a good quiet day today

It has been a largely peaceful day here today, and I am quite grateful for it. Katie spent the night with my parents and went to a children's play this morning. And so I could sleep until I woke up, which I did about 8, have a nice breakfast, start a new book, and then spent some time watching FSU lose and Notre Dame win with my dad.

Katie then came back, and we came home to pick up the house for our guests coming over to watch the Spurs. Katie was anxious all afternoon for them to get here, but it was close to suppertime before they arrive. Katie's friend Jordan is spending the night, and we had about eight kids over here for a while tonight, all between ages 5 and 8, I think. So that was nice and quiet. The weird thing is that about six times someone left the refrigerator door open. What the heck is that about? Is there something genetic that prevents kids from shutting the door to the fridge? Why doesn't Katie have that? I just don't get it.

And the Spurs played pretty well tonight, especially since they absorbed a 15 point loss. The bottom line is that Arenas was filthy - I mean some of those shots were ridiculous and they all found the hoop. And Duncan was horrible - 3 for 18 from the floor, and all of the shots within the offense. The bottom line is that the Spurs still need Duncan to play well for them to be a great team. The good news is that he plays well 91% of the time, but that still leaves them with four losses per year attributable to his crappy play. Well, now there will be three left this season. And there was a time in this game when Duncan had missed 10 shots in a row and Arenas had hit 11 of 12 for the game, and the Spurs led. That in and of itself is a good sign for this team.

And so now the five game road trip is over. They got three wins, and a winning record on the road is always a good thing. Home for three games against three very different teams now. Atlanta is just awful - horrible, bad as any team in the league. They quite frankly don't do anything much very well, and Joe Johnson is adapting to having to be a point guard but without the finishers Phoenix featured. Life is a lot easier when you line up next to raw talent like Marion and Stoudamire. And then you have the Rockets, who play like the Spurs, only not as well. The Spurs will beat the Rockets everytime unless McGrady goes simply berserk. If he throws down 45, then they can beat the Spurs, but is he is under 40 it is a stone cold lock for the Spurs. But it will be a slugfest, with the two best defensive teams in the West (and two of the four best in the NBA) get together. Anytime you have two teams that play the same style, the better team almost always wins. And that is what we have here. And then Phoenix returns this weekend. It will not be the same as last year, with Stoudamire out, and the Suns playing a more conventional lineup. Quite frankly, I think the Suns became less of a threat to the elite teams in the West by getting rid of the wings and playing Marion back at small forward.

And now I am going to sleep. No telling how long the girls will sleep, so I need to fit in what I can.