This is going to get interesting once the dust settles -- from Indianapolis to New York City -- as Donnie Walsh moves from the city where he developed an elite reputation with the Pacers to his hometown where the Knicks are in ruins.

Sure, Walsh refused to comment about his future upon the announcement he would be leaving the Pacers at the end of the season after 24 seasons with the club, first as an assistant coach and the past 22 years as chieftain of the front office.

But he met with Knicks owner Jim Dolan last week, and the rumors have been rampant ever since based on the obvious situation in Indy -- either the 67-year-old CEO or Larry Bird, the 51-year-old president, had to go.

The latest thought was that Walsh turned down the Knicks and Bird was on his way out.

That's why Pacers owner Herb Simon cleared the air Monday.

"I think everyone was getting confused," Simon said. "There were a lot of rumors and we just thought if this was something that was really going to happen and once I was convinced Donnie was really leaving, I thought it would just be best to let everyone else know."

Although they all said he would finish the season or stay "until they throw me out," as Walsh cracked wise. Most of it is contingent on the Knicks, despite Walsh's refusal to comment on the reports that have him already coming to an agreement on a contract.

"I'm not commenting on anything that I'm going to do in the future because I'm unclear about it," Walsh said. "And I'm just not going to comment on it until the time is right."

That could be right around the corner, but we'll get back to that later. Right now, we're trying to figure out what went wrong here. We just don't know whether it was Bird making the bad personnel decisions or Walsh. Or maybe it was simply the problem of having two people making the decisions instead of one.

Actually, everyone has been confused about the Pacers for quite some time, with the timing of their precipitous fall from grace in the East coinciding with their notorious brawl in the Palace of Auburn Hills with Pistons fans in November of 2004.

Since then, they have gone straight downhill. From being a model of NBA success in the glorious basketball heartland of Indiana in their perpetually sold out state-of-the-art Conseco Fieldhouse on their way to six conference finals under Walsh to the unequivocal decline the past four years. They failed to make the playoffs last season for the first time in a decade, have the worst attendance in the NBA and are on the brink of missing the postseason for the second year in a row - something that hasn't happened here in nearly 20 years.

Maybe it's just a coincidence that Bird took his present post five years ago, maybe not. Nonetheless, the perception of the Pacers as bad guys - from Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson to Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Shawne Williams - hasn't gone away, and that combined with failure on the court has fractured the fan base. Walsh had said all along this would be his final season, but nobody believed him until now.

At least now we'll know who is making all the calls. And to this point, it would be fair to say nobody has been impressed with anything Bird has done in the front office.

"I think that's maybe one of the side benefits of clarifying the situation, having Larry's voice being the only voice," Simon insisted. "Some people got confused. I liked having both of them but I think we're going to do very well with Larry."

We'll see. Walsh set up Bird with this job five years ago with the intention of him taking over completely one day, but nobody expected it to be under these circumstances. The Pacers had been too stable. Now they're not.

"It's sad to see him go," Bird said. " I know there's a lot of speculation out there about whether he's going to stay or go but from day one he told me exactly what he was going to do and today, you always know it's coming but when it does happen you have different emotions and different feelings about it.

"We've talked about this before and I've always said that one voice is what you have, no matter if it's business or basketball. Learning this position through Donnie, there was a lot of confusion out there but now that he's stepping down I have no doubts in my ability to lead and do the things necessary to get this team back to the elite level."

That has yet to be proven. On the court, Bird controlled his team's performance. He hasn't shown the ability to build a successful team yet, and until then it's ludicrous to compare Bird the player to Bird the president.

We already know what his predecessor has done, and now, unless a lot of people are sadly mistaken, it's on to New York for Walsh. And it is home. Walsh grew up in the Bronx, played ball for Frank McGuire at South Carolina and cut his teeth coaching with Dean Smith and Larry Brown under McGuire. He earned his law degree, and once he moved from assistant coach to president of the Pacers in 1986, things quickly changed. The only thing that didn't work was a meek attempt at changing his name from "Donnie" to "Don" as president of the organization. Included on his resume is an Eastern Conference title in 2000 before losing to the Lakers. There's also six trips to the conference finals and four division championships.

Everything else flowed until 2004.

But he's a natural hire for New York. He's proven to be a master of the salary cap, capable of rebuilding a team while still competing in the playoffs. One of those periods came with present Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as the Pacers coach, which is why this appears to be inevitable. Whether Thomas would stay on as coach or not depends on Dolan since Thomas is still owed so much money in the wake of an extension given last season. On the other hand, he has eaten the huge contracts of Lenny Wilkens and Larry Brown, so that may not be a factor in Dolan's decision.

Regardless, it will be up to Walsh to clean up this mess of a franchise that is presently 19-51 and hasn't won a playoff series since 2005. They are light years over the salary cap and into luxury tax as the highest salaried team in the NBA. So Walsh will have his work cut out for him - perhaps to hire a new coach in the process - maybe even former Pacer and Knick and present broadcast analyst Mark Jackson.

Reports of Walsh accepting a three-year, $15 million deal from the Knicks are creating a positive buzz in New York. Consider these words of wisdom as we watch what happens.

"The league is its own life form in a way," Walsh said in part on Monday. "It kind of evolves the way it evolves."

Or devolves, as both the Knicks and Pacers have done in recent years ... and as a byproduct, nobody is better prepared for New York than Donnie Walsh.

In the daily drama As the Western Conference turns, the Dallas Mavericks are the latest team to be in trouble and it isn't likely to get better any time soon.

Not only did the Mavs blow a 12-point second half lead and lose 88-81 to the San Antonio Spurs Sunday afternoon, but they lost All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki for what owner Mark Cuban predicted to be two weeks after the game.

With 3:18 left in the third period and the Mavs leading, Nowitzki raced back on a fast break for a brilliant block of Ime Udoka's drive to the glass. But Nowitzki landed awkwardly on his left leg that crumbled as he hit the floor writhing in pain - suffering a lower leg injury that won't be detailed until later Monday. He was helped off the floor and attempts to put weight on it heading to the locker room were fruitless.

"I fell awkwardly and my left leg got caught underneath me," Nowitzki said in a statement released by the team Sunday after the game. "I am going to get re-evaluated in the morning (Monday) and I hope to have more information then."

Right now, not much information coming from the Mavericks camp is good. Not only did Nowitzki go down after the block, but Tim Duncan got the rebound for the Spurs and converted it into a 3-point play to give the Spurs their first lead of the second half. They never trailed again.

It was the third loss in a row for the Mavericks - all at home - and they have fallen to just a half game ahead of the eighth place Warriors and two games ahead of the ninth place Nuggets. Granted, the losses were to the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs, but this is the first time they've lost three consecutive games in Dallas since December of 2004.

More disconcerting is how they have struggled to adjust to the much ballyhooed trade that brought Jason Kidd (plus Malik Allen and Antoine Wright) to Dallas in exchange for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager and retired Keith Van Horn.  The primary reason that some didn't like the deal for the Mavs was steeped in Kidd's limited window as a star at 35, and the loss of Diop as a defensive presence inside.

That was supposed to be a big picture issue.

Instead, the snapshot has been far more disconcerting than anyone anticipated.

Seventeen games into it, the Mavericks still aren't comfortable with Kidd running the point. They are 9-8 overall, but 0-8 against teams with winning records and 3-7 against the West. Instead of being the leader on the floor at crunch time, coach Avery Johnson clearly is prickly about leaving Kidd in the game because of his poor shooting. While he's always been an erratic shooter, other coaches have always let him play through it because of what he does for everybody else, not to mention his rebounding and defense.

Still, Johnson's point is reflected by Kidd shooting 3-of-10 Sunday and 4-of-21 with 10 total points the past three games - his 21 assists in the three games notwithstanding.

His uneven playing time has ostensibly become a particularly sore subject between Johnson and owner Mark Cuban, who spent a fortune for the deal - coaxing Van Horn out of retirement for a ludicrous $4 million just so the salary cap figures could work - and then there is the forthcoming luxury tax. Money isn't the issue here, though ... winning is.

During one stretch Sunday as the game was slipping away, Johnson didn't even have a point guard in the game, and after a timeout, brought in recently signed free agent Tyronn Lue instead of Kidd. It didn't help matters any, and just brought more attention to Kidd's ineffectiveness thus far.

On the other hand, without Nowitzki, it may very well force Johnson to play smaller and faster which should play into the strength of Kidd. Can he afford to play 6-7 Josh Howard and 6-5 Jerry Stackhouse up front together for the bulk of games against the big front lines in the West - becoming dependent on zone defenses and center Erick Dampier? Certainly the three inches Devean George has on Stackhouse for defense and rebounding doesn't give them much more comparing the overall impact of the two players. And that also translates into Jason Terry, all 6-1 of him, playing most of the game with Kidd in the backcourt if Stackhouse moves up front more often.

Or perhaps he'll just remain conventional with young power forward Brandon Bass or the aforementioned Malik Allen starting in place of Nowitzki. They'll have to play both forward and center at least some of the time anyway.

Seven of the final 12 games are on the road for the Mavericks, including three of the next four. At 44-26, they are on the brink either way you look at it. With the precarious advantage over the streaky Warriors and Nuggets, both of whom won close games against playoff-bound teams on the road Sunday, the good news is two of the next four games for the Mavs are against the battered and lowly Clippers. On the flip side, the other two are huge games at Denver and Golden State that will have enormous playoff ramifications. Add to that, the Lakers, Suns and another game with the Warriors during this two-week stretch, their fate may be decided before Nowitzki returns.

On the heels of blowing the 2-0 lead in the Finals of 2006 and the incredible first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Warriors last season as a top seed, the hangover has been palpable all season. The Mavs won 67 games last season, including 31-10 on the road. They are 15-19 going into this week away from home and light years behind last year's team-record pace with essentially the same core team as a year ago.

It may be just a touch too early to refer to the Kidd deal as a panicky move that will necessitate other moves in the offseason ... but not by much.

Now they've lost three in a row in Dallas and Nowitzki, presumably for an extended period of time. It's time for Johnson to let Kidd prove his leadership and in many ways justify the trade. The possibility of them slipping out of the playoffs isn't likely, but it certainly is very real.

Should that occur, the wrath of Cuban won't be far behind and the Mavericks as we have known them the past 5-6 years may very well be history.

They've grown up to be a real threat, and that's been no easy task for the Golden State Warriors after more than a decade of failure.

Until they slipped into the playoffs last year and crushed the Dallas Mavericks in the first round to pull off one of the great upsets in NBA history, they had been a failing franchise in a great sports market.

Even then, they were a novelty item when they fell to the Utah Jazz in the conference semifinals.

Not anymore. The quartet of coach Don Nelson and stars Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis is proving to be as lethal as any combination in the NBA today. They are 40-18 in the 58 games they've played together this season, averaging 61.0 points, 13.8 rebounds, 15.1 assists and 5.03 steals. It has everything to do with why the Warriors lead the NBA in scoring at 110.9 per game, including 31 in a row in triple digits, and have remained just 4.5 games out of the top seed in the Western Conference.

The start of the transformation was when general manager Chris Mullin was hired to restore the franchise to what it was like when he was an All-Star player. But even he had growing pains on the job. He turned the roster over and made a horrible hire in Stanford coach Mike Montgomery before he coaxed his old coach Nelson out of retirement in Hawaii.

It was the return of Nellieball -- with the promise, "We're going to play small and fast, so try and catch us if you can." That's the way it was when Mullin teamed with Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond in the "Run TMC" era of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before last season, the Warriors hadn't even been to the playoffs in 13 years and hadn't won a series in 16 years. Obviously, it was worth a shot and it worked.

This time around, though, it works even better. The change of rules prohibiting hand checking and blocking the path to the basket in the lane has made small and fast more of a style than something charming. If you don't have special power players, then this is the vogue way to play. So a lot of teams have adopted this brand of ball, and the Warriors, along with the Suns, are the best at it.

Still, the Warriors began the season 0-6 -- some of that having to do with Jackson serving out a suspension for an off-court indiscretion. But they have lost two in a row only once since then and amassed a 42-19 record since the dismal start. That's fourth best in the NBA over that span, trailing only the Celtics, Pistons and Lakers.

The big difference between this season and last is consistency, and that has come as a result of playing well on the road too. Not only are the Warriors a tough 23-10 in the now packed Oracle Arena, where they increased their season ticket sales a whopping 50 percent, but they're 19-15 on the road compared to 12-29 a year ago.

All of this explains why they guaranteed the final $2 million of Nelson's to the fashionable $5 million range and already picked up the option for next season despite his 68th birthday coming. After all, he is only 58 wins behind Lenny Wilkens (1,332) for the most in NBA history. Perhaps more importantly, the players love this style.

He has built the team around Davis and Jackson, a couple of unorthodox players with fearless personalities. Davis is a powerful point guard, prone to spectacular streaks and injuries throughout his career -- and not afraid to voice his displeasure with his coach and teammates. Jackson is a long and skinny swingman with a history of emotional explosions on and off the court. Together, they have been nitroglycerin for this dormant franchise. Their potential, though, has always been obvious.

The unexpected piece of this perilous puzzle proved to be Ellis, the 6-3 guard snatched right out of Lanier High School in Jackson, Miss.

Everybody knew Davis and Jackson could be dangerous. But Ellis ... well, not exactly. OK, he did lead his team to two state championships, and averaged 38.4 points, 7.9 assists, 6.9 rebounds and 4.5 steals his senior year. But that was high school. He was projected as a point guard, and the history of point guards skipping college for the NBA is littered with disappointment. It's why he didn't go until the second round.

Playing him with Davis really changed everything, however. After a predictably erratic rookie year, he exploded late last season - raising his average to 16.5 points while shooting .475 from the field to win the league's Most Improved Player Award. But even more impressive has been the continual growth, with the latest buzz wondering if he should become the first player ever to win the award two years in a row - and before his 23rd birthday no less.

Not only is he averaging 19.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but he's shooting a blistering .535 from the field. Granted, he hasn't grown into 3-point range yet ... but there seems little doubt he will as he adds to his sub-180 pounds. He became only the ninth guard in history to shoot 60 percent from the field for a month -- averaging 26.0 points while making .602 percent of his shots in February. Even more impressive is the 33 games in a row he has reached double-figures -- averaging 22.7 points while making .566 of his field goal attempts -- dating back to Jan. 7. All of this is why they dealt high-scoring Jason Richardson to Charlotte for the rights to draft 20-year-old Brandon Wright, the immensely gifted 6-10 forward from North Carolina who will be a factor next season.

What we don't know is what Nelson can get out of the rest of the team. Al Harrington continues to be erratic, with flashes of exceptional play on offense and rebounding - but they come too sparingly. Latvian post player Andris Biedrins, who won't be 22 for another couple of weeks, is plenty tough and is close to averaging a double-double with 10.0 points and 9.2 rebounds - but he's still very raw offensively.

The bench is long and effective, with swingman Kelenna Azubuike, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes all 20-minute guys who contribute on both ends of the floor. Veteran streak shooter Austin Croshere has had his moments as well. The shame of it all was the wasted time and effort to recruiting the aging and damaged Chris Webber to help up front. He has contributed virtually nothing while Wright is still trying to gain strength and adapt to the NBA. They could have used a legit big body to support Biedrins for the playoffs.

Nonetheless, they are right in the mix. They are within 4.5 games of the No. 1 seed, and 3.0 games from home-court advantage in the first round (or 3.5 games away from falling out of the playoffs to ninth-seeded Denver). Granted, they still don't play good enough defense to be a serious threat to win the West - or even return to the second round of the playoffs - but depending on the matchup, that certainly isn't out of the question either.

So in this topsy-turvy race in the West, the Warriors are one intrepid group daring anyone to stop them from running full blast and cranking up 3-pointers. They're winning and their fun to watch, and that's a far cry from where they were for more than a decade - just ask the nearly 20,000 delirious fans that show up each game at the Oracle.

The reconnection has indeed been divine.

The Southwest Division standings look so odd -- New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Memphis. Of course, the Grizzlies would finish fifth in that division; and the Mavs are just 2.5 games behind the Hornets in this frenetic four-team war in the division.

It's just hard to fathom the Spurs in third and just a half-game out of fourth. The defending champs have won the NBA title three of the past five seasons and the division five of the past seven. In fact, do you even remember the last time the Spurs finished lower than second in their division?

That would be the now infamous 1996-97 season.

You remember that, don't you ... superstar center David Robinson broke his foot six games into the season, Gregg Popovich replaced Bob Hill as coach 13 games later, they finished 20-62, stunningly won the lottery, drafted Tim Duncan and the rest is history. They were rolling along so smoothly this season as well until losing six of the past seven games. They've even lost four in a row - the first time that has happened since the last four games of the 2004 conference semifinals to the Lakers. And they haven't done that during the regular season since the 2000-01 season ... before Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili came aboard.

So what gives?

They blew a 22-point lead to the Celtics at home on Monday night (though some would say "Join the crowd" when it comes to blowing a lead to that bunch). And perhaps they showed some signs of snapping out of their funk. Popovich went back to his starting lineup of Duncan, Fabricio Oberto, Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley and Parker - the one that was there for the 2007 title. Back to the bench go Ginobili and Kurt Thomas, joining rugged Ime Udoka, Jacque Vaughn and Robert Horry as the significant others.

The big move is Ginobili returning to the bench. He's always been the guy who has made them special - and a good portion of the time it's come with him as sixth man. In playoffs when he's on, they win titles. When he's not, they don't. But this season has been different - he's put up career numbers.

And when Parker really began to struggle with a serious bone spur problem in his heel, Popovich put Ginobili in the starting lineup and he turned it up another notch with extraordinary numbers that ignited an 11-game winning streak and the top seed in the West. But that's been followed by the current tumble and Ginobili looked tired until his 32-point outburst against the Celtics in his return to sixth man. He had scored just 33 points combined in the previous three games.

So we'll have to see how they respond. Chances are it will be up to Ginobili, unless Parker begins to show wear on that heel again. Duncan's numbers have stayed virtually the same, although 35-year-old Finley has clearly dropped off with the worst field goal percentage of his career -- during the current seven-game spin he's shooting just 25 percent from the field and averaging 4.5 points in 24 minutes. That won't do.

Despite four titles in nine seasons, they've never won back-to-back. And it certainly doesn't look like they'll be able to pull it off this year either, unless Ginobili comes to the rescue again.

Shots from the perimeter

* The Cavs are 9-6 since their blockbuster deal at the trade deadline that brought Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. Unfortunately, it was almost concurrent with a back injury that sidelined center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, so it's been tough to get a real read just yet. But we do know is coach Mike Brown should never ... EVER  play Wallace and Andy Varejao together unless everybody else on the roster is hurt. That is a hideous combination in the offensive post. James, by the way, has had at least 20 points in 46 consecutive games on the heels of his 30-point effort in Wednesday's win over the Pistons. James. Just three months after his 23rd birthday, he is just five points short of becoming the Cavs all-time scoring leader - passing Brad Daugherty.

* The Nets responded from their horrible loss Tuesday night at Chicago to regain the eighth seed with an 8-point win over the Hawks. They got 39 points from Vince Carter, 33 from Richard Jefferson, and young point guard Devin Harris had a career-best 26 points and 9 assists despite a sprained ankle. It may be time for the Hawks, but the Nets should be in the playoffs. With these three guys - all with plenty of playoff experience - and all the young talent up front, it would be inexcusable for coach Lawrence Frank not to get them there.

* Wizards star Gilbert Arenas has been pushing it this week, and says he could be back some time next week. Arenas had knee surgery in November - the second one in six months. Although he's been physically inactive with the team until the past week or so, it hasn't stopped the mouth of the self-proclaimed Agent Zero. Zero and the club are waiting on his latest MRI results to set a more definitive timetable.

* The Heat hit a new low this season when the squeezed out just 54 points in their 41-point loss at Toronto Wednesday night. Since the shot-clock was implemented in 1954, only two other teams have scored less - the 49 points by the Bulls in a 1999 loss to the Heat being the record. The Heat managed just 9 points in the fourth quarter and shot just .256 (20-of-78) from the field. They played without Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion, Jason Williams, Udonis Haslem, Marcus Banks, Alexander Johnson and Dorell Wright.

* This sorry state of affairs with the Heat brings to mind the obvious question of how in the world they won at Milwaukee Monday night. The response by Bucks owner Sen. Herb Kohl was to fire general manager Larry Harris Wednesday, but somehow the other Larry - Krystkowiak - managed to keep his job as coach. At 23-44, they are one of the gross underachievers of the season, and you have to wonder how long Kohl is going to hang on to this team that is bleeding money. Doug Collins has surfaced as a possible president of basketball operations for the Bucks.

* These are trying times in the land of the Clippers these days. Despite the public contention that problems between coach Mike Dunleavy and owner Donald Sterling have been resolved, that is not the case. And the only reason he hasn't been fired is green - as in three years left on his contract extension worth at least $5 million a year. Word on the streets is Sterling may take out his frustration by firing general manager Elgin Baylor, since Dunleavy makes the final call on personnel anyway. It appears prodigal point guard Shaun Livingston will not play at all this season due to tendinitis following the reconstructive knee surgery from February of 2007. The Summer League figures to be his first return to action, and it will be interesting to see what happens to Elton Brand and his decision coming off Achilles tendon surgery that has kept him out all year ... i.e. the Olympics.

* Quotable: Heat coach Pat Riley on the 54 points his club scored Wednesday night: "We've had four or five games like this, this year. And when it goes, it just absolutely goes."

Voting on the top-five for the most valuable player in the NBA this season will be easy compared to figuring out how to pare down to the top three coaches.

In the Western Conference alone there are at least eight great candidates, and three more in the East. Trying to squeeze 11 guys into three spots isn't going to be easy.

But we will go about this unenviable task over the next month and start thinking about it seriously right now. Since the East has only a few contenders, let's start there with the best one -- Doc Rivers of the Celtics. Rivers is proof positive how much better a coach can be the second time around, and with this team he has been magnificent. Sure, he was handed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen on a silver platter by general manager Danny Ainge, who is a lock to be executive of the year. Ainge even did a brilliant job of filling in the blanks with veterans to augment what Garnett, Allen and incumbent All-Star Paul Pierce do. Let's not forget the development of youngsters Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe and Glen Davis by the coaching staff either.

But what we couldn't know is that they would become the best defensive team in the league. Not only do they have the best scoring differential, but they are leading the league in fewest points allowed, lowest field goal percentage and lowest 3-point percentage, while ranking third in offensive field goal percentage and ninth in scoring. That translates into the team sticking to the game plan, rotating and closing out, and most importantly, really playing hard. Some of that comes from the great leadership of Garnett, et al, but Rivers has put it all together. With already 30 more wins than last season, they will shatter the all-time turnaround record.

Stan Van Gundy has coaxed the Orlando Magic to an entirely different level, too. He's got evolving Superman Dwight Howard to dominate, but he has also pushed Hedo Turkoglu to playing at All-Star status, even if he didn't get picked, and integrated Rashard Lewis to create the best frontcourt in either conference. They don't have the goods to go anywhere in the playoffs, but he has managed to have the second best road record in the league and at least stay in shouting distance of the Pistons for the second best record in the conference despite very pedestrian point guard play.

Speaking of the Pistons, we have to mention Flip Saunders attempting to get the Pistons to a record sixth consecutive Eastern Conference final, as he and management have figured out how to develop a bench this season. Too bad they haven't figured out how not to be so dependent on mercurial Rasheed Wallace to win a playoff series.

Let's throw kudos to Eddie Jordan for preventing the thin Wizards from falling apart despite not having Gilbert Arenas for virtually the entire season and losing Caron Butler for the bulk of the second half as well. And only a pure cynic would overlook the job Mo Cheeks has done prodding the young Sixers back to not only respectability but into the seventh seed in the East and on their way up.

Cross the Rockies and this coach of the year stuff is much more complicated, with 2.5 games separating the top seven teams, 4.5 the top eight and 6.0 the top nine.

Consequently, we're start from the top, with the Rockets and Lakers tied. It's impossible not to be overwhelmed by the job Rick Adelman has done in Houston, coaching the Rockets to an amazing 22-game winning streak in his first season -- reeling off the last 10 without All-Star center Yao Ming. They've done it with a great synergy on defense and on the offensive end. It's hard to know how they'll respond from Tuesday's loss to the Celtics and finishing the season with 10 of 15 on the road could cause them to drop like a rock in this tight race. But that doesn't minimize the second longest streak in the history of the league.

Hanging at or near the top all season have been the Lakers, and the way coach Phil Jackson has kept them together may ultimately make this the best coaching job of his career. He had to compartmentalize the Kobe Bryant trade demand and sit him out of training camp for a while, develop youngsters Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar, re-integrate Derek Fisher into the starting lineup and then take it to another level with the theft of Pau Gasol from Memphis. As if that wasn't enough, Bynum has been out for months with a knee injury and won't play until the playoffs and Gasol may not either with a high ankle sprain. Of course, Bryant makes all of this easier ... but Jackson makes it all hum.

On the other hand, nobody has done a better job than Byron Scott has with the Hornets, which oddly enough seems almost like a secret. They've been hanging out near or at the top of the conference and the rugged Southwest Division all season. Budding superstar point guard Chris Paul has had plenty to do with it, as has young All-Star forward David West and rapidly developing center Tyson Chandler. But Scott, like Rivers, is proving that a lot of the criticism from his first job has paid off in the second one, and the Hornets - despite a lack of depth - are legit challengers in the West. Having won two conference titles in the East as coach of the Nets plus his three championship rings playing for Pat Riley on the Lakers make him eminently qualified to compete with anybody.

Always overlooked in the balloting, but constantly in the discussion is Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who now has coached the Jazz 20 seasons, the longest tenure in league history. Their 29-3 home record is the best in the NBA and will be the best in franchise history, built around Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, a second generation Stockton and Malone.

Despite winning just 32 games last season and losing top overall pick Greg Oden for the season to knee surgery before training camp even began, Nate McMillan has develop the Trail Blazers into a legit team above .500 in the West. They won't make the playoffs, but that's not the point. After a 5-12 start, they won 18 of 20, including 13 in a row and he has developed youngsters Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw into explosive young players. They all defend every night and they'll be scary next year with Oden in the middle of that lineup.

Of course, Gregg Popovich has once again done a stellar job keeping the defending champion Spurs in contention and the same goes for Avery Johnson, despite the exaggerated criticism he gets even with the Mavericks always in the mix. And it's great to know the howling has stopped around Suns coach Mike D'Antoni now that they've won five in a row while assimilating the huge round peg - Shaquille O'Neal - into a quite small square hole in their lineup.

It also would be wrong not to mention how well last season's darling Warriors have hung on for Don Nelson and the bizarre possibility the Nuggets could win 50 games for George Karl and still not make the playoffs - but the latter two carry asterisks because both teams have the fatal flaw of not playing a lick of defense.

Now that we've gone through the exercise, it's time for the top three, with the caveat that I still have a month to change my mind on the second two - particularly if the Rockets and/or Hornets crash:

1. Doc Rivers
2. Rick Adelman
3. Byron Scott

Give us your top three ...