PLAY OF THE DAY

SHOOTING STUDS

Gilbert Arenas, Wizards
104-92 win vs. Cavaliers
35 pts, 14-26 FG

Nick Collison, Sonics
114-98 win at L.A. Clippers
19 pts, 8-9 FG, 3-4 FT

Luol Deng, Bulls
117-93 win at Heat
26 pts, 12-17 FG

SHOOTING DUDS

Dwyane Wade, Heat
117-93 loss vs. Bulls
2-12 FG, 8 pts

Raef LaFrentz, Celtics
95-93 loss at Nets
1-8 FG, 1-3 3-pt FG, 3 pts

Desmond Mason, Hornets
96-79 loss at Kings
3-11 FG, 8 pts

STAT SHEET STUFFER

Boris Diaw and Lamar Odom's skill sets can be jointly described as the opposite of a marshmallow Peep. While the popular Easter candy has a hard, sugary exterior and a soft, marshmallow inside, Diaw and Odom's games consist of a soft outside touch that complements a wiry toughness inside the lane. Diaw showed he has even more in common with Odom on Sunday when he had 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the Suns' 109-89 home loss to the Lakers. It was Diaw's second-straight triple-double, micmicking a feat accomplished by Odom in consecutive games against the Blazers and Warriors on April 11 and 14. Odom nearly nabbed his third-straight triple dip, coming up just short with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

ROOKIE WATCH

It took Boston's Ryan Gomes a while to burst onto the rookie scene, and teammate Gerald Green is following the same path. Green's stretch of averaging 15.3 points off the bench after playing 25 minutes or more in the Celtics' last four games was rewarded with the first start of his career in Boston's 95-93 road loss to the Nets. Green filled in for Paul Pierce, who was sidelined with an elbow injury, and did a good job in doing so as he scored 19 points, grabbed three rebounds and set career highs with 39 minutes played and six assists.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"Two (games) to go and then all the fun starts for 16 teams. We're glad to get one more out of the way."

-- San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich looking ahead to the NBA Playoffs after his team's easy 103-90 road win in Minnesota. Pop spread out the playing time between all 12 of his players against the Kevin Garnett-less Wolves; every Spur played at least 10 minutes.

STORYLINES OF THE NIGHT

1. East Playoff Picture
With the Bulls beating the Heat 117-93 for their eighth win in 10 games and the Wizards downing the Cavs 104-92, the eight Eastern Conference Playoff teams are set (Philadelphia and Orlando were officially eliminated from contention). The East seeds, however, are still up in the air. Detroit, Miami, New Jersey and Cleveland are locked into spots one through four, respectively. Then it starts to get interesting. Washington broke a five-game skid, thanks in part to the return of Caron Butler, and sits in the No. 5 spot with a 40-40 record. Meanwhile, the three remaining playoff teams - Indiana, Milwaukee and Chicago - are all tied with 39-41 marks.

2. West Playoff Picture
Kobe Bryant topped the 40-point plateau for the 27th time this season to lead the Lakers past the Suns, 109-89. The performance bolstered his MVP consideration, but more importantly clinched a playoff berth for Los Angeles. "Everyone is not jumping for joy with finally making the playoffs but it is a big accomplishment for us being that we didn't make it last year and nobody expected us to make it this year and here we are," Bryant said. The Lakers became the seventh team in the West to clinch, setting the stage for the Kings to grab the eighth bid with a 96-79 home win over the Hornets (Utah, which lost 111-95 in Dallas, was eliminated in the process). Sacramento's postseason berth marks the first time in Shareef Abdur-Rahim's 10-year career that he'll play in a best-of-seven. While the top of the East is set, the No. 1 spot out West is down to the Spurs and the Mavericks. San Antonio leads Dallas by 1 1/2 games with two to play, so all it has to do to clinch as the West's best is to either win one of its last two, or have the Mavs lose their finale. The other end of the spectrum is yet to be decided as well; Memphis leads the Clippers by one game for the No. 5 spot, and the Lakers lead the Kings by one in the race for the No. 7 seed.

3. Better Than a '64 Mustang
The 1964 Ford Mustang is America's classic muscle car, and the NBA's current muscle-team is having a classic season. The Motor City's basketball team added another accolade to their remarkable run as the Pistons set a franchise record in wins with Sunday's 103-97 home win over the Knicks. The victory was No. 64 on the year for Detroit. If the Pistons win their last two games they can finish with 66 wins, good enough for a tie with the 1970-'71 Milwaukee Bucks for 10th on the all-time NBA single-season wins list. "I think what it does is it shows the character of the team, the whole roster, your ability to go out every night and perform at a high level," Detroit coach Flip Saunders said. "To win that many games, you don't take too many days off. Especially the start that we had, it seemed like everyone was playing pretty much their Super Bowl." Lindsey Hunter, meanwhile, who was a member of the 1993-'94 Pistons team that had 62 losses, downplayed the victory. "It means absolutely nothing," Hunter said. "It's good but our goal is to win a championship. That's our goal. Everything else is fine and dandy but nobody's going to remember that if we don't win a championship."

COOL/CLUTCH PERFORMANCE

After winning 14 straight games to propel themselves to a lock for the No. 3 spot in the East by securing the Atlantic Division, the Nets promptly dropped three out of four. Playoff positioning is nice, but it isn't worth a darn if a team has no momentum. New Jersey's Zoran Planinic, along with the Celtics, helped to turn that around. The 6-foot-7 forward from Croatia scored 11 of his season-high 13 points in the fourth quarter to help the Nets hold on for a 95-93 home win over Boston. The victory was the Nets' second against the C's in the last three days, and with the only two games remaining on New Jersey's regular-season schedule being against Philadelphia and New York, they have a chance to firmly capture that momentum once again before the postseason starts.

SIXTH MAN OF THE NIGHT

What could an NBA star possibly want for his birthday that he doesn't have already? How about a trip? As in, a trip to the playoffs. Luol Deng turned 21 on Sunday and did the gift-giving himself as he scored 26 points off the bench in Chicago's 117-93 road win in Miami, securing the Bulls their second straight playoff appearance. "It's a good feeling to clinch it on my birthday, but we want to build on this and see if we can climb a bit more," Deng said. "I had good looks (today) and didn't think twice about taking shots."

RICK KAMLA'S FANTASY TAKE

"On behalf of the fantasy world, I would like to welcome back Caron Butler after a five-game absence. In Sunday's must-win over the Cavs, Butler had 21 points, eight rebounds, and four steals in 42 minutes. The sprained right thumb did not appear to effect his game, so feel free to play him in Washington's last two games."