NBA Midseason Recap

We’re just halfway through the regular season in the NBA, so we’ll take some time here today analyze, criticize and talk worthless nonsense about the Association.
We’ll start talking about the “Great Schism”. The Western Conference continues to impress as the Eastern Conference continues to look like bad J.V. ball. There are several clubs in the East with decent records like the Pistons, Cavaliers and Wizards. The Heat are finally making a comeback after getting everybody healthy to give some credibility to the conference but how much can they have when the Toronto Raptors are leading their division and the New York Knicks are in third? Meanwhile the West has several excellent teams. The Mavericks and Suns are dominating and three other teams having winning percentages over .600, they East only have the Detroit Pistons. Of course, the East has won two out of the last three championships. Maybe the West should stop beating up on each other.
The Denver Nuggets have the two biggest headlines for the season. Most recently, Allen Iverson made the trip to the mountains from Philly to join Allen Iverson. Many thought this was a match made in heaven and the Nuggets were now legit title contenders, especially after dominating in their first two games. The actual results have been less than impressive however. They have gone 5-7 since Anthony returned from suspension and Iverson has struggled with injuries. If things don’t start to get better, one can only wonder how long it will take for those two massive egos to clash and explode.
But before all that, Denver and the Knicks made news when they had a nice little “get to know each other period.” Why can’t these guys just get along? How hard is it just to walk away like man without punching someone? David Stern was right to punish everybody and he should have punished them even worse. Isiah Thomas and George Karl for enticing the fight and Nate Robinson, Carmelo Anthony and everybody else for acting like third graders on the playground. Another columnist gave the following line on the behavior of the NBA that fit the situation that it must be stolen. “The NBA All-Star game is in Las Vegas. Just what the NBA needs to clean up its image. Send all those thugs out there with the gambling, drugs and strippers.” Great comment and nice timing on the location of the city.
Back to bad basketball, the Boston Celtics’ losing streak has now hit 17 games. For a franchise that has so much history and tradition, fans watching them must make them wish that John Stockton would bring back the way-to-short shorts.
The All-Star game, this Saturday is another wonderful demonstration of showmanship basketball. A group of superstars running around putting up dunks and crazy shots while playing no defense. Its nuts how Shaq was picked to be a starter. He’s a barely played at all this year. When you’re larger than life (literally) you get those perks. Maybe the coaches should have more input in these votes. It is a shame that Steve Nash would be able to compete after shoulder troubles. He is set to have a third straight MVP season and he plays such a complete game. With Amare Stoudamire healthy, he could lead them to the title. Dirk Nowitzki should be in the starting line-up, he is only the best player on the league’s best team. He may be the best player in the league period. Gilbert Arenas is the starting line-up and deservedly so. Its just too bad he doesn’t have very good leadership skills. At least according to his coach, Eddie Johnson, who basically accused his team of having no one who will step and be a leader. Nothing like using the media to criticize your team.
We’ll that wraps up another edition of “this week’s scandal” and other NBA happenings. Hope you enjoyed it more than having to be a Memphis Grizzlies fan.