NBA Surprise Teams at Mid-Season by SportsBettingOnline.ag

The 2014-2015 NBA season was bound to be a memorable one with LeBron James returning to his home state to play once more for the Cleveland Cavaliers. We're nearly at the All-Star Break already with most teams having played close to 40 games (82-game season). At the halfway point there is some unexpected teams at the top and some high expectation teams struggling to stay in the race.

The GOOD

Atlanta Hawks (35-8, 1st place Eastern Conference on January 23rd)
The Hawks are far and away the most surprising team of the 2014-2015 season. Atlanta is 35-8 after finishing last season at 38-44 and are riding a fourteen-game winning streak at the time of this report.

Most prognosticators didn't see the Hawks improving by leaps and bounds and that wasn't an unfair assessment considering their roster. However, Atlanta has five players averaging double-digits led by fifth-year point guard Jeff Teague (17.4 PPG, 7.2 APG) and eight-year veteran Paul Millsap (16.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG). The Hawks are seventh in the NBA in scoring and second in team defense (96.9 PPG).

Toronto Raptors (27-15, 3rd place Eastern Conference on January 23rd)
The Toronto Raptors finished 14 games over .500 last season (48-34) en route to a first-round playoff loss to Brooklyn, but no one expected the Canadian ballers to be virtually unbeatable through the first two months of the season. The Raps were 23-6 on December 21 and while they have cooled off since then (3-7 in their last 10), there is good ball being played north of the border.

Toronto's play has been impressive despite being without the services of arguably their best player, DeMar DeRozan, for all but 16 games this season. Point guard Kyle Lowry has picked up the slack with 20.4 PPG and 7.7 assists per game. Toronto goes about nine-deep with guys capable of scoring, including Lou Williams (15.1 PPG) and Jonas Valanciunas (13.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG).

Golden State Warriors (34-6, 1st place Western Conference on January 23rd)
Golden State (30-5) is the class of the NBA led by the dynamic duo of Steph Curry (23.0 PPG, 8.1 APG) and Klay Thompson (21.4 PPG). Rip City is led by Damian Lillard (22.2 PPG, 6.3 APG).

They not only have the best current record but they are absolutely dominating everyone else. Their point differential is the highest in the NBA since the 1996, 72-10 Chicago Bulls, and they've outscored opponents by more in the first half than any other team has outscored opponents in entire games.

The BAD

Cleveland Cavaliers (23-20, 5th place Eastern Conference on January 23rd)
Cleveland's 23-20 record is well below expectations and as little as a week ago they were under .500 when King James missed nine games due to injury. While it will take time for James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the supporting cast to jell, this experiment is still very much a work in progress and so far the results are underwhelming. Because the East is so subpar, a .500 record could virtually guarantee a playoff spot, but the bar for any team LeBron is on is set high and this team is barely making the grade.

Indiana Pacers (15-29, 12th place Eastern Conference on January 23rd)
The Pacers' fall from grace was a bit more unforeseen. The loss of Paul George to injury is the primary culprit for Indiana's poor start (point guard George Hill has also only played in five games this season), but with the likes of Roy Hibbert and David West still in the starting five, it's hard to understand why this team is underperforming so massively.

THE UGLY

New York Knicks (7-36, last place in the Eastern Conference on January 23rd)
In the donkey column, we have the New York Knicks (7-36) who have just ended a record 16-game losing streak by beating the Pelicans 99-92 this past week. The Knicks were supposed to be mediocre, but not 30 games under .500 bad. Their failure to compete or even care led Sportsbettingonline.ag to refund every future bet made on the Knicks this season including to win the Atlantic, Eastern Conference and Total Season Wins. To read more about the Knicks refund please click here to view the press release.

SportsBettingOnline.ag Press Release
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News Article by SportsBettingOnline.ag.