It’s called the “unofficial” midpoint of the NBA Season.  Unofficial because the thirty-some odd regular season games remaining are about a third of the 82-game schedule.  But if taken into account the October start of preseason and the June finish of the NBA finals, the All-Star break really is pretty close to halfway.  During this final stretch of the season, there will be jostling and fighting for teams not only to secure as high a seed as possible, but to just make it to the playoffs period.  About ten teams in each conference have a chance to get into the playoff picture, but only four teams (Warriors, Spurs, Cavs or Thunder) have a real chance to win the title, if the prognosticators are to be believed.

The Warriors and Spurs both remain undefeated at home, with the former team making a serious push to not just match the 95-96 Bulls’ 70-plus win record, but to shatter it altogether.  As of this posting, the Warriors are 49-5, one fewer loss than those Bulls at the same point of the season.  Even with a 32-point loss to Portland in their first game after the break, the team is on pace to win about 75 games.  That’s out of 82 games people.  That’s crazy.

Here are a few of the other storylines to keep an eye on as we near the finish:

The trade deadline came and went with all the big names remaining with their respective teams. Dwight Howard was apparently offered to several teams, but none would give the Rockets what they wanted for the aging big man, so he remains with the thus-far disappointing team.

The Kobe Bryant farewell tour continues and now just about every stop is his last in a visiting arena. Yes, I know that the team is pretty terrible and he’s had some bad nights himself (see 35 percent from the field this season), but the end is drawing near and the five-time champion was still the closest to MJ anyone has ever been and maybe will ever be.  Every night is special. Enjoy it.

Chris Bosh’s health is a subject of much speculation in Miami as he deals with treatment for possible blood clots this season again. It was about the same point last season that a clot near his lungs threatened not only his career, but his life.

The Spurs are still legitimate threats to the Warriors, regardless of what Grep Popovich says about the Warriors being unsolvable.

The Cavs are still getting used to their new coach as Tyronne Lue replaced David Blatt right before the break.

OKC has stumbled a bit coming off the All-Star break, but Durant and Westbrook are still the highest-scoring and maybe the most potent duo in the league.

With only two months left until playoffs, it will be interesting to see what storyline that we haven’t seen yet come into play.