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THE WEEK IN PREVIEW
MONDAY A light night offers only one game matching two teams still in the playoff hunt: Houston at Portland, with the Blazers needing every win they can find to keep pace with Utah and Denver. Clippers at Nuggets is just as pivotal for the home team there, which has a three-game losing streak to snap, and Dallas at Philadelphia presents the second half of a back-to-back for the Mavericks ... but also one of the two easiest games on Dallas' five-game trip.
TUESDAY San Antonio at Minnesota is the biggie, as the Spurs -- up 2-1 in the season series -- gather for one more push to pass the Wolves for the Midwest Division lead. Detroit at New Orleans is the other game of primary interest, with the Pistons sporting an eight-game win streak and a corresponding run of holding opponents to 76 points or less. Cleveland plays host to Phoenix in hopes of halting a two-game slide, and New Jersey's visit to Chicago gives the banged-up Nets a chance to steal a road win against a less-than-fearsome foe.
WEDNESDAY ESPN hosts a doubleheader with two treats: Dallas at Indiana, followed by Kings at Lakers in California's No Defense Bowl. Of those four teams, only Indy has been playing good D this season. Memphis at New York brings a triumphant Hubie Brown back to the city where he last coached, for what is bound to be some satisfying praise from the Gotham City press hounds. Minnesota at Denver, meanwhile, is a quick snap back to reality for the Nuggets, who have the hardest remaining schedule of the three teams chasing No. 8 in the West.
THURSDAY TNT has the week off, so hopefully you can commandeer access to NBA TV for this defensive clinic/potential NBA Finals preview: Detroit at San Antonio. Will either team break 80?
FRIDAY It's a busy week in the spotlight for the Mavericks, who travel to Miami to tip off another ESPN doubleheader. The nightcap? Minnesota at L.A. Lakers, which we're guessing will keep you watching. Other games to monitor: Gilbert Arenas' homecoming in Washington at Golden State; Houston at Memphis in what might be one of the Rockets' last chances to make a push for the West's top six; and Philadelphia trying to hang on in the East playoff chase in Cavaliers at 76ers.
WEEKEND Denver at Utah is Saturday's steel-cage match, with New York at Detroit (a potential first-round preview) serving as a distant runner-up. Sunday's fare, as always, tops it, with -- you guessed it -- Dallas at Orlando on ABC, and Philadelphia at Boston on ESPN. Memphis at Toronto is the teams' second meeting of the week (Tuesday is the first) and Washington at Sacramento holds some interest now after the Kings lost in the nation's capital last week. Oh, yeah: Miami at Indiana is another potential first-round preview.

	The quest for 60 wins rests with the Jermaine O'Neal's Pacers and Brad Miller's Kings.

As you're watching the stretch run, watch for this as well:

Watch to see if anyone can hit the 60-win plateau.

With so much depth throughout the West, and just enough desperation from a clutch of clubs at the bottom of the East playoff ladder to nag the leaders, it ain't looking good.

Only three of the league's 29 teams are still mathematically capable of a 60-win season, but that's only if Minnesota finishes 12-0. If no team makes it, it'll be the first time no one hits 60 since the 2000-01 season, when the Lakers and 76ers lugged 56-26 records into the NBA Finals.

Throw out the Wolves and it's up to Sacramento (51-19) and Indiana (50-19), whose two losses each in the past week have left both teams with little margin for error.

The Kings are on pace for 59.7 wins, mathematically speaking, but their remaining schedule isn't the easiest. Sacramento still must play the Lakers twice and also has to drag through the dreaded Texas triangle from March 31 to April 4 with road games at San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. The Pacers are on pace for 59.4 wins, but at least they'll benefit from the privilege of playing only one more game against a West foe: Wednesday's home date with the Mavericks. An April 4 trip to Detroit is Indy's toughest remaining game.

Those would be the same Pistons who, by virtue of their suffocating defense -- and the slumps and injuries plaguing everyone else in the top 10 these days -- have risen to the top of ESPN.com's NBA Power Rankings. A rise sure to be debated in my earlier-than-usual weekly chat Monday at 1 p.m.

Detroit Pistons. It's nice that someone from the NBA's elite is playing with some consistency and ferocity as the playoffs approach. The Pistons were pretty much alone in that category over the past week, winning at New Jersey and Cleveland and snuffing Denver as well to push their win streak to eight games.

	Van Gundy

Stan Van Gundy. Just when we were contemplating whether Houston's Jeff Van Gundy deserves a mention on the list of Coach of the Year hopefuls alongside Jerry Sloan, Hubie Brown, Rick Carlisle, Rick Adelman and Paul Silas ... his brother relegates Jeff to No. 2 -- at best -- in his own family's COY vote. Without a training camp, and without any significant size or depth, Stan suddenly has the Heat within three games of home-court advantage in the first round after a 3-0 week.

Given the Cavaliers' recent surge and the fact that everyone from Paul Silas to LeBron James now waxes poetic about Jeff McInnis, are you prepared to eat crow? You knocked the Cavs for this trade, prediciting McInnis would be a distraction. But the numbers don't lie: Cleveland is 17-8 with him and 9-1 in games decided by five points or fewer since his arrival. And his assist-to-turnover ratio is sparkling.
Steve Zorio
Richmond, Va.

STEIN: In the short term, yes, I'm consuming crow. McInnis has been a huge help to the Cavs and LeBron specifically, enabling Silas to take LBJ off the ball and putting a tested point guard in charge of the offense. My protest, though, was that the Cavs said repeatedly that they were intent on putting good team guys around LeBron -- hence the acquisitions of Eric Williams and Tony Battie. Given McInnis' long history of run-ins with coaches, I was surprised they were willing to give up a commodity like Darius Miles for a potentially divisive influence. And I'm still interested to see how this plays out over the long term, on the assumption that the Cavs pick up McInnis' option for next season. It has only been 28 games including the three McInnis has missed. And dare I say LeBron, Carlos Boozer and the fast-improving Zydrunas Ilgauskas are just as responsible for Cleveland's surge. For now, though, McInnis is making me dine on crow along with Philadelphia's Kenny Thomas, who has been huge lately after I repeatedly questioned his big new contract, and Memphis coach Hubie Brown with his 10-man platoon system ... along with everyone associated with the Utah Jazz, of course. There are probably others, too, and I'm sure someone will be bringing them to my attention. That's life when you make predictions. Some go bad, or else I could move to Vegas and rake it in.

	Pierce

"I'm not interested in the Olympics ... if they're not interested in me."
— Boston's Paul Pierce, who seems to know that USA Basketball officials still consider him one of the scapegoats for Team USA's sixth-place finish at the 2002 World Championships in Indianapolis. Pierce, by all accounts, is not being considered for the Olympic team and said Friday night that he plans to spend the summer in Africa.

Friday, March 19, Atlanta at Washington
Player	Min	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	Off	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	Pts
Kwame Brown	39	10-14	0-0	7-10	2	11	0	0	0	1	1	27

This was the game after Kwame rumbled for 30 points and 19 rebounds against Sacramento. Doing it two games in a row made the initial outburst more meaningful, although Kwame's inconsistency was back on display Sunday when he managed just six points and seven boards in a 20-point home loss to Miami.

1

Figures. It figures that, on the eve of Ron Artest's one-game suspension for a flagrant elbow, word comes from the research department that Artest had been called for just one technical foul in a span of 33 games. The league leaders, entering Sunday's play:

16	Rasheed Wallace, Pistons
16	Steve Francis, Rockets
15	Baron Davis, Hornets
14	Jermaine O'Neal, Pacers
14	Raja Bell, Jazz
12	Gary Payton, Lakers
12	Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves
11	Stephen Jackson, Hawks
11	Shaquille O'Neal, Lakers
11	Antoine Walker, Mavericks
11	Bonzi Wells, Grizzlies
*Artest has only four in 62 games 

1-19

That's Washington's record against fellow Atlantic Division tenants after losses in the past week to New York and Miami. If the Wiz lose their four remaining division games, they'll tie the 1996-97 Boston Celtics for the league record.

Worst all-time record in division games
W-L	Pct.	Team, Season
1-23	.042	Boston, 1996-97
1-13	.071	Cleveland, 1970-71
2-26	.071	Toronto, 1997-98

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.