Believe it or not, we're going to hit the halfway mark of the 2018-19 season this week. When nine of Wednesday's 10 games are complete, the league will have played 615 of 1,230.

It seems like we just passed the quarter mark of the season and it's not clear that anything has been sorted out since then. Though things are starting to get desperate for a few of them, there are still 14 teams with a chance to reach the postseason in the Western Conference, where the Golden State Warriors continue to tread water (relative to expectations).

In the East, five teams have clearly separated themselves from the pack. But in the 20 games played between them, each of those five teams has at least three losses.

No team has clearly established itself as the clear best team in the league. The Milwaukee Bucks have the league's best pace-adjusted point differential by a wide margin, but have played the league's most home-heavy schedule in a season with a higher winning percentage for home teams (.600) than usual (.593 over the last 10 full seasons).

The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have made big runs over the last month, but both started those runs from 14th place in the West and, if the playoffs started today, neither would be hosting a first-round playoff series.

The three longest winning streaks in the league this season have been just eight games long, and the most recent of those -- that of the Boston Celtics, who were .500 when the streak started -- ended 3 1/2 weeks ago. There have been 89 games (less than six per team) played since Christmas and every team has at least one loss over those 12 days.

With the trade deadline exactly one month away (Feb. 7), parity continues to be the story of the 2018-19 season. For now, the Denver Nuggets are at the top of the rankings, with a five-game winning streak that began with a win over the No. 2 Spurs.