On the surface, this was sheer torture for Tracy McGrady and the Houston Rockets.

McGrady was brilliant for three quarters Monday night. Despite lacking All-Star center Yao Ming and resurgent point guard Rafer Alston, they were right there with the Utah Jazz – seeking a split of the first two games on their home floor.

But as is always the case, the Jazz pounded the boards, stayed in their face on defense and tormented them with offensive execution. The result was a 90-84 victory to take a commanding 2-0 series lead back to Salt Lake City for the next two games.

McGrady finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, but had just 1 point in the fourth quarter and was clearly dead on his feet down the stretch. He got help in spurts from backup point guard Bobby Jackson and rookie Aaron Brooks. Actually, Jackson’s 3-pointer apparently tied the game in the final minute only to have it waved off on a contentious off-the-ball foul called on Luis Scola, with Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko accused of flopping.

And that was the end of that for the Rockets, who now have lost four consecutive playoff games to the Jazz dating to last spring.

Point guard Deron Williams led the Jazz with 22 points, while center Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 rebounds. Okur, Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer combined for 31 rebounds to lead the cause in a game so close there were 10 lead changes and 16 ties.

Despite McGrady’s efforts (16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in the first half), the Rockets couldn’t establish enough offensive punch to hang on to the lead even when they got it. Jackson finished with 18, Scola had 14 and Brooks added 11, but it was never enough. Even a pair of Shane Battier 3-pointers in the final minute of the third quarter merely served as a temporary tease for the Rockets.

In the end, there was little the Rockets could do and it’s only going to get worse now. The Jazz have been vulnerable on the road all year, finishing 17-24. But now the teams head back to Salt Lake, where Utah was an NBA-best 37-4 during the regular season. And with an exhausted and depleted Rockets team, this series looks over.

Sure, Williams has a badly bruised tailbone that took another serious jolt when Brooks flattened him on a screen, forcing him to hobble back to the locker room. Nonetheless, young backup Ronnie Price made big plays – including a clutch 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter – to keep the Jazz in order. And Williams was running the show down the stretch, doing whatever it took to keep the Rockets at bay.

The question now is whether the Rockets have anything left to extend this series beyond the next two games. They were losers in the conference finals to the eventual champion Spurs last spring, and the next two games will show how much the Jazz have matured.

If they complete the sweep, it will speak more of their execution – not of the battered Rockets – and they’ll meet the winner of the Lakers-Nuggets series. Meanwhile, the Rockets will just have to take it - drip, drip, drip …

Quotebook

Jazz guard Deron Williams on winning both games in Houston:

“It's great for us to come out the way we did and not settle for the one victory. We wanted to get both of them, get greedy. We've just got to go back now and take care of business.”

The stud

Cavs All-Star forward LeBron James just missed a triple-double in their 116-86 win over the Wizards to take a 2-0 lead in the series. James had 30 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. In the two games he’s averaging 31.0 points, 8.0 assists and 7.5 rebounds.

The dud

Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas, also known as Agent Zero or Mighty Mouth depending on your preference, had more turnovers than field goals. Making just 2-of-10 shots, Arenas had just 7 points, 3 assists, 4 fouls and 3 turnovers in just less than 24 minutes. In the first game he had 24 points.

Statbook

The Cavs now have beaten the Wizards in eight consecutive playoff games. … Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds in the two games. … Wizards All-Star Antawn Jamison went from 23 points and 19 rebounds in Game 1 to 9 points and 9 rebounds in Game 2. As a team they are 60-of-154 (.390) from the field and 9-of-40 (.225) from 3-point range. … McGrady is 16-of-43 from the field and 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the first two games. … Battier took seven shots in each of the first two games, making all seven in the first game to finish with 22 points, but hitting just three in Game 2 and totaling 7 points. … The Rockets are 10-of-41 (.244) from beyond the arc in the series and 34-of-55 (.618) from the free-throw line, while the Jazz are 12-of-27 (.444) from 3-point range and 27-of-40 (.675) from the stripe. Not coincidentally, Yao is their best free-throw shooter and Alston led the team in 3-pointers. Yao is out with a fractured foot, but Alston is a possibility for Game 3, battling a strained groin.

Tuesday

Now we’ll find out just how serious the Dallas Mavericks are about regaining their mojo and competing to win the Western Conference. After having fallen apart in the 2006 Finals, and getting upset by eighth-seeded Golden State in 2007, the Mavericks blew a 12-point lead at New Orleans Saturday and seem ill-equipped to come back from a 2-0 deficit.

Tonight in New Orleans, the Mavs must deal with their demons and gain a split.

Also, the Phoenix Suns will try to bounce back from their crushing double-overtime defeat at San Antonio, and the Toronto Raptors must figure out how to deal with the Orlando Magic’s monster in the middle, Dwight Howard.

Mavericks (0-1) at Hornets (1-0)

Chris Paul was brilliant in the 104-92 victory, with 35 points, 10 assists and 4 steals to lead the Hornets, who also dominated the interior thanks to the 10 points and 15 rebounds from Tyson Chandler. And after a sluggish start, forward David West had 23 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Hornets. Dirk Nowitzki scored 31 for the Mavs, but Josh Howard (4-of-16) and Jerry Stackhouse (2-of-9) were a combined 6-of-25 from the field and Jason Terry produced just 6 points.

Suns (0-1) at Spurs (1-0)

Clutch 3-pointers from Michael Finley and Tim Duncan forced the two overtime periods in the remarkable 117-115 victory in Game 1. Duncan had a game for the ages with 40 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Manu Ginobili added 24 points for the Spurs, including the game-winning basket on a drive to the glass, and Tony Parker added 26 points and 5 assists. Amare Stoudemire had 33 and 7 rebounds before fouling out for the Suns, with Steve Nash adding 25 points and 13 assists.

Raptors (0-1) at Magic (1-0)

The Magic hit 16-of-20 shots, including 9-of-11 from 3-point range to take a 43-23 lead in the first quarter and never were really challenged on the way to a 114-100 win. Most of the reason was Dwight Howard’s intimidating 25 points, 22 rebounds and 5 blocks. Jameer Nelson had 24 points and 7 assists for the Magic, with Hedo Turkoglu adding 21 points and 6 assists. Anthony Parker scored 24 for Toronto and Chris Bosh added 21.

The next thing we’ll hear is that Al Gore will be speaking at the NBA All-Star Game next week in New Orleans to discuss the effect of global warming in the Western Conference.

It’s no longer as hot as it was just a few weeks ago. Now it’s scorching. We still have the same questions as we had a few weeks ago: Are the Spurs too old to get it together late in the year as they always have? Are the Mavs just too soft to ever win the West? And really, are the Hornets serious contenders or just the flavor of the regular season?

But those questions have become afterthoughts in the wake of the past week.

Last Friday, the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol for three packs of cigarettes, a plane ticket to anywhere in the continental United States, and free Gatorade for a year.

This week the Suns unloaded the incessant whine of Shawn Marion and ineffectual Marcus Banks for what’s left of the mammoth center previously known as Shaquille O’Neal.

Now what do we do?

With Kobe Bryant playing at an MVP level and the rest of the Lakers growing up around him fast, the addition of Gasol not only compensates for having lost blossoming young center Andrew Bynum, it makes them legitimate contenders to win the West in whatever state Bynum returns from his left knee injury in the spring. Unlike last season, when they went belly-up when injuries struck, this year they’re dealing with it. The addition of Gasol will lighten the scoring load on Bryant, open up the floor for the multi-dimensional Lamar Odom, and create more open perimeter shots for the dangerous long-range shooting of Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic and Vladimir Radmanovic.

It’s a lot trickier with the Suns adding O’Neal to the mix and there are far fewer guarantees that it will work. Sure, Marion was a pain in the butt with his constant complaints about his role, his contract and status in the pecking order. But he had a lot to do with why the roadrunner offense of Mike D’Antoni took them to the conference finals a couple of times. Sure, Steve Nash is the driver, Leandro Barbosa the burner, and Amare Stoudemire the closer, but Marion did everything else but wash dishes.

It’s easy to see where fledgling GM Steve Kerr is coming from by adding Shaq – to have the big body they’ve lacked to match up with the Spurs, Jazz and Nuggets inside. But just how does the Big Fella fit into D’Antoni’s offense? He’s more apt to stay on one end of the floor like the old Iowa girls basketball games than run with Nash, and just how does he fit in the pick-and-roll, or pick-and-pop out halfcourt game with Nash? He doesn’t. So this leaves the onus on D’Antoni to make it work. This will be interesting but still raises the obvious question of why they dumped Kurt Thomas’ $8 million contract and two first-round draft choices to Seattle before the season for nothing. They’d have been far better off going for it with the perfect fit of Thomas and not mortgaging future picks as well, considering Shaq will be 36, Nash 34, Grant Hill 35 and Raja Bell 31.

Meanwhile, the defending champion Spurs are wondering how severe the bone spur is on Tony Parker’s left heel, and if treatment can allow him to come back in a few weeks and finish the season in the kind of fashion that allowed him to be Finals MVP last year. They’re on their “Rodeo road trip” that annually bonds the team and have won three in a row after losing the first two. It’s hard to fathom the Spurs – with Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili leading the way – won’t be there in the end. And let’s face it, they’re also the best-equipped mentally to win on the road if they don’t regain the home court as the season progresses.

In the event you haven’t noticed, last year’s fodder in the conference finals for the Spurs – the Jazz – have won 10 in a row and are 16-2 since they acquired Kyle Korver for Gordan Giricek. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are as dynamic as any duo in the West, and even if they do lack a legit big guy to defend in the middle, there is enough toughness and size to compensate and grab another Northwest Division title. The question is if their interior defense can handle a Duncan or Stoudemire (and now Shaq and Gasol) to win a conference championship.

As for the Mavs, well, this high-powered scoring machine led by Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard and Jason Terry just isn’t as good as it was. They are 12-12 on the road this season compared to 31-10 last year, which speaks volumes. All you had to do was see Boston’s feisty little point guard Rajon Rondo steal a rebound away from Nowitzki for a bucket late in the Celtics' six-point win over the Mavs to see what’s wrong. The skills are there. They just aren’t tough enough.

Like the Mavs, the Hornets are just a half-game behind the conference-leading Suns going into Thursday’s games. Point guard Chris Paul is a bona fide MVP candidate at this point, and David West earned his spot on the All-Star squad with Paul and coach Byron Scott. A case could be made for center Tyson Chandler, too. They are not a fluke. But they are woefully thin on the bench, while they await an answer to see if aggressive forward Chris Andersen will be reinstated after being banned two years for violating the NBA drug policy. If they stay healthy, they’ve got a shot, but it’s hard to believe their youth and bench allows them to stay where they are right now. Still, they’re impossible to ignore.

The Nuggets are always dangerous with the trio of Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and uber-defender Marcus Camby. Kenyon Martin is making the interior stronger, too, with his remarkable comeback from microfracture surgery on each knee in consecutive years. They even have solid guys coming off the bench. But they still haven’t resolved their point guard situation, and there is an erratic feel to this team that prevents them from reaching the elite level. There remains talk of getting Clippers point guard Sam Cassell via trade or buyout, and that might be the quick fix they need. They’ll be more dangerous with him. Without a deal, they’ll be more of an annoyance than a serious threat.

The same goes for the Warriors, who along with the Nuggets will work hard to fend off the Trail Blazers and Rockets for those final two playoff spots. The Warriors are that vintage Don Nelson team that will run you out of the gym on a given night and even pulled off that mighty upset last season of the Mavs, exposing them forever more. But the Warriors aren’t legit contenders, and if injury-prone star point guard Baron Davis goes down, they’re likely to be the first to drop out of the top eight.

The Blazers have been one of the great stories of the year,with emerging star Brandon Roy and the team’s toughness in coach Nate McMillan’s image, but they’re just too young and will be a much more significant contender next season provided rookie center Greg Oden recovers from microfracture knee surgery.

And the Rockets are still the same -- dangerous with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, but lacking anything else to be serious contenders. They still haven’t resolved their inadequate point guard situation and nobody else contributes to the cause consistently on the offensive end. In other words, they’re not a defensive team and they’re not a good offensive team. They just … are.

So that leaves us with the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Jazz, Hornets and Mavs as the top six, and we’ll whittle that down to the Spurs, Suns and Lakers as the top three. As shaky as the Spurs have looked this season, it’s still hard to believe they won’t be there in the end because of their consistency, defense and the championship-caliber plays Duncan, Ginobili and Parker always make when it matters most.

Adding O’Neal to the Suns is just so bizarre, we’ll have to see it to believe it. It should help Stoudemire to have more freedom at his natural power forward position. Moving Marion gives Hill more freedom offensively, too. But this is going to take a while to digest. It will be a huge test for D’Antoni and Nash to make the adjustment to the offense, but on defense, O’Neal clearly gives them a huge presence that, again, will give Stoudemire more room to roam and become an even more effective weak-side shot-blocker.

Meanwhile, the Lakers still loom. For everything Gasol brings, he is still soft defensively despite shot-blocking ability. They really need Bynum back to be the kind of force overall that can win the West. And the big question is when and what he’ll be like when he does return. The prognosis was for eight weeks, which means he could be back in five weeks, but keep in mind he’s only 20 years old, never had an injury before and his game is still very young in development. How much will this injury set him back mentally? Of course, the wildcard is having Bryant as the superstar to carry the team when all else fails, and Gasol is a solid 20-point scorer who will allow Odom to be even more effective.

Yeah, the Lakers can win it this season. But even if Bynum does manage to pick up where he left off by playoff time, can they beat a healthy Spurs team in a seven-game series? Don’t count on it.

Sometimes it only requires a little tweak to figure out what throws everything out of whack. In the case of the Utah Jazz, it’s almost as if coach Jerry Sloan marched them en masse to a chiropractor for a visit.

Moments later, general manager Kevin O’Connor paid the bill … problem solved.

You see, nobody could have thought the back-page trade of Gordan Giricek and a No. 1 draft pick to Philadelphia for Kyle Korver could be so significant to turning the Jazz around. In fact, tossing in the draft choice seemed a bit much for a pretty one-dimensional shooter like Korver.

But sometimes we forget when assessing deals that occasionally it is every bit as much about the subtraction as it is the addition, and sometimes more. The result has been a 12-2 run since the deal, a six-game winning streak overall and 10 in a row at home after Wednesday’s win over the Knicks. Consequently, they’re now alone atop the Northwest Division.

That wouldn’t have surprised anybody coming into the season, but nobody could have anticipated the circuitous route it would require.

With a young team coming off a trip to the Western Conference finals, a Northwest Division title and a 51-win season, expectations were high for the Jazz coming into this season. With an All-Star-caliber duo of point guard Deron Williams and power forward Carlos Boozer – eminently capable of double-doubles on a nightly basis – they constantly drew comparisons to John Stockton and Karl Malone, plus they had all the pieces around them to be a serious contender in the stout West.

And they were seemingly fine, beginning the season at 7-2, with second-year guard Ronnie Brewer inserted into the starting lineup and All-Star-caliber stat-filler Andrei Kirilenko apparently over the psychological issues that weighed him down a good portion of last season. Oh, sweet-shooting center Mehmet Okur was nicked up a bit, but that seemed to be only a temporary hurdle. He’d be back, grabbing rebounds and draining treys. That’s not to mention the rugged duo of Matt Harpring and Paul Millsap giving opponents whiplash off the bench.

They certainly missed guard Derek Fisher, who was sympathetically let out of his contract by owner Larry Miller so he could move to Los Angeles where his infant daughter’s cancer could be treated. Not only as a terrific player, but as a leader, Fisher left a hole. But Sloan figured moving Brewer into the starting lineup and bringing Giricek off the bench would help their depth – plus relatively young journeymen Jason Hart and Ronnie Price could be developed in the backcourt as well.

But none of it struck Giricek very well. He viewed himself as a starter, or at least deserving of major minutes. Sloan, in his inimitable way, viewed him as someone who needed to earn his minutes and contribute or he wouldn’t play at all. And anyone who has been around the NBA understands it’s easier to fool with Mother Nature than Jerry Sloan.

The problem began to rip away at the team internally, affecting the chemistry on the floor and the general attitude in the locker room. After a solid start, they lost 14 of their next 23 games, falling to 16-16 – including a stunning 3-11 decline. With the Nuggets inconsistent with injuries but solid enough to win with explosive scoring, and the Trail Blazers one of the great stories of the season with a sensational run, the Jazz had fallen off the map into third place.

So they shipped out Giricek, presumably with Sloan heaving his bag at him out the door. On came Korver. Suddenly, the air was cleared. Giricek had been averaging less than 4.0 points a game and twice as many headaches. Korver’s hustle and superior shooting eased the pain. He’s averaged 9.9 points, dives after loose balls and at least tries to defend with the intensity demanded by Sloan. Meanwhile, Giricek is producing even less for the Sixers and is mulling over offers to play in Europe.

Okur is now back and healthy, Williams has had five consecutive double-double games – averaging 19.1 points and 9.5 assists while improving his shooting to .515 from field. Boozer is in All-Star form at 22.4 points and 10.6 rebounds, Kirilenko remains a fantasy player’s dream boxscore-stuffer in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, while Brewer continues to raise his level of play just as they imagined when drafted him in the first round out of Arkansas in 2006.

The result is they’ve won 12 of 14 overall and posted the longest home winning streak in nine years, showing the kind of confidence that pushed them into the 2007 conference finals in the first place. It would take hours to decipher whether it’s because of what Korver brings to the table as opposed to Giricek, or just a matter of addition by subtraction.

But from the Jazz point of view, who cares? It worked.

The NBA Finals start tomorrow, and you are the general manager/coach in this fantasy series.

In an excruciating turn of events, you lost your point guard in yesterday’s massive media session. He got his leg caught in the mass of wires from television cameras and fell in the throng of media members as he was coming down off the podium in the corner of the gym (if you’ve ever seen this mess, you’d understand how this could happen). The consequence was a torn knee ligament in his knee.

Everyone is irate and the NBA humiliated.

Consequently, you get your choice of point guards for the series from all the non-competitors.

Two future Hall of Fame vets – Jason Kidd or Steve Nash; or two stars on the rise, Chris Paul and Deron Williams are on the list. Granted, Williams and Paul are only in their third season, but both are on the brink of greatness, and both Kidd (35 in March) and Nash (34 next month) are close but not quite on that slippery slope.

It’s tough to justify Paul (22) or Williams (23) due to their lack of experience, but both are so explosive and do so many things well, it’s worthy of discussion. Paul is smaller, slicker and quicker with his hands and the ball for the Hornets – similar to Nash – averaging 21.1 pts., shooting almost 49 percent from the field, 36 percent from long-range and .884 from the line, plus 10.4 assists and 2.4 steals. Meanwhile, Williams is bigger and stronger like Kidd, with a better long-range stroke than anybody but Nash – averaging 19.3 points, 9.2 assists, while shooting .517 from the field, .396 from 3-point range and .782 from the line.

It’s a tossup between the two youngsters in a lot of ways because it’s so early and they’ve yet to establish substantial playoff profiles. Would you pick one of them instead of the vets?

There’s plenty to think about in the case of both Kidd and Nash. Kidd has played in 100 playoff games, including the 2002 and 2003 NBA Finals with the Nets. Nash has played in 97 postseason games, but has yet to make it to the NBA Finals has been to the conference finals with the Suns twice.

They are still the premiere passing point guards in the game today, making passing the ball on the break not a skill but an art form with either hand.

But they reach those moments from divergent angles and skill sets. Kidd is the triple-double king of this era with his ability to clean the boards, find his teammates and score when necessary. And while he has hit 3-pointers at a tolerable .333 pace, he has barely been a 40 percent field goal shooter in his career. What makes him special is his defense – strength and hands – better than any other point guard of the era with the exception of his childhood mentor Gary Payton.

Nash won back-to-back MVP awards in 2005 and 2006, taking the run-and-gun Suns to a new level of play and really creating an accelerated style the NBA hadn’t seen in years. He is not only a spectacular passer, but one of the best shooting point guards in NBA history – shooting better than 50 percent from the field the past four seasons, nearly 47 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free throw line. And while Kidd’s Achilles’ heel is his shooting and his knees, Nash is a sieve on defense with a reluctant back and shoulder issues. Oh, he has great hands, but his feel for the game is built for scoring, not preventing it.

My first reaction is to take Paul, having the best year of any point guard and leading the surprising Hornets to first place in the Southwest Division.

Or I could take Kidd because of his extraordinary ability to get the ball in so many different ways, and then make things easy for his teammates to score. The problem is what happens when he has to shoot it.

Or there's Nash ... if he can’t get the ball to a teammate for an easy score, he can do it himself.

That leaves the ultimate question -- do you go with offense or defense? In most cases I’d go with defense, but in this one, at this moment, I’ll take Paul. He has no playoff experience, but he has to start somewhere.

So much is being made about this battle within the battle – comparing third-year point guards Deron Williams and Chris Paul – that maybe we should slow down a little on both guys and let this play out.

It was easy to get excited about Williams coming into this season. He was spectacular as last season progressed, while Paul battled ankle problems a good portion of the season – validating the decision by the Utah Jazz select Williams third and leave Paul for the New Orleans at No. 4 in the 2005 draft.

After all, Williams averaged 29.5 points and 9.3 assists in his first four Western Conference finals games against the Spurs last season before tiring in Game 5 as the Jazz were eliminated. And he started the same way this season, but his recent numbers have been very curious. He’s averaged 14.8 points and 9.0 assists in the past five game while the Jazz are tumbling in the midst of having lost seven of eight. In the previous five, Williams was averaging 31.6 points and 8.8 assists.

Meanwhile, Paul has been the model of consistency over the last 10 games averaging 27.4 points and 8.6 assists while the Hornets have split those games. Essentially, this tells us it is just way too early to make any big-picture assessment on either player or team. The Jazz appear to be a strong team for the long run because Williams has All-Star Carlos Boozer as a sidekick, while Paul’s help has come from a variety of sources, none of whom are as prolific as Boozer to remove some of the heat.

But we are hungry for the fresh faces from teams other than ones we’ve been consumed with since the turn of the century. The Jazz and the Hornets – Williams and Paul – are worthy of our focus. But they’ve still got a lot to prove.

Speaking of familiar teams, the Suns and Spurs matched up Monday night in a tight one, and the Suns became the first team to beat the Spurs at home in a 100-95 win. It was only the second game back for Spurs star Tim Duncan, who had missed two weeks with an ankle sprain, but he still had a monster game with 36 points and 17 rebounds. He even made it tough on Amare Stoudemire, who had the sub-par numbers of 17 points and 6 rebounds. And even with Tony Parker out for the Spurs with an ankle problem of his own, the Spurs held Steve Nash in check for the most part with just 10 points and 10 assists against the less-than-imposing Jacque Vaughn.

More interesting is the guy who had the clutch 22 points for the Suns – one ankle-challenged Grant Hill. It’s so easy to forget the Suns got him, and how badly he wants to win a title at the age of 35, but the reality is he’s averaging 15.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists and has failed to reach double-figures in scoring only twice this season. With so much hand-wringing going on lately in the Valley of the Sun over the lack of toughness inside and defense, they are 18-7 and trail the Spurs by just a half-game for the best record in the West.

And as for the lack of toughness inside and defense, what else is new? They haven’t had it the past three seasons as they’ve gotten closer and closer to winning the West. And while the 6-8 Hill is another finesse player, he has special qualities that could supersede the five ankle surgeries in four years that nearly crippled him. It’s way too soon to give up on Hill or the Suns, whose new general manager Steve Kerr is itching to put the final piece of the puzzle together. (How would the Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal fit in a three-way deal with the Knicks?)

While we’ve brought up the Pacers, how about the game Mike Dunleavy put together at Madison Square Garden Monday night – a career-high 36 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a 27-point blowout of the Knicks. It’s particularly impressive considering he had just 6 points, 4 assists and 1 rebound at Miami in a tight win on Saturday. Just as people are about to write off Dunleavy, this is easily his best season. At 27, it is about time he matured enough to consistently produce on a nightly basis because he is so gifted in myriad ways. With 22 points in the third quarter alone, he was just the latest opposing player to incite the caustic MSG crowd into taunting their once-beloved Knicks.

For the first time in this nightmarish season, Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas blasted the heart and pride of his team, and it came upon the return of mercurial point guard Stephon Marbury, who had been away from the team following the death of his father. The only real issue right now is when owner Jim Dolan finally concedes this team has quit on Thomas. Everybody else knows they have.  He’s just being the stubborn cowboy he’s always been, and you would think since he loves the Knicks so much he’d realize they have no chance to win as long as Thomas is running the team. Then again, who can be surprised considering Dolan is the one that got them into this mess in the first place.

We can’t help but wonder about the way suspensions are being meted out these days.  Atlanta forward Al Horford’s head shot on T.J. Ford putting in question the rest of Raptors point guard’s career, while the errant elbow of Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin will require a two-month recovery period for the shattered left eye socket of Hornets forward Melvin Ely. Typically, the punishment is based on intent, and it is obvious neither Horford nor Martin meant to cause some damage. Horford, knowing Ford already has a serious issue with narrowing of the spinal column, spent much of the night at the hospital with Ford. And Martin immediately attended to Ely with  apologies.

But the movements that caused the injuries were purposeful. And once again, how do these guys get the same one-game slap as Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for getting up off the bench in last year’s playoffs?  Causing possible career-ending injury compared to marginally breaking a rule? You make the call.

It’s hard to fathom that Hawks forward Shelden Williams was the victim of carjacking outside a barber shop over the weekend, but here we go again. Has it gotten to the point that all professional athletes and entertainers must have bodyguards?

The Blazers extended their winning streak to eight games for the first time in five years, and at 13-12 are now just a 1.5 games behind the first-place Nuggets in the Northwest Division … really.  Not only have they done this after losing top pick Greg Oden to knee surgery, but having dealt leading scorer and rebounder Zach Randolph for marginal Channing Frye, who now is making an impact. Besides, LaMarcus Aldridge hasn’t even played the past five games with plantar fasciitis. With Brandon Roy flourishing, Travis Outlaw coming of age, and the defense toughening every night, it’s obvious that general manager Kevin Pritchard has succeeded in building a team that perfectly suits the tough, defensive-oriented style of coach Nate McMillan.

The Dallas Mavericks are beginning to gain steam, and struggling star Dirk Nowitzki had a breakout game with 31 points and 11 rebounds, as the Mavs edged the Magic by three. It’s the first time in three weeks Dirk has had at least 20 points in two games in a row, as the Mavs now have won five of six. Watch out, Spurs … here they come again.