Who will finish with the best record?

[JR Giddens]

I used these 4 teams because their still in single digits for losses. Even tho the Cavs will have tough west coast road trips the 2nd half I'll take the cavs because they're dominating teams their suppossed to except for 2 week losses against the Bulls and Wizards. The losses they have had were on the road against teams like the celtics, hornets, and the Hawks so they were likely to lose those games.

Cavs 65-17
Lakers 63-19
Celtics 62-20
Magic 59-23

Until the Cavs lose 2 games in row I have to pick them!

[Roy Hobbs]

The Cavs are pretty banged up, and I think the Magic will fade.  I'll show some faith and say the Celts.

[indeedproceed]

I don't think it'll come down to injuries, just the Celtics suddenly strong bench play because of Bill Walker's frantic post all-star bid for 6th man of the year, which he will inevitably lose to Jason Terry in a rigged election by Mark Cuban.

Go C's!

[Edgar]

wondering who vote for the lakers??
 

[Fafnir]

wondering who vote for the lakers??
 

My guess is Roy. His declaration of faith is merely a clever ruse to throw us off the scent.

 

[Schupac]

Cleveland takes the best record because Doc and the Cs veterans allow themselves to coast a bit later in the season (even KG).  Then the Cs win in 7 in the ECF powered behind dagger after three point dagger by Ray Allen.

The Lakers would take the West until Gasol flops onto Kobe's knee and puts him out for the season.  Spurs roll.

[nickagneta]

I gotta go with the Celtics because they have played through the toughest part of their schedule whereas the other teams haven't. All three of the other teams have long road stretches against good teams to play through. What the Celtics just went through all these teams will go through to some extent. I think the C's have it out of their system and are ahead of the game because of it.

C's get the best record and home court by winning 62-63 games but it will be close with the Lakers and Cavs right on their heels.

[Who]

I'm comfortable with my pre-season pick of the LA Lakers finishing with the best record in the league, and the Celtics finishing with the best record in the East, so I'll stick with that.

Cleveland will be third closely behind Boston.

[Roy Hobbs]

wondering who vote for the lakers??
 

My guess is Roy. His declaration of faith is merely a clever ruse to throw us off the scent.

 

Well, you do know what a Kobe fan I am.

[celticinorlando]

the cavs will on a losing skid...the magic are frauds....boston makes a move and goes on a big winning streak in March-April

[JBcat]

We are roughly at the halfway point in the season and there are currently 4 teams fighting for the best record in the NBA.  Here are my thoughts.

The Celtics have played through a brutal stretch of games without much rest as widely reported and their schedule should be easier on their legs for the rest of the season.  However until their bench plays better, the young players improve more, or reinforcements come in, I am skeptical they can finish with the best record.

I think the Cavs have been playing maybe slightly over their heads due to James playing insane basketball.  Can he keep that up all season after also playing ball during the summer for team USA?  I don't see why not as his MPG are down this year however their schedule gets tougher and they have started to get some injuries/flu with Z, Wallace, and West all starters currently out.  Bad timing right before a west coast trip.

The Magic are my darkhorse team.  Nobody ever talks about them.  They have a really really good starting 5 led by Howard but my only question with them is how will their bench hold up.  However their starting unit is young and can afford to play big minutes in my opinion.  They are also the only team on my list that has played more away games than home games so schedule should be in their favor the rest of the way.

I don't think the Lakers can do it for the simple fact there are too many good teams out west Denver, Portland, Utah, Phoenix, San Antonio, New Orleans, Houston, and Dallas for them to finish with the best record. 

If I had to pick another team it would be the Spurs.  You can never count them out and they have their big 3 back healthy however with already 13 losses it will be tough for them to gain the top spot. 

In the end my heart is saying the Celtics, I would have said the Cavs if it weren't for Z and now West out for an extended period, however I will go with my darkhorse team the Magic.  I hope I'm wrong

[JBcat]

oops didn't realize there was already a poll out there from yesterday before I started mine. 

[winsomme]

I gotta go with the Celtics because they have played through the toughest part of their schedule whereas the other teams haven't. All three of the other teams have long road stretches against good teams to play through. What the Celtics just went through all these teams will go through to some extent. I think the C's have it out of their system and are ahead of the game because of it.

C's get the best record and home court by winning 62-63 games but it will be close with the Lakers and Cavs right on their heels.

nick, the Cs Feb schedule is off the charts hard....they only have 4 home games the whole month and two of them are against the Lakers and the Spurs....add to that a 6 game all over the country road trip....yikes.

this will seriously test the mettle of this team...

as for best record, so hard to say....gonna be nip and tuck with the Cs, Cavs and Lakeshow...

a little worried about the report of Redd to the Cavs...a friend of mine and i have talked for a while about how if the Cavs had targeted Redd instead of Hughes the Cavs could already have a Title...

[BigAlTheFuture]

I still think we'll end up with the best record.

[nickagneta]

I gotta go with the Celtics because they have played through the toughest part of their schedule whereas the other teams haven't. All three of the other teams have long road stretches against good teams to play through. What the Celtics just went through all these teams will go through to some extent. I think the C's have it out of their system and are ahead of the game because of it.

C's get the best record and home court by winning 62-63 games but it will be close with the Lakers and Cavs right on their heels.

nick, the Cs Feb schedule is off the charts hard....they only have 4 home games the whole month and two of them are against the Lakers and the Spurs....add to that a 6 game all over the country road trip....yikes.

this will seriously test the mettle of this team...

as for best record, so hard to say....gonna be nip and tuck with the Cs, Cavs and Lakeshow...

a little worried about the report of Redd to the Cavs...a friend of mine and i have talked for a while about how if the Cavs had targeted Redd instead of Hughes the Cavs could already have a Title...

While I agree that February isn't exactly an easy month I don't think it's nearly as brutal a stretch of the schedule as the Celtics have had from mid December until now.

Between Dec 11th and Jan 11th the Celtics play 17 games in 32 days. 11 of those games were on the road.

In February they play only 12 games in 28 days and their two toughest games are at home. They have 5 gimme games and 7 tough ones. But they also have a whole week off and between Feb 8th and Feb 22nd, a span of 15 days, they only play 5 games.

They are going to be able to get a bunch of rest and practice time in Feb that they haven't be able to get over the last 5-6 weeks. February won't be easy but I still feel it will be much easier than what they have already been through.

Their toughest part of the schedule is over. If they make it through that six game road trip in February with a winning record, I say they win the best record.