NBA High-5: As Blazers try to hold playoff spot, a look at how other teams near them are doing

The five most interesting stories, rumors and notes in the NBA:

1. The wild, mild West: The Trail Blazers, coming off their first back-to-back losses in more than a month, return to action tonight in Denver as they try to hold onto to their No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings .

At 20-17, the Blazers are a half-game ahead of Utah (21-19), but they face a tough challenge tonight against the Nuggets, who at five straight victories have the longest active winning streak in the West.

Let's reset the battle for the West's lower-half playoff seeds by examining some of the key climbers and fallers:

? Denver (23-16): As expected, the Nuggets have taken advantage of a favorable January schedule -- in which they have 12 of 15 games at home -- to get off to a 6-1 start in the month. They've also gotten some help as key wing player Wilson Chandler has returned after missing 30 games with a hip injury.

Chandler had 14 points Sunday in his return game, a win over Golden State.

"He's a talented player," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said Monday. "They're able to play four perimeter players and that's tough to defend because it opens up the middle of the floor for penetration, and they thrive on that type of basketball. He really fits in well with what they want to do offensively."

? Memphis (24-12): The Grizzlies remain in fourth place, but there are some troubling signs after a 99-73 home loss to the Clippers last night. Memphis played without forward Rudy Gay, but the Clippers also were short-handed, missing point guard Chris Paul.

The Grizzlies set a franchise home record by shooting 30.3 percent from the field, at one point missing 14 of 15 shots, the Commercial Appeal's Ronald Tillery reports. The 26-point loss came after a 21-point defeat at Dallas on Saturday.

"It's difficult to understand," forward Zach Randolph said. "I'm still trying to figure it out myself. This is tough."

The effort was so bad, the home fans booed he Grizzlies, who have plenty of off-court distractions, with the rampant rumors about management shopping Gay to any team that will listen. The Commercial Appeal's Geoff Calkins summed it up this way:

You don't get to blame Rudy Gay for this one, either. Gay has an ironclad alibi. He missed the game to be at his grandmother's funeral. Maybe the Grizzlies should trade everyone else?

? Houston (21-17): The Rockets seemed a rock-solid playoff team after winning 12 of 15 games, including five a row, but have lost three straight road games to slip to seventh, a half-game ahead of Portland. They return home tonight to play the Clippers.

The Rockets have gone ice cold from three-point range, shooting 28 percent (26 for 92) on the trip. Their main perimeter guys -- James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin -- were a combined 13 of 50 (26.0 percent) in that stretch.

"Every team goes through some adversity and we're going through some a little bit right now," coach Kevin McHale said.

? Utah (21-19): You wondered about the Jazz after point guard Mo Williams had thumb surgery, and they lost three in a row to finish December.

The Jazz, though, have weathered the storm and gone 6-2 to start January, highlighted by last night's 104-97 win over Miami. Utah is the kind of team that blows huge leads and comes back from big deficits (a little like the Blazers), the Salt Lake Tribune's Dave Kragthorpe writes.

"You have moments when you really love and embrace ?em," coach Tyrone Corbin tells Kragthorpe. "And you have moments when you just want to grab ?em and [say], ?C?mon, let?s get it going.? But that?s part of the journey."

The Jazz should get a big boost from a turn in their schedule, which has seen them play 24 of their first 40 on the road. Last night's game started a stretch in which they will play nine of their next 11 at home, where they are 12-4.

? Minnesota (16-19): The weird notion -- or maybe it was hope -- that the Timberwolves play better without Kevin Love has been thoroughly proven wrong as they have lost five of six since Love went out with a hand injury for which he is scheduled to have surgery today.

The Timberwolves really felt Love's absence during a horrible four-game road trip? which concluded with a 113-98 loss at Dallas last night. The trip included 22-point losses at Oklahoma City and New Orleans, and an 18-point defeat at San Antonio and has left the Timberwolves reeling, the Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda reports.

"We just have to forget about this trip," said Terry Porter, who has been filling in for Rick Adelman as coach.

Adelman has missed the last five games to be with his wife, Mary Kay, who is hospitalized in Minnesota. Zgoda reports that doctors "continue to do tests to determine exactly what has hospitalized" her.

Mary Kay Adelman is deeply entrenched in the Portland area, where -- for the most part -- she and Rick raised their six children. If you get a moment, say a quick prayer or send a good thought her way.

2. Showing his cards: Another Western Conference team trying to right themselves is the Mavericks, who despite winning three in a row are 16-23, five games behind the Blazers.

Yesterday, owner Mark Cuban made absolutely no bones about his intention to be very aggressive before the Feb. 21 trade deadline, ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon reports.

"We're letting everybody know that the 'Bank of Cuban' is open," Cuban said, adding, "If it's the right deal, we don't mind taking back money. But we're not going to do a trade just to do a trade. It's got to be worthwhile."

Other than Dirk Nowitzki's $22.7 million, the Mavericks don't have many salary commitments for next season, although Shawn Marion ($9 million) and O.J. Mayo ($4.2 million) have player options. That means they have a lot of flexibility to make deals, although they have to decide if the point would be to extend their league-best 12-year playoff streak or to build something sustainable while Nowitzki is still around.

"Anything that helps us," Cuban said.

3. Not so fast, 'Melo: In general, NBA players are careful about what they eat. They're professionals, after all, who need to fuel their bodies correctly. But what if a? player simply stopped eating?

That's apparently what Knicks star Carmelo Anthony did. Anthony revealed Sunday that he had been on a 15-day fast that he finally ended this week, Newsday's Anthony Rieber reports.

"I usually do it sometimes just to get some clarity in my life," Anthony said. "Spiritual reasons. I'm done now. I can't do it no more."

Ummm, OK. Prodded to explain, Anthony said:

"It's a long story. I haven't had a good meal in about 2? weeks. No meats, no carbs, anything like that. I don't know how I was going through competing at a high level. Just sometimes these past three, four games where the body just feels depleted out there and just trying to find a way to get energy. But like I said, I surrender. I'm done. I'm going to get some food right now."

If we're counting the days that Anthony fasted correctly, he played six games in that span and averaged 32.3 points. That's pretty good on a growling stomach, although his shooting percentage did dip to 42.3 percent.

Anthony, by the way, could have timed his fast better. The Knicks play one game this week, traveling to London to play the Pistons. If I had not eaten in 15 days, I don't think English food would be the way to go (with all due respect to Joel Freeland).

Also, I know what you're thinking after seeing the words 15 days fast ... and no, we're not going to make a Raymond Felton joke.

4. Home, (deleted) home: This morning, The Oregonian's Jason Quick, who's been around a lot of NBA coaches, wrote about the teaching style of Stotts, who has a calm, almost professorial demeanor.

Sometimes, though, coaches go down a different path to prepare their teams. Take Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, who was looking for a way to snap his team out of its homecourt malaise. Going into their game last night against visiting Atlanta, the Bulls were 10-10 at the United Center, a real waste considering Chicago leads the NBA in attendance.

So at the morning shootaround, Thibodeau turned to a not-so-subtle technique, the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson reports, via center Joakim Noah.

"Thibs was screaming at us early in the morning," Noah said "It's not fun to be screamed at at 9 a.m. What was he screaming about? That we were 10-10 at home. With a lot of F-bombs. A lot of F-bombs."

Whaddaya know, it worked, with Chicago winning 97-58 and setting a record for fewest points allowed by a visiting opponent.

5. Fall of an empire: As the drama in Sacramento about the Kings continues to unfold, the enmity toward the Maloof family grows in the city.

The Seattle Times' Ken Armstrong recaps just how big a fall the Maloofs have taken in 10 years, going from beloved celebrity rich guys who were considered model? sports owners to their current image as cash-strapped wafflers who keep pulling out of arena deals.

Sacramento political consultant Doug Elmets sums up the family's image when he tells Armstrong:

"Certainly in the early years the Maloofs were the golden boys. They had everything going for them ? personally, professionally, financially. And the team was playing well. But the economy slowed, and they kind of became the poor boys of the Billionaires' Club."

Meanwhile, Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reveals details of an NBA Relocation Committee conference call in which details of the proposed sale and move to Seattle were unveiled. Among them: a $525 million sales price; a purchase of 65 percent of the franchise by the Seattle group fronted by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer; a renaming of the Kings to Sonics; and the team moving in time for the 2013-14 season, with it playing two years in KeyArena before moving into a new building.

According to Wojnarowski, the franchise will file for relocation before the March 1 deadline.

-- Mike Tokito

twitter.com/mtokito

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/nba/index.ssf/2013/01/nba_high-5_298.html

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