NBA Nitecap Blog: Night of Rivals

Kobe Bryant doesn't like being elbowed by Dwight Howard. Photo credit: NY Daily News

For my first installment of NBA Nitecap, a daily blog about the NBA, we begin exactly where we left off...San Antonio, Texas.

by +Rodney Fisher

NBA Preseason Power Rankings: Three Pivotal Corrections

by Matt Silverston
via blog.sidelinesapp.com:

NBA Preseason Power Rankings are about as reliable as Wikipedia “facts.”

Read them over with a grain of salt because with only rosters, preseason stats and predictions to work with, NBA analysts are bound to make mistakes.

Harmless as they may be, three errors need to be corrected.

Lofty predictions for the Atlanta Hawks, an underestimation of the Orlando Magic and low expectations for the Cleveland Cavaliers are three examples of how the current NBA Power Rankings are far from perfect.

Here is a re-analysis of those three teams:

2013 NBA Draft Lottery Order - Cavaliers Get First Pick - Dan Gilbert Reacts

2013 NBA Draft Lottery Order. Photo credit NBA 

The Cleveland Cavaliers get the 1st pick in the upcoming draft...again. They way the lottery works, only the first three picks are selected. The rest of the picks follow in order by worst to best regular season record.

Cavs owner Dan Gilbert said via twitter: "On plane back from NYC. Did that just happen? Again! @Cavs will be force in east for years to come. Happy for best fans in world: Cavs fans!"

Here is the official order:

LeBron hits the game winner to extend win streak to 16

It was a very close game for the Miami Heat as they extend they extend their win streak to 16. Last night's victim was in-state rival Orlando Magic. Lebron James hits the game winning layup to end it. The longest win streak this year is 17 by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Dallas Mavericks beat Orlando Magic 111-96; Rick Carlisle postgame comments

Here is what head coach Rick Carlisle had to say after last night's needed win: