Washington should have dropped in the standings once it lost Gilbert Arenas, but didn't. Why? We've come up with three reasons.

Antawn Jamison.

Caron Butler.

The Wizards are in the Eastern Conference.

OK, that last one was a cheap shot. But there's nothing cheap about what Jamison and Butler have done in Arenas' absence. The two form the league's highest-scoring forward tandem.

"Antawn and Caron have carried this team on their shoulders in a sense, put them in a professional mode, a competitive mode and with a terrific attitude," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said. "That's why we're staying afloat right now."

Those two aren't the only forwards helping their teams win. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce seem to be doing a decent job in Boston. In Dallas, the duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard is getting better and better.

"I think we're in attack mode," Nowitzki said. "We're getting our numbers. We're producing. Any time he's open, I'm going to give it to him.

"We've been playing together for a long time now."

Here are the top-scoring forward tandems in the league.

Cleveland, Miami and Chicago were three of the top five seeds in the Eastern Conference last season.

If the playoffs started today, the Heat and Bulls wouldn't be invited, and the Cavaliers would sneak in as the seventh seed.

The East isn't just bad. It's volatile. That's the reason more of its coaches are fired and more of its players are traded than the West.

Every owner believes he's a move or two away from contending for the conference title. They're right. Wise personnel moves can rocket teams up the standings. Witness Boston and Orlando.

Reluctance to make moves can send a team plummeting.

Please see Cleveland, Miami and Chicago.

• I doubt Grant Hill's appendectomy will be anything more than a temporary setback, but he's come back from so much already that you hate to see him miss any more time.

• I doubt Milwaukee's roster will remain intact through the trading deadline. There is too much disappointment in the Bucks to keep this group together much longer.

• I doubt he will wind up in Detroit, which is where he wants to go, but Chris Webber will land on the roster of one of the top teams before the end of the regular season.

• I doubt Sacramento will make the playoffs. But you have to be impressed with how the Kings have played without their top three players.

• I doubt Winston-Salem, N.C.'s push to elect hometown stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard to the All-Star team will work. But it's nice to see the tie between the two players and their community. Besides, the Western Conference coaches will probably do what the fans couldn't and put both players on the team.

"If you want to call us the Colts of the NBA, that's OK. We like being under the radar. Less media coverage here in our locker room. I can dig it."

Detroit's Rasheed Wallace on all the attention given Boston in the East

"I'd like to be the Jerry Sloan here and have a run like he did with Stockton and Malone. I would love to be here and see these guys through the championship."

New Orleans coach Byron Scott on Chris Paul, David West and Tyson Chandler

"He's been like a big brother to me. I'm very fortunate to have a relationship with probably the best player in the world, and I'm going to take advantage of it."

Seattle's Kevin Durant on LeBron James

The league acknowledges impropriety may have influenced the final seconds of a close game. That's the bad news. The good news is it has nothing to do with a rogue official.

League charges crew with gross negligence and orders the final 51.9 seconds of a win against Miami to be replayed. Hasn't anyone told these guys they don't need to cheat to beat the Heat these days?

The commissioner made the right call, but it wasn't an easy one. He brought negative attention to a game that won't have much significance when it's replayed on March 8. The sport's integrity does trump marketing.

The Pistons are dreadful in a loss to the Mavericks, then come back less than 24 hours later to win in San Antonio. Should Detroit feel good, bad or indifferent? Who cares? It's January.

The owner of the New York Knicks has his faults – please see Isiah Thomas and team's record – but every time Dikembe Mutombo has asked for money for his hospital in Kinshasa, Dolan has come through.

His son's bone marrow transplant – Salt Lake's altitude increased health complications – has kept the family apart since the start of last season. But Carmani, his brother and mother can now join Boozer in Utah.

Donor lists show the league's deputy commissioner has given money to the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. What's next, a split vote for MVP and Defensive Player of the Year?