The Question at this point in the season isn't so much about which team can win the title - but which team can make the adjustments that will make them a Champion.

I don't care what the stats say, the suns do not have a good defense. I don't care if they play a faster paced game - you don't give up a 121 points to the Wolves. The Wolves shot 59%? Their front court went 27 for 42? The Suns can win a lot, a lot, of regular season games that way. In the post season though, they won't be able to out score teams. The Spurs and Mavs, in particular, play a very physical defense. You can't under estimate that in a 7 game series. When you been knocked around, grabbed, held and been contested for the majority of your shots, there is no rythem, no offensive jugernaut. You have to manufacture your points - which I believe the Suns can do. On the flip though, can put the lock on the Mavs or Spurs offense? They don't have to play great defense the whole game - but can they do it in the fourth quarter? A lot has been made of the fact that they only lost to Dallas on that last second shot - not how easy it was to get the ball to Dirk, or how they didn't have the personal in place so he could shoot right over the top. The Suns must learn to play better spurt defense - or they are going to have a long, embarassing off season.

Dallas, on the other hand, is woefully inconsistant. They have the ability to lock down opposing players and score at will, and sometimes do. They shoot 50% and hold others to 40%. Then they shoot 30% and allow 60%. WTF is going on? Part of their problem is Jason Terry is not a good ball distributor - this was painfully evident in Miami last year. They did not have a ball handler that could disrupt defenses and create open shots for teammates in the half court - and this is why it is still not out of reach to shut dallas down for long periods of time. Dropping the ball off to Dirk at the top of the key and waiting to seeing what happens doesn't cut it against top notch defensive teams (although, thats exactly how they beat the suns last). When they are in an offensive rythem, they do the same on defense (they might be the best team in the L when it comes to 12-0 runs). If they are going to win in the post-season though, they must get a better, more consistant offense that feeds their defense.

The Spurs just look flat out old. Pop has made a point that he won a title with a three seed, and that's perhaps their best option. Robert Horry should be reading to his grandkids, Barry is sometimes money, sometimes not. And whatever happened to Manu? Did Josh Howard steal his Mojo? Duncan still puts up great numbers, but how far does he seem from that guy that would beat you all by himself? The best hope, I believe for the Spurs, is to stay calm. They arn't catching the Suns or Mavs, and have to set their sights on playing their best basketball when the post season starts. Once the post season starts they'll really have to hope serveral players (Fin-dog, Barry, co.) get hot from the outside or they could end up getting swept by Dallas or knocked out easily by the Suns.

Out of these, Dallas seems the best bet to put it together. They are more likely to be fresh, a problem the suns really have to worry about (career high minutes for Nash, who has a history of post-season wilts). Their bench is deeper and more reliable that what the Spurs have, and Dirk seems to be a different sort of player sense knocking down that post season shot against the Spurs. He has a killer type look to him, it releases the pressure from his team, and they just might ride him to glory.

My aplogies to Lakers fans, I just can't see them as contenders - same story with anybody from the east.