NBA season reaching its halfway mark. Who makes the grade?

With the world heading into more and more trouble with the growing revolution in Egypt, I thought I would blog on a lighter note. Sometimes you have to just turn off CNN or Fox News and just watch the game. This has managed to become one of the most exciting years in recent memory in professional basketball. Rookies John Wall and the unbelievable Blake Griffen have taken the league by storm, while young stars like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, and a host of others have also vastly inproved their games. The old guard still managing to hold on as Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ginobli, Duncan, and Kobe Bryant still playing up to their usual standards. The vaunted Miami Heat squad has even shown to be very promising. David Stern must be sitting somewhere smiling his goofy grin. SO with that being said here are my list of top contenders who will be vying to dethrone my Lakers squad.

1. San Antonio Spurs 
This team is once again proving to be more than meets the eye. Just as we thought Tim Duncan and co were old, they come back with their best first half of the season ever at 40-7. Greg Popovich is the second best coach in the game for a reason. He has been able to keep his game plan in place regardless to the shuffling of rotations over the years. Richard Jefferson is a big part of the story. Finally feeling comfortable in his diminished role, he is benifitting greatly from playing within the offense. Tim Duncan is Tim Duncan. Nuff said. Tony Parker is having perhaps his best overall season And Ginobli is scoring over 20 a game again. We may be looking at the best Spurs team yet.

2. Boston Celtics
I hate to admit it but this team does look dangerous. They may have the motivation and the means to take out my beloved Lakers in a 6-7 game series. When the Celtics front office saw how they were demolished on the boards in game 7 they did something about it. Enter Kobe nemesis number one, Shaquille O'neal, and an aging, and often injured star in Jermaine O'neal. They may not seem like much now but in a playoff series, big Shaq smacking around your center for 6 fouls can do some damage. That with a resurgent Kevin Garnett and a returning Perkins, The Celtics front line is a monster teams like The Miami Heat aren't built to cope with. Paul Pierce is back to form, Ray Allen is raising eyebrows again and Rondo is reaching superstar status. This team is hell bent on revenge.

3. Miami Heat
Ok, we all know about the Decision. Now love it or hate it, Lebron will be in South Beach for years to come. That was his choice, now live with it. Now back to the basketball court. This team has been a work in progress that has looked quite impressive at times and quite horrible at others. They have beat up on bad teams and lost to good ones, so its hard to really put a finger on their potential. I think it may take another year or two before we see the dominant team we were expecting from the jump. Lebron and Wade simply play too much isolation plays at times. Chris Bosh is being shown to be overrated and would rather shoot a twenty foot jumper than bang in the post. Sheer athleticism has been enough so far. We will see in the playoffs.


The Conclusion

The Lakers will do as they always do. Come through in the clutch. This is Kobe Bryants chance to put the last touches on a spectacular career. Dont be surprised if number 24 calls it quits ala Jordan style after this one. I like all these other teams and there are real pragmatic reasons on why they will be threats, but who cares? This is Laker Land over here man! Kobe will be at his best, Ron Artest will be locking down Lebron, Pierce or whoever. Bynum will be catching lobs and D fish will be hitting three's. Odom will be chasing down boards and Shannon Brown will get a few monster jams. In the end I will be cheering and going to another parade! So everyone, climb aboard. Not too late to get on the bandwagon. Its great to be a Laker fan!