Wild, wild west - SPORTING CHANCE By Joaquin M. Henson

There are two teams over the .500 mark outside the top eight circle in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). And Minnesota, the league’s hottest club with a 10-game victory streak, is holding on to the No. 7 spot although it has the same number of wins — 31 — as pacesetter Sacramento. That’s how tight the race is in the wild, wild West.

The Kings are sitting on the Western throne — quite uneasily — at the moment after losing their last two games to the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. Coach Rick Adelman’s record is 31-14. Next in the standings is Utah then Portland, San Antonio, the Lakers, Dallas, Minnesota, and Phoenix. Only eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs. Batting over .500 are Seattle and Denver, both out of the elite eight.

In the East where the competition isn’t as tough, the No. 8 team — Indiana — isn’t even batting .500.

Tonight, Minnesota tries to extend its win streak to 11 at Sacramento’s expense in the featured game at 5:30 p.m. on IBC-13.

The Timberwolves are hosting the season’s third meeting between the Western contenders. Minnesota drew first blood, 99-91, last Nov. 4 then the Kings returned the favor, 100-97, last Jan. 8. Expect a war in the rubber match.

Adelman, who’s coaching the West squad in the All-Star Game this weekend, hopes to get back on the winning track after the Kings lost to the Lakers by six and the Bucks by three. Chris Webber, rumored to be moving to New York when he becomes a free agent at the end of this season, is averaging 27.1 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Kings who lost to the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last year. Four other Sacramento stalwarts are clipping in twin digits — Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Jason (White Chocolate) Williams, and Doug Christie.

Both Stojakovic and Divac are from Yugoslavia. There’s another non-American, Hidayet (Hedo) Turkoglu of Turkey, in the Kings lineup. Despite the ethnic differences, the Kings are playing beautiful music.

The Wolves’ foreign link is 7-0 center Rasho Nesterovic of Slovenia. Coach Flip Saunder’s marquee star is Kevin Garnett, the NBA’s first $100 million player. He seems to be worth every penny in his fat contract — Garnett has a streak of seven straight double-doubles. Also in the cast is guard Terrell Brandon, once dubbed the league’s top point guard by Sports Illustrated. Brandon dished out 16 assists against Milwaukee last Jan. 29 and has shot a lofty 58.7 percent from the floor in his last seven outings. Wally Szczerbiak, a 6-8 forward, is another Wolves reliable.

There’s talk that Saunders is negotiating to ship Szczerbiak to Denver for Raef LaFrenz and Brandon to New York for Allan Houston before the trading deadline on Feb. 22. Szczerbiak is known as a whiner who complains about playing second fiddle to Garnett. LaFrenz, a blue-collar worker, won’t mind caddying for Garnett. The Wolves are hurting at the No. 2 spot where Anthony Peeler starts and could use Houston in the playoffs. As for the Knicks, Brandon will finally end coach Jeff Van Gundy’s search for a respectable quarterback — besides, Houston and Latrell Sprewell are too much alike.

So a lot is riding on tonight’s game. The Wolves hope to move up the ladder. The Kings are dying to break out of their mini-slump. And players, rumored to be on the trading block, will be out to impress their possible future employers.

And while you’re watching the game, why not join our "NBA Game of the Week No. 3" contest?

Simply write the answers to three questions — who made the first shot of the game, what was the halftime scorer, and who was the highest scorer — in a slip of paper and send it to "NBA Game of the Week No. 3 Contest," A Sporting Chance, The Philippine STAR, 13th and Railroad Streets, Port Area, Metro Manila. Don’t forget to write your name, address, telephone number and signature.

We’ll pick 12 winners in our draw.

First prize is a package consisting of a Timberwolves long-sleeved sweatshirt, a Kings T-shirt, a Philadelphia 76ers long-sleeved shirt, an NBA bag, an NBA folder (with ball texture) and pad, an NBA magazine from Tower Sports, a Kevin Garnett poster and 2001 calendar from Upper Deck, and an NBA schedule pamphlet.

Second prize is a package consisting of a Kings long-sleeved sweatshirt, a Tim Duncan T-shirt, a Kobe Bryant poster from Upper Deck, and an NBA schedule pamphlet.

We will also give away 10 consolation prizes — an NBA "I Still Love This Game" CD and schedule pamphlet to five entries each, an NBA luggage tag and schedule pamphlet to four entries each, and a Lakers NBA 2000 championship VHS video and a schedule pamphlet to another entry.

Take our advice — watch the game and win lots of prizes from the NBA.