Weekly Essentials: Spurs, Lakers hit road with Hornets atop West

This season's Western Conference race has been dominated by one surprise after another, from Portland's unlikely 13-game winning streak to New Orleans' bizarre rise to the top, overcoming the NBA's second-lowest home attendance thanks to a 16-5 road record.

Strangely, the next packed house at New Orleans Arena that Byron Scott coaches in front of probably won't come until Feb. 17. If his Hornets don't give up the Southwest Division lead to Dallas this week, he will be in his familiar spot on the home sideline at the helm of the Western Conference All-Stars.

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will play nine road games in 15 days leading up to the All-Star break. (Getty Images)

No one saw that coming.

In fact, two weeks ago, you would have gotten much better odds on San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers reaching Feb. 3 with the West's top mark. Instead, both depart on season-long nine-game road trips this week, with the goal now being simply to keep pace in a tightly packed race where the difference between the conference's third-best record and finishing ninth and missing the playoffs is just two games.

If an extended stay away from home is going to be a deal-breaker for either of these teams, history tells us it won't be the defending champs that are done in.

The Spurs have been forced out of the building now known as the AT&T Center every season since 2002-03 because of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. It's the only time the building gets stunk up, if you follow.

Over the years, Gregg Popovich has turned the experience into a rite of passage, using it as a time to get serious and focused on the task ahead. The philosophy has worked. Not only have Popovich's Spurs gone 29-10 on the trip over the past five years, they have won 75 percent of their regular-season games after returning to normalcy, proof of lessons learned. Chalk three championships up on the post-Alamo trip résumé, too.

On the other hand, L.A. hasn't had a trip of this length in 33 years and the NBA schedule-makers weren't gentle. While the Spurs will have 18 days to play their nine contests, starting Monday night against Utah, the Lakers will have only 15, beginning Thursday in Detroit. They are 6-14 on late January/early February excursions since Shaquille O'Neal left town, with no titles to speak of.

San Antonio's Brent Barry will likely miss the length of the trip with a calf strain, but aside from his absence, the Spurs are mostly at full strength. Tony Parker, who Popovich told the San Antonio Express-News has been limited by a bone spur in his left heel, will benefit from the trip.

"We'll be able to attack that foot with down time and keep him, so to speak, caged -- make him do whatever we want him to do every second," Popovich said. "It should be great for him."

The Lakers will be without center Andrew Bynum (knee) and Trevor Ariza (broken foot) and are expected to get Chris Mihm (Achilles') back late in the trip but will have to work him back in, likely limiting how effective he will be. Vladimir Radmanovic just got back from a sprained right ankle Sunday. As far as timing is concerned, this is about the worst possible time for L.A. to hit the road, in the midst of its largest slump of the season.

At least there won't be any games the Lakers won't be able to get up for on the first half of the trip. They open against a Pistons squad that makes no secret it turns it up a few notches for Kobe Bryant, follow it up the next night in Toronto, the team Bryant torched for 81 two years ago, then in Washington on Sunday for the boo-filled Kwame Brown reunion tour and visit New Jersey on Tuesday to see would-be point guard Jason Kidd.

Neither the Spurs nor Lakers will see their home fans until Feb. 19, in the first game out of the All-Star break. Considering how unlikely it is that both flourish on the road, expect one, if not both, to be left having to claw back into the playoff picture when they're finally able to unpack.

Team of the week: Orlando won a pair of home games last week on buzzer-beaters, knocking off the teams it is looking up at in the Eastern Conference when Rashard Lewis shot down Detroit and Hedo Turkoglu foiled Boston. The Magic look to have snapped out of a funk that saw them lose five of their first six in January, but are still struggling with turnovers and looking for consistent guard play.

Orlando can build on its current surge during a light slate this week, hosting Miami on Wednesday before a quick two-game weekend road swing through Philadelphia and Indiana. Turkoglu is the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, while Dwight Howard has an NBA-leading 40 double-doubles.

Team of the weak: The Heat snapped a 15-game losing streak Saturday, leaving the torch of futility with the Sonics, whose loss to Sacramento at the buzzer Sunday was its 14th straight. Popovich's Spurs visit Seattle on Tuesday and although they should be friendly toward former assistant P.J. Carlesimo off the court, don't count on them to be benevolent on it. Cleveland, visiting Thursday, beat the Sonics by 16 on Jan. 7, so it's likely Seattle will become the first team to go winless in a month this season. Seattle's next decent shot at victory will come Saturday night when New York visits.

Player to watch: New Jersey's Kidd denied a report that his agent had requested a trade on his behalf, but if things don't improve for his team soon, it will become increasingly likely that something will get done soon. The Nets carry a nine-game losing streak into the week after blowing a double-digit lead in Minnesota on Sunday and again find themselves outside the Eastern Conference's top eight.

Although he put together a triple-double in a weekend loss at Denver, Kidd seemed to wear down on his team's six-game Western swing, committing nearly four turnovers per game while being outplayed by Steve Nash, Baron Davis and Allen Iverson, among others. This might wind up being a make-or-break week for him as far as his future in New Jersey is concerned.

Showcases

• Joe Johnson still catches heat from Phoenix fans for wanting out in 2005, but did lead his team to a win there last season and returns for the third time Tuesday since leaving. Though the Hawks haven't reached the playoffs since his arrival, he has helped led them to the No. 7 spot in the East if the postseason started today and is a candidate to make his second consecutive All-Star appearance.

• Baron Davis engineered his departure from New Orleans in part because he couldn't get along with Scott, who insinuated Davis was loafing and milking injuries. The Hornets traded him to the Warriors, taking Chris Paul in the subsequent draft and have moved ahead nicely to the point they're at today. Because of Hurricane Katrina, Davis hasn't played a game in the Crescent City since, until Wednesday.

Davis has contributed heavily to rebuilding efforts, but will probably still get an icy reception. He has gone head-to-head with his eventual replacement five times, the last time in a 116-104 loss on Jan. 4. Paul has averaged 21 points and 8.6 assists in the showdowns, while Davis has managed 23.4 points and seven assists.

• Friday night is filled with reunions, highlighted by Jason Richardson's first appearance in the Bay Area in something other than a Warriors uniform. Peja Stojakovic is still beloved in Sacramento and will appear with the Hornets, while Sam Cassell returns to Minnesota with the Clippers, who acquired him for Marko Jaric back in 2005.

• The Knicks are making a full weekend out of the reunion theme. Zach Randolph will return to Portland, where his reception is expected to be mixed despite his 6,000-plus points in six seasons of service. Many fans associate him with the Jail Blazers era and are obviously thrilled with the direction the current team is headed. Saturday, Seattle natives Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson return home for the game with the Sonics and should boost attendance figures with all the tickets they have promised to buy.

•  On the eve of Super Bowl Sunday, China will have its basketball equivalent. Favorite sons Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian meet for the second time, this one on Chinese New Year. Between 100 million and 300 million in China tuned in for their first meeting in November. Saturday night's game is expected to eclipse that total. The China Daily expects it to be the most-watched basketball event in China until the Beijing Olympics.