Eastern Conference

The pace-setters of the conference, the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks ended another week with perfect home records intact. While their overall records are 12-3 and 12-4 respectively, they have a combined 15-0 record when it relates to playing in front of their home fans, leaving them as the only two franchises in the league who can boast of the feat.

Among the teams to feel the effects of Miami’s six-game winning streak are the San Antonio Spurs and the Brooklyn Nets, while the Knicks extended their unbeaten run to three with a 106-99 win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.

The Nets are third in the conference thanks to a 7-3 record from their last 10, for an overall 15-5 record. While not perfect, their 7-1 home record is doing wonders for their confidence, taking a franchise that was struggling last year (the New Jersey Nets) and turning them into what shaping to be play-off contenders.

Though not the headliner, one of the biggest stories for the week was Rajon Rondo and his woeful behaviour while on course for greatness. With his stretch of games with 10 or more assists extended to 37, equalling the second-best record of John Stockton, he had a chance to prolong this feat against the Nets, but instead found himself ejected from the game following a fight with Kris Humphries. Teammate Kevin Garnett was fouled by Humphries, and Rondo chose to take the law into his own hands, causing his run to end, relieving the threat to Magic Johnson’s record of 46 games with 10 or more assists.

Stern vs Spurs

Western Conference

While Rondo’s irrational behaviour took up most of the chatter over in the East, another arguably irrational decision took centerstage in the Western Conference as NBA commissioner David Stern threw the book at the San Antonio Spurs franchise.

Facing a torrid road schedule, Spurs head coach Greg Papovich decided to rest four of his regular starters in Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, Tony Parker and Danny Green and not only rest them, but send them back to San Antonio to await their next home opponents. Commissioner Stern saw that action as disrespect to the league and in return fined the franchise for US$250,000.

Almost a week from the day, the jury is still undecided on whether or not Commissioner Stern should have acted out on the decision, with many arguing that while NBA patrons expect to see top competition “night-in, night-out”, “Coach Pop” has a right to protect his players first and foremost.

In an interesting twist, the “gamble” paid off somewhat for the Spurs as they defeated the conference best Memphis Grizzlies on their return home. They had to erase a 15-point deficit and edge them in overtime, but they did reign supreme 99-95. The Oklahoma City Thunder ran out 100-79 winners over the New Orleans Hornets to extend their unbeaten record to a conference-best five games. Among the five was also the Houston Rockets, with the exiled James Harden facing the stifling unit who held him to his second-worst shooting percentage in his growing NBA career.

Slowly climbing the ladder is the Golden State Warriors who are playing their hearts out for head coach and former TNT analyst Mark Jackson. On the back of a three-game win streak, their overall record now stands at 10-6, good enough for fourth place in the conference.

The topsy-turvy season of the Denver Nuggets continues as their three-game losing streak saw them slide out of a play-off position while the Suns who have a similar losing record slip further and further away from a play-off position, something that was once compulsory for the franchise.