well, 5 percent of the NBA season is now behind us, but teams are still searching for an identity (especially the revamped powerhouse teams, save for a few) or are surprising some people.
the lakers, who began the season without pau gasol, have also now lost the services of andrew bynum (yes, it's time once again for the annual andrew bynum injury party). as such, we haven't seen the lakers' true identity this season and they're not nearly as scary as what we know they can be. so far, kobe bryant's been carrying the team on his back with a couple of 40-point games. ron artest is beginning to find his role in phil jackson's tried-and-tested-and-proven triangle offense, and lamar odom's probably eating more candy. as of this writing, they are holding a 5-1 win-loss slate, and will only get better as the season progresses. although seeing dj mbenga take jumpshots and fail miserably is kind of a joy to watch. now i think it's time to bring out adam morrison and let him shoot, shoot, shoot.
boston? no surprise there. out of all the powerhouse teams that added more weapons on their roster, the celtics have been in top form since game 1. 'sheed and daniels have been great off the bench and the old guys in the starting lineup are still out for blood and another run at the championship. this is one scary team, although their first loss courtesy of the suns shows that they're still vulnerable and aren't capable of going 82-0. still, they're on pace to deliver on rasheed wallace's prediction of eclipsing the 1996 chicago bulls' 72-10 record. brian scalabrine is again competing for a championship and an imaginary finals MVP award.
orlando has been a joy to watch this season. that is one potent team right there. vince carter's gone down with another ankle sprain (what's new), but at least it's still early in the season. dwight's getting his usual 20's and 10's, jameer's working himself back into all-star form, and ryan anderson has been a revelation. his early season play suggests that he wasn't just a bonus in the VC deal. and of course, my man brandon bass still looks like a meaner version of antonio mcdyess.
cleveland? well, for a team that went 39-2 at home last year, they've now lost 2 home games this season. they're still trying to find a way how to effectively make shaq and lebron play together. big diesel takes away so much from lebron's slashing game by just standing there and filling up the paint, and the cavaliers have actually played better with o'neal on the bench. sadly, it seems that coming off the bench hasn't been particularly good for zydrunas ilgauskas, as he has struggled to find his offense because of it. but i'm not saying the cavaliers aren't gonna win a championship, because the 2006 miami heat are still fresh in my mind (yes, that team gave antoine walker his only title). and as long as the referees and the NBA try to make lebron the new face of the league, the cavs will keep contending. but lebron will probably have another crab dribble called against him.
i have (surprisingly) watched spurs games this year primarily because of two things: one, i wanna see manu ginobili swat another bat and endure another beatdown from PETA; and two, i can't believe the spurs got to steal dejuan blair from the draft. that guy's a beast. he can give you an efficient 15-20 minutes off the bench and finish scoring in double figures plus a handful of rebounds. richard jefferson, on the other hand, is still trying to find a way to fit in with san antonio's already-established trio of injury-prone stars - eva longoria's hubby, mr. fundamental, and batmanu.
surprising me this year are the phoenix suns. steve nash is beginning to prove that mike d'antoni didn't inflate his stats and that this team can still win 48-52 games. channing frye, with the help of nash, is now on the road to resurrecting his career and amar'e has finally learned to play with goggles. the suns are running once again, and things could be pretty good for phoenix.
finally, the miami heat have surprised me with their 5-1 start (only the third time in franchise history have they started the season at 5-1). jermaine o'neal is actually looking like he's healthier than cleveland's o'neal and he's out to prove that he isn't as washed-up as people think of him these days. i really think pat riley opted not to add any marquee player this year since he believes in the improvement of mario chalmers and michael beasley, and so far they've shown flashes of brilliance. thankfully, quentin richardson seems like a better fit with miami than he ever was with the knicks, and carlos arroyo and udonis haslem coming off the bench gives the starters some precious minutes of rest (arroyo can score and udonis is the admirable double-double no-complains guy).
