SECAUCUS, NJ, Jan. 24, 2006 -- Time to celebrate. We have reached the midway point of the regular season, a perfect time to honor the best of the 2006-07 campaign to date. NBA.com's experts expound on their mid-season picks for the six major awards, as well as another eight "best of" categories.

If you were to list a top 10 for the Best Game of the year so far, the Suns might be on the list several times. They just make for fun basketball.

Maurice Brooks:
Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157 (double-overtime). Does it get any better than this? Nope. The Nets set a franchise record for points, Jason Kidd was unreal, posting a triple-double of 38 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, but it wasn’t enough to offset the Suns, who got 42 points from Steve Nash, including nine in the second overtime. The game featured 224 shots, 27 made 3-pointers, 57 fouls and just 29 turnovers. >> Watch it!

Jeff Dengate:
If you didn’t catch it live or on replay as an instant classic on NBA TV, all you have are the highlights. Good thing those aren’t in short supply, as the Suns and Nets on Dec. 7 scored a combined 318 points over 58 minutes of basketball. The fourth highest scoring game in NBA history featured 34 lead changes and 21 ties.

John Hareas:
Suns-Nets was an instant classic the second the fourth buzzer sounded (you couldn’t load this one fast enough on NBA TV). I’ll be telling the grandkids.

Dave McMenamin:
I was watching the Knicks and Pistons at night with my girlfriend and she didn’t jump for the remote control every commercial break to flip back to Top Chef on Bravo. The game was that riveting. There were a lot of doubles. Rip Hamilton scored the most points at the Garden (51) since MJ’s double-nickel, big man Channing Frye hit an improbable long jumper to tie it at the end of double-OT, and a double-dose of stars fouled out as Sheed and Starbury both collected six fouls. It was just a great present a few days after Christmas that was exciting to watch and totally unexpected. >> Watch it!

Rob Peterson:
If you don't pick Phoenix's double OT win over the Nets on Dec. 7 in the Meadowlands, you're a dope. Hands down, the game of the year. Heck, it's the game of the last five years. A pleasure to watch from start to finish, you had two of the game's elite point guards at the top of their game and their teammates at the top of theirs. Add an extra 10 minutes, and you have one of the all-time great games in NBA history. We've had three three-OT games this season, but nothing compares to this one.

Chris Rosenbluth:
Suns-Nets had six periods, 318 points and 34 lead changes. It had the MVP going bananas, pumping in 42 points, 13 assists and an OT-forcing 3-ball at the end of regulation that on its own justified another Maurice Podoloff Trophy. It had Jason Kidd, the only point in the game living anywhere close to Nash’s stratosphere, tying Wilt Chamberlain for the third-most triple-doubles in history. What more could you want?

John Schuhmann:
As I was sitting a few feet away from Jason Kidd during his press conference after the Suns-Nets classic at the swamp in December, I had to resist the urge to just say, "Jason, that was [expletive] great."
-- Read John's column about Suns-Nets