Surprise, Surprise

The playoffs are still a few weeks away, but with more than 65 games under most team's belts, the season's storylines have clearly taken shape. It didn't take a genius to predict that the Detroit Pistons would be a very good team (although Flip Saunders' success in his first year at the helm may take a few folks by surprise), and the San Antonio Spurs' corresponding march to the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the Western Conference isn't the stuff of rocket science.

That's not what makes this fun.

It's the epic collapses, the standout performances, and the dark horses that let you chuckle at all those preseason prognosticators. Thus, without further ado, here are the five stories (well, maybe not "the" five, but certainly five) that have come out of nowhere to shape the 2005-2006 NBA season.

5) The Dallas Mavericks are tied with the Spurs for the most wins in the Western Conference.

It's no shock that the Mavericks are a good team. They've been that and more for several years now. But did anybody (even you, Mavs fans) think they were going to be one of the NBA's top three teams and maybe better than that this year?

The key has been the defense, which has been one of the league's best, and arguably even better than the numbers indicate. It's not that Dallas played horrible defense over the past few seasons, but stopping opponents on offense wasn't what secured playoff appearances each of the past five years.

The Mavericks were a middle-of-the-road to poor defensive team from year to year while tirelessly running up and down the court and loading up the scoreboard night after night. Factoring in pace of play, the Dallas offense was never worse than the fifth-best unit in the league during these last five years and was the best three times.

This year, however, the Mavericks are surrendering just over 92 points per game, in the same ballpark as more plodding teams like Detroit and Houston, while still hanging almost 100 each night. Gee, maybe that Avery Johnson guy knows a little something after all.

4) Elton Brand has moved from "pretty good player" to the MVP discussion.

You can't watch or listen to a Clippers game without hearing somebody gush about all the weight Brand lost during the offseason at the bidding of head coach Mike Dunleavy. If Brand's year is all about dieting, then maybe Congress should start investigating Jenny Craig for distributing performance-enhancers, because apparently "a shake for breakfast, another one for lunch, and a sensible dinner" makes a guy's jumper deadly from the elbow and boosts his point production five per game over his career average.

He scores more points than Kevin Garnett, blocks more shots than Ben Wallace, and pulls down more rebounds than Chris Bosh. Brand has been the catalyst on one of the NBA's most surprising teams (the Los Angeles Clippers), and has the Clips looking like more than a one-and-done playoff team for the first time in ages.

3) The New York Knicks are an absolute basket case.

I wonder if this was what the New York front office had in mind when it parked the armored car full of cash in back of Larry Brown's house? Not that anybody thought the Knicks would turn it around immediately (teams with the talent to contend don't go out and pay top dollar for another team's coach), but the daily bickering between Brown and Stephon Marbury makes the Terrell Owens situation in Philadelphia look like a Hawaiian vacation.

Being bad is understandable. Being embarrassing is not. The Knicks are about five puzzle pieces short of being a real team (not that the Pistons noticed, as they dropped one to the lowly Knicks on Friday), but at least they've still got Isiah Thomas, who couldn't run a brothel on a WWII army base, at the helm. So much for Larry Brown's dream job.

And welcome to the NBA, Channing Frye.

2) Ron Artest is helping Sacramento win games.

Ron-Ron is pretty much a surprise by default, since the guy's next move continues to befuddle the world's greatest psychics. Somehow, you knew he was headed out of Indiana, but when, why, and how were all up for debate.

His arrival in Sacramento, a team in the middle of its own personal Dark Ages, seemed destined to cause trouble. Once again, nobody knows the when's or the how's with Ron-Ron — just the what's. Then, without warning (his standard M.O.), Artest decided to behave himself, play his tail off, and hoist the Kings to a 16-9 record over 25 games and an 11-0 record at home.

Sure, the Kings are still barely in sniffing range of that eighth Western Conference playoff spot, but who cares? Artest has once again resurrected his stock and positioned himself perfectly for his next career move: hot dog vendor.

1) Chris Paul is the NBA's best rookie, and it ain't close.

Most thought Paul would be a good pro — particularly the Hornets, who spent the fourth overall pick on the former Demon Deacon — but the race for Rookie of the Year is pretty much over, and most of the other contestants don't appear to have heard the gun.

Paul leads all NBA rookies in points, assists, and steals and has stepped into one of the game's most difficult positions and immediately excelled. Andrew Bogut, Marvin Williams, and Deron Williams (the three players selected before Paul in the 2005 draft) may all be great pros one day, but for now, their point production combined (26.4) is just 10 points higher than Paul's and at 36.1 minutes per game, Paul is the only rookie to crack the 30-minute mark this year.

For a guy who wanted to play for the Atlanta Hawks, only to hear them call out Marvin Williams' name, revenge doesn't get much sweeter than this.

It's a short list, and there are plenty of other good stories this season, so feel free to complain below and list some of your favorites.