There are two big events this decade in the NBA that are right at the top of the list that was just put out by SI. The first one was the big brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills. When Ron Artest ran off into the stands and started hitting fans, it changed the way that we talk about the NBA. Breaking that fourth wall turned out to be a good way to reevaluate the way the league does business. But for the Pacers, it was an awful way to fritter away their season, having lost several of their best players for a long time in the 04-05 season. Meanwhile, the other big story was the Tim Donaghy betting scandal, which made us question how many of the games over the last several years had been fixed or manipulated in some way. Donaghy is out and the rules are much more clear and strict than they were before.

The Los Angeles Clippers missed a chance to get the San Antonio Spurs down decisively the other day at the Staples Center. The way that an analyst is describing the game is as a potential dagger. They could have come within one game of that titanic team that keeps winning in the postseason. But instead, they lost by almost 30 points, suffering a bit of an embarrassment. Now the team appears to be looking at dismantling the team, or at least parts of it, to try to cash in their “assets” as it were and slide back down. Maybe they can get something good to bring them into contention next season. I’m not so sure it’s time to give up on this year yet, but I haven’t been watching them as closely as some of the analysts have been. It’s a rough year so far either way.

Vinny Del Negro put himself into the conversation about his future this week. His team has now lost 9 of 10 in the last couple weeks, including losses to teams that aren’t good. The Nets beat them, and the Nets only have one other win this season. The firestorm is brewing with the media in his home city and many people are hoping that he gets fired in the next little while. They have a good roster, but it’s just not working right now. Vinny came out and told the media that they really have no business calling for his head, because they haven’t played the game, they don’t realize how difficult it is, nor how tough this team is becoming. But they have yet to show that they can really get it done yet, so the talk will continue, whether or not the media folks know what it’s about or not.

When Cleveland took on Milwaukee last night, it wasn’t a surprsie that they won. Although Milwaukee has been having a nice year, they aren’t the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have been able to play their games to the highest ability. Last night, the Cavs were down 12-0 near the beginning of the game, but then went on a 29-0 run. This is the biggest run of any team this year. Nicely done, LeBron and Shaq. It’s also interesting that this high-level team doesn’t seem to be having the kind of drama that the Los Angeles Lakers had when you paired Shaq with someone like Kobe. But Cleveland is a smaller team and has that kind of character at the moment. We hope that the team will be able to move on towards a big playoff presence this year. So far, they are dominant in almost every way. We’ll see what happens! Last night, though, they won 101-86.

When Ron Artest was in Chicago, he was a player who could be tough to handle. He always was in his younger days. He’s a provocateur, which has become an important part of any team at this point. He was interviewed this week, saying that he used to drink sometimes during halftime or before the game. It might have been only a sip or two, but it was still during the game. He went on the radio in Chicago yesterday to say what he actually meant in giving out this information. His point was to say that the fame had come to him so quickly that he didn’t know how to handle it. In fact, he didn’t handle it well at all, and resorted to drinking. His point was to emphasize how bad off he was at times during his career. Hopefully young kids will take this lesson and try to keep on top of those kinds of problems before they happen.

The saga of Allen Iverson just continues to be complicated and has been among the biggest stories in the NBA for the last few weeks. He retired this year, because he didn’t want to be coming in off the bench any longer and felt that he didn’t get the due respect. But there were rumors that cropped up late last week and through the weekend that he might be on his way back to Philadelphia where he started big career. Coach Eddie Jordan came out today and said that there hadn’t been any such discussion yet and he didn’t anticipate that there was going to be one. I’m sure they’d have to iron out some things before he’d be able to return without any extra complications. We’ll let you know if any major decisions come down about this issue anytime soon.

Shaq has been out for more than 5 games with a strained shoulder over the last few weeks. He strained it during a game and has had to sit out while he gets better. Meanwhile, he seems to be back in shape, according to the coach, though he won’t be playing full games right off the bat. It’ll be a little while before he’s able to be a full strength but that’s ok for now. But once he gets moving he will help his team in a great way to improve and keep atop the Eastern Conference. Not that the team needs that much help, since they have been one of the top teams in the conference for a long time already. But he might give them the boost that they need to get into the championship this year. Do you think so? Leave a comment to give your ideas/predictions.

We looked at the rankings a couple weeks ago because we didn’t have enough information to understand what the teams’ full potential was. But now we can look at the early NBA standings and have a guess as to how things are going to be during the first part of the season. For example, the Houston Rockets are in second place in their division, behind the Dallas Mavs, which was fully unexpected. As we have been reporting all summer, without Yao and several of their other best players, no one thought that the team was going to go anywhere at all. It was the Lost Season; but they are in motion now and it’s great to see. The Detroit Pistons were supposed to get better this season, but they’re struggling right now at 5-9, five games out of first. There’s so much basketball left to be played that we can’t assume much yet, but it’s interesting to see who’s starting out strong and who’s having trouble getting moving.

The Bulls have been doing a great job so far this year. The Lakers are trying to defend their title for the next few years. It’s a tough year for them so far because Pau Gasol hasn’t been in the lineup for a long time. But now he’s there and it’s going well. He started out by scoring 24 points in his debut. This gave his team a 15 point win last night, stopping the Bulls in their great record at the moment. They have won several of the last games and are almost in the lead of their division. The Lakers are clearly in the lead and are on a good trajectory again. It’s still early, but hopefully this sets the tone for both teams this season.

At this point in the season, there isn’t all that much point in checking into the rankings of the various teams. There are some changes from before, and at three weeks into the season, we can see some early trends. For one thing, the Cavaliers are working their way to 10 wins in a row. Behind them, the Atlanta Hawks have been big surprises, ranked just last week at #8, but the NBA is starting to see their strength. The Lakers are next, of course, and then comes Phoenix and Orlando, completing the top 5. The Suns have been winning at a surprising level, considering the low number of big stars they have. And Orlando is starting to get into a rhythm, though they’re not quite there yet. It’s going to be a great year for all these teams unless something big changes for one of them. No one is too surprised at these rankings except for this or that team that they would have personally ranked lower. But it’s great to see the NBA back up and running!