Championship Prospects, Standings, Surprises: The NBA after the All-Star Break

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons are jockeying for first place, while the top nine teams in the Western Conference are competing for favorable seeding.   The San Antonio Spurs (Surprise!) are first in the West after ripping off nine straight wins.  The Miami Heat still ranks last in the NBA. And at this point, we’re already seeing LeBron James and Kobe Bryant as frontrunners for the Most Valuable Player award. All told, there is still a lot of regular season basketball left to be played, but there have been plenty of early post All-Star break surprises.   Shaq, Suns Flaming Out Shaquille O’Neal was supposed to solve the Phoenix Suns’ interior problems on defense, and keep the team running on offense. So far, neither improvement has been made.  The Suns’ have gone 2-4 with Shaq in the line up. The Suns have been blown out by the Pistons and Hornets, and they lost to the 76ers at home—allowing at least 116 ... (link)