The Road To New Orleans: NBA All-Star Weekend

We’ve reached NBA All-Star Weekend, with the festivities going down in New Orleans and building to Sunday night’s All-Star Game (8 PM ET, TNT). Regular season play resumes again on Tuesday, and TheSportsNotebook has spent this week running a series of articles looking at the big picture and the strengths and weaknesses of the contenders. This post has all those articles consolidated into a single place for your convenience.

With the Olympics going right now, and the sports world having just come off the Super Bowl and looking ahead to March Madness, a lot of fans don’t have time for the NBA. If you’re one of those, the Cliff’s Notes Version of the 2014 season reads thusly—

*The champion is highly likely to be one of the Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers or Oklahoma City Thunder and there’s not huge separation among the three.
*There are five other teams with at least a puncher’s chance at June glory, and they are all in the Western Conference—the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors.
*Kevin Durant has put himself in command to be the MVP

If you don’t feel the need to go any further, knowing these three points will get you to the playoffs in late April. But if you’re a little curious about some of the hows and whys, here are the posts that we’ve run here at TheSportsNotebook on the Road To New Orleans and All-Star Weekend over the past several days…

*NBA Championship Betting Odds & Playoff Overview
*Miami Heat
*Indiana Pacers
*Oklahoma City Thunder
*San Antonio Spurs
*Houston Rockets
*Los Angeles Clippers
*Portland Trail Blazers
*Golden State Warriors