With NBA All-Star Weekend exactly a month away and the end of the regular season 3 months from today, I wanted to talk about the NBA on this blog. I think I can start getting some NBA playoffs talk going now since about 20 games have been played in the shortened 66 game season.

Conference Leaders

In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the top with a 15-3 record and a 2 game lead over the Denver Nuggets. Young stars Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook have kept the Thunder rolling since making it to the Western Conference Finals last season. This was as expected by NBA analysts who felt that a shortened season will be to the advantage of the Thunder who have a young and deep group of players.

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls after having their hearts crushed by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals last season have surged ahead this season with a 16-4 record and look on course to get the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row.

Rest of the League

The Los Angeles Clippers benefited from the Chris Paul trade annulment by the NBA and have also signed DeAndre Jordan and should make a playoff experience. They have been getting the better of the Lakers thus far. The Lakers have a 1-1 record with the Clippers with each team winning their home game respectively, but expect the Lakers to come good as the season progresses.  

The Dallas Mavericks are the reigning NBA champions, but Dirk Nowitzki has not been having a great year. The Mavs are 11-8 and are ninth in the West standings even after the addition of Lamar Odom this season.

In the East, the real talk is about the state of the New York Knicks and their experiment with a ‘Big Three’ of Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler that has not been working so far as evidenced by the New York’s 7-11 record. But lets hope for the Knicks sake that they may bounce back like the Miami Heat last season which also went through problems at the start.