The NBA season is off to a grand start with the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clipper and LA Lakers in action from the first night of the year and with the Lakers, Heat and Pacers winning, the standings have some quick leaders with more games to come on Wednesday and Thursday.
There are a number of exciting games on the schedule for Thursday, including the Brooklyn Nets taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers as well as the Miami Heat taking on the Philadelphia 76ers. The Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks have a good matchup and the comes after the Indiana Pacers and the New Orleans Pelicans as well as the Milwaukee Bucks and the New York Knicks, who will be playing at Madison Square Garden starting up at 7:30 pm. Last season the Knicks battled with the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets in the division and this year it appears to be a two way battle with Brooklyn and New York and it should be interesting to see who ends up on top.
The Atlantic division was won by the Knicks last season and while the Toronto Raptors could put up a bit of a fight, the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers look pretty hopeless. The Central division should be very interesting this season as well with the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers battling it out and it could be the deepest division with the Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers. Having Derrick Rose back healthy for this season will be the major key for the Bulls and he looked great in the preseason and the biggest question will be whether his knee will hold up.
The Bulls and Pacers should be the top two teams and with Indiana bringin back David West and adding Luis Scola, there is a good chance they could win the division again this season. The Bulls are one of the favorites in the east to knock off the Miami Heat and while they won't be "great" teams, the Cavaliers can do something with Kyrie Irving and the Detroit Pistons should be improved with the additions of Brandon Jennings and Josh Smith. Miami obviously will be the favorite slash eventual winner of the Southeast and while the Atlanta Hawks could be a solid team, the Wizards might fight for the eighth spot and the Bobcats and Orlando Magic will duke it out for the bottom.
Out west the Northwest division has the Oklahoma City Thunder and there is plenty of depth there with the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz. The Pacific has plenty of talent with the Clippers, Lakers and Golden State Warriors at the top and the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings could surprise a bit, but not much. The Southwest has the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies as well as the Dallas Mavericks and the up and coming New Orleans Pelicans. That should be one of the best divisions in the league this season.
