Western Conference Insider: Injuries test contenders' mettle

The rash of injuries across the Western Conference hasn't gone unnoticed, and will no doubt influence the race and the seeds going into the playoffs. Teams just can't lose the likes of Andrew Bynum, Tracy McGrady, Amar'e Stoudemire and Jason Terry and expect to function at the same level.

Well, unless you're the Lakers.

"All that matters is who's healthy come playoff time," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Everybody has injuries to some degree during the season and some more than others. But come playoff time, everybody seems to get pretty healthy."

The Spurs are dealing with their own set of issues. Manu Ginobili (sore leg) is out and Tim Duncan joined the ranks of the walking wounded with an injured quad. Neither injury is considered serious, which is good news for the big picture in San Antonio.

"The teams that have experience, like some of these top teams, are able to play through that," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "They've been there. They have the experience. They know how to take up the slack. They don't go into panic mode when losing a key guy. They know they just have to maintain until a guy gets back."

The Lakers are running away with the West despite Bynum's absence. Los Angeles won't need to bring its young center back too soon with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom stepping up in Bynum's place and the No. 1 seed all but locked up.

As for T-Mac and Amar'e, the prognosis isn't as encouraging. Houston may be better off without McGrady for a myriad of reasons, but the Rockets will be hard pressed to contend without him. Stoudemire isn't expected back during the regular season, a major issue considering Phoenix sits ninth.

"That's unfortunate because it's great for the fans to see teams at full strength. But it is what it is," Popovich said. "You just have to deal with it. You have to do whatever you can during the season to try to have the best opportunity to be healthy come playoff time because everybody knows you have to have your horses to win it all."

Utah is banking on that. Carlos Boozer returned to the lineup this week after a three-month absence, marking the first time this season that all 15 Jazz players were available. The trio of Boozer, Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur went 49-22 together last season.

The Mavericks are doing what they can to tread water without the sharpshooting Terry, the leading candidate for the league's sixth man of the year honors. He should be back sometime next month for Dallas, which still has eyes on a top-four seed despite hovering around seventh or eighth for a while now.

"After the Lakers I think everything is open," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "The Lakers look pretty sharp, even with Bynum out. They went into Cleveland and won there, they went into Boston and won there, and continue to win. The Lakers are probably the heavy favorites. But after that it's going to be a fun ride until the end of the season."

David West is still waiting for the Hornets to show the spark that led to last season's Southwest Division title. New Orleans came into this season as a trendy pick to upset the Lakers in the West.

Instead, the Hornets are in the bottom half of the nine teams in the playoff chase. They're also trying to repair some hurt feelings in the locker room after the Tyson Chandler near-trade.

"We haven't played our best basketball yet," West said. "I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I'm looking at it as a good thing. We have the opportunity to close the year out strong. The one thing about the Western Conference is you have an opportunity to play teams you might see in the playoffs."

The Blazers began the season as the league's second-youngest team. The franchise hasn't reached the postseason since the Rasheed Wallace-led team of 2003. So there must be some pressure on Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Greg Oden and Co. with respect to being in the playoff hunt.

Right?

"I don't sense that right now," McMillan said. "What we're trying to do is not get them to think about that too much. Just focus on the game in front of them. We know where we are. We want them to know where they are and what we need to do, but what we've tried to do is just focus on one game and winning that game."

"Ass-kicking. About 42 minutes of an ass kicking. We threw about six tough minutes at them in the second quarter. The rest of the time, they dominated the game with their disposition and how they played."
-- Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle after losing 93-76 to San Antonio without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

"It's always tough in some ways. I know those guys are fired up to come back -- they loved their time here -- and they both had great games. But, fortunately for us, in the position we're in, we needed the win and we got it."
-- Suns guard Steve Nash on facing former teammates Raja Bell and Boris Diaw when Charlotte visited Phoenix.

"I don't think he would ... he had no strength in the leg. He couldn't loosen up at all. He wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing. He would have wanted to play. He would have tried to beat me up to play, probably."
-- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on whether Tim Duncan (right quad tendonosis) would have played this week had this been the playoffs.

128.4 -- Points the Suns averaged in the first five games under new coach Alvin Gentry.

17 -- Road wins for the Nuggets, matching last season's total. Denver still has another 11 road games.

9 -- Seasons between home back-to-backs for the Spurs. San Antonio last had one in December 1999 before two popped up on the schedule this season.

Does anyone realize how good Kevin Durant is? The second-year Thunder forward has scored at least 30 in nine of his last 10 games, and 13 of 17 games. The surge has helped him move up to fourth in the league in scoring ... The Suns' 4-1 start under new coach Gentry ties Scott Skiles for the best five-game start for a new coach in Suns franchise history. Skiles did it in 1999-2000 ... The bitter outdoes the sweet right now in Utah. The six-game winning streak that has the Jazz inching up the standings is but a footnote with the recent passing of owner Larry Miller.