SPURS IN THE NEWS March 8th

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Bloggish piece
Suns vs Spurs - Game
Suns vs Spurs - Game Preview
by PanamaSun
The Suns are in a dark place right now, but it can always get worse. They are 0-3 on this important road trip and the last thing you want to do right now is face the team that has always found the most painful efficient ways to beat you.

The last time we lost to the Spurs, Stan encouraged us to move beyond hating them and just accept the fact that they are better than the Suns. He also used a very good analogy explaining how The Spurs were like the big brother who always beat you on the court because he was stronger and bigger than you. Although I understood this, I couldn't relate to it because I'm an only child, so here's one of my own.

Back when I was in third grade, I was really small for a kid my age. Being shy didn't help either. There was this kid named Christopher (I'll never forget his name) in my class, who would always pick on me and bully me around. There was nothing I could do to stop him. I ran, he caught me. I hit him, he knocked the lights out of me. I told the teachers, he hit me even harder. He always seemed to be a step ahead of me. Once I realized I was on my own, I decided to take extreme measures. No, I didn't get a gun (although that's probably what a kid would do nowadays) I enrolled in karate classes and I was determined to beat the kid up. Long story short, I grew up to be just about his size and in fifth grade I provoked the fight. I hit him first, he didn't even flinch. I panicked and froze on the spot and he beat the crap out of me yet again.

Later I realized that, at the first sign of adversity during the fight, I remembered all of the times he had beaten me up and that's why fear took over me and I couldn't react. Although I felt I was better prepared for a fight, my mind (fear) betrayed me.

Having said this, I'm not suggesting that the Spurs are bullies. Aside from Bowen -who has a very limited role this year- most of their players are not dirty. Sure they will flop from time to time but who doesn't?. They are disciplined, they have an awesome coach and they are proven champions. But the truth is that they have beaten the Suns so many times that they are in the Suns' player's heads. They panic at the first sign of adversity during the game, they whine about the refs, they don't execute in crunch time. How many times have we seen the Suns enter the 4th quarter with a comfortable lead only to give it back and let the game slip away?

What's the difference between these two teams? Mental. Toughness.

While the Spurs mentality is that they can overcome any problems during the game, the Suns shrink in big moments at the first sign of trouble. It's not that the Suns don't have heart, or that they don't want it as much as the Spurs do, they are betrayed by their collective fear to lose against San Antonio *again*, just like I did when I faced that kid. At least that's what I think.

Enough of my stories, let's focus on how the Suns can win this game.



Attitude: The Suns still have time to turn things around. Basketball is a crazy game and a win against your nemesis should do wonders. Problem is, they could have turned things around after beating the Lakers. Well here's one more shot. They have to play with energy and the sense of urgency that this game deserves. They have to go after every loose ball, every offensive rebound. Treat this like a playoff game. Treat this game like it's your last shot.

Control pace: Besides watching his players standing around on a defensive sequence, there's nothing else that pisses Popovich off more than watching his team play in the opposing team's pace. Especially the Suns. We need to run when we can and give Shaq enough touches to wear out Tim Duncan or however is guarding him.

Perimeter Defense: This are no the same Spurs that we have faced in the past. We can't let them take uncontested shots. Matt Bonner and Roger Mason are a serious threat from behind the three point line. If Duncan is having a bad game, you can count on these two to pick up the slack. Pop has being able establish a very effective inside-out game, spreading the floor with dangerous shooters.

Point Guard matchups: Tony Parker outruns anyone in this league and I don't expect Nash to stop him. What I do expect from Nash it at least putting some resistance and not standing around ala Stoudemire. He needs to get everyone involved and limit his turnovers. In the last few games he has been scoring a lot but at the same time he's getting torched by opposing guards. He has also shown problems giving the ball to Shaq. This is a very fixable issue: Let Hill or LB give the ball to the big fellow and play Nash off the ball. This is up to the coaching staff to come up with a play that sets up a shot for Nash in case Shaq is double teamed or can't shoot a high percentage shot.

Shaq vs Duncan: Tim is a great defender, Shaq will have to bring his A-game if we want to have a shot at winning this game. In order for him to be relevant, he needs to get his touches (Are you reading this Steve?) limit his turnovers and stay out of foul trouble.

Bench Battle: Lou, Barnes and the rest of the bench need to play with energy as well. There's no excuse in letting the Spurs outhustle them when they are on the court. If they get in with a lead, they need to maintain it.

Final Thoughts:

Season is not over guys. I see everyone talking about the lottery and tanking the season. There's still time. Dallas is struggling also. They are as inconsistent as the Suns. I don't care who we play. If we get the 8th seed and play the Lakers so be it. We know that come playoff time, nothing that you did during the regular season matters. They can still turn it around. There's still time. Believe

[ATHENEA]

Suns at Spurs Spread, Odds, Trends & Matchups
Struggling Suns hope to bounce back against Spurs
Phoenix (34-28) at San Antonio (41-20) 3:30 p.m. EDT

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- The Phoenix Suns will be looking to snap a three-game slide when they face the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

The Suns put together improbable back-to-back wins without Steve Nash last week, taking out the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers as Shaquille O'Neal turned back the clock with a combined 78 points.

But Nash returned in time for the beginning of a four-game road trip and presided over losses at Orlando, Miami and Houston as O'Neal returned to earth, averaging just over 19 points per game.

The Spurs returned from their own three-game road trip on Friday and posted a 100-78 win over the Washington Wizards. Tony Parker led the way with 19 points as most of the starters logged less than 20 minutes.

San Antonio has won two of three meetings this season and has knocked Phoenix out of the playoffs in three of the past four years.

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What bettors need to know: Phoenix at San Antonio - 03-07-2009
What bettors need to know: Phoenix at San Antonio
By Matt Severance
Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs (-7, 225)

Season series

The Suns beat the Spurs on opening night of the season but have lost two in a row to San Antonio since. Phoenix has lost the first three games on its current four-game road trip and four in a row on the road overall (1-3 ATS). It's the Suns' first three-game skid since January and they’ve allowed an average of nearly 121 points in the stretch. The Suns haven't allowed less than 100 since Feb. 8 at Detroit (the total has gone over in nine of the 13 games since that Pistons outing).

San Antonio enters off a 100-78 win over Washington on Friday in which Tim Duncan scored a season-low five points, but he didn't play at all in the fourth quarter (and just more than 18 minutes overall) because he was needed.

The Spurs have topped 100 points in just one of the three games against Phoenix this season, although these two have yet to play since Alvin Gentry took over as Phoenix coach and reinstalled the running style for the Suns.

After San Antonio scored 114 in a 10-point win over Phoenix on Jan. 29, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said: "We're scoring way too many points. We shouldn't be having this much fun."

That quote probably has made its way to the Phoenix locker room.

The underdog, by the way, has covered in eight of the past 11 meetings in this series.

Who is missing?

Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire is out for the season with news coming down late this week that he won't be able to return for the playoffs because of his injured eye. Stoudemire led Phoenix in scoring in each of the three previous meetings with San Antonio this year.

San Antonio won't have Manu Ginobili, who hasn't played since Feb. 11 with an injured ankle. He is expected to return by the middle of the month. Ginobili averaged 20.5 points and 6.5 assists in two games against Phoenix this year, missing the lone Spurs loss to the Suns. He was 18-for-18 from the foul line in the last meeting with Phoenix. The Spurs are 11-10 ATS without him this season, but 6-3 ATS during this recent absence.

Newly acquired forward Drew Gooden didn't play in San Antonio's win Friday against the Wizards and is not expected to suit up against Phoenix. Popovich said he wants to give Gooden about a week to make sure Gooden's troublesome groin injury was healed.

“We want to make sure he’s in shape and solid that way,” Popovich said to reporters.

Suns sticking with lineup

Matt Barnes has been very solid since being inserted into the Suns' starting lineup at power forward with Stoudemire out. Barnes had 17 points and nine rebounds in Friday's loss to the Rockets. Gentry put Barnes at power forward, moved Grant Hill to small forward and Leandro Barbosa back to a sixth-man role after a 26-point loss to the Lakers on Feb. 26. While Phoenix is just 2-3 since then, Barnes has averaged 17 points and 6.6 rebounds in those five games.

Gentry told the Arizona Republic that he will stick with that lineup from here on out, but mainly because of Hill.

"Grant needs to be out on the (open) floor," Gentry said. "He struggled at the four for us because he's not used to setting drags and stuff. We have to try to keep him at the three.”

Hill, incidentally, had one of the worst games of his career Friday in Houston, going scoreless with just one assist in 25 minutes.

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West thin on threats to Lakers | lakers, season, san, antonio, west - Sports - OCRegister.com
West thin on real threats to Lakers
There is one team out there that could still take it to them in a playoff series.
Kevin Ding
LOS ANGELES – First, the Lakers have the rest of the regular season. "Fulfilling the obligation of an 82-game schedule" is how Phil Jackson so indolently describes it.

Second, there will be the Western Conference playoffs, a fact confirmed by several NBA front-office sources. We could be breaking news with that statement considering no one has written a word about the Lakers facing anyone in the postseason but Boston or Cleveland.

The Lakers' upcoming week in Portland, Houston and San Antonio will be a tour of what might await in those West playoffs. (One big reason why the Lakers are looking awfully good for the best regular-season record over Boston and Cleveland, by the way: After the coming week, the Lakers will have just one road game against a high-quality opponent in the final 4 ½ weeks of the regular season, and that doesn't come until a week before the playoffs (April 10 at Portland).

There are eight teams in the West jostling for seven playoff slots behind the Lakers. It's a weird race in which the team currently on the outside looking in, Phoenix, is closer to moving from No. 9 to No. 2 (7 ½ games away) than No. 2 San Antonio is to the No. 1 Lakers (8 ½ games away).

"It's pretty crazy," Kobe Bryant said. "At 1 vs. 8 (for the Lakers' opening playoff series), you could have anyone – Phoenix, Houston, New Orleans, Utah. It's unheard of."

But you can't believe everything Bryant says in this regard, because he (rightly in the old-school sense and so wrongly in the real-world sense) says that every team is a "threat."

• Phoenix is not a threat. The Suns can't defend and will be weary, if they make it, from a playoff push after a tumultuous season, rare coaching upheaval and the high-maintenance, low-brainpower and eye injury of Amare Stoudemire.

• Dallas is not a threat. No NBA player has emanated more negative energy this season than Josh Howard. The Mavericks have lost by 24 to the Nets, 27 to the Jazz, 28 to the Suns and 34 to the Bucks. The lack of effort has Mark Cuban threatening to fire everyone – and maybe he should because Rick Carlisle is a competent coach.

• Portland is not a threat. Portland is 1-12 on the road against the eight other teams in this West playoff mix. The complete absence of playoff experience is a deal-breaker anyway.

• Denver is not a threat. This is true even though it is entirely possible Denver could beat out San Antonio for the No. 2 seed (and home-court advantage in a Western Conference semifinal series vs. the Spurs for the right to face the Lakers), because the Nuggets' remaining schedule is the most favorable in the NBA. Yet there's no way the Lakers are losing a series to the Nuggets, who are messed up in the head from all the past beatings the Lakers have laid on them.

That leaves San Antonio, Utah, Houston and New Orleans. With these teams, there is at least enough reason for concern that the TV commentators don't necessarily need to prepare some Adam Morrison background-material filler.

• New Orleans has an overrated supporting cast but still has Chris Paul, who is so good that you never know what could happen. The Hornets were expected to make noise this season but have underachieved, and those teams step up their game in the playoffs.

• Houston is a professional, intelligent team with real weapons in Yao Ming and Ron Artest. It'll be appropriate given what a bust Tracy McGrady's tenure in Houston has been for the Rockets to enjoy some postseason success the year McGrady has microfracture knee surgery.

• Utah has won 10 consecutive games, including some notable ones over the Lakers, Celtics, Hornets, Rockets and Nuggets. The Jazz is healthy for the first time all season and is determined to finish at least with the No. 4 seed. If not for a daunting schedule (10 of Utah's remaining 20 games are on the road against winning teams – and Utah isn't much on the road), Utah would be the favorite to move up to No. 2. The Jazz might well make it there anyway.

• San Antonio … again?! Did you happen to notice that with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili resting their injuries recently (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn't even "fulfill the obligation of the 82-game season" with the way he prepares only for the postseason), skinny Tony Parker morphed into LeBron James? Parker averaged 38 points on 54.2 percent shooting and 10.5 assists in victories on consecutive nights over Dallas and Portland.

The Spurs are a little more reliant on 3-pointers and aren't as nasty on defense, but they still really know how to play. If Ginobili's ankle hadn't been so bad last spring, it's conceivable that San Antonio would've exposed the Lakers' lack of inner toughness before Boston came around.

This season, though, the Lakers rightfully will have a simple goal of dispatching these West teams with alacrity – minimizing the risk for game-intensity injury and maximizing the practice time for Andrew Bynum's reintegration. The Lakers are lording over the West, but San Antonio stands alone as the only team in the West that could possibly win a series over them.

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HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Peter May
Challenging Lakerland
by Peter May

Can anyone keep the Lakers from their seemingly pre-ordained return trip to the NBA Finals?

No one in the Western Conference is making the case in the regular season. The Lakers in the West look like the UConn women – a deadbolt lock. But we all know there is the regular season and there is the other season – no one knows that better than the Lakers, by the way – and a few teams out West are at least showing signs that the Lakers’ inevitable march to the Finals won’t be one in which they’re showered with rose petals along the way.

What makes the West so compelling are spots 2-9 because only eight qualify and some decent team is going to get iced. We’ll can concede No. 1 to Los Angeles’ varsity entry; eight games up in the loss column with 21 games left settles that. And that is a major advantage in the playoffs.

Every series starts on your floor (and Phil Jackson has never lost a playoff series after his team wins Game 1) and every series has Game 7, if need be, on your floor. So any team out West hoping to dethrone the current conference champs has that to deal with out of the chute.

We have no idea who will emerge as the other two division champions. Denver looked to be in control of the Northwest, until Utah caught fire. Portland is still hanging around.

The Spurs, Rockets and Hornets all are in contention for the Southwest crown and the Mavericks may be as well if Mark Cuban can find ways to rip them a couple times a week. (It worked against the Spurs at home; then Dallas fell apart the next night in New Orleans.)

But, realistically, which teams can actually make the Lakers break a sweat? As of now, there are probably three, maybe four. I can’t include Denver; any team with Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony and JR Smith makes me too nervous, Chauncey Billups notwithstanding. I can’t include Portland; too young, but look out next year and beyond. Dallas? Nope. Phoenix? Forget it.

That leaves Utah, San Antonio, Houston and, perhaps, the Hornets. All of these teams could do it, but the likelihood, of course, is that none of them will. (The TV folks sure hope that’s the case, especially with the ‘Pass The Remote’ Spurs.)

San Antonio

No team out West has the cachet of the Spurs and their heart, soul and conscience is still there. And no, we’re not talking about Drew Gooden. The Spurs are muddling along (by their own standards, anyway) and waiting for Manu Ginobili to get healthy. If he does, they can beat anyone.

They are not intimidated by the Lakers or by having to win on the road. They’ve added a couple nice pieces this season (Roger Mason has been a pleasant surprise) and they still have the mental toughness that no one outside of LA possesses. And, don’t forget, this is an odd-numbered year and the only odd-numbered year in the last decade that the Spurs didn’t win was 2001.

San Antonio has been on a roll since New Years (20-9) and has shown some signs of late that its trademark, lockdown defense, is coming back. There’s no one that really figured out how to contain Tony Parker and the Fabulous Frenchman is having a terrific season. The Spurs have realigned a bit; Bruce Bowen now comes off the bench and coach Gregg Popovich finally found a use for long-range gunner Matt Bonner.

Gooden’s arrival had some around the league scratching their heads, for he’s not exactly known for his defense (although he does rebound.) But the Celtics would have taken Gooden in a heartbeat had they not had health concerns (Doc Rivers coached Gooden in Orlando.) These guys came within a horrible call last year of knotting the Western Conference Finals at 2-2. Dismiss them at your own peril.


Utah

No team is hotter than the Jazz. And it wasn’t until the team played its 57th game of the season – on Feb. 23 - that coach Jerry Sloan could submit his anticipated starting lineup to the stat crew. When Carlos Boozer played early in the season, either Deron Williams or Mehmet Okur was out. Boozer then went on the shelf for 44 games, but has returned with a vengeance. He had 20 points and 17 rebounds in a recent win over the Rockets.

Sloan has the versatile if occasionally goofy Andrei Kirilenko coming off the bench along with rebounding machine Paul Millsap and sharpshooter Kyle Korver. The Jazz went 20-9 after the All-Star break last season to take the fifth seed in the West. They went into Friday night’s game against Denver – at home – having won nine in a row, eight of them coming after the All-Star break.

They are getting healthy at the right time and if they can stay that way, they have the pieces to not only take the division, but to make things interesting in the playoffs. There’s also the added incentive of winning it for Larry Miller, the longtime Jazz owner who died on Feb. 20. He had his moments, but he had a passion for the Jazz and kept that franchise alive.

Houston

The wild card if, for no other reason, the Knucklehead Factor (read: Ron Artest.) The Rockets definitely don’t seem to mind at all that Tracy McGrady has packed it in for the season and they got rid of another potential disruption in trading away Rafer Alston, who can be a royal pain in the you-know-where (don’t take my word for it, just ask Sam Mitchell.) That’s 40 percent of the regular starting lineup gone and, until losing to red-hot Utah last Wednesday, the Rockets had won eight of nine.

One league exec called Houston “the fly in the ointment” for what looms as their untapped (and unknown) potential. They have Yao Ming and no one else does. Artest can defend, but he’s, well, Artest. Coach Rick Adelman has several outside shooters at his disposal, including Aaron Brooks, who has taken over for Alston.

The short-term goal for Houston is simply to get out of the first round. Yao has never done that. But if they do and get some momentum going, they present some headaches for anyone. If only they could play the playoffs in February; Houston has now gone two straight years without losing a home game in the month.

New Orleans

A couple weeks ago, it looked like the bottom might fall out on the Hornets and they’d be the odd team out in the West. But with Tyson Chandler returning (at least for now) and Chris Paul continuing to dazzle (27 points and 15 assists on Thursday night), New Orleans has won six straight and is back in the picture again.

They still need to get Peja Stojakovic rolling so he can be the much-needed third scorer behind Paul and the most unappreciated good player in the league, David West. But even with a full deck, does New Orleans have enough to overtake the Lakers in a seven-game series without the homecourt advantage?

They had LA beat recently in a game at the Staples Center before a dumb play cost them the victory in overtime. The addition of James Posey may not be statistically significant (or quantifiable), but he is a big guy when the money games are on the line. Just ask the good folks in Boston or Miami.

The Lakers still loom large, however, but, as David Stern likes to say, that’s why they play the games. But if Andrew Bynum comes back healthy, you might ask yourself, ‘why bother?’

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Ginobili unable to get on court; return on hold
Ginobili unable to get on court; return on hold
By Mike Monroe

That two-to-three week projection for Manu Ginobili’s return from a stress reaction in his right ankle likely will be extended.

The injured Spurs star continues to be limited to off-the-court rehabilitation work, and it appears unlikely he will return until mid-March.

Thursday marked two weeks since the Spurs guard was diagnosed with the injury and told he would miss two to three weeks.

“He’s on the bike for the next three, four or five days,” coach Gregg Popovich said before the Spurs defeated the Washington Wizards 100-78, at the AT&T Center, “and we’ll see how that goes and test him along the way, see how sore he is and see how that feels. But he’s definitely not on the floor yet.”

Ginobili has not played since Feb. 11, when he scored 32 points in the Spurs’ final game before the All-Star break, a 91-89 loss at Toronto.

Taking a cautious approach: Popovich said new Spurs forward Drew Gooden, who was signed to a contract Thursday, won’t suit up for about a week to make certain his strained groin is fully healed.

“We want to make sure he’s in shape and solid that way,” Popovich said.

Gooden had declared himself ready to play when he met the media Thursday afternoon. He soon discovered the Spurs are one of the NBA’s more cautious teams when it comes to dealing with injuries.

“It’s a little bit of everything: getting acclimated and the injury,” Gooden said. “I’ve been on some teams where, when I’ve been traded to them, they wanted me to play right off the bat. I was always up for that, but I think the smart thing to do is take some time here and let me get really comfortable and test out this injury and get in shape with the team and see where I am then.”

Gooden tweaked his groin Feb. 25 against the Charlotte Bobcats. The injury occurred in the only game he played for the Sacramento Kings following a Feb. 18 trade from the Chicago Bulls.

“I feel a whole lot better than I did last week,” he said. “That’s a great sign. I’m looking forward to practice tomorrow as much as I can.”

Gooden enjoyed watching his new teammates in their easy victory over the Wizards.

“First time I’ve won by that amount in a long while,” he said. “When Timmy (Duncan) has the numbers he had tonight (five points and five rebounds), and you still win, that says something about your team.”

Popovich, finally breaking his silence about Gooden, gave his scouting report on his new player: “He brings us professionalism and good shooting. Obviously, he’s a good scorer. He’s got a good body and he’s not afraid to use it, so it gives us good added depth by playoff time.”

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Seed least of Spurs' concerns
Seed least of Spurs' concerns
By Mike Monroe

The Spurs never worry much about playoff seeding.

That is because Gregg Popovich understands, better than most, that when, and even where, you meet a particular opponent in the postseason is not as important as how you are playing when the matchup arrives. And nothing matters nearly as much as the health of your players.

“I know, for a fact, the years we won the championships, we were 100 percent healthy,” Popovich said this week.

If you wonder why the Spurs always err on the side of injury caution, there's your answer.

The most amazing aspect of the Spurs' run to the 2008 Western Conference finals?

They got there with Manu Ginobili able to play no more than two-thirds of his frenetic game on an ankle that later required surgery.

Popovich reported Friday that Ginobili needs every bit of the two-to-three week projected recovery time for a stress reaction in his right ankle — and probably a few days longer. That's consistent with Popovich's core belief: The regular season is little more than a process-enabling pursuit of perfecting defensive principles that make the Spurs a potential champion.

“We're a team that understands we've got to be one of the two or three best defensive teams in the league to win a championship, or it won't happen,” Popovich said. “Whether Manu is there, or not, doesn't change that basic understanding and belief.”

Popovich seems moderately amazed that the Spurs go into today's game against the Suns with the second-best record in the West in a season in which Ginobili already has missed 23 games.

“He is a player who definitely wins X number of games a year in some way, shape or form that no one can anticipate,” Popovich said. “We don't have that athleticism he gives us, and that wild card. That's where he affects the team, but not the basic philosophy.”

Drew Gooden declared himself fit, and ready to play, within hours of arriving in San Antonio on Thursday to sign on with his new team. Then the power forward met with Popovich and discovered that Spurs players aren't rushed into action when injuries might be aggravated.

He will spend most of this week getting treatment on his strained groin and learning the basics of the Spurs' offense.

Gooden should be ready for his Spurs debut about the same time Ginobili comes off the inactive list. Then the Spurs will try to readjust to playing with Ginobili at the same time they learn to play with a new teammate, and this is what is fundamentally different about this season.

Popovich knows it.

“That's actually something we've thought about,” he said, referring to Ginobili's reintroduction. “Matt Bonner and George Hill and Roger Mason (Jr.) don't have a good feel for the way (Ginobili) plays. When he comes back in, I think that's going to be somewhat of an adjustment for us.”

Popovich typically has his playoff rotation set before mid-March, but last week he slid Mason back into a part-time role as his backup point guard, and this is different, too.

When Gooden is ready to play, Popovich will have to fiddle with the rotation among his big men.

None of it will matter much if everyone is healthy for the first playoff game, not even where the Spurs are seeded in the Western Conference.

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Udoka, Vaughn earn minutes, praise
Udoka, Vaughn earn minutes, praise
By Jeff McDonald

By his own admission, Ime Udoka's second season with the Spurs hasn't quite gone as planned.

After earning a spot in coach Gregg Popovich's rotation toward the end of last season, and getting steady minutes during last year's playoff run, Udoka expected to be playing more than he has this season. Lost in a crowded wing situation, Udoka has appeared in just 46 games this season, and until recently, had been playing only in mop-up duty.

“I've been a little inconsistent,” Udoka said. “It's something I'm working on every day, so I can continue to contribute. All it takes is one game with Pop, and you'll be back in the mix.”

Udoka can only hope his most recent outing was that game. In 26 minutes of the Spurs' 100-78 blowout of Washington on Friday, Udoka scored 13 points, making 5 of 9 field goals and 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

It was Udoka's longest stint since Nov. 21 against Utah, which — perhaps not coincidentally — marked the last time he had cracked double digits in the scoring column.

After the game, Popovich praised the Boy Scout-like readiness of Udoka and Jacque Vaughn, a frequent denizen of the inactive list who had appeared in only 21 games before Friday.

“You'll find them in the gym before practice, after practice, just being really professional and earning their pay,” Popovich said. “Not sulking or anything like that because they don't have the minutes they want. It's a real joy to be around people like that.”

On the wall: Newly acquired forward Drew Gooden already has his photo hanging on the wall in the hallway that leads to the Spurs' locker room, but he isn't wearing silver and black.

Gooden is depicted in the background in two shots from the 2007 NBA Finals, in which the Spurs swept his Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0.

“I heard there were a couple of them on that wall,” said Gooden, who spent parts of four seasons with the Cavs from 2004-08. “There's one where there were some balls laid up on me, from Tony (Parker) to Fabricio (Oberto), to me getting my shot blocked. I said, ‘Man, my picture is already up.'”

Gooden's memories of that Finals series are bittersweet.

“I just remember finally making it to the pinnacle of basketball, the NBA Finals, and having the opportunity to play in the Finals,” he said. “And even though we got swept, I left everything out on that court all those four games. I left it out there.”

Crash course: Gooden stayed late after Saturday's practice to walk through the Spurs' offensive sets under the direction of assistant coach Mike Budenholzer. Rookies George Hill and Malik Hairston hung around to lend a hand, with a pair of Spurs staffers filling out the fivesome.

Popovich has said he plans to give Gooden time to adapt to his new team's system before putting him out on the floor.

“We've got a lot of stuff and run a lot of different things, so it's going to take a lot of time for him to kind of catch up,” forward Tim Duncan said. “We'll put in a smaller package for him, some basic stuff, just so he knows what's going on.”

[ATHENEA]

Western Wrangling: NBA playoff seeds
Western Wrangling: NBA playoff seeds
By Mike Monroe
As we begin the final six weeks of the regular season, most NBA teams have 19, 20 or 21 games remaining, roughly one-quarter of the 82-game schedule.

In 23 seasons of covering the NBA, I can’t recall a tighter race than the one for playoff seeding in the Western Conference.

The Lakers have turned the race for the No. 1 seed into a runaway, but the seven teams bunched behind the Lakers — sort of like the field behind Secretariat in the great thoroughbred’s Triple Crown races — are separated by only 41/2 games.

The Spurs have been second for the past month, but coming into today there five teams were within three games of them.

Here is an inside look at the remaining schedules of the seven teams chasing Kobe Bryant and Co.:

Spurs (41-20)
- Home games: 12
- Home vs. plus-.500: 7
- Road Games: 9
- Road vs. plus-.500: 4
- Back-to-backs: 4
- Lakers factor: Once more, at home.

Nuggets (40-23)
- Home games: 11
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 2
- Road Games: 8
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 5
- Back-to-backs: 4
- Lakers factor: Once more, on road.

Rockets (40-23)
- Home games: 9
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 6
- Road Games: 10
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 7
- Back-to-backs: 3
- Lakers factor: Twice more, home and road.

Hornets (40-22)
- Home games: 8
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 6
- Road Games: 12
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 5
- Back-to-backs: 3
- Lakers factor: No more games

Jazz (39-23)
- Home games: 7
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 2
- Road games: 13
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 10
- Back-to-backs: 6
- Lakers factor: Once more, on road.

Trail Blazers (39-23)
- Home games: 10
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 6
- Road games: 10
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 4
- Back-to-backs: 3
- Lakers factor: Twice more, both at home.

Mavericks (38-25)
- Home games: 9
- Home vs. Plus-.500: 7
- Road games: 10
- Road vs. Plus-.500: 6
- Back-to-backs: 3
- Lakers factor: Once more, on road.

[ATHENEA]

NBA Power rankings: March 8, 2009
NBA Power rankings: March 8, 2009
By Mike Monroe TOP 10

(Last week’s rank in parentheses)

1. Lakers (1): First to 50 wins. Next? “We’d like to be the first to win 60, basically,” says Zen Master Phil.

2. Celtics (3): Beating Cavs with Garnett out qualifies as more than a statement game.

3. Cavaliers (2): Their secret weapon in luring Joe Smith: Mo Williams is Smith’s best friend and musical collaborator.

4. Jazz (9): They haven’t lost since Boozer’s return — 10 straight wins in which Deron Williams has had at least 10 assists.

5. Hornets (8): Spurs have had three alley-oop dunks all season. Tyson Chandler had three in one quarter vs. Dallas.

6. SPURS (6): Adding Gooden provides a new dimension for playoffs, but extending Ginobili’s absence is a worry.

7. Rockets (5): Yao takes offense at getting called for so many offensive fouls, says NBA has too many floppers.

8. Nuggets (4): Blowing a 19-point lead in Utah will haunt them when they lose division champ seed to Jazz by season’s end.

9. Magic (7): Stan Van Gundy, on Shaq rant that Van Gundy is a flop: “He’s dealt with this like he’s dealt with everything else.”

10. Trail Blazers (10): They still can’t win big games on the road. Loss to Nuggets in Denver latest disappointment.

THE REST

11. Hawks (13)
12. Heat (14)
13. Mavericks (11)
14. Suns (12)
15. Pistons (19)
16. Bobcats (20)
17. Bulls (18)
18. Nets (20)
19. Bucks (17)
20. 76ers (15)
21. Warriors (22)
22. Knicks (21)
23. Thunder (27)
24. Pacers (23)
25. Raptors (24)
26. Wizards (26)
27. Grizzlies (28)
28. Clippers (25)
29. Kings (29)
30. Timberwolves (30)

[Dasher]

Originally Posted by ATHENEA

Bloggish piece
Suns vs Spurs - Game
Suns vs Spurs - Game Preview
by PanamaSun
The Suns are in a dark place right now

[ATHENEA]

hahahhaha

[ATHENEA]

Suns crumble late, dumped by Spurs
Suns crumble late, dumped by Spurs
By Paul Coro
SAN ANTONIO - Four-game road trip, four games out of playoff position.

The Suns completed a winless four-game trip through Florida and Texas by closing the journey against San Antonio much like it started in Orlando, losing a fourth-quarter lead with an uncharacteristic silent spell of offense in a 103-98 loss Sunday afternoon at AT&T Center.

Like in Orlando, the Suns led briefly again with seven-plus minutes to go after coming back from an 11-point third quarter hole. But Phoenix missed four shots and made three of its eight turnovers on the next seven possessions to get behind by 10 again, leaving the Suns to make another mad scramble just to have a chance to win
The Suns pulled within three points on three occasions in the final three minutes but never go the stop that would give them a shot to tie the game. The Spurs made their final four shots, three of which came in the paint to send the Suns to their fourth consecutive loss and a four-game gap behind eighth-place Dallas in the Western Conference playoff race.

The Suns had not lost every game on a four-game road trip since 2004-05 but they had a lot more leeway then, when Phoenix was 31-4 before the skid. Now the Suns have to beat Dallas at home Tuesday to get back within two games and give themselves a chance at winning the head-to-head series tiebreak with Dallas, should it even come into play.

Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter for his fourth 30-point game in the past eight games. Parker had help picking up the scoring load with Manu Ginobili still a week away from returning. Parker added nine assists, helping Roger Mason to his 18 points while Tim Duncan won the post battle with Shaquille O'Neal with a 17-point, 15-rebound game. O'Neal was 6 of 16 from the field for 14 points and had five rebounds for the second consecutive game. Nash was 10 of 22 from the field, a game after needing to take 27 shots in Houston. He led the Suns in scoring with 23 points for a third consecutive game and added 11 assists.

The Suns only committed eight turnovers, just as they only had seven in a Jan. 29 loss to San Antonio at home. But Phoenix only shot 44.4 percent while San Antonio shot 50 percent.

The Suns, trying to be the first visiting team to ever win four regular-season games in a row at AT&T Center, were off a normal start Sunday when they were tied at 30 with San Antonio after the first quarter. Phoenix only made 13 of 27 first-quarter shots with O'Neal going 1 for 5 against Duncan but the Suns also made only one turnover.

Suns forward Grant Hill defended Parker from the tip-off and the Spurs point guard was held in check. San Antonio had an 11-2 run on the Suns when Nash was out but Phoenix quickly wiped that out when he and Hill returned. Three minutes later, consecutive scores by Nash had the game tied at 45-45 with 5:19 to go in the half.

The Suns missed their final 11 shots of the first half as the Spurs closed it on a 13-0 run with the first nine coming from Parker or Duncan. Although the last one was a half-court shot, half of the other 10 Suns consecutive misses were in the lane. Nash missed five of the first seven, as he took an uncharacteristic high number of shots for the fourth consecutive game (27 vs. Houston, 17 vs. Miami, 14 vs. Houston).

The hole remained deep nearly midway through the third quarter when the Spurs led 65-54. But an 8-0 Phoenix run quickly made the Suns a threat again. All that took was three stops but the Spurs ran off five consecutive scores and survived a Parker-less by getting a late Roger Mason 3-pointer for a 78-74 lead at the end of the third.

With Louis Amundson on Duncan and Parker out of the game, the Suns held San Antonio without a field goal early in the fourth quarter until Barbosa rebounded his own miss with Amundson's help and took it outside for a 3-pointer that tied the game at 79-79 with 9:15 to go.

The Suns even led, 82-81, with 7:42 to play on Hill's first 3-pointer since Jan. 23 but did not score for the next four minutes and never got a shot to tie again after that 11-0 Spurs run.

[ATHENEA]

Parker helps Spurs down Suns | News | NHL | TheScore.com
Parker helps Spurs down Suns

San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tony Parker had a game-best 30 points and doled out nine assists to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 103-98 win over the struggling Phoenix Suns at the AT&T Center.

Tim Duncan added 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won two in a row and three of four overall. Roger Mason donated 18 points in the win, while Michael Finley and Ime Udoka ended with 11 points apiece.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili missed his 11th straight game with a stress reaction of his distal right fibula.

Steve Nash chipped in 23 points and 11 helpers for the Suns, who concluded a four-game road trip at 0-4. Leandro Barbosa gave 20 points and Jason Richardson 15 in defeat. Shaquille O'Neal and Matt Barnes scored 14 and 13, respectively.

Grant Hill's three gave Phoenix a one-point lead, but Parker hit two jumpers and Finley had a basket to give the home team an 87-82 lead midway through the fourth. Moments later, Finley hit a three and Parker nailed a jumper to give the Spurs a 92-82 cushion with 4:20 left to play.

Barbosa answered with a 2-for-2 performance at the line, Nash followed with a three and Barnes hit two foul shots to make it a three-point game, 92-89, with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

The teams traded baskets and Finley's long-range jumper made it 98-93. Nash then missed a three-pointer on Phoenix' ensuing possession, which led to Parker's layup that ballooned San Antonio's lead to 100-93 with 26.9 ticks left.

Barbosa hit a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but the visitors failed to get any closer.

The clubs played to a 30-30 tie after the first quarter, and the Spurs opened a 58-45 lead at the break.

Nash's jumper, two buckets from O'Neal and Richardson's layup cut it to 65-62 with just under 5 1/2 minutes left in the third frame.

After the Spurs built up a lead, consecutive threes from Barbosa and Richardson made it a one-point game. However, Mason nailed a three-pointer late to make it 78-74 in favor of San Antonio heading into the final 12 minutes.

Barbosa hit a three-pointer about three minutes into the fourth frame to knot things up at 79-79.

Game Notes

The Spurs moved to 2-0 on a four-game homestand and 22-8 as the host this year. San Antonio will also welcome the Bobcats and Lakers to the Alamo City...The Suns are 15-18 as the visitor this season...San Antonio went 3-1 against Phoenix this season and is 15-7 in the previous 22 meetings in the series. Phoenix, though, had won its last three contests in the Alamo City.

[ATHENEA]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?...=ESPNHeadlines
Parker clinches victory with late push as Spurs add to Suns' road woes
SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and the San Antonio Spurs sent the sliding Phoenix Suns home winless on their four-game road swing with a 103-98 victory Sunday.Parker punctuated his fourth 30-point game in his last seven outings with a win-cinching runner with 26.2 seconds left. The Suns dropped further back in the Western Conference playoff picture with about a month remaining in the regular season.

Tim Duncan scored 17 points and helped hold Shaquille O'Neal to 14, his lowest total in his past five games. Shaq had averaged nearly 30 in his previous four outings.

Roger Mason had 18 points for the Spurs and Michael Finley had 11, eight of which came in the fourth.

Steve Nash led the Suns with 23 points and 11 assists. Leandro Barbosa had 20 points off the bench and hit all four of his 3-point attempts.

The loss wrapped up a rough week for the Suns. They return home after an 0-4 road trip that left Phoenix -- which looked rejuvenated as recently as a week ago -- now four games behind Dallas for the final playoff spot in the West.

What started with a loss in Orlando that begat a weeklong "Flop Flap" between Shaq and Magic coach Stan Van Gundy ended with Phoenix limping through one of its worst slides this season.

The Suns also fell to 6-6 under new coach Alvin Gentry after going 6-2 in the weeks after Phoenix fired Terry Porter during the All-Star break. The four consecutive losses tie a season high for the Suns.

The Suns have the Mavericks coming to town Tuesday before hosting East-leading Cleveland on Thursday.

Phoenix cut a 13-point halftime deficit to four to start the third quarter behind eight points from Shaq, who picked up his fourth foul with 4:05 left after sending Parker to the floor. Phoenix continued clawing back in the fourth and took an 82-81 lead with 7 : 40 to go when Grant Hill knocked down an open 3-pointer from the corner.

A layup by Parker and a jumper from Finley put San Antonio back ahead 85-82. Parker then pushed the lead to five on a jumper drained right in front of the Phoenix bench.

The final blow came with 26.9 seconds left, when Parker rolled inside and flipped up an arching one-handed jumper to put San Antonio ahead 100-93.

George Hill added 11 off the bench for San Antonio. Matt Barnes had 13 for Phoenix.

The Spurs have won two straight to hold a narrow lead over Houston and New Orleans in the Southwest Division. The Los Angeles Lakers visit San Antonio on Thursday in the last regular season meeting of the West's top teams.

San Antonio may not be able to test new addition Drew Gooden against the Lakers. Gooden, signed by the Spurs this week after buying out his contract in Sacramento, continues to sit out with a groin injury that has limited him to just two games since Jan. 19.

Game notes
The Suns got a kick out of watching an early 1990s video of a boyish and comparatively lithe O'Neal, who attended high school in San Antonio. "It looks like the new Shaq ate that Shaq," Gentry quipped before the game. ... Gregg Popovich said recent tests on Manu Ginobili's injured right ankle showed signs of healing but that his star sixth man will still likely sit out another one or two weeks. Ginobili has missed 11 consecutive games.

Fast Facts

• With the win, the Spurs clinched their 12th consecutive winning season.

• Tony Parker has scored more than 30 points in four of his last eight games.

• The Suns ended their four-game road trip 0-4 and have now lost five of their last seven games.

[ATHENEA]

Drew Gooden: Gets in Extra Work With Spurs
Drew Gooden: Gets in Extra Work With Spurs - 3/8/2009 3:42:22 PM

Update:
Gooden (groin) stayed late after practice Saturday to walk through the Spurs' offensive sets, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

Recommendation:
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich plans to give Gooden some time to adapt before putting him on the floor. "We've got a lot of stuff and run a lot of different things, so it's going to take a lot of time for him to kind of catch up," forward Tim Duncan said. "We'll put in a smaller package for him, some basic stuff, just so he knows what's going on."

[ATHENEA]

San Antonio Sterns mentioned
Setting Suns (A lament on those setting Phoenix Suns)
Setting Suns (A lament on those setting Phoenix Suns)
By Rick Olivares
It’s a pain watching these Phoenix Suns. Sure they can dunk some, but they somehow don’t fit the description. Time was these used to run teams ragged, now they resort to knocking Dwyane Wade on his butt when he tries to dunk on them.

The Suns of Sir Charles, KJ, Thunder Dan and Richard Dumas (where art thou?) played exciting ball. And they knew drama (see Rex Chapman’s buzzer beaters and the Round Mound’s game winner over the Admiral). Hey, they ran too even if Oliver Miller competed with Sir Charles for the record number of doughnuts eaten during a Paul Westphal time-out.

And they made like the Roadrunner when Starbury and J-Kidd were running the show. Read it and weep—they RAN the SHOW. But it was when Mike D’Antoni blew into town that hoops fans were served a way more palatable version of Paul Westhead’s Denver Nuggets.

For once, it wasn’t about the dunk. It was all about how they scored in the quickest possible and most ingenious way. It was never about who scored but the degree of excitement and difficulty when the team put the ball in the hoop. It wasn’t Stockton-to-Malone but five guys running the ball and pass-touching the ball like it was the plague.

They were the highway stars. They were like DC Comics’ plethora of speedsters: the Flash, Impulse, Max Mercury, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick and the Tornado Twins.

It was hoops in a track meet and they…got the job done faster than Usain Bolt did.

And had they won (no thanks to some terrible officiating that gave the match to the San Antonio Sterns), they would have changed the way basketball is played forever.

Prior to that, the defensive mentality that wormed itself into every coach’s playbook when the Detroit Pistons were champs became a team’s calling card. Defense won championships and, well, it still does. But does anyone want to watch the San Antonio Spurs again? Okay, the proof is in the record books because they won their Larry O’Briens.

So the Suns traded the excitement for bad comedy, and it seems like they went the way of the Sacramento Kings of the early 2000s. Sure they still have Nash, the Blur and STAT, but they’re like jitterbugs in a Pension House with Over the Hill with a Big Cactus who’s a roadblock along Thunder Road.

So J-Rich and Matt Barnes are the solution? Gawd. Let’s not confuse one exciting postseason of these sucky G-State Warriors with the immortal Run-TMC.

Hard for Phoenix to sustain the run and gun so they were running on empty?

Steve Kerr has turned the Suns into his version of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the early ’90s when they had Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance, Hot Rod Williams (who joined the Suns later), the poor man’s Michael Jordan in Ron Harper, the punching bag of Michael Jordan in Craig Ehlo, and one Kerr-ent GM who was successful when laying off for a three from a pass by Michael Jordan (and Scottie Pippen).

You know—Walk it up. Run on occasion. Dunk when the spirit moves them. Win some games here and there.

But all things come to pass. Like the brownie chocolate mocha of Starbucks. See, you don’t even remember?

Yet, I remember when C-Webb, White Chocolate, the Serbian Sniper, Bobby Jax, Hedo and Vlade were The Show in town. And you thought that Los Angeles trademarked Showtime?

The Magic Man was the Maestro who ran the Lake Show. When Norm Nixon was exiled to the Clippers he was Alan Menken doing Disney scores without Howard Ashman. It was still plenty good, but somehow it wasn’t the same. Yet, still, that was good enough to win them more titles and make the Finals. Hey, Menken turned up a fantastic soundtrack for Enchanted!

But the Lake Show is now the sole property of Big Chief Triangle. The passing is still nifty but if you want to talk run and gun let’s go up northwest to Portland or—Holy Guacamole—New York.

Aww. But them Sacramento Kings...they had gifted passers in Divac, Webber, Williams, Jackson, Turkoglu, Stojakovic and Doug Christie, who was my fave playa on the squad that Rick Adelman had nothing to do with. All he did was let them out of the gates. And after a while, he sent White Chocolate away for Mike Bibby, and soon, one by one, they were gone. Well, they had a young Gerald Wallace in harness, but the dunk is the cherry topping here.

Sacto was exacto with the pass. The modern-day Harlem Globetrotters. They came. They dared. They entertained. They lost to the Lakers.

And the Suns were natural-born heirs to the Kings, who were forced to abdicate their throne. There was D’Antoni—God bless him, I say—who was Top Boss. In the mix was Raja, the Matrix, Casa and the Man called Boris. They were the Theater in the Desert. Because of their early success, they were able to take down Barkley’s picture in their team HQ when he criticized them for poor defense. They didn’t need yesterday ’coz they were next.

However, these Suns, unlike General Sta. Ana, could not storm the Alamo. And Sir Charles’ shadow still looms large.

The run and gun is a side-show freak. Unfortunately, they don’t last long as Coney Island’s Freak Show, which has been around since forever like Eak the Freak. Fastbreaks don’t translate into championships because come playoff time, opponents play you tougher. And after a long 82-game grind, the injuries pile up.

And the sun has set in Phoenix.

The fastbreak highlight is good for Sportscenter, but whoever said Sportscenter was good for the game? It has instead spawned generations of ballers who thought that the dunk = success. At the end of it all, they’ve become Harold Miner. Or the US team that got trounced by Argentina and Greece.

Or the agile big man like C-Webb who clearly wasn’t the answer in Philly.

Enjoy it now because after a while, these Knicks (unless D’Antoni has anything to say about it) and these Blazers will walk it up.

I’ll bet that will happen...in seven seconds or less.

[ATHENEA]

FOX Sports on MSN - NBA - Quest for excellence includes X-factors
Quest for excellence includes X-factors
by Randy Hill
While the Most Valuable Player derby conveniently intersects with the NBA championship quest, the league's middle class is being summoned.

This does not suggest that attainment of ultimate basketball glory will be had without astonishing contributions from our superheroes. The Cleveland Cavaliers, for example, probably aren't going very far if LeBron James fails to walk the chalk.

And we realize all things in Los Angeles flow from Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard leads the Panic Attack in Orlando, ubuntu is a fine concept that can't replace Kevin Garnett's defensive commitment in Boston, and Chris Paul has managed to remain more important in New Orleans than RuPaul.

But any NBA Finals reckoning usually requires a timely performance or two from league employees without (for now, at least) superstar portfolio. Less appreciative observers often refer to these grinders as "role players."

We like to call them "X-Factors."

Our list of seeming title contenders will offer players who may seem like obvious X-Factor candidates and others who may occupy a more realistic space in the ongoing chase for the big trophy:

Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics

# Obvious X-Factor: Well, the Big Three — as a collective or sold separately — are eliminated from this category. They're Hall of Famers ... of course KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are important. But the Celtic who may have inspired immediate consideration is newcomer Stephon Marbury.

Unfortunately, Steph (especially after watching him struggle to bring the ball into the frontcourt against pressure from Detroit's Will Bynum) could be an X-Factor in reverse.

# Real X-Factor: Eddie House — and his potential for timely sniping — was a contender, but his lousy ballhandling requires someone else to dribble with the second unit. That would be Marbury, who — because Eddie is the size of a point guard — has to guard bigger guys, such as Detroit's Walter Hermann. Against Marbury, Hermann looked like Larry Bird after an MTV makeover.

How about Kendrick Perkins or Big Baby Davis? Nice candidates, but no.

Our winner is point guard Rajon Rondo, whose importance also seems obvious. But now we remind you that the Cs are unbeaten when Rondo scores 18 points or more. Here's a bit more ... Rajon, who's making 51 percent of his field-goal tries on the season, is an icy 38 percent in Boston's 14 losses.

This means Rondo attacking the rim and making teams pay for giving him that defensive cushion is fairly critical.

Cleveland Cavaliers

# Obvious X-Factor: No, Mo Williams is an All-Star. We already realize he has to bring it. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Andy Varejao and Joe Smith seem like reasonable picks, but Cleveland can survive if they're a healthy dose of marginal.

# Real X-Factor: Congratulations if you selected shooting guard Delonte West, who missed 17 games with that wounded wrist. OK, so the Cavs' winning percentage is about the same with or without West.

But Delonte's ability to make shots and earn big minutes means less time for backup Wally Szczerbiak, who's expiring contract is a lot easier to tolerate than his expose-able defense.

Orlando Magic

# Obvious X-Factor: Take a bow, Rafer Alston. With All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson on the goner list, it seems pretty safe to assume that acquiring Alston from Houston could produce a huge swing either way.

# Real X-Factor: Take a bow, Rafer Alston. Although he may set a bad precedent for old-school coaches (from And 1 Tour to the league), the schoolyard legend has the kind of pass-the-rock attitude that really blends with a team full of knock-down shooters and the league's bounciest center.

Orlando checks in at 6-2 since the deal for Alston, who is shooting a miserable 20 percent from 3 for the Magic and has produced a 15-percent drop in free-throw accuracy in his new uniform.

He'll need to make shots to keep defenders honest and help the Magic skip into the later rounds.

Western Conference

Los Angeles Lakers

# Obvious X-Factor: We're going plural again here, listing Lamar "Rollercoaster" Odom, Andrew Bynum and Andrew Bynum's knee. Sure, the Lakers are filthy when L.O. plays like a junkyard dog, and Bynum's importance near the rim isn't exactly a secret.

# Real X-Factor: The pick is small forward Trevor Ariza, whose length and quickness make him a nice defensive option against players such as, oh, Paul Pierce.

But Trevor needs to make open jumpers so we don't have to watch Luke Walton try too hard to prove he's a swell passer or get blistered on defense.

New Orleans Hornets

# Obvious X-Factor: We're going to pass on Tyson Chandler's ankle and his toe, although the toe was factor enough to keep him in New Orleans. Notice how the Hornets are pretty salty now that their 7-foot rebounder, shot-blocker and screen-roll lob dunker has returned? We'll also go thumbs down on James Posey ... that's way too obvious.

# Real X-Factor: The Hornets aren't bad with Peja Stojakovic missing more than 60 percent of his 3s. If Peja starts finding the range, Paul's driving lanes will be even wider.

Utah Jazz

Andrei Kirilenko is a suspect shooter, but his defense is key for Utah. (David Sherman/NBAE / Getty Images)

# Obvious X-Factor: Right, how will Paul Millsap perform after the return of Carlos Boozer (Paul, who's averaging 14 points per game, has slipped to 9 over the last four)? That's an important ingredient, but not the X-factor. We also like the fans in Salt Lake City, who are considered by many opposing coaches and players to be the least hospitable in the NBA.

# Real X-Factor: We're going with Andrei Kirilenko, who — if he remembers that his role is defensive stopper — has the ability to do for Utah what Bowen has done for San Antonio.

San Antonio Spurs

# Obvious X-Factor: Roger Mason Jr. and Matt Bonner would be fine choices and may qualify as real X-Factors by the end of the playoff run. Rookie point guard George Hill has been a fine sub for Tony Parker, but just may lose playoff minutes to veteran Jacque Vaughn.

# Real X-Factor: In a conference loaded with gifted wing players, playing on a team that puts a premium on defense, someone who can help create a stop during a game's crucial stage is X-Factor enough for us. On this team, it's Bruce Bowen, whose diminishing minutes may require something like a timely, bench-clearing shove to create sufficient impact for the Spurs to advance.

Denver Nuggets

# Obvious X-Factor: Well, Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony must play well for the Nuggets to prevail, but they're considered stars. We suppose fine inside play from Nene would seem like an easy pick for X-Factor duty, but go ahead and exhale on this guy.

# Real X-Factor: In keeping with the theme of guarding top-notch wing players when the chips are down, our choice is sub Renaldo Balkman, the player immortalized by Isiah Thomas, who selected him for the New York Knicks with a first-round pick. Balkman's on-ball defensive chops have been made by attempting to prevent teammate J.R. Smith from shooting in practice.

Portland Trail Blazers

# Obvious X-Factor: You really want us to go with Greg Oden, don't ya? Well, we're holding out for a guy we're expecting to see in uniform. Jerryd Bayless seems viable, but may not play enough down the stretch.

# Real X-Factor: Steve Blake was another tempting choice, but Travis Outlaw, the scoring option playing small forward off the Blazers' bench, can give Portland a portion of the scoring punch it was hoping to acquire before the trading deadline without the franchise-killing contract.

Houston Rockets

# Obvious X-Factor: If you're turning cartwheels over those plus-minus stats, then Shane Battier is your man. But not in this listing.

# Real X-Factor: Now that Rafer Alston is out of town, Aaron Brooks is the man at point guard. We're happy the guy is a superior scorer to the player he replaced, but Brooks can really make Rockets fans giddy if he gets others involved on offense when it matters and uses his quickness to stay in front of the opposing point guard on defense.

[crospur]

Originally Posted by ATHENEA

On this team, it's Bruce Bowen, whose diminishing minutes may require something like a timely, bench-clearing shove to create sufficient impact for the Spurs to advance.

That's such a stupid comment...

[spurs fan removed]

Yeah but the Suns teams of Barkley, J-Kidd, etc and the Kings teams won nothing. What a craptacular article.