Simmons spends probably 30 or 40% of his playoff podcast preview talking about Mavs-Blazers, and he picks PDX as well. Lots of stuff in there (too much to mention) with guests including Adande, Abbot, Hollinger and Stein.

It's pretty close to being non-stop Blazer praise. There are a lot (a confusingly large number, in my estimation) of Simmons haters here, but I doubt even they will have many negative words about this.

Given our health woes, I thought I'd highlight a series the Blogfather has been running over at Truehoop regarding proper anatomic form for running. The gist is that some experts say runners should stay on the forefront of their feet instead of landing with each step on their heels. The theory is that modern shoe technology allows for the padding to land on heels even though its a non-optimal form.

What do you guys think? Is it worth talking about for players with chronic knee problems, particularly (as the article notes) when running without the ball?

Lots of smoke, though no obvious fire yet. Denver will be terribly mediocre without him - from swagger with skill to empty bluster.

Mostly on the strength of margin of victory, which tends to be the most important stat for Hollinger's rankings. SOS will work against us, though our home/away splits are adequate.

Additionally, lots of Blazers talk on The Basketball Jones podcast, available on iTunes or the Ball Don't Lie website. I love their stuff.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/TBJ-Ep-473-Eating-Crow?urn=nba,204480

Hollinger's take. I'm particularly interested in Lawson, who I'm high on but I thought was slipping... anyone with Insider feel like reposting the pertinent parts?

Another in the Quick series.

Quickly (har har) becoming one of my favorite running newspaper segments evar.

Nene went down late in the Nuggets' loss to the Bucks today - looked like a knee. He's been great this season, and if he misses a big stretch of time, I think the division is back in play.