As the NBA season approaches its midway point, the standings are looking very different compared to previous years. The bigger, more well-known franchise teams like the Knicks, Celtics and Lakers, teams who are usually at the top of their conference, find themselves in the bottom half of their conference.

Golden State is dominating the West and taking the NBA by surprise this year. Stephen Curry is leading the Warriors and is an early MVP candidate. The Memphis Grizzlies are chasing the Warriors and battling them for the top spot in the West with Marc Gasol and Mike Conley leading the way.

The Hawks, Wizards and Raptors are among the top teams in the East. The Wizards are led by All-Star starter John Wall with his 17.3 points-per-game average and 10.2 assists per game. While Terrence Ross has lead the Raptors to the best first-half of the season in franchise history. While the Hawks are the most surprising team in the league, and they have brought back true team play, which we rarely see anymore.

One real surprise is the Cavs. In preseason previews and NBA predictions the Cavaliers had 7 to 1 odds to win the championship, and right now they’re struggling to stay above .500.

While there have been some surprising teams this season, I think some teams kind of out of the race, like the Thunder and Cavs who are currently outside the top, will make strong pushes for the play-offs as the season starts to wind down.