NBA at the 1/4 pole

We just passed the first 25% of the NBA schedule for every team in the Association...let's take a look at where we are...the good...the bad...the ugly...

The Good

Best record in the NBA belongs to the San Antonio Spurs (19-3)...the Spurs are off to their best start in franchise history...The most games Tim Duncan had in 1 season being held to single-digit points was 4...this season he is already at 7 and counting...The Spurs are getting 67 points per game from the foursome of Duncan (13 ppg), Manu Ginobli (20 ppg), Tony Parker (17ppg), and  Richard Jefferson (17 ppg) plus check the contribution from the role players too...George Hill (11 ppg), Matt Bonner - DeJuan Blair - James Anderson - Gary Neal all contribute 7 ppg on this deep team...add veteran Antonio McDyess and rookie Tiago Splitter and we see why Duncan has not been called on every game to lead this team...All that is coached by the man at the helm Greg Popovich...with the Legend of Phil Jackson in the same conference at the same time Pop is often times under the radar, but this is a 4-time Champ...Remember the Alamo as the Spurs are for real...

At 19-4, and currently with a winning streak at 10 games, the Boston Celtics are off to a monster start...the thing that stands out to me is the 10-1 home record...the 2009 Celtics were the only team in NBA history to go to the Finals having had a better regular season road record than home record...a team supposedly built for the playoffs is playing at a high level right now...The Celts have 6 guys averaging double digit points per game...at some point the likes of Delonte West, Jermaine O'Neal, and Kendrick Perkins will return from injury and this deep team becomes deeper...Phil Jackson said recently when comparing the Heat's team D to the Celtics said that Boston is the only team that you have to account/game plan for their D as it is that prominent and that good...Celtics have the best record vs the Eastern Conference at 15-2 and that includes 2 W's over Miami and Chicago each

Dallas Mavericks have opened up the season a remarkable 18-4 with a current 11 game winning streak...let me throw this out to you...is Disco Dirk Nowitzki underrated?  This is a guy who will average at least 21.8 ppg for the 11th straight season in 2010-2011...remarkable...to give an example here Andrea Bargnani is having a breakout season on the offensive end at 21.3 ppg...Dirk has done that plus more for double-digit years...again I say remarkable...the Mavs also get double-digit ppg's from Jason The Jet Terry and The Matrix Shawn Marion...add a fav of mine Caron Butler who can fill it up, plus Jason Kidd and Jose Barea...all that plus of course ex-Raptor Tyson Chandler...Chandler provides the consequence at the rim in Big D that the Raptors sorely need...Brandon Haywood and DeShawn Stevensen also give quality minutes to a Mavs team that actually focuses on D first...Dallas has the #5 ranked D through the first 1/4 of the season

New York Knicks (15-7) are off to a 10-4 start to their road schedule...no other team has double-digit road W's...the story in the Big Apple is Amar'e...the current 7 game Knicks win streak has seen Amar'e go for at least 31 in every game tying a Knicks record...the other off season addition this summer in New York was PG Raymond Felton who is giving them 18 ppg and dishing out 8 assists per game


The Bad

We will put the Heat's 9-8 start in the Bad column, but we will take note that they have currently won 8 straight and are looking much better, especially on D

The Phoenix Suns (11-12) and the Houston Rockets (8-14) are off to surprisingly bad starts...to have a sub-.500 record in the desert is not like the Steve Nash-led Suns, and I love Houston's roster and am really surprised with their bad start

The Charlotte Bobcats were the #7 seed in the East last season, but are struggling at 8-15...notice we never hear Jordan fans speak of his time as an NBA Executive...he was Isiah Thomas-like in Washington, and continues to struggle in Charlotte

Milwaukee Bucks have a lot of talent, but are off to a slow 9-13 start...I like this team a lot and they need to get healthy and improve the bad 2-8 road start

Of the 8 teams that would make the playoffs in the West currently can you guess who has the worst home record through the first 25% of the season?!?!  The Utah Jazz...surprising


The Ugly

Pretty standard to have the Los Angeles Clippers in an Ugly column...0-10 on the road...5-19 overall...no team has a worse record...standard behaviour from this putrid franchise

Sacramento is a league worst 3-9 at home in the Arco Arena

Franchises like Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis, New Jersey, Washington, and Philly join the Clippers and Kings as teams that continue to stack L's season after season...that being said we certainly have had our share of L's up here in Canada too

Stop me if you have heard this before...Portland C Greg Oden will miss the season as he requires knee surgery...in 2007 the Trail Blazers had their choice at #1 overall pick between Oden and Kevin Durant...they went with Oden...Oklahoma City thanks them

Orlando Magic have Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, J.J. Redick, and Mickael Pietrus all miss games with stomach flu...ugly
 
No team in the Association has more losses when scoring 100 points than YOUR TORONTO RAPTORS...even when they score they still lose...ugly inside D on this team
 
craig.ballard@hotmail.com