NBA 1st Half Recap

So far the 2007-2008 NBA season has been full of drama, trades and re-emergences. This season has followed the trend of the last few years, which is domination of the Western Conference over the East. However this year there is a new contender out of the East and that is the Celtics. The addition of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett has proved to be a smart move. What keeps things interesting in the East is the continued success of the Celtics old rival, the Pistons. It seems this team is ready to go back to the NBA Finals, something they haven't been able to do without Ben Wallace and this might be the year where they get back to the promise land. The Pistons and Celtics have split their season series with both road teams winning. In the first match-up the Celtics were in command most of the game until the Pistons turned the tables in the fourth and showed their team can still win the huge games with the leadership of Chauncey Billups. The second meeting was highlighted by the emergence of Glen "Big Baby" Davis as the Pistons's defense was good enough to contain the Big 3, which lead to many opportunities for Davis. The rest of the Eastern Conference doesn't present a huge threat with the exception of the Cavs who are lead by Lebron James. Last year James proved he could take his team to the finals with a pretty similar team to this years, but they have proven that they aren't as good. The second half of the year is going to be crucial for the Cavs as they have yet to establish themselves as a consistent threat. The last contender is the Orland Magic who are young, talented and well coached. They may not be ready yet, but still present a threat.

The Western Conference has been as competitive a conference as you will find in sports. There are currently ten teams with winning records heading into the All-Star break. This year has been full of winning streaks and blockbuster deals that have made the Western Conference as fun to watch as ever. Once the Jazz traded for Kyle Korver it set off a domino effect which ended up with the Suns acquiring Shaq, the Warriors signing Chris Webber, Pau Gasol traded to the Lakers and now the Mavs are in the process of trading for Jason Kidd. All of this is going to make for a great playoff run and playoffs. The one true surprise has been the New Orleans Hornets. They have built their team perfectly over the past few years, drafting All-Stars Chris Paul and David West. They also acquired Peja Stojakovic and Tyson Chandler who both have played big roles for the Hornets. The rest of the top half of the West is rounded out with the Mavs and Suns who both have NBA Finals or bust on their mind. Then there is the Jazz who have quietly kept the lead in the Northwest Division. The next two teams in the standings are in somewhat unexpected spots, first off the Lakers who were considered a tough team, but when Bynum went down they appeared to fall out of contention until they acquired Gasol, which some people consider one of the best trades in NBA history. Following them are the Spurs who have been ravaged by injuries all year long, but should be getting healthy at the right time and the Spurs are surely no team to overlook. The next three teams are Houston, Denver and Golden State, all teams that would just love a chance to get into the dance because once they're in there is no telling what kind of run they could go on similar to last year's Jazz and Warriors. The last playoff contender is the surprising and young Trail Blazers. They emerged into the pack with an excellent December run, but it appears they are starting to fade, which was expected. However they have a very bright future with Greg Oden next year.

Those are your contenders for the NBA, but we shouldn't forget about the bottom of the pack, which is highlighted (or low lighted) with the disaster that is the Miami Heat. They proved that they were building a team for one run and didn't consider the future as they got old fast. To make things worse Dwyane Wade has been hurt and unable to carry the team.