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THE WEEK IN PREVIEW
MONDAY Utah completes its six-game East Coast swing with a chance to earn a 3-3 split by winning at Chicago. Orlando seeks its seventh win in nine games by completing a road back-to-back at Philadelphia. But we're looking most forward to Memphis at Denver, in a showdown of Midwest Division surprise packages.
TUESDAY It's a busy Festivus with all but five teams playing, and there are several intriguing matchups. New Orleans at Cleveland pits the Hornets against former coach Paul Silas' new Cavs. Memphis travels to Sacramento in a rematch of last week's confidence-boosting home win for the Grizz. L.A. Clippers at San Antonio gives the Spurs a chance to avenge one of their worst losses this season, only this time with Tim Duncan and Tony Parker healthy. We'll see if Lakers at Golden State turns out to be Karl Malone's first attempt to play through a sprained knee, and we'll all be monitoring Minnesota at New York. For Latrell Sprewell's return to Madison Square Garden, obviously.
WEDNESDAY No games, but a good day to catch up on your Stein Line reading pile.
THURSDAY Three choices Christmas Day, but we encourage you to watch them all: LeBron James vs. Tracy McGrady in Cavaliers at Magic. That's on ESPN, with ABC carrying the holiday's other two games: Dallas at Sacramento, followed by Yao Ming vs. Shaquille O'Neal in Rockets at Lakers. And that'll be the real deal, not cardboard cutouts.
FRIDAY The league comes out of the holiday with 26 of 29 teams back to work. ESPN's Friday Doubleheader moves to ESPN2, starting with New Jersey at Detroit and followed by Minnesota at Portland. Boston at Phoenix has some potential, too, as the rematch of the Celtics' 29-point blown lead at home against the Suns.
WEEKEND Saturday completes a nice, little back-to-back for the Nets: It's New Jersey at Indiana right after Nets vs. Pistons. New York at Miami, if nothing else, sounds important. Sunday gives some life to the 'Sheed-to-Cleveland movement with Blazers at Cavs in Portland's only Cleveland appearance of the season. The weekend's closing act is Boston at Lakers, which sounds far more important than Knicks-Heat and figures to be sufficiently more entertaining.

Editor's note: Every Monday, senior NBA writer Marc Stein reviews the week that was -- and takes a quick look ahead -- in "Reverse Slams."

It's a little early to start the MVP debate, isn't it?

Right. Didn't think you'd mind.

Minnesota and San Antonio -- read: Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan -- didn't even wait until Christmas to resume their battle for the game's foremost individual honor. With the most dominant unselfish play in the league, of course.

The Wolves have won five in a row to vault to No. 4 in ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings. Garnett, during the streak, has averaged a tidy 26.4 points, 12.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 3.6 blocks and 2.0 steals.

Duncan, gaining strength in his recently twisted ankle, just led the Spurs to 10 straight wins, lifting the defending champs from a shocking 9-10 start to first place in the toughest division in basketball.

They're the standout stars of Week 8, and they're already on pace to dominate MVP chatter in months ahead & although it's worth mentioning that the presence of four future Hall of Famers on the roster of the stubborn No. 1 team in our rankings has to help them out. Having so much assistance in Los Angeles figures to detract from the case Shaquille O'Neal will be able to make for winning his second MVP trophy.

Our weekly chat will resume after the holidays. Coming later this week: An enhanced edition of Slams and Dunks, featuring a review of the season's opening trimester.

Orlando Magic. From a 1-19 start, which translated to a 4-78 pace, the Magic has gone 6-2 to cut its deficit to 6 ½ games behind Milwaukee, the team that presently sits eighth in the Eastern Conference. After losing at Chicago last Tuesday, Orlando upset Indiana on the road, blasted Golden State at home and held on for a win in Toronto in the latest Tracy McGrady-Vince Carter reunion. The latter victory soothes some of McGrady's recent suffering -- T-Mac has been bashed so much lately that you'd think he inherited cousin Vince's luck from last season.

	Frahm

Richie Frahm. It's not as good as contending for the playoffs, but the Sonics are runaway champs in the business of springing total unknowns on an unsuspecting NBA populace. November was Flip Murray's month. Saturday was Frahm's night: 31 points in 32 minutes in a win at Denver for the 26-year-old undrafted free agent from Gonzaga. No truth to the rumor John Stockton retired because he didn't want to play in the shadow of his fellow Zag, who shot 10-for-11 from the field against the Nuggets -- his only miss coming from 3-point range, out of seven 3-point attempts. In his first 20 games in the NBA, Frahm totaled 70 points. That includes a 17-point salvo the free world totally missed in a Dec. 14 win over Milwaukee.

Never knew you didn't use e-mails from people who didn't include last names. I am wondering what happens if Nene decides to email you.
Andrew Eastwood
Melbourne, Australia

STEIN: Any one-named Brazilian legend is invited to e-mail us at any time. Whether that's Nene or Pele or Tatu.

	Carter

"You see it. There's nothing to say. It's self-explanatory."
—Toronto's Vince Carter, when asked to assess rookie Chris Bosh's first two months. Vince undoubtedly meant this as a compliment, as if to say Bosh has been so solid that the question doesn't need to be answered ... but we couldn't help but wonder if Carter feels a little sheepish about Bosh's early production after publicly questioning Toronto's inability to deal the No. 4 pick for a veteran during last June's draft. The quote sounds a little testy, eh?

Dec. 19 at Philadelphia; Dec. 20 at Chicago
Player	Min	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	Off	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	Pts
LeBron James	84	25-46	5-12	13-15	2	10	15	6	2	8	3	68

You might say Cleveland halted its 34-game road losing streak -- 33 of those losses suffered with Ricky Davis on the roster -- with a flourish. Here are LeBron James' combined totals from weekend wins at Philadelphia and Chicago.

0

That's the number of coaches fired last week, and that seems like the first time we could say so since about mid-November.

0

That's the number of road wins Chicago has, in 12 tries, since winning their third road game of the season Nov. 12 at Boston. The Bulls need at least one more victory in their final 29 away games to better last season's 3-38 road record.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, click here to send a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.