Surging Jazz have fascinating choice to make with Boozer

The Jazz could be real contenders, so what should they do with Carlos Boozer?

• The Jazz were one of the tipping-point teams all along, with the potential to make a long playoff run or get in the middle of a Carlos Boozer blockbuster. But this has become outrageously good drama. Eleven wins in 12 games and seven consecutive victories has pushed the Jazz into the top half of the West playoff standings and kept them in pace with the similarly surging Nuggets for the Northwest Division lead. When it comes to a Boozer decision, Utah as a legitimate contender is much different than Utah feeling like it will squeak into the playoffs before potentially losing him for nothing in the summer. A Boozer trade early in the season was never nearly the automatic some made it seem. But the clock ticking now with the trade deadline two weeks away comes just as the Jazz are showing how good they can be.

• It's not just a nice little Utah run, either. The Jazz have been dominating, with an average winning margin of 14.3 points, two wins apiece against the Mavericks and Trail Blazers and one each against the Cavaliers, Suns and Spurs. The one loss in those 12 games was at Denver. In what could become the biggest impact, the Jazz clinched playoff tiebreakers, if necessary, against Portland, Dallas and San Antonio during that stretch.

• The union of Vince Carter and the Magic has gone so unexpectedly off the rails that Carter, in addition to shooting 38.2 percent, spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench Sunday and recently got 85 total seconds in the final period of three consecutive games. He averaged 8.7 points and shot 28.4 percent in 14 January games as coach Stan Van Gundy urged Carter to rely on instinct rather than over-thinking every move. At least February had the encouraging start of 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists on Tuesday.

• Greatest Laker of all-time is a quality debate, sparked by Kobe Bryant passing Jerry West on Monday for No. 1 on the franchise career scoring list. If we're talking biggest impact, it's easily West -- superstar player, superstar executive, plus a coaching stint that included a division title. But if it's strictly greatest in uniform: Magic Johnson. He wasn't a defender at the Bryant-West level, obviously an important consideration. But he was the soul of five championships, had huge assist numbers, was a leader, good rebounder, fierce competitor and was clutch. The most underrated, somehow, is Elgin Baylor, stunningly good but too easily forgotten through the years.

• The Bobcats, looking to trade, are expected to get at least one meaningful midseason acquisition. Tyson Chandler appears to be nearing a return after missing 21 games with a bad foot in a boost to the postseason hopes of a team needing bigs to balance a lineup that has three starters 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-7. "It's not necessarily pressure," Chandler said. "We're already playing well. I know that we'll be even better when I'm back." The 7-footer, who last played Dec. 22, is not much of a factor on offense but a potential difference-maker on defense and on the boards when healthy.

• The latest in annual rodeo trips for the Spurs, so named because they clear out of AT&T Center for the cowboy set about this time every year, is eight games in a row on the road amid the usual buildup about how the grueling schedule may become the bonding experience that leads to another championship run. One problem: It's not that grueling. While that is a long time away from home, the itinerary is actually a five-game trip, followed by the rest stop of the All-Star break, followed by a three-game trip. And the five-game portion includes consecutive outings against the Clippers and Lakers that puts the Spurs in Los Angeles for four days. Said coach Gregg Popovich, noting the rodeo trip has been mythologized through the years: "I think it's sort of fakey in the sense that we discovered the New World or something and we just got back."

• The Kings and a team from Jerusalem are discussing an exhibition game next season at Arco Arena, the latest impact of Omri Casspi as the first Israeli in the NBA and his immediate popularity in Sacramento. There are no plans for the Kings and a preseason overseas tour in 2010-11, though the chances of that eventually happening obviously increase the bigger Casspi, the 23rd pick in the Draft but challenging for first-team All-Rookie, becomes.

• Good for Western Conference coaches. Zach Randolph has not exactly been the teacher's pet through the years, but the ballot box of 2010 didn't turn into a referendum on his career. The process to select All-Star reserves was undoubtedly used against candidates with similar backgrounds in the past. This Randolph selection was deserved.