Christmas Day in the NBA … seeing the Los Angeles Lakers every year doesn’t quite have the same allure as the NFL tradition on Thanksgiving Day, but at least it allowed for one game out of three to live up to it’s billing. And with the way the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns 122-115, it certainly makes the race in the West a lot more interesting.

 

But that was the middle game -- and unless you already knew better, that meant you had to survive the first game, leaving almost no possibility of staying awake through boredom and a second day of turkey to see the nightcap.

 

Oh, we did manage not to nod out before seeing the upstart Portland Trail Blazers extend their NBA-best winning streak to 11 games in an ugly 89-79 win against the Seattle Sonics Tuesday night. It wasn’t supposed to be about the rivalry in the Pacific Northwest, though. It was scheduled in July to have provided enough time for the highly publicized top two picks of the 2007 draft -- Greg Oden and Kevin Durant -- to get their feet on the ground and excite everyone with a glimpse of the NBA’s future superstars.

 

As we’ve learned ad nauseum, Oden is out for the year never to play a game this season after microfracture knee surgery. And Durant continues to show flashes of his superlative scoring skills amid the other immature aspects of his game on a bad team. The best part of the Blazers is still seeing how 2006 rookie of the year Brandon Roy has blossomed into the floor leader that coach Nate McMillan had dreamed about (even if Sergio Rodriguez did show sparks of spectacular ballhandling and passing skills). Maybe that lock of another lottery pick in the wake of Oden’s absence won’t happen after all, and the Blazers slip into the playoffs. That would be one of the great stories of the season if they can sustain … but they are so young.

 

The first game was in Cleveland, with the underachieving Cavs hosting the pathetic Miami Heat. Of course all eyes were on LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.  But all the Heat had in them was one good quarter, and it’s hard to imagine Wade making it through this season healthy after offseason surgery on his shoulder and knee from which he certainly returned too soon. It’s one thing to carry his teammates with Shaquille O’Neal. It’s quite another for Shaq to be jumping on his back. At least coach Pat Riley showed Shaq enough respect to yank him after he had just picked up his fifth foul with just less than seven minutes left. It saved him from tying the all-time record of six consecutive games of fouling out, but didn’t prevent everyone from witnessing just how unproductive he has become. At 8-20, they are astonishingly bad and Wade didn’t even score in the second half until there were eight minutes left in the game.

 

The Cavs, carrying the moniker of Defending Eastern Conference champs, were made to look like chumps on Saturday night by the wacko New York Knicks. For the first time, James stormed out of the arena without a word. And things looked pretty bleak Tuesday when they went dead in the second half. But they did bounce back and manhandled the Heat in the second half, led by James’ 25 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds for an easy 96-82 win. The key for the Cavs though, was what happened around James, with Andy Varejao coming around quickly from his late contract signing – averaging 11 points, 11 rebounds and 2.8 steals in the past three games. And Drew Gooden is still very capable of a double-double on any given night. The key is in the backcourt, where Larry Hughes didn’t put up numbers, but ran the offense and had four steals, while Daniel Gibson was deadly from the perimeter. All of this was predicated by getting back to their defensive roots that had seemingly vanished. The good news for them is after the Celtics and Pistons, and the rapidly tumbling Magic, everybody else is lingering around .500 for the fourth seed. And the Magic have played their way back to the field losing 8-of-12 after their great start.

 

Nonetheless, the Lakers' win over the Suns lived up to its billing and more. Even though Kobe Bryant scored 26 of his 38 points in the second half, it wasn’t about him for the most part.. It was about Andrew Bynum, the precocious young center with his tutor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looking on.  The seven-point win wasn’t the story as much as Bynum was just too much for the Suns All-Star center Amare Stoudemire to handle, making 11-of-13 shots to finish with 28 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. We have yet to see a skyhook out of the 20-year-old Bynum, but you have to figure at some point in time, with the touch he is already showing, that it’s coming.

 

The other eye-catcher for the Lakers was Trevor Ariza, earning a start in the wake of Luke Walton’s ankle sprain. Ariza, acquired from Orlando for mechanical Brian Cook and erratic Maurice Evans, gives them much needed athleticism and defense on the perimeter. And Tuesday, he added eye-popping dunks like he had at UCLA. It’s no wonder coach Phil Jackson signed a two-year extension, you can tell he’s having fun – bow-ties and all.

 

Despite continued great play from Steve Nash, the Suns just couldn’t keep up and they’re looking more vulnerable every day. Not only do the Lakers now have more speed and depth, but with Bynum and Lamar Odom, they now have two players the Suns can’t control inside – thus the Lakers 2-0 record with them this season. Even more to the point, although the Suns (19-10) still hold a one-game lead over the Lakers (18-11) for the top spot in the Pacific Division, the Suns built that record playing teams in the East. They are a surprising 7-7 against the West this season, and that’s got to be a huge red flag for coach Mike D’Antoni and new general manager Steve Kerr. They are asking more of Nash, who turns 34 the first week of February, than ever before. And teams like the Lakers, Blazers and Golden State Warriors now are showing the ability to run with them … or even outrun them.

 

And that’s why the middle game was interesting Tuesday. No longer are we hearing a peep out of Bryant about wanting to be traded. The Lakers look eminently capable of at least a top five finish in the West and maybe leapfrogging the Suns to get a second seed. All of a sudden, it’s the Suns that are beginning to look like a team that needs to make a move … which means those Shawn Marion rumors are bound to start bubbling up again.

Now that the ankle-challenged Spurs have played their way back to the field with four losses in five games -- Tony Parker missed the last four and Tim Duncan missed four as well (overlapping on just one) -- the Mavericks 3-point win over the Suns was that much more intriguing.

 

There are few matchups in basketball more fun than when the Mavs and Suns meet, with the depth of Dallas tending to push them to a big lead because nobody on the Suns matches up with Dirk Nowitzki. And then invariably, they will squander that advantage in terror as Suns point guard and Nowitzki’s old buddy Steve Nash dances through the Mavs' cheesy defense to bring them back.

 

It happened again Wednesday night, with the Mavs leading by 18 at one point and by 14 in the fourth, only to see it slip to 106-105 when Amare Stoudemire converted a 3-point play on hook shot and-one thanks to Dirk’s weak foul with 8.5 left. Dirk atoned with a pair of foul shots for the Mavs, and when Nash’s good look on a 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short, the Mavs had suddenly raised their winning streak to four games. The Spurs' lead atop the Western Conference now has dwindled to a precarious half game over the Suns, with the Mavs a half game behind them.

 

And while the Spurs still have the most tools when healthy, it also reinforced the New Age NBA dynamic. In this young season, the other teams in the West with the combination of inside power and speed -- the Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers and Hornets -- don’t appear to have the long-term capability of playing at the same level as the Suns and Mavs. And, as surprised as I am to admit it, the Warriors may actually belong up there with the Suns and Mavs in the New Age club. Keep in mind the W’s are 15-5 after that dreadful 0-6 start, 14-5 since Stephen Jackson returned from suspension and Baron Davis is once again playing at an All-NBA level. If B-Diddy stays reasonably healthy, the Warriors will be in the hunt.

 

The Hornets have very quietly hung in there, and when we say quietly, it’s perhaps only because there are so few people watching their games in the midst of restoring the city of New Orleans. And because of the inevitable struggles there to keep the team afloat financially, it was particularly interesting that Cox broadcasting elected to televise their game in Seattle Tuesday night in Oklahoma City. That the Hornets breezed to a 14-point win isn’t the point. Either the Sonics or Hornets will be playing in Oklahoma City by the opening of the 2010-11 season, and from a strictly market-value basis, it’s more likely to be the Hornets. In the unlikely event the federal judge in Seattle rules in favor of the Sonics (and they move to Oklahoma City next season), they will be forced to honor their lease through 2010, and by that time, a new building situation will be in order in Seattle and the Hornets will be on life support financially in New Orleans.

 

That’s coming from an unbiased view from the Pacific Northwest, of course.

 

And while we’re trying to dry out from the incessant rain up here, we can dip down I-5 to the hottest team in the NBA ... the wet-behind-the-ears Blazers, who came from behind to whip the impressive Raptors for their NBA-best ninth consecutive win. It’s the most wins in succession for the Blazers since the 2001-02 season, and they were led by their 2007 rookie of the year Brandon Roy’s 25 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists -- still sizzling with back-to-back Western Conference player of the week awards already in his pocket. Who knows how long they’ll stay at this level, but keep in mind LaMarcus Aldridge missed the previous five games to Wednesday with plantar fasciitis, so they’re just beginning to figure out how good they can be.

 

The other young team making waves would be the Atlanta Hawks, who moved to 13-12 Wednesday night, the latest they’ve been over .500 in 10 years. Their triplets -- Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams and Josh Smith -- with veteran point guard Anthony Johnson, were just too much for the Heat to handle in a 117-111 overtime win. And were it not for Dwyane Wade’s bizarre march to the free throw line seemingly every two seconds (he was 20-of-22 on the way to 36 points), the game wouldn’t have been that close.  If they stay healthy, the Hawks look like they’re going to hang around all season, and with the talent of their triplets – plus Josh Childress when he returns from a groin strain – it’s only a lack of experience that can prevent them from causing serious damage to somebody when posteriors tighten in the spring.

 

And while D-Wade is trying mightily to keep the dreadful Heat (7-18) afloat without much success, they suffered a huge blow Wednesday night. We have probably seen the last of Alonzo Mourning, who tore the patellar tendon in his right knee. He’ll be 38 in February, has been battling kidney disease for years and already said he will retire at the end of this season. So long Zo … maybe this can ignite your buddy Shaq to raise his level of play and get this team back in the hunt. All sorts of deals are swirling about the Heat with Mike Bibby and Ron Artest from the Kings being kicked around. But what talent does Pat Riley have to offer in a trade … other than Ricky Davis’ expiring contract and less than inspiring game?

 

Maybe it was just because it was the seventh road loss in a row for the Jazz, but something in the workout Michael Jordan gave his young Bobcats on Tuesday got through. They sent the Jazz tumbling to a 6-point loss and for all the beating the Bobcats took for getting Nazr Mohammed from the Pistons, he had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in his first start. With Mohammed and Emeka Okafor in the blocks, Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace on the wings and Ray Felton running the point, that is a talented quintet that can beat anybody on a given night. They just don’t have any depth in the wake of season-ending knee injuries to Adam Morrison and Sean May.

 

After coming out of the blocks 6-1 and having people buzzing despite a ridiculous point guard situation, the Rockets are in big trouble. They’ve lost 13 of 20 and Tracy McGrady is back in the training room. He bruised his left knee in Saturday’s loss to the Mavs and was 5-of-18 from the field. Then Wednesday night after a miserable 1-for-10 in the first half of a 5-point loss to the Magic, he closed it down. They’ve now lost 12-of-18 since that quick start and other than Yao Ming, they’ve got nothing going on a regular basis. They’ve lost two of their last three, the lone win at 3-point grinder over the Pistons, despite Yao averaging 22.7 points, 14.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in these big games. The fatal flaw is still bad point guard play.

 

The last word: We’ll head back to the Spurs third loss in four games, this one to the Grizzlies. Not only did Mike Miller have a season-high 31 for rookie coach Marc Iavaroni, but Rudy #### hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer over Tim Duncan. ####, coming off back-to-back 32-point games, finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Acquired from the Rockets during the draft with Stromile Swift for Shane Battier, the 6-8 UConn product can pluck dimes off the top of the backboard. In the first 25 games, he’s improved in virtually every category (slightly down in 3-point percentage), scoring at a 19.7 clip, up from 10.8 and is shooting .483 from the floor and .819 from the free throw line, while now grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game at small forward. Retired Grizzlies’ president Jerry West raved about this guy for good reason. He isn’t quite the ballhandler he can or should be, but with his body potential, shooting range and explosion to the rim, as long as he continues to assert himself (that was always the question at UConn) this guy will be an All-Star for a long time.