Nowadays, every time I drive I’m scared that Blake Griffin’s going to appear out of nowhere and dunk over me.

I guess it’s worth it though, considering that the best overall Dunk contest in recent memory helped relieve the monotony that plagues the NBA season around the halfway point. In baseball, they call it the “dog days of August”— that time in the season when the games seem to pile on top of each other and fans try to close their eyes and wait patiently until late September. In the NBA, it hits us sometime around early February. Don’t get me wrong, the games are still exciting and, being a dedicated fan, I watch. But I would be remiss not to admit that at some point I start to yearn for the All Star break, a fun little vacation from the conformity of daily life.

And so, last weekend the NBA’s All Star weekend in Los Angeles showed up to save the day. We had John Wall throwing never-before-seen bounce passes, a fundamental of the game that I didn’t think could be revolutionized. We had Blake Griffin soaring through the air as camera flashes attacked him from all angles, and Javale Mcgee dunking three balls at once and getting robbed nevertheless. Oh, and a basketball game on Sunday. All things considered, we had sweet relief.

So, as we head into the stretch run with renewed vigor, what do we have to look forward to? We’ve learned a lot so far (like how to boo Miami in one, unified, resounding voice), but a number of questions that will determine our future champions remain woefully unanswered.

For example, who are the Los Angeles Lakers? The back-to-back defending champs have shown flashes of greatness thus far, but at other times have seemed surprisingly unmotivated and lazy, especially on defense. We know this team has the talent and sheer size to three-peat, but where’s the effort? A 2-5 record against the likes of Boston, Miami, Chicago, and San Antonio can’t be ignored. They also lost to the NBA-worst Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that has taken the attitude of a middle-aged guy whose extremely attractive girlfriend left him, and now mopes around and wears sweatpants all day. A slip-up of that magnitude can only be attributed to a lack of attention and focus.

When asked if the recent struggles were effort-based, center Andrew Bynum said, “Seems to be. If I was looking at the game, that’s what it looks like to me.” That’s what it looks like to us, too. And if that doesn’t change, we won’t be seeing much of “The Lake Show” come playoff time.

Another question that needs answering is whether or not the Chicago Bulls can win a championship with the pieces they have in place. They whiffed at both Lebron James and Dwayne Wade in the offseason, but instead brought in a solid supporting staff (Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, and unfortunately, Keith Bogans) to work around 22-year-old superstar Derrick Rose. Is that enough?

In the first half it appeared to be, as Rose raised his game to an MVP-level and allowed the team to overcome injuries to both Boozer and resident wild man Joakim Noah. However, if the Bulls are going to make a championship push they’ll need Rose to continue playing at an astronomical level, and that’s obviously easier said than done (ask Stephen Strasburg). For now, the jury is still out.

As All-Star weekend concludes, I can’t help but look forward to the passion and intensity that we’ll likely see down the stretch. However, there are certain things about the glamour and decadence of LA that I’m definitely going to miss. For example, I doubt that Blake Griffin will dunk over any cars in his 26 remaining games. But hey, a guy can hope.