Halfway there

With the All-Star break having just passed, it’s safe to say we've made it halfway through the 2012/2013 NBA season. It has been a nice change to last season’s lockout shortened year, with the drama and excitement being at an all-time high. While we still have a long way to go, and playoff excitement doesn't start for another few months, this season has been far from a let down. So what can be said about what has happened and what the future holds?

To start, this season was prefaced with some intense movement of players during the off-season. None was as notable as the Los Angeles Lakers. With the Lakers being somewhat screwed last off-season with the vetoed deal that saw Chris Paul head to Los Angeles, but in the form of a Clipper uniform, it was time for them to make some moves.

This prompted them to get not one, but two All-Stars in the off-season. The Steve Nash and Dwight Howard combo, with Andrew Bynum heading to Philly, was thought to make the Lakers an instant title contender, and make the 76s a force in the east. Well, halfway through the season, Bynum has yet to step foot on the court (but bowled his way to a another knee surgery) and the Lakers are two spots out of the playoffs and under .500 for their record. Occurrences like these are why the regular season has to be played.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets made a swap that saw both teams actually fair for the better. While analysts believed that the Thunder wouldn’t do well if they parted ways with James Harden, the Thunder find themselves number 2 in the western conference, looking just as strong as last year, if not stronger, when they made their run to the NBA Championship. The Thunder’s acquisition of Kevin Martin may have taken away some of the scoring Harden brought, but the SG is still making buckets, and also adds a defensive presence. In Houston’s court, Harden is absolutely thriving as a number 1 on a team. He has had multiple 40-point nights and is carrying Houston back into playoff territory. Both teams seemed to fair well from their post season swap.

While OKC may be looking tough, the team to beat in the west is definitely the San Antonia Spurs. Once again the first team to 40 wins, and boasting the best record in the league, the Spurs are playing for keeps. Even with their stars on the tail end of their careers, Pop and crew aren't ready to throw in the cards.

Along with the Spurs, the other surprise out of the west so far this season has been the Golden State Warriors. Having been irrelevant since the Baron Davis era, the Warriors are definitely in the mix for a playoff spot this spring. Will Curry be able to keep his ankles strong enough to make a deep playoff run? They will have to compete with perennial one and done playoff vets, the Denver Nuggets, as well as the dark horse team no one wants to face, the Memphis Grizzlies.

While the west is completely stacked, the east, as always, seems somewhat inferior. While the Lebron James-led Miami Heat look like a team that could repeat this year as champions, the rest of the east isn't quite up to par. The New York Knicks started out blazing hot, but have fizzled coming into the All-Star break. The Celtics are always dangerous, but after a season-ending injury to Rondo, it seems like without a major trade, their title hopes are slim-to-none. The Indiana Pacers are playing inspired ball, and the Chicago Bulls may be getting their MVP point guard back soon, but the east still seems to be lacking much competition.

While the Miami Heat seem to be a lock for the NBA Championships, what will make the rest of the NBA season most interesting is who will be the team to make it out of the dog fight in the west. The question mark of who will play in the Eastern Conference Championships is definitely a big one, but the west is too good and too spread out to overlook. While the Spurs and OKC are tough as steal right now, the Spurs haven’t made a championship in a long time. OKC is still reaming from their championship loss, but teams like the Clippers, the Warriors, the Nuggets and maybe even a long shot Laker run, make gambling on any team an unsafe bet.

The answer, then, remains who will be crowned this year’s NBA champion? While speculation will run high from now until early June, only time will tell what will happen during the second half of the NBA season.

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