Western Conference

Sporting News, The, Jan 22, 2001

Dallas

ROTATION REVOLUTION: In camp, the dub was excited about its bench, hailing it as the best in team history. Backcourt reserves included Howard Eisley, Hubert Davis, Grog Buckner and rookie Courtney Alexander. Up front, shock troops Christian Laettner, Loy Vaught, Gary Trent, and rookies Etan Thomas and Donnell Harvey were certainly an improvement. Then the team added banger Mark Bryant. But the bench hasn't been much of a factor. Don Nelson tried a 10-man rotation that was unwieldy. Now the rotation is a sleek seven or eight, which is great for continuity but means the starters play too much.... The Mays won a team-record seven straight road games before a loss at Milwaukee. The defeat came with No. 3 scorer PG Steve Hash unable to play because of flu and a sore hamstring.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: Donnie Nelson is a more conventional coach than his father. He employs more traditional lineups that include a center, power forward, small forward, point guard and shooting guard. He favors bigger lineups; Don Nelson loves "small ball" with four guards and a forward. The younger Nelson has had both centers, Shawn Bradley and Laettner, on the floor at the same time with Dirk Nowitzki shifting to small forward. Of course, Laettner has played power forward much of his career and had his best game with the team at that spot--16 points and 12 rebounds against Milwaukee. There's a downside to playing Nowitzki at the three spot; he has become more comfortable at the four, where he's able to exploit his quickness and shooting ability against slower defenders. --Ken Sins

Denver

NO GUTS, NO GLORY: The team is looking toward the future, and the future is now. From that perspective, trading F/C Keon Clark, SG Tracy Murray and C Mamadou N'diaye for Raptors Cs Kevin Willis, Aleksandar Radejevic and Garth Joseph makes perfect sense. The latter two might not play, and coach Dan Issel doesn't care. He thinks Willis is the missing piece. Willis wasn't happy about the trade, but the 38-year-old veteran will adjust and contribute. PF Antonio McDyess often must guard opponents' centers because C Raef LaFrentz is a perimeter player by nature and straggles at the defensive end against some of the league's best centers. Willis' size, strength and experience will give the team a legitimate center--the one issue the Nuggets failed to address in the offseason. Issel's job likely depends on whether Willis takes the team to the next level.... SG Voshon Lenard scored 22 points, nailing four 3-pointers, against the Kings last week. He has made SG Tariq Abdul-Wahad a distant memory. Well, a memory for everyone except Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, who is still responsible for Abdul-Wahad's $43.3 million deal.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: The standard Nuggets defense inside is McDyess guarding the strongest post player the opposition possesses, with LaFrentz taking the easier matchup. When either got in foul trouble, Clark came in. Clark was too thin to guard big centers, leaving the Nuggets exposed inside. Willis to the rescue. The Nuggets expect him to play about 20 minutes a night. This will keep McDyess and LaFrentz fresh for April--and longer, the team hopes--for a playoff run. --Michael BeDan

Golden State

WELCOME MOVE: With SG Larry Hughes projected to miss about three weeks with partial ligament damage in his right thumb, Bob Sura shifts to his natural position and becomes a starter. Perhaps Sura will settle into a comfort zone. He began the season on the injured list with a strained lower back; returned for a largely unsuccessful stint as a starting point guard; missed three games with a strained left hamstring; and, most recently, logged a lot of minutes defending small forwards in the team's three-guard lineup. The team wants Sura to emerge as the third scorer to ease the burden on PF Antawn Jamison and C Marc Jackson. Sura's problem is consistency. He can be spectacular with his creative shot-making and passing, but he can drive coach Dave Cowers crazy with bad decisions on the offensive end.... PG Vonteego Cummings' sluggish play concerns the team. In the six games before last weekend, he was 7-for-34 (20.6 percent) from the field with a subpar assist-to-turn over ratio.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: Every opponent should attack the Warriors like the Hawks did last week: pound the ball inside and force the Warriors to react. Five of the Warriors' injured players--Cs Erick Dampier and Adonal Foyle, PF Danny Fortson and SFs Chris Mills and Chris Porter--are among the team's most accomplished defenders. Dampier, Foyle and Fortson are the club's best protectors of the basket. Atlanta shot 52 percent from the field, matched its season high for points and got the most productive scoring game from C Dikembe Mutombo since March 1999. --Brad Weinstein

Houston

PERFECT DUET: Victories at Toronto and New York have the schizoid Rockets thinking like playoff challengers. They are rapidly becoming the perfect team for the new-millennium NBA, where every team is in isolation or one-on-one mode. PG Steve Francis and SC Cuttino Mobley are the best guys to play that style of game. Mobley proved that much when he yo-yo'd the ball as the game clock wound down then breezed past Knicks SF Latrell Sprewell for a layup that gave the Rockets the win. Coach Rudy Tomjanovich may preach team ball, but who is he kidding? This team is Francis and Mobley--as it should be. Each has the explosive off-the-dribble game that makes him nearly impossible to guard. Both can stroke it from the 3-point line. If they learn to pull up for the midrange jumper, both will be impossible to defend.