Played three more games.
Chicago 120, Seattle 115
I shouldn't have won this one, but Seattle went cold in the fourth and some of my guys who had struggled through the first three quarters finally made some shots. Ray Allen proved difficult to defend - first he managed to score on a couple of penetrations, then he hit some long jumpers in Rose's face. Crawford was the top performer in the game though, with 32 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists. He also had not one, but two four point plays.
Phoenix 106, Chicago 105
The Suns ended my winning streak at four, in a game I probably shouldn't have lost. Marion and Marbury were both on fire, so I had to use double teams sparingly so as not to leave one of them open. As we battled back and forth in the final period, the Suns gained the upper hand and with 16 seconds left, held a 104-102 lead. I had little choice but to foul, hoping Marbury would hit one of two. He made them both, so I had one option - a four point play.
Crawford made two four point plays against Seattle, so he was the natural choice. I failed to draw the contact from Marbury, but still made the three to make it a 106-105 loss. I kind of wish I'd missed it.
Chicago 138, Los Angeles Lakers 127
As you can probably guess, defense was an afterthought in this game.
Expecting to be crushed by the Lakers' four stars, I tried to get everyone involved early, and it worked. I jumped out to an early 17-5 lead, causing cyber-Phil to call a timeout. I finished the first quarter leading 40-28, and never looked back. Since I was heading for a high scoring affair anyway, I left Rose, Crawford and Pippen in the game and tried to achieve some of the tasks to earn some extra points. Rose scored 45, Crawford had 27 and Pippen added 22.
The road trip continues in Sacramento, then Dallas and San Antonio (or possibly San Antonio then Dallas). Even with the win over LA (they're only 7-6), I'm not taking anything for granted.