SUNS-LAKERS, FIVE THOUGHTS

4. The Suns had the second-best record in the West going into last night's game. Where will they be on April 1st? Three of Phoenix's next four games are against teams with .700-plus records. In March the Suns play a hefty 16 games, eight of them against teams with better than .600 records. Currently the 8th team in the West, Denver, has just three more losses (20 total) than does Phoenix. The Suns could have 20 losses by March 1st. Considering that Phoenix is like, 5-12 against West teams who'd be in the playoffs if they began today, it doesn't look good.

5. The biggest problem I saw last night, and this will improve, was how the lane was jammed when Nash attempted to drive. Normally when Nash drives Amare fills a lane and Nash either continues to the hoop or dishes at the last moment to him. But part of that is due to the fact that Amare sets up in the high post, not low. Last night Shaq just didn't have the timing down with Nash to know how to set him a pick and then roll to the hoop. Their most effective play was a lob near the bucket. The offense simply does not flow as well, but it's only one game. That will improve.

But will the Suns improve? And if so, will they improve enough? If I had to handicap the West right now, my top four teams would be:

1) Los Angeles

2) Utah

3) New Orleans

4) Phoenix

And keep an eye out for Houston. The Western Conference playoffs will be the most entertaining thing to hit sports until the Olympics this year. And there will be at least two "upsets" among the four first-round series. There's just too little difference between teams 1 and 8.

Back to back

I've been doing some research of late as to how NBA teams fare playing games on successive nights. The full story will come out in a week or so, but it's rare that a team wins both games of a back-to-back. Especially a subpar team, and that's exactly what the New York Knicks are. The Knicks entered yesterday having played eleven back-to-back games this season, and in only one instance had they swept. So if you were a betting man and you saw that the Knicks won at Washington on Tuesday, in overtime, you would have been wise to bet against them last night. And how did New York do, playing at Philadelphia? They lost by 40. By 40! To a Sixers team whose starting five was Andre Iguodala, Reggie Evans, Samuel Dalembert, Andre Miller and Willie Green. Keep an eye on the Knicks' back-to-back games on March 16-17. They'll be home versus Atlanta (winnable) and then they visit Indiana. If they beat Atlanta, bet the condo on the Pacers.

Super Pinky 

Kobe, I'm feelin' ya. The broken pinky. I, too, have a broken right pinky tale. Broke it in the second football game of my senior year. It got mangled in Carlton Campbell's facemask as he scored a touchdown against us in our "rivalry" game (yes, adding injury to insult). But, since it was only the second game of my senior year, I simply taped it to my ring finger and kept playing. Didn't want to forfeit my final season of organized football to a broken pinky.

Well, I'm hoping that the photo that I sent to our trusty managing editor, Brian Gilmore, is being posted here. It's a just-taken shot of my pinky, 25 years later. I never had it fixed--it had calcified by season's end and I did not have access to Kobe's surgical staff. What I do know is that Kobe can play through the "pain", but that (last night's 40-point effort notwithstanding) it should have a negative effect on his shot. The pinky may be the least important digit, but I found with my shot that having the crooked pinky results in the ball not coming off your fingers cleanly. The broken pinky pushes the ball a little left.

In other words, if I were advising the Lakers, I'd tell them to have Kobe have the surgery now. He'd be back by the playoffs and the Laker complementary players would only grow and mature in his absence. LA would be that much more lethal once the playoffs begin.

By the way, the most adverse result of my broken pinky? During my brief stint in the military, I could not salute straight. The drill sergeant yelled at me a few times before he finally approached me and realized that I was not a 100% complete idiot. When he inspected my hand, he finally believed me. I'd been protesting that that was as straight as I could make my salute. But drill sergeants aren't about listening, not during basic training.

I doubt this will be a future concern of Kobe's.

By the way, former pitcher David Cone? Has the same exact injury. The two of us once compared crooked pinkys.