Brought forth by the powers of the Stern-Silver regime change. [video=youtube;IcjSDZNbOs0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjSDZNbOs0&noredirect=1[/video] Small Market/smaller cities teams are on the top. Superstars getting injured right and left in major markets. We could be in a once in a generation "Bizarro Season", where defense DOESN'T win championships, its who has the most offensive firepower. Its just weird.
I'm kind of surprised by the injuries effecting everyone else far more than Portland. Every champion has had a little luck throughout the season, and if people want to discount the Blazers for it, it's ok. Just consider the source. When OKC did well, it was because they were good, not because they were healthy. The same will be said about Portland even before the All-Star break. It's progress.
Everyone in the East are tanking and that has caused a team 16-15 to be leading their division. The nets are only 5.5 games back from first place in the Atlantic.
Official Stern Mythology says that before he returned the temporarily Bizarro league to right side up, small market teams like Portland, Seattle, and Washington had begun to win championships. With his ascension in the 1980s, America was Back. It was all Lakers and Celtics again, all the time, just like the old days. So this fault line seems to happen in the seam between commissioners. It's an earthquake warning of a new, worse era.
1977 was a strange year, too. The ABA had just folded and several teams integrated into the NBA, along with the best talent from the folded teams (including Maurice Lucas).
