Philadelphia 95 Boston 90

Philly moved a game over .500 for the first time this season. With the win, the Sixers also moved ahead of Toronto for sixth place in the L'eastern Conference. Led by Andre Miller and Andre Iguadola, Philly has beaten San Antonio, Detroit, Denver, and Boston in the month of March. How about that 'madness'?

Detroit 110 Phoenix 105

The Suns were humiliated by the Pistons 116-86 on February 24th. Rasheed Wallace had 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting in that game. Sheed' picked up right where he left off in this one. Drilling four 3-pointers in the first period and coming up big in the clutch in posting 23 points and snatching nine rebounds. Chauncey Billups abused Raja Bell and Shaquille O'Neal on the pick-and-roll late in the game. Billups scored 32 points.

Phoenix came into the contest with a seven game winning streak. Highlighted by victories over San Antonio and Golden State and aided by gimme's over Memphis, Seattle, Portland, and Sacramento. Phoenix travels to Boston on Wednesday where KG and the Celtics will be extra motivated after a loss to the Sixers and with revenge on their minds after a subpar showing in Phoenix last month.

After the game against Boston, the Suns travel to Philadelphia and New Jersey and go back home for the first of a home and away series vs. Denver. Plenty of people are jumping on the Suns bandwagon after their seven game win streak, I'm not one of them. I've watched every game since the Shaq trade and Phoenix still has plenty of holes that will be exploited should they make the playoffs. Lucky for them, the Nowitzki injury all but ensures their place in the postseason. Still, the Suns slid to 5th place with last night's loss and have the most difficult remaining schedule:

Wed 26 @ Boston
Fri 28 @ Philadelphia
Sat 29 @ New Jersey
Mon 31 vs Denver
Tue 01 @ Denver
Fri 04 vs Minnesota
Sun 06 vs Dallas
Tue 08 @ Memphis
Wed 09 @ San Antonio
Fri 11 @ Houston
Mon 14 vs Golden State
Wed 16 vs Portland

My appreciation for Steve Nash grows with each game I've watched. He's the best shooter in the league - it's not even close. Combine that with the FACT that he's the best passer as well and Nash has me reconsidering my previously held belief that both Chris Paul and Deron Williams had passed him on the list of the league's best point guards.

Houston 108 Sacramento 100

The 1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers own the record for consecutive victories with 33. The 1970-1971 Milwaukee Bucks have the third longest streak with 20. Both of those teams won the NBA championship that year. After a twenty-two game winning streak, the Rockets are coming back to reality. They have lost 3 of their last 5. I've been skeptical of Houston's streak from the beginning because it was aided by a weak stretch in their schedule. Yes, all NBA teams have dead spots in their schedules and the Rockets took advantage of their's. All credit to them but 5 years from now, will people remember the Rockets 22 game streak or that "team X" won the NBA championship? Because "team X" won't be Houston.

The Rockets always have been, and always will be 'pretenders'.

Lakers 123 Warriors 119

The Los Angeles Lakers won their 49th game last night. Before the season began, I had the Lakers 10th on my list of the top ten teams in the NBA, without regard to conference. I also predicted Kobe would win MVP if the Lakers won 50 games.

I'd like to congratulate Kobe Bryant for winning the Most Valuable Player Award last Thursday in Utah where the Lakers ended Utah's 19-game home winning streak. Bryant scored 27 points in a game he considered "personal" after the Jazz faithful chose to boo Derek Fisher in an earlier return to Salt Lake City. Bryant capped the performance with an emphatic dunk late in the 4th quarter that was followed with a primal scream into the crowd.

Weathering injuries to Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza, and Pau Gasol, the Lakers sit within .1 winning percentage of the #1 seed in the Western Conference. A feat that is nothing short of incredible considering that most thought the season was lost back in October. Instead, Kobe Bryant did what he always does - he elevated his game to another level amidst controversy. Granted, much of that controversy should be attributed to him but his ability to focus when everything around him seems to be spiraling out of control is truly 'amazing'.