It was another exciting evening in the NBA last night. Just about all the powerhouses in the west were in action, and in good games at that. The Western Conference didn’t see any big moves, but there was a big game for the Dallas Mavericks that could finally take them over the top.

• The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Phoenix Suns, in Phoenix, to finally win a game against real competition. As the teams faced up, the Phoenix Suns sat one game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the Pacific Division title. The Mavericks were led by an ailing Dirk Nowitzki who finally went out with the intent of proving the media wrong. he has long been known as a great player who doesn’t leave everything he’s got on the court, but today, he proved everyone wrong. He made sure people knew he was playing on a bad ankle and he made sure everyone knew how passionate he really was. As the Mavericks fell behind by 14 in the 4th, and went off for a 16-0 run in the 4th, the Mavs took the lead for the first time and the Suns simply didn’t know how to respond. The Dallas Mavericks came away with a win and a safer bet at the 7th seed, or more importantly a playoff spot in general.
• The New Orleans Hornets hosted the Golden State Warriors this morning to open up action. I expected this game to be extremely close til then end as the Hornets are a much better team, but the Warriors are in need of a win to stay in the race for the final playoff spot. Of course, the game was quite close for the first three quarters, until the dominant Hornets took off and proved why they are the #1 team in the West (for now). New Orleans ended up coming away with a win that honestly, came to easily for them. The Warriors have dug them into a deeper hole, but luckily for them, their competition, the Denver Nuggets don’t enjoy taking advantage of situations such as this.
• Speaking of the Denver Nuggets, they had a chance to take a full game lead over the Golden State Warriors as they faced the Seattle Supersonics. Surely enough, Denver decided to keep things exciting until the real end. As the Warriors lost to the Hornets, the Nuggets played a really exciting game against Kevin Durant and the Sonics. The Nuggets should be able to destroy teams such as this since they have such a big pay roll and are led by the superior play of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson. Either way, big names or not, the Nuggets lost in double overtime to the Sonics as Durant hit two big shots to keep the Sonics alive and the playoff race that much more exciting.
• Last time the Los Angeles Lakers visited the Sacramento Kings, the Lakers came out with a loss and another hit to their record. The Lakers have been more dominant recently and are finally starting to gel again as Pau Gasol’s presence has been significant. In terms of the rest of the Lakers injuries, Luke Walton was out of action with a stressed groin muscle and is expected to return against Portland, Derek Fisher continued to play through his torn tendon in his foot, and Andrew Bynum finally joined the team on this road trip to become re accustomed to the stresses of traveling as well as to begin the bonding experience with the guys again.
• The San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trailblazers.
• The Houston Rockets beat up on the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Playoffs are so close and yet it seems like the season just barely started. It was just yesterday that Kobe Bryant requested to be traded and suddenly he’s looking the MVP trophy with a special glare reflecting upon him. The playoffs are going to be really exciting and the drama continues to build on a daily basis.