The NBA's Second Season

Five months and 82 regular season games later, the part of the NBA marathon that everyone actually cares about is set to begin. It’s time for the Second Season and it should be a good one. Let’s look at some of the biggest storylines.
-Holy cow! The Western Conference is really good. The Spurs and the Suns are playing each other in the first round?! There are also matchups between Dallas and New Orleans as well between Houston and Utah. And Golden State didn’t even make the playoffs despite winning 48 games. Trying to win out west almost seems more difficult than surviving the Navy Seals’ “Hell Week.” Although it will be a surprise if someone from the west actually wins it all. They’ll probably be too physically and emotionally drained to put up a fight in The Finals.
-Holy cow! The Eastern Conference is really bad. We are looking at teams like the Hawks, Wizards and 76ers. These teams would get killed in the Western Conference’s JV league. There must be some kind of climate disruption east of the Mississippi that causing this influx of really bad baseketball because the disparity between the two conferences is bigger than most of Lebron James’ billboards.
-Although those guys from Boston are pretty good. The biggest off-season has produced one of the biggest turn-arounds in history. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and all those other role players (who are pretty decent too) put up an excellent season coming just six games short of the all-time mark for wins in a season; a record set by the ’96 Bulls who won 72 games. Here’s a popular prediction: The Celtics will win it all.
-Here’s another popular prediction: Boston will take on Los Angeles in The Finals. The purists would love to see that. These two franchises have combined to win 30 championships and played some epic battles against each other back in the day. That would be a fun one.
-And the reason is because of Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant. Garnett is desperately looking for a ring to validate an already hall-of-fame career. Bryant is looking to prove to everyone that he can win without the help of Shaq. Both players are looking at this as an opportunity to enhance their legacies.
-Of course that Chris Paul guy from New Orleans isn’t too shabby either. He was the best point guard in the second half of the regular season despite being one of the smallest players on the court. He can score, pass and all that good stuff which as put him in the MVP talks. He has helped save a team and a city and the Hornets continue to look like a team that could cause damage this post-season.
-And then there is that other…oh wait…there are no other great teams in the east. Everyone raise your hand if you miss the Jordan-Pippen in Chicago era.
-But above everything else, remember this: The San Antonio Spurs are still the defending champions. They haven’t made a lot of noise this season (as always) but they continue to play solid basketball (again, as always). They are not the most physically but they never are; yet they continue to win. They have to be the favorite until someone knocks them off.