The Most Fascinating Storylines in the NBA - Halfway Point

This image perfectly sums up not only the NBA offseason, but much of the actual regular season. A giant free agency signing caused Miami to go from perpetual #4 seed first/second round losers to become an almost automatic title favorite. Dwyane Wade looked like he would finally find the help that he needed ever since Shaq left for Phoenix in the form of two helpers that just happened to be just as good as him. D-Wade has long been known for being extremely charismatic, personable, and a generally great guy. Into Miami came Chris Bosh from the Toronto Raptors, known as a man of few words, but always proving his talents on the basketball court. And from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron James, probably the most hyped basketball player in the history of the NBA, known for being loud, immature, and extremely childish in his approach to his job, but consistently dominating when his talents were needed most. Miami then spent the rest of the offseason recruiting free agents from around the league, building a supporting cast to the new Big Three with great players who happened to have cheap contracts. In the end, Miami formed a superteam, something usually only seen during international play... or so it seemed. Many detractors of the new Miami Heat felt that the team focused too heavily on 3-point shooters and people known for their offensive capabilities, skimping out on defensive players. At the start of the season, we finally got to see the Heat for what they were: nothing but hype.

Then, Thanksgiving passed and the Heat went on to win 21-22 games. Their road record was also out of this world, tying 4th place for longest road record ever. But what caused their road record to stop? A loss against another team favored to win the championship like Boston, Orlando, the Lakers, or San Antonio? No. It came against the Los Angeles Clippers, the team long known for playing second fiddle to the Lakers when it came to a fanbase.

The Clippers have recently been going through one of their best stretches ever, having a winning record in January, all without starting center Chris Kaman. The Clippers have managed to ignite the city of LA to watch basketball nearly every night and causing fans to end up constantly flipping the channel to see the Lakers kick butt and the Clippers impress everybody. Tonight, Blake Griffin managed to have two milestones in the same night. He is the first rookie since Allen Iverson to have two 40+ point games in the same season and he became only the second rookie in 40 years to have a 45+ point 14+ rebound game. The other rookie? None other than his Airness, Michael Jordan. The Clippers have put together some impressive wins this season, beating the likes of the Lakers, San Antonio, and Dallas.

About Dallas. Dallas came in this season, much as they do every season, with tons of promise and potential to go deep in the playoffs. They started their season off well, obtaining the 2nd best record in the Western Conference. Then, Caron Butler suffered a season ending injury to his knee. Since then, the Mavericks have not looked the same and no one has been able to make up for his absence. Then, Dirk Nowitski got injured. The Mavericks managed to unimpressively lose every single game without Dirk and even continue losing once he came back. Jason Kidd has been playing the most awful basketball of his career and it's painfully obvious that if this trend continues, the Mavericks could potentially miss the playoffs. Even if they did make the playoffs and go deep, they don't hold a candle to the current league leader, San Antonio.

The Spurs are on track to tie the Chicago Bulls' legendary win record back in the 90s. The Spurs, not the Heat, not the Celtics, not the Lakers. Not only do they have the best record in the league, but they've been winning in spite of Tim Duncan, who is having one of his worst years ever. People hate to admit how good the Spurs are mostly because they're incredibly boring to watch. Everything about them works like clockwork, but they do it without any fancy plays. Under normal circumstances, people would cheer for the team everyone counted out that's dominating, but truth be told, people really hate the Spurs. They're a team that has only found recent success within the last 10 years, not a legendary team like the Celtics, Lakers, Knicks, or 76ers. Every NBA Finals they've participated in has generated lower and lower ratings. True, they did defeat the Cleveland Lebrons in a sweep, but nobody even watched the series. That year, the Stanley Cup Finals had higher ratings than the NBA Finals for the first time. San Antonio doing well is poisonous to the league. As much as I love Tim Duncan, his team cannot be allowed to win.

Speaking of teams that can't be allowed to win, we have the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many people believed that the Cavaliers could still be a #8 seed even without Lebron and this year they've gotten their chance to disprove the naysayers. They haven't done a very good job of that; they have the worst record in the league after having the best record last year. They received a pummeling from the Lakers, a sign that the Cavaliers cannot be allowed to win. Not because they don't deserve a better record, but because the less they win, the bigger a shot they have of once again landing the #1 overall pick in the draft. Imagine what would happen if the Cavaliers got the #1 pick (and would more than likely draft Kemba Walker) and ended up becoming so good again that they defeat the Heat in the playoffs. Such a win would mean almost as much as winning a championship.

For the Phoenix Suns, Amare' Stoudemire declined an offer to re-sign with them, deciding instead to join the New York Knicks. With this move, the Knicks are now a playoff contending team and Stoudemire is a favorite to win MVP. The Suns last year went to the Western Conference Finals where they gave the Lakers a challenge, but not an overwhelming one like the Thunder gave them. This year, the Suns are only slightly ahead of the Golden State Warriors in the Pacific Division and are almost guaranteed to go below .500 for the first time in almost a decade. Just to compound their problems, Phoenix traded away their best scorer to Orlando and (more or less) gave back Hedo Turkoglu to Orlando, all in exchange for the fading star Vince Carter and Dwight Howard's former backup center, Marcin Gortat. Steve Nash is also having a piss poor year, causing some people to conclude that the Suns should officially enter rebuilding mode and trade away Steve Nash for some expiring contracts. The Suns managed to eke out a win today against the Knicks, but that's only one victory out of 82.

Meanwhile all this is going on, probably the most interesting story is how little attention the Lakers and Celtics are getting. The Celtics have the best record in the East while Rajon Rondo continues to improve as a player (other than making 3-pointers and free throws) and Shaquille O'Neal is having one of his best years since leaving Miami. The Lakers have the #2 record in the West, blowing out most of their competition and getting a resurgence in power since the New Year. The Celtics haven't been getting a lot of press because quite simply, they're a fucking old team. Everyone wants to hear about the new rising stars and the more dominating players in the league. Who cares about some old fogeys that are somehow managing to win a ton of games? The Lakers don't get press because they lost their Christmas Day game to Miami and all of a sudden Kobe Bryant is old beyond belief and miles past his prime. Except, Kobe is the #5 leading scorer in the NBA. Ray Allen is approaching breaking Reggie Miller's career 3 points made. WHY AREN'T THESE GUYS GETTING MORE ATTENTION?


Blame the 3 guys at the top of the story.