distances, as rebounders, and as perpetrators of timely assists and sharing the ball. The Nets played classic basketball, not many unneeded frills, advantaging their free throw opportunities, and they allowed transition to a one-man game now and then, Paul Pierce and center Jason Collins owning it as if planned for them to alternate, though the Nets were mostly a coordinated team. The Nets starters + bench were a lot like the Nuggets could be with Lawson and Chandler and forward Danilo Gallinari aboard, e,g., those long winning streaks “back in the day,” especially those begun with an exceptionally fast pace, in-your-face defense performed consistently + defense rebounds converted swiftly to fast break points. Without these players, the Nuggets were at the effect of the Nets from tip-off, unable to establish lasting initiative, the deficit looming from first period on. The Nuggets were behind as this period ended, 29-8, recovery for a deep lead never surfacing throughout the full game. Clearly, the Nets are at a fixed level, the Nuggets are not, in that Coach Kidd has an established starter formation and an experienced bench, he has a better sense of the who and what as a game commences, while the Nuggets are a team forced to struggle with what is usually pre-season and early season experimentations, rostering differently as game follows game. Coach Shaw hasn’t firm knowledge as to when Lawson, McGee, Chandler or Robinson will be on the wood, and so he has to mix and test, which isn’t what any coach would want as a season begins its descent. A NOTE to Shaw---before the game, we watched a few Nuggets starters practice shooting from all angles and rational distances. Were this a contest, Aaron Brooks, a guard new to the Nuggets, would have won by a mile-and-three-quarters, hardly missing a shot. The more difficult it got for Brooks, the better his accuracy. Among our thoughts then, “Give this guy more minutes!”. . . // . . MLB---EIGHT teams keep appearing on forecasts for the 2014 MLB season playoffs and a shot at the World Series, from the American League the Boston Red Sox, the Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and the Detroit Tigers; from the National League the St. Louis Cardinals, the S.F. Giants and the L.A. Dodgers, our 2014 LC picks being the AL’s Tigers and the NL’s Dodgers, with the Tigers taking the WS, 4-3. Given team construction, power rankings and 2013 stats, neither of these eight teams will be sailing toward playoff positions easily, and some may not make it. Surely the AL’s N.Y. Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals will be formidable in 2014, as will the NL’s Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and a reinforced Colorado Rockies. Why the Tigers? We can begin with pitchers RH Justin Verlander and RH Max Scherzer, and 1B Miguel Cabrera, the latter named AL batting champion three times, plus a string of hitters that enabled a .283 team batting average and a team .346 OBP, stats above the AL average. If there’s reason for doubt, it’s that manager Jim Leyland is gone, new manager being former Tigers catcher, Brad Ausmus, only in that new managers may need more than one season to hit highest potential. And, gone are former 1B Prince Fielder to the Rangers, and SS Johnny Peralta to the Cardinals. How come the Dodgers as fierce competition? Largely this, “If it aint broke, don’t fix it.” Nearly all of the Dodgers that got to the WS in 2013 have returned.” The Dodgers hill will include LH Clayton Kershaw and RH Zack Greinke. Unlike the Tigers, the Dodgers will likely have a greater spread of on base percentage hitters and a lower rate of runners left on base at third outs---CF Matt Kemp, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Alexander Guerrero, catcher A.J. Ellis, SS Hanley Ramirez and RF Yasiel Puig, these six expected by some analysts to deliver a higher team BA and team OBP than can the Tigers, especially now that Fielder and Peralta are no longer with the Tigers. This hitting factor could have the Dodgers taking the NLLC with better stats than the Tigers will have when winning the ALLC. Pitching superiority could be the Tigers final win factor for the WS, possibly the clincher for game seven. As to wild card potential, look to the AL’s Athletics and Rangers, and the NL’s Giants and the Colorado Rockies. END/ml