It is officially the first working day of 2008, and it is the mother of all mornings after. I’d wish you all a happy new year but you’ve likely heard all the well wishes around the past couple of days. In the meantime I have an eight-aspirin hangover and am back at work. No rest for the weary, or the hung-over, as they say. One of the good things going so far is how the latest NBA season is turning out. As much as a lot of the news is expected, there have been some pretty nice surprises.

In the standings there are no surprises however, as the rejuvenated Boston Celtics continue their unprecedented renaissance behind their Big 3 for the 21st century. Kevin Garnet, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are making hay by the bale even as the sun continues to shine at least in the Celtic Kingdom of Boston in the midst of winter. Profiting a lot from the Big 3 are starting center Kendrick Perkins and starting pointguard Rajon Rondo, who have proven capable sidekicks and worthy starters who get the job done and make life a whole lot easier for the veteran All Stars. At 26-3 as of the end of 2007, the Celtics could become the second team in NBA history to win 70 games in the regular season.

Detroit’s mighty Pistons however are just a couple of games behind the league leaders at 24-7. As much as their stars have been criticized for the implosion in last season’s playoffs against King James and his Cavaliers, the Pistons remain one of the best teams in the NBA. Starters Chauncy Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess have taken on and torn apart every other team in the league. Youngsters Aaron Aflalo, Jason Maxiell and new arrival Walter Hermann have provided depth and quality off the bench. In their last four games the Pistons won by embarrassing margins that allowed the aging starters to sit out whole quarters.

Elsewhere in the East the death throes of a franchise that is just a year removed from their first ever NBA championship is driving not only its host city but the league in general crazy. Miami is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with only eight wins after two long months of action. While young star Dwayne Wade keeps fighting the good fight, the Big Diesel has bogged down and is getting cantankerous with all the losing. Losing Alonzo Mourning to a career-ending knee injury only makes matters worse. The Heat ought to do the right thing and fire Coach Pat Riley. As easy as that may seem every where else in the NBA, it is not so easy in Miami, where Riley also happens to be the team’s top executive.

Speaking of death throes, the once-promising Chicago Bulls are reeling at 11-18. Although this is not far off from their record last season at the same stage, what is worrisome to Chicago fans is that their Bulls were expected to improve this season after three straight trips to the playoffs. Every one was a year older, wiser and more familiar with each other and the system. But somehow the young guns – Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng – have been firing blanks. Without the firepower they displayed last season opponents are taking it straight to the young Chicago crew and daring them to shoot. Coach Scott Skiles has been fired and interim coach Pete Meyers is left to try and limp the Bulls to the end of the season. How the folks in Miami wish they could do the same.

As for surprises, hello Orlando! At 22-11 the magic are off to their best start since Shaquille O-Neal and Penny Hardaway were in the blue and silver stripes. Center Dwight Howard may not be of the same caliber as O’Neal but he is pretty damn close, ranking Number 1 in rebounds with over 15 boards per game and fourth in blocks with nearly three rejections per contest. He has gotten plenty of help from an unexpected source: Turkish swingman Hedo Turkoglu. Turkoglu came over from the last great Sacramento fire sale and has provided everything the departed Grant Hill was supposed to provide but at a much cheaper price. While everyone made a big to-do about the arrival of Rashard Lewis from the Seattle Sonics, it is the consistently good play of Turkoglu that has spelled the real difference for Orlando.

Out West the defending champion San Antonio Spurs are lording it over at 21-8 with the Phoenix Suns statistically abreast at 22-9. San Antonio looks vulnerable with its aging core of stars, but has been anything but. Tim Duncan may play like a forward but he is the real best center in the West, and perhaps the NBA. His presence makes Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker the most explosive pair of guards on an NBA champion.

Meanwhile the Suns continue with their impressive run of regular season dominance behind the brilliant Steve Nash. At 33 Nash is running out of chances to get himself a ring, and this has been his most vocal season ever, publicly expressing his disappointments more openly. Although he has not been in his face all the time Nash’s ire has been directed at forward-center Amare Stoudemire. For some strange reason, in spite of a good stint with Team USA in the Tournament of the Americas, Stoudemire seems to have lost the sense of urgency and emotion upon which he built his explosive post game and is seen as the main reason why the Suns do not seem to have the same fire they have had in the past. On a positive note Grant Hill has resurrected his career in Phoenix and is averaging close to 35 minutes a game for the run-and-gun Suns.

The West has two other teams who thus far have racked up 20 wins, Dallas and (surprise!) New Orleans, and two more teams, the LA Lakers and Golden State Warriors, who already have 19 wins. New Orleans has been the big surprise in the West, as Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler anchor the surprise team of the first half of the season. Paul is third behind Nash and New Jersey’s Jason Kidd in the assists race, handing out over 10 dimes a game. Chandler is still among the top rebounders and shot blockers in the NBA and is one of the few legit seven-footers who can play both the 5 and 4 positions with equal aplomb in the post-heavy Western Conference. Dallas still has one of the best and most diverse offenses in the league and routinely puts up 100 points even against the best defenses in the NBA. Dirk Nowitzki may not be shooting the lights out as much as he did a couple seasons ago but he is still one of the best all-around scorers and rebounders in the game.

Los Angeles seemed on the verge of collapse with the trade demands of Kobe Bryant becoming louder and more frequent. Those were quieted down however with the marked