Say this for the compressed NBA season, it has been interesting.
There have been plenty of moments when the play has been sloppy as teams crammed five games into a single week. Yet it has created a sense of the unexpected nearly every game. Being unpredictable is a good thing.
A few things we have learnt through the rushed first half: The Miami Heat are as good as feared. They are a more cohesive-looking team than the one that lost in the finals last season. The Big Three are playing together and the team is deeper.
* The Charlotte Bobcats are bad. They may not have one player who could start for any other team. They are 4-26; the all-time worst record is 9-73 by the 1972/73 Philadelphia 76ers.
* The San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich is one great coach. The aged Spurs are getting quality minutes from a bunch of unknowns. At 24-10, they have the league's fourth-best record.
* Kobe Bryant remains incredibly driven. He is 33, and if he does not fly quite as high as he once did, he remains a remarkable force. He leads the league in scoring at 28.4 points per game. Only four times has a player over 30 won an NBA scoring title.
* Jeremy Lin is the biggest thing to happen to New York since the Empire State Building. The Knicks guard is such a great story, you root for it to continue.
* Dwight Howard is still part of the Orlando Magic, but the trade deadline is March 15. Stay tuned.
