National Basketball Association (NBA) 2010: Regular Season Underway; Hornets Undefeated

By Evan Troxel (Associate Editor of Sports Content)

Another season of the NBA is here.  Just to refresh everyone’s memory, last season (2009-2010) the Los Angeles Lakers of the Western Conference stole the NBA title away from the Boston Celtics of the Eastern Conference when they trailed three games to two and came back and won four games to three.

So far, in 2010 there’s not much to say since the regular season just got under way before the start of November.  The Eastern Conference Standings briefly looks like this.  Before any games started on November 12, 2010 the Boston Celtics have the best record in the Eastern Conference with seven wins and two losses and are leading the Atlantic Division.  The Chicago Bulls have a record of four wins and three losses and are in first place in the Central Division.  The Orlando Magic have five wins and two losses and currently share first place in the Southeast Division with the Atlanta Hawks who have six wins and three losses.  The Toronto Raptors have one win.

The Western Conference looks like this (before any games started on November 12, 2010).  The New Orleans Hornets have the best record in the NBA with a record of seven wins and zero losses in the Southwest Division.  The Los Angeles Lakers have eight wins and one loss to lead the Pacific Division.  Finally, the Portland Trail Blazers have a record of six wins and three losses to lead the Northwest Division.  Every team in the NBA has at least one win.  The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers have just one win so far.

I think it’s funny that the NBA starts the regular season in November when it starts to get cold outside.  And then, I think it’s even more hilarious that when the NBA Finals comes around in June they play indoors when the weather (most of the time) is pretty nice outside.  I don’t understand why they don’t play outside.  They should play the NBA during the warmer months of the year and outside.  If it wanted to, the NBA could be a year-round sport.  The NBA Playoffs begin sometime in April. 

Since 1999, every year either the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio Spurs have represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals except 2006 when the Dallas Mavericks represented the Western Conference Champion.  The San Antonio Spurs have won four Western Conference and NBA Finals since 1999 and in the years: 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007.  The Los Angeles Lakers won the Western Conference seven times since 1999 and in the years: 2000-2002, 2004, and 2008-2010.  They have won five NBA Finals since 1999 in the years: 2000-2002 and 2009-2010.

The three Major Eastern Conference Title Contenders since 2002 have been the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, and New Jersey Nets.  All three have won two conference titles since 2002.  The New Jersey Nets won the Eastern Conference Championship in 2002 and 2003, the Detroit Pistons won both the Eastern Conference Championship and NBA Finals in 2004 and the Eastern Conference in 2005.  The Boston Celtics won the Eastern Conference and NBA Finals in 2008 and they won the Eastern Conference in 2010.  The Eastern Conference Teams have won the NBA Finals only three times since 1999.  I told you two of the teams who have won the NBA Finals since 1999 and the third team is the Miami Heat who accomplished it in 2006.

If a person who lives here in Nebraska wants to attend an NBA playoff game in the future they should be cheering for the Denver Nuggets and/or the Minnesota Timberwolves to make the playoffs.  Both teams are part of the Western Conference and the Northwest Division.