“As the old saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s NBA team.”

Print off your brackets and grab your sharpies—it’s almost time to fill out your NBA playoff bracket!

Will an eight-seed knock off a one-seed? Can the Spurs repeat? Will the Rockets get over the hump and advance to the final four? The excitement is unbearable!

But hold on, my bracket-loving friends, it’s not playoff time yet. In fact, there’s still a good week and change left of regular season play before we can dive into the excitement that is a seven-game first round playoff series between the Celtics and Hawks.

Before we can look ahead to the post-season, let’s take a look back at the regular-season that isn’t even over yet (although it might feel like it ended around Valentine’s Day or so). That said, here are the top eight storylines from an NBA season that truly was amazing.

8. Where new slogans happened

The NBA introduced a slogan prior to the 2007-08 campaign that soon became a cheap and easy, albeit unfunny, punch line for many a UWM Post writer. Countless times, casual fans (namely, this author) abused the slogan by mocking its message following less-than amazing plays, knowing full well that this attempt at humor was pathetic and unoriginal. So consider this column “where apologies for abusing an NBA slogan happen.”

7. The luck of a team that traded for really good players

Thanks to off-season acquisitions James Posey and Eddie House, the Celtics were able to go from worst to first, earning top honors in the East despite tough competition from the Pistons and… the Pistons. Alas, it wasn’t all Posey and House for the C’s. They also picked up Kevin Garnett and 2/3 of the Bucks’ big three in Ray Allen and Sam Cassell.

6. Who’s gonna win it? The Bucks. The Bucks.

After an injury-riddled season, the Bucks drafted Yi Jianlian to try and… put them over the top in the Eastern Conference after falling to the 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Whoa. What just happened? I think I blacked out for a second there. Anyways, the Bucks drafted Yi and he played for them and that was awesome.

5. If You Can’t Stand the Heat Go Back to the D-League

As the old saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s NBA team. After injuries and Ricky Davis took the Heat from a playoff team to a team that wouldn’t be going to the playoffs, they turned to the NBA’s development league to fill the roster and just get this freaking year over with. At one point, Dwyane Wade’s five was filled with the starting lineup from the Iowa Energy. Sorry Charles Barkley.

4. Going streaking

The Rockets won 22 games in a row, which is about 10 more than the Heat have won in about 70 attempts. In doing so, they passed the Bucks (20 wins) for the second-longest win streak in the history of the world, trailing only the Lakers (33).

3. Trading places

Stop the presses! Stop the presses! Kwame Brown was traded to the Grizzlies! And that’s not even the only blockbuster deal that made this season’s trade deadline arguably more exciting than the actual season. Pau Gasol went to Lakers, Jason Kidd to the Mavs, Shaq to the Suns and Shawn Marion to the Heat. It was… amazing?

2. Wild, Wild West

The West was better than the East this year. As they say on the Internet—o rly? So what if a team that is 15 games over .500, either the Nuggets or Warriors, and will miss the playoffs in the West? And so what if the Hawks, who are around six games below .500, will make it in the East? Does that really mean the West is better? OK, OK, maybe it does. Still, it doesn’t need to be talked about every other second, does it? OK, OK, maybe it does.

1. Playoffs?

And the number one storyline from the 2007-08 season is… yet to be written. The playoffs are always the highlight of any NBA season, even if it is an extremely long and drawn-out highlight at times. Without question, the upcoming playoffs will be where a month or two of games happens.

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