The NBA All-Star Break is here, and needless to say, the first half of the season provided us with an array of storylines. The Warriors have gotten off to the best first-half start of all-time (48-4) and need to win 25 of their last 30 games to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins in a regular season; additionally, Stephen Curry is the surefire MVP of this season. There’s also the Kobe Bryant retirement tour, which will conclude on April 13 with a home game against the Jazz. Kobe played in his last All-Star Game this Sunday, against two players (Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis) who were four when he played his first in 1998.
However, despite popular opinion, there are other happenings in the NBA besides from Kobe, Curry, and the Warriors. So here are five observations as we head into the second half of the season.
Who, What, Where, When, Kawhi: The Spurs Are Historically Good Too
The above headline isn’t actually something I came up with: I heard Mark Jackson say it on an ABC telecast of a Spurs game a couple of years back. Anyway, what has made the Spurs historically good this season has been their defense. And yes, the Spurs to date have been a historically great team in NBA history.
This is why: they’ve allowed 91.8 points per game this season. There have been 100 teams, including this year’s Spurs, that have surrendered fewer points on average over a full season (and amazingly, twelve are Gregg Popovich-coached San Antonio teams). Out of those 100 squads, the Spurs have the best winning percentage of all of them (.849). At this rate, they’re on pace for 70 wins, two short of the current record.
If that won’t convince you of San Antonio’s historical greatness, this will: no team in NBA history has ever scored 105 points per game and allowed less than 92. The Spurs would be the first, and they’re on that pace as we speak (scoring 105.0, allowing 91.8). If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is, especially in a season like this.
In addition to this, the team has added LaMarcus Aldridge since its last title run. Kawhi Leonard is having the best season of his young career. And there will always be the core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. This Spurs team is one of the most historically dominant ever, particularly defensively. This and other reasons is why they can absolutely beat the Warriors come playoff time.
Live on TNT, They’re Flexing: The 6IX Will Be Crazy This May
Don’t look now, but the Toronto Raptors are within three games of the Cavaliers for first place in the East.
When I wrote my NBA preview just before the season, I thought the Raptors could be the second-best team in the East. The reason why was because of Kyle Lowry, who I thought could help the team take the proverbial leap in the Eastern Conference after his offseason weight loss. Sure enough, the point guard is having the best season of his career, helping propel the Raptors to second place in the Eastern Conference and legitimate championship aspirations.
However, the real leap the Raptors have made has come on the defensive side of the ball. After being tied for 18th in points allowed a season ago, general manager Masai Ujiri signed defensive stalwart DeMarre Carroll away from the Hawks. The move hasn’t yet paid dividends for Toronto, as Carroll may miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. So how have the Raptors improved so much on defense?
By playing the game at a very slow pace, that is. Their 93.3 pace is actually faster than last year’s, but their defensive rating has leaped from 25th to 9th. With the improved defense and the slow pace, the Raptors are built perfectly to win in the Eastern Conference playoffs, in which the games are generally lower-scoring and played at a slower tempo. If they reach the Conference Finals, they would most certainly play the Cavaliers, which would be a very difficult matchup. However, they’ll have a better chance of making a run this year because of their defense, their higher seed in the playoffs and the better first-round matchup that results from it.
Also, they likely won’t have to deal with Paul Pierce this time around because he is in the Western Conference. That’s a good thing.
Houston, We Have a Problem: The Rockets Really Are Broken
If you subscribe to the notion that conflict works, you may not want to watch the Houston Rockets anytime soon.
The Rockets are a team in conflict. There is living, breathing proof of this; just ask Jason Terry:
Jason Terry walks through the media room on way to the locker room. “No chemistry with that group. F****** horrible.” #CSNBlazers#ripcity
— Eric Ringering (@ringering45) February 11, 2016
It is horrible. The team, believe it or not, went to the Western Conference Finals a season ago, and while teams improve and fall off from year to year, the Rockets’ descent has been nothing short of stunning.
Their coach realizes it, too. JB Bickerstaff, Houston’s interim coach after the Kevin McHale firing, had this to say about his team and their chemistry:
We’re broken. It’s that simple. We’re a broken team, and we all need to use this break to figure out how we’re going to impact change. If we don’t want to impact change, then we need to be made aware of that, too, and we’ll go in a different direction.
“We can’t continue to go out and play this way. It’s easy to see it’s a fragmented bunch. You can’t win that way.
The Rockets can’t win this way, and they haven’t. At the All-Star break, they’re 27-28, out of the playoffs, and in no position to make a run at a championship. There’s also the minor problem of Dwight Howard.
The team is reportedly trying to ship him and the remaining two years on his contract to another team. Howard’s name has been linked to discussions with the Hawks and Heat, and a deal with the latter would likely involve Miami center Hassan Whiteside. The Rockets look like they’re trying to finish a deal before Thursday’s trade deadline, and whether they can or not may help define the future of the franchise for years to come.
But with or without Howard, this year’s version of the Houston Rockets are just one thing: broken.
Celtics Climbing Up the Topsails of the East
Moving on to things that aren’t broken, the Boston Celtics have been one of the NBA’s pleasant surprises this season. Currently, the team is third in the cluster that is the Eastern Conference and in a position to host a playoff series this April. Whether or not they finish there remains to be seen, but even though Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish aren’t walking through that door, the team has still exceeded expectations without sacrificing their future as of yet.
The reason why is simple: a solid core of young players paired with the coach who, in my opinion, is one of the best in the NBA: Brad Stevens. Under Stevens’ tutelage, the team went from 25 wins in his first season to 40 wins and a playoff appearance a season ago. This season, they’re on pace for 47 wins and the third seed in the East. How did this happen?
Last December, the team traded Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks for Jae Crowder and other assets. Crowder is now the third-leading scorer on the C’s. Then, the team would acquire Kings guard Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline. With these two players, Avery Bradley, an improved Evan Turner, Kelly Olynyk, and Marcus Smart make up the existing Celtics core. This core could come into play when the team tries to sign a major free agent in the stacked summer of 2016.
But let’s enjoy this season for what it is in Beantown: a renaissance of the Celtics and the emergence of a team that could make some noise come playoff time.
The Cavaliers’ Locker Room Won’t Be Smelling Like Champagne in June
Time for a real talk. If and when the Cavaliers make the NBA Finals, can they realistically beat the Thunder, Spurs, or Warriors in a seven-game series?
Honestly, my answer would be no. The team they would have the best shot against would obviously be Oklahoma City, but even they would give the Cavaliers a serious run for their money; they could also give Cleveland another Finals loss. And if the Cavaliers end this season with another one of those, then they’ll have to seriously look in the mirror and assess their chances, as they are currently constituted, of ever winning a championship.
This is why I’m pessimistic about the team’s title hopes: they don’t play fast enough. Remember how I talked about the Raptors playing a really slow pace? Well, the Cavaliers play slower than the Raptors. While the Cavs’ pace is remotely near that of the Spurs, their ball movement is not. Also, the pace of the Thunder and Warriors is way faster than Cleveland’s. Translated: any of these teams could run the Cavaliers out of the building on any given night.
So when Steph Curry talks about the visitors’ locker room still smelling like champagne, he has a point. He also could be foreshadowing what the future holds for the away locker room at Quicken Loans Arena when another Western Conference team gets to celebrate an NBA championship.
Because the one team that definitely won’t be celebrating when all is said and done this season is the Cleveland Cavaliers.