| Tuesday, March 7
By Mike Monroe
Special to ESPN.com |
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As the Western Conference playoff race heads to the final turn -- most teams
will have only 20 remaining games by week's end -- it is not too early to
peer through the telescope at some potential first-round matchups,
especially as they relate to the race for first place in the Midwest
Division.
The real power in the West, of course, is in the Pacific Division, with the
streaking Lakers and the powerful Trail Blazers still head and shoulders
above the best teams in the Midwest, the Lakers 10 games better and the Blazers
seven-and-a-half better than the Jazz, as of Tuesday morning.
|  | | Avery Johnson and David Wesley were very nearly dealt for each other at the trade deadline. |
NBA playoff protocol, however, gives the top two seeds in each conference
playoff field to the division winners, the winner with the best mark getting
the top seed.
What makes this especially vital this season is the very fact of the
Pacific's power, for the Phoenix Suns now threaten to sneak into the top
four in the final Western standings, ahead of whichever Midwest team loses
out in the race for the division title.
So here's reality for the Jazz and the Spurs: Win the division and face the
No. 7 seed in the West, certainly with home court advantage in the first
round.
Lose, and face a Suns team that has been one of the NBA's hottest teams in
the last few weeks, and with the Suns having home court advantage.
That is a huge difference, and were the season to end today the defending
NBA champion Spurs would face just such an unsavory scenario. Ask yourself:
Which team would you like in a five-game series if three of the five were to
be played in Phoenix?
Even the Timberwolves have been playing better ball of late than the Spurs,
and it is hardly a stretch to see Minnesota passing the Spurs for second in
the Midwest.
That would have even bigger playoff implications, because that would mean a
first-round series matching last season's conference finalists, the Spurs
and the Blazers.
Wouldn't that be a first-round series to remember?
I think the Spurs are too good to slide back to third in the Midwest, but
I'm not sure they have the right kind of late-season chemistry to get back
to the top of the division. While Utah has won nine of its last 10 games and
moved back into first in the Midwest, the Spurs have been struggling of
late, not only on the floor but with their team chemistry.
Naturally, San Antonio's biggest worry of the moment is Tim Duncan's lower
abdominal strain, which cost him five games and goes a long way toward
explaining the Spurs' recent problems on the floor.
But the Spurs also are finding their locker room chemistry, so vital in
their championship run last season, has gotten shaky.
At the center of recent controversy: Point guard Avery Johnson, of all
people.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has benched Johnson in the fourth quarter of
some games over the last month, and Johnson isn't happy about watching Terry
Porter or Antonio Daniels finishing games. Emotions boiled over after a Feb.
15 loss at Cleveland in which Johnson once again sat much of crunch time. Here's what happened, according to reliable witnesses.
Johnson complained in the locker room after the Cleveland game that he
wasn't getting the respect he deserved. Some of other players, according to
a source who spoke with the San Antonio Express News, viewed Johnson's
outburst as selfish. Johnson then went after Malik Rose in the locker room.
There was talk that Johnson threw a punch -- both he and Popovich vehemently
deny that -- but some of the players confided, anonymously, that Rose, who
was standing in his socks, slipped trying to get away from Johnson. Porter
then jumped on Rose when he tried to get back up and go after him. Keep in
mind that all of the players had just exited the shower and were in various
states of undress.
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The scene -- described by one player as resembling a Roman orgy -- ended up
with Rose being held down by a couple of players.
Whether or not the incident was a factor, the Spurs subsequently tried to
move Johnson just before the trade deadline. They discussed a deal for
Clippers guard Derek Anderson that also would have involved Jaren Jackson,
but the Clips weren't interested.
They then tried to swap Johnson for Charlotte's David Wesley.
What such trade talk engendered is a team leader who feels betrayed by the
man whose job he helped to save last season.
Publicly, Johnson is saying the right things, such as: "Everybody I think
has been mentioned in trades (during) their career. Whether it comes out in
the media or it was behind the scenes, talk is always going to be out there.
The main thing is I'm focused on winning a championship this year. That's
where my focus is."
Privately, however, AJ is hurt. Make that very angry and hurt. Betrayed may
be more like it. He has been Popovich's most trusted player since Popovich
brought him back to the franchise in 1994. He also saved Popovich's career
last season when the team started 6-8 and some of the players thought a
coaching change was in order. Johnson publicly backed Popovich while holding
together the locker room.
Johnson is one of the most intense competitors in the game, a player who
has overcome his own shortcomings (no pun intended) to become a key
contributor on a championship team. That he should be the focus of
controversy in San Antonio just proves how fragile championship chemistry
really is.
In the meantime, the Jazz is rolling, with John Stockton looking fresher at
this late stage of the season than any of the last three or four seasons. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan judiciously has cut his playing time this season, and
the payoff should come in the playoffs.
Sloan also is working rookie Quincy Lewis into his player rotation, a clear
indication Lewis has picked up that Utah work ethic that seems to rub off on
almost every player that comes through Salt Lake City.
Mike Monroe, who covers the NBA for the Denver Post, writes a Western Conference column for ESPN.com. You can e-mail him at monroe128@go.com |  |
NBA West: Lakers win proves point
