Western Conference race shaping up to be a doozy

Carlos Boozer and the Jazz won't have an easy time making the playoffs in the stacked Western Conference. John W. McDonough/SI

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The NBA might want to consider, if only for this season, adding an extra "wild'' to the familiar (and ripped-off classic TV title) description of the left half of its competition. As in, the wild, wild, wild West.

Adding a few more alliterative adjectives would seem to be in order as well, such as wacky, weird and wicked. Because the Western Conference, so far this season, has been all about the W's.

Have you taken a good look at the standings lately? As of Tuesday morning, the Utah Jazz (24-18) and the Houston Rockets (22-19) were sitting in the ninth and 10th spots in their conference standings, respectively. As people like to say, if the playoffs began today -- besides the fact that we'd have 16 frantic ticket-sales departments -- both Jerry Sloan's and Rick Adelman's clubs would be on the outside looking in. Meanwhile, over in the East, Atlanta (18-20) and Indiana (19-23) would qualify as first-round fodder in the seventh and eighth spots, respectively.

How bad is that? In the East, the Jazz would own the fourth-best record. Houston would be tied for sixth place.

The good news for those teams, and for fans ready to pay attention now that the NFL season is over (yeah, yeah, we're quite aware of the final step in the Patriots' coronation), is that it's an oh-so-thin line between in and out in the West. It is, frankly, a pretty slender line between sitting at home and playing at home when the postseason begins.

The top four teams -- Phoenix (29-12), New Orleans (28-12), the Lakers (27-12) and Dallas (27-13) -- woke up Tuesday tightly bunched within 1½ games. San Antonio (26-13) was another half game back. Then came Portland (25-16) at four games behind the Suns, Denver (24-16) 4½ back and Golden State (25-18), after its regrettable home loss Monday to Minnesota, still just five games behind.

Then you factor in the division and seeding rules, which would have Portland at No. 4 as the Northwest Division winner, and you realize that Utah (a conference finalist last season) could go from ninth to fourth in a mere 1½ games.

No wonder Sloan and his players are kicking themselves for their 7-15 road record so far, a constant reminder of blown opportunities.

"The expectations, obviously, were very high to start the season,'' the Jazz coach told Salt Lake City reporters over the weekend. "And I think most of our players had those expectations. But we haven't lived up to those, because of -- in my opinion -- our road record. I don't think that's anywhere near where this team could be.''

This isn't the first time that two or more teams with winning records could miss the playoffs. But it isn't all that common. You have to go back to the spring of 2001, when both Houston (45-37) and Seattle (44-38) qualified for the lottery despite winning percentages of .549 and .537, respectively. One reason for the imbalance that season was that three teams in the league were truly horrible: Washington (63 losses), Golden State (65) and Chicago (67) accounted for 195 defeats all by themselves, enabling good or even average teams to pad their records.

This season has similar patsies. At the approximate midpoint, Miami, Seattle and Minnesota were on pace for a combined 196 defeats. And the bottom five teams in the West -- the Kings, Clippers, Grizzlies, Sonics and Timberwolves -- had lost a total of 142 games, nearly as many as the conference's top 10 teams combined (149).

Will all of these trends continue through the third week of April? Not likely. The schedule will balance out, fatigue will do some equalizing and injuries and the trading deadline could swing the balance of power in one direction or another. In just the past 10 days, there has been a wee bit of separation; through Jan. 11, Utah and Houston still were on the outside looking in, but both of them were within 5½ games of first place in the West.

For comparison's sake, the No. 8 seed last season in the West, Golden State, finished 15 games back of No. 1 Dallas.

Still, for a season in which the East had so much of the early sizzle thanks to the migration of players such as Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Zach Randolph and Rashard Lewis, the West remains the best overall. Alliterative or not.

Call me a cynic

From what I hear, the folks at Kia make a pretty, pretty, pretty good motor vehicle. And their new global partnership with the NBA isn't going to hurt a soul. In fact, each winner of the annual MVP, Sixth Man, Defensive Player and Most Improved Player awards will be able to designate a favorite charity to receive a new Kia SUV in his name.

Still, I have a hunch that not one of them ever has, or ever will, own a Kia of his own. Kia in partnership with the NBA is a little like Maybach sponsoring your local teachers' union.

And I remember the days when the cars actually were given to the award winners themselves.

Let the streak begin

When Minnesota plays host to Phoenix on Wednesday night, the Timberwolves will be seeking their first winning streak since they beat Boston and Denver consecutively last February. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only three previous teams in NBA history played a full season without winning at last two games in a row. They were the 2004-05 Atlanta Hawks (13-69), the 1986-87 L.A. Clippers (12-70) and the 1947-48 Providence Steamrollers (6-42).

We'll let you make your own steamroller jokes here.

Steve Aschburner covered the Minnesota Timberwolves and the NBA for 13 seasons for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He has served as president or vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association since 2005.