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By Simon Fishler SportsLine NBA Editor |
Jan. 31, 2000
It's 40-plus games into the season and some old friends are back at square
one. The Jazz and the Spurs in the Midwest, and the Heat and Knicks in the
Atlantic are locked atop their divisions.
And that makes Sunday's slate crucial for each team: The Knicks entertain
their bitter rival, the Heat, at Madison Square Garden and the Jazz welcome the
Spurs to the Delta Center.
It's not so surprising to see the two teams in each division tied for first
place. It is, however, a bit of a shock that three of the teams (Heat, Spurs, Jazz) have struggled so much of late, especially with the division lead there for the taking.
In the Midwest, the Spurs have fumbled their way to a 14-13 record since
getting off to a 14-3 start. The Spurs are coming off an
embarrassing loss to Portland on Saturday in which they scored a season-low
67 points. They couldn't have been weaker down the stretch, missing 16 of
their last 17 shots as they scored just nine points in the fourth quarter.
The Spurs' lapse hasn't mattered, though, as Utah has been unable to distance
itself from its sputtering rival. The Jazz were especially shaky last week,
when they tripped three consecutive times, including a stunning 17-point loss
to Vancouver at the Delta Center.
Considering the strength of the Pacific Division (Portland, Lakers and
Sacramento all have equal or better records than San Antonio and Utah
going into the week), the winner of the Midwest could be the only team in the
division to earn homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The
top four seeds in the conference earn the home edge for the five-game
series.
Utah and San Antonio have split two games thus far, each winning on their
homecourt. They will face each other once more after this week -- on April 15
at San Antonio.
In the Atlantic battle, the Knicks and Heat will meet for the second time
this season. The Heat took the first game in Miami, some sort of catharsis
for a team that was dismissed so traumatically from the playoffs last year on
Allan Houston's runner at the buzzer. It was the second year in a row that
the Knicks had topped the Heat in a five-game first round series.
For these teams, so historically interwoven, it's no great
surprise that they are dead-even in the standings after the Knicks ran off
victories in five of seven games to catch Miami for the first time this
season.
"We got to go home and find our way back to playing solid, basic basketball.
We've got to find a lineup that works, right now this lineup doesn't work,"
Miami coach Pat Riley said after his team lost its third consecutive road
game (Indiana on Sunday) for the first time this season.
It's measuring up to be a couple of great divisional races. Add in Portland's
move on the Lakers of late in the Pacific Division (half-game out entering
the week), and the second half of the season looks to be some sort of fun for
NBA fans.
Game of the Day: Lakers at Spurs. Game features three-fifths of the starting
All-Star team for the Western Conference (Spurs' Tim Duncan and the Lakers'
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal), and they are two of the best defensive
teams in the league. So, why has each team struggled of late? -- the Lakers
have lost five of eight, and the Spurs' woes extend back further as they have
been playing .500 ball since December. ... Bryant could go wild in this one as
the Spurs' perimeter players are slowing (starting guards Mario Elie and
Avery Johnson are in their mid-30s), and Bryant is one of the quickest
players in the game -- if not the quickest. San Antonio has been hard to
beat at home, though, winning 17 of 21.
Keep an eye on: Indiana has been nearly unbeatable at the new Conseco
Fieldhouse, winning 18 of 20 games. Boston coach Rick Pitino's bunch doesn't
figure to have much of a chance in the unfriendly environs. ... Worst-in-the-West battle as
Warriors travel to the Staples Center to face the Clippers. Both teams are
already looking ahead to next season, or, more specifically, the NBA Draft
Lottery. ... It's a strange place to be for Karl Malone, the NBA's
third-leading scorer all-time with more than 30,000 points. He will not start
the All-Star game (Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett were voted as the West's
starting forwards) for the first time since the 1996-97 season, despite his
fat numbers (25.6 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 3.6 apg).
Game of the day: Minnesota at Washington. You think the Wizards' new coach might
be feeling a little pressure in his home debut with the Wizards? The last
coach, Gar Heard, only lasted a week after Michael Jordan became part
owner of the team and its president of basketball operations. This game against the Timberwolves won't be easy as Minnesota superstar Kevin Garnett has been playing at MVP level (23 ppg, 12 rpg, 4.7 apg) and the team had won 17 of 21 games going into the week to qualify as one of the biggest success stories over the last month.
Keep an eye on: The Heat have lost three consecutive road games going into this game against the Celtics, and are a 12-10 on the road for the season -- a sore subject for coach Pat Riley. Boston, meantime, is a strong 16-6 at
home. ... New Jersey needs this one against the Hawks to put an end to a
four-game losing streak.
Game of the day: Portland makes its one trip to Madison Square Garden this
season. As the NBA season careens past the midpoint, the teams look like
the strongest in each conference. Portland has beaten the Lakers two out of
three times in the East and was just a half-game behind L.A. in the Pacific
Division (and for the best record in the NBA ) at the top of the week. And
the Knicks had caught the Heat in the Atlantic and were the hottest team in
the conference. A Finals' matchup? It's way too early to tell, of course, but
it's not a bad call at this point.
Keep an eye on: Who needs Dennis Rodman? While the Mavericks reportedly have been flirting with the idea of signing the funky forward, they also have been putting together a nice winning stretch -- seven victories in nine games going into the week. As long as the Mavs keep winning, it's a good bet they won't bring on the potential chemistry disaster.
Game of the day: Utah at Lakers. No doubt L.A. will be thinking about its double overtime loss to the Jazz last week in which one of the least likely
players on the court made the biggest difference. Utah rookie Quincy Lewis
scored six points in the second overtime to lift the Jazz to the 105-101
victory at the Delta Center to overshadow huge performances from the stars on
each team. Shaq had 36 points and nine rebounds and Kobe Bryant had 26 points
and seven boards for the Lakers, while Utah's Karl Malone had 31 points and
13 rebounds and John Stockton nearly had his first career triple-double (18
points, 15 assists, nine rebounds). It was the third time the teams met this
season, and the first time either scored 100 points. The Lakers won the first
two games -- one on the road, one at home -- back in November.
Keep an eye on: Miami center Alonzo Mourning, the league's leader in
blocked shots (4.24 bpg), had a string of 64 consecutive games in
double-figures scoring, going into the week. ... Steve Smith returns to
Atlanta, where he spent the better part of five seasons with the Hawks. Smith
was traded to the Blazers for Isaiah Rider and Jim Jackson. The Portland
shooting guard is averaging 15.5 points, down from the 18.7 ppg he averaged last
season as the Hawks' leading scorer. Rider (22.7) and Jackson (17.8) are the
Hawks' leading scorers. ... Though the Sonics' Gary Payton is posting better
numbers (23.4 ppg, 8.6 apg, 6.2 rpg) than his Oakland pal Jason Kidd (15.9
ppg, 10 apg, seven rpg), it's the Suns point guard, along with Kobe Bryant who
will be in the starting backcourt for the West All-Stars in the Bay Area
contest on Feb. 13.
Game of the day: Raptors at Bucks. Two of the more up-and-down teams in the league during the first half of the season. Both are within striking distance of the Pacers in the Central Division and either could emerge in the division from the logjam of second-tier teams that includes Detroit and Charlotte. Each of those four teams were within 2 1/2 games of each other as the week got underway.
Keep an eye on: The Hawks-Cavaliers encounter matches two of the biggest disappointments in the East. Atlanta is off to its worst start in a couple decades. And eight games under .500 (Cleveland's status going into the week) wasn't exactly what the Cavaliers had in mind when they fired Mike Fratello and brought in Randy Wittman to coach the team. Cleveland can tag its
frustrating season on the girth of Shawn Kemp (shooting a career-low 40
percent from the field as he has lost his once explosive leaping ability) and
the loss of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas for the season to a foot injury --
again. The Hawks' problem? It's anybody's guess, but the clearest culprit
appears to be disastrous chemistry. ... Big game for the Nuggets hosting
Minnesota at the Pepsi Center where the club was a golden 16-8. Denver is on
the outskirts looking in on the playoff picture, but a win here helps it inch
back toward Midwest rival Minnesota.
Game of the day: Have to go with two: Heat at Knicks, and Spurs at Utah. What's the common denominator among these teams scrapping for the division leads? Uh, how about great defense. Each is among the top ten in the NBA in field-goal percentage allowed: Knicks, first, .408; Spurs, third, .418;
Miami, fifth, .422; Utah, ninth, .439. Same thing in points allowed: San
Antonio, second, 89.8; New York, third, 90.5; Utah, fourth, 91; Miami, sixth,
93.7. ... How seriously does Spurs superstar Tim Duncan take the Jazz? In the
team's last meeting (Spurs' 93-86 victory), Duncan exploded for what probably
was the best game of his young career (46 points, 14 rebounds).
Keep an eye on: Pacific Division foes Phoenix and Seattle play for the second time in three nights, this time in America West Arena. The Sonics and Suns are two more teams that are in the hunt in the crowded West for homecourt
advantage in first round of playoffs. Both were within 3 1/2 games of
fourth-seeded Sacramento at the start of the week.
Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs face a tough test Sunday against Utah.(Allsport) Tuesday's games
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