First off, it's interesting how good the good teams are and how bad the bad teams are. Heading into tonight's action, Boston is 24-2, Cleveland is 21-4, and the Los Angeles Lakers are 21-3. All three of them are virtually unbeatable at home, combining for a 41-2 mark on their respective home courts. The Cavaliers are the only remaining team that is undefeated at home, and have outscored opponents by 13.4 points per game overall, the largest margin in the NBA. Orlando, at 20-6, isn't really even in the discussion of the best teams in the league.
On the other hand, the league does have a few really terrible teams. The Thunder, in the team's first season since moving from Seattle, are just 2-24 and have lost eight straight. And they might not even be the worst team in their own division! Minnesota is just ahead of them at this point at 4-21. The Timberwolves have lost 11 in a row, and haven't won a game since they beat (who else?) Oklahoma City on the day after Thanksgiving. As a team, Minnesota has the lowest field goal percentage in the league, and the lowest adjusted field goal percentage, which measures the efficiency of their shots.
And of course, you can't talk about the truly bad teams without a mention of the Washington Wizards. Without Gilbert Arenas, the Wizards have only four wins, and never really play defense. At all. Ever. Of course, there is something else that Washington, Minnesota, and Oklahoma City have in common. All three have fired their coaches.
In fact, they are three of the six teams that have decided to make a coaching change, joining Sacramento, Philadelphia, and Toronto. Six, as you may have guessed, is the most coaches fired before Christmas in the history of the NBA. Teams appear to be giving less and less time for coaches to succeed, and, at least in some cases, are using more of a "what have you done for me lately" approach. Eddie Jordan led the Wizards to the playoffs in each of the past four seasons, Sam Mitchell of the Raptors was only two years removed from winning the NBA Coach of the Year award, and Mo Cheeks signed an extension with Philadelphia last season! Six coaches have lost their jobs so far, but you can bet more will be forced out before season's end.
Other noteworthy story lines include the emergence of the Nuggets with new point guard Chauncey Billups and the struggles of the Pistons with Allen Iverson, and the unreal Stephon Marbury saga in New York. All of these reasons, and more, make this one of the craziest NBA seasons in quite some time.
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