Frank Layden

•Frank Layden, the once corpulent Utah Jazz coach, who has shed 60 pounds: "I've always had a great body. It was inside the one everybody saw."

•Rich Kelley, Phoenix Suns center, complaining that opponents had lately been employing unusually rough tactics against him: "Either I'm playing with my face more or they're playing with their elbows more."

Forget that stuff about the NBA's regular season being meaningless. The members of this division will have to play every game as if it's crucial if any of them—other than the champion—hopes to make the playoffs. Six...