The NBA is at the midway point and some questions have developed.
We're hovering around the halfway point of the season and as we turn the corner there are a number of things to look at over from the first portion of the campaign.
Nobody should be surprised by the success the Boston Celtics have had because they are a championship-tested team.
The rest of the Eastern standings are pretty much shaking out the way people predicted at the start of the season. The Chicago Bulls might be slightly ahead of the curve while the Magic, sitting in fifth spot, have greater potential for success as a result of the trade with the Phoenix Suns. In the end, it will come down to Orlando's defense.
The Miami Heat are doing well but when you drill down a bit further into the numbers, there are still some big questions to be answered. Initially, what are the Heat going to do in close games? They still don't have answer. In the most recent loss at home to the Atlanta Hawks, they settled for long jump shots from LeBron James. It once again underscored the difference between James and Kobe Bryant as James failed to get to the basket in an isolation situation against an aging Mike Bibby.
Miami is now 1-5 in games decided by five points or less and when you look closer at the team's record, they are 2-5 against the clubs at the top of the east -- Orlando, Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta.
In tier two of the east, New York is leading the way and Amare Stoudemire has done a nice job of embracing the role of "the man" in New York. But fans in the Big Apple need not get too excited as the Knicks are clearly built for the regular season. Their lack of defense will catch up to them, if not in the regular season, certainly in the playoffs. Milwaukee has been the biggest disappointment as they sit 10 games under the .500 mark and after a slow start, the Philadelphia 76ers have picked up the pace.
Raise you hand if you thought Larry Brown would be out of coaching and the first coach "fired" this season. Not me.
It's business as usual in the Wild West as you better aim for somewhere close to 45 wins if you want to be playing later in April and possibly into May.
Just when you think the San Antonio Spurs were done, the show you they're not. The Spurs have shaken it up and are doing it differently than they have in the past. It's been the offense this season in San Antonio that has led them to the best record in the NBA and if they can find the defense that they are known for late in the season, look out.
Oh by the way, the Lakers are still there and should never be counted out.
We won't get into all the awards right now but my Coach of the Year would be one of Doc Rivers in Boston, Gregg Popovich in San Antonio or possibly Monty Williams in New Orleans.
My mid-season MVP would be between one of the usual suspects in LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, or youngsters Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. The lightning quick Rose has his Chicago Bulls sitting third in the east after playing chunks of the first portion of the season without Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah.
For those of you that requested it, here is Alex English reading parts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. English did a reading of the speech to help commemorate the holiday that was named after the US Civil Rights leader.
