Community Picks: Miami Heat 0% vs Atlanta Hawks 0%

It’s late February, and we’ve entered the polar vortex of the NBA season, as the grind of 82 games wears on viewers as much as it does players. The winter doldrums are real, people. Except if you’re in Miami, where you don’t care about the NBA anyway. I kid, I kid. Sorta. While we’re wont to set an alarm for when the snow melts and the playoffs start, there are all sorts of reasons to stay tuned to the NBA over these final two months after the All-Star break. Here are 10 of them, and (spoiler alert) they don’t even include the odds DeMarcus Cousins takes a nap on court during live action, J.R. Smith possibly leaving the Cavaliers to join Bernie Sanders’ campaign or Kobe Bryant potentially taking all the shots in a game going for 100. *** Can the Warriors get to 73-9?   The Warriors are 48-4, on pace for between 75 and 76 wins, which is just about the wildest thing the NBA has ever seen. That would easily surpass the seemingly unbreakable 72-10 standard set by Michael Jordan’s Bulls in 1995-96. Golden State also has a shot to eclipse the 40-1 home mark established by Larry Bird’s Celtics in 1985-86. The ’86 Celtics and ’96 Bulls are widely considered the two greatest teams in NBA history. Should these Warriors break both records in a single season, they’d likely end that debate, so long as they too win a title. On the other hand, there’s an outside shot this year’s Spurs (45-9) could catch Golden State for the No. 1 seed in the West. One tough stretch could signal the end of the road in any discussion about the Warriors as the GREATEST TEAM EVER. They have a fairly light post-All-Star slate, considering two games with Cleveland are behind them, but there are two bumps in the road. The first one begins immediately on a seven-game road trip with stops in Portland, Los Angeles (Clippers), Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Oklahoma City, before returning home for two more against the Hawks and Thunder. Should they survive that stretch relatively unblemished, there’s really only one more skid to avoid — road games in Dallas and San Antonio and home contests against the Clippers and Mavs sandwiched around a stop in Minnesota in late March. Continue to Article

February 19, 2016 10:30:am EST

In past years, a team like the Toronto Raptors almost certainly would have been looking to add some help for the stretch run. For the most part, Thursday's deadline came and went with most NBA teams seeming cautious, with the huge rise in the salary cap for next season - and the uncertainty of how the free-agent market will react to that over the summer - deterring clubs from making moves that might adversely affect their flexibility going forward. ''Yes, we are in a different situation from last year,'' Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri said. Continue to Article

February 19, 2016 2:43:am EST

The trade deadline went quietly, but there were still fantasy impacts. Dose looks at those and the injury landscape heading into a busy Friday. Continue to Article

February 19, 2016 2:33:am EST

Utah is in the process of giving back what it accomplished on a seven-game win streak, which Boston hopes to take advantage of to add to its own pre-All-Star success. The Celtics resume play Friday night and begin a three-game trip against the Jazz, who find themselves right back under .500 - albeit with some backcourt help after a trade-deadline acquisition. Boston (32-23) had won 10 of 12 entering the break, including a 139-134 home overtime victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Feb. 10. Continue to Article

February 18, 2016 11:37:pm EST

Reigning Eastern Conference champion Cleveland added three-point sharpshooter Channing Frye while the Los Angeles Clippers landed forward Jeff Green in deals Thursday at the NBA trade deadline. Most title contenders stood firm but the Cavaliers and Clippers tweaked their lineups in hopes of finding the correct combination to dethrone the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Cleveland, which lost to Golden State in last year's NBA Finals despite a superb effort from LeBron James, obtained Frye from Orlando in a three-team deal that saw Brazilian center Anderson Varejao and a first-round NBA Draft pick go to Portland for a second round pick that was sent to the Magic along with guard Jared Cunningham. Continue to Article

February 18, 2016 10:40:pm EST