Teams have always looked at champions and tried to mirror the elements of their success.

In the NBA, that has meant you strive for an efficient halfcourt offense and a strong interior defense. That has been the traditional model.

But look at the top of the Western Conference standings these days and you will see a divergence of thought.

The defending champion San Antonio Spurs have been built along traditional lines. The same goes for the Mavericks, Houston Rockets, LA Lakers and, to some extent, Utah.

Phoenix, Denver and Golden State have followed a different path.

"I think Golden State and Phoenix and ourselves, we're not going to try to be San Antonio," Denver coach George Karl said. "We're not going to try to be Detroit. We're not going to be the typical NBA team.

"We're going to have to throw a mixture of running and wild and crazy basketball, hopefully with some defense, and try to mesh our talent."

Teams no longer try to be something they're not. If they don't have the talent to go big, why put a 7-foot plodder on the court with limited skills? Go with the 6-7 athlete and force the action.

You don't beat a traditional power with a poor imitation of traditional. Your best shot is to create a playground environment, a sort of organized chaos that takes a more traditional team out of its comfort zone.

This approach started with the absence of enough quality centers to go around. It's now trickled down to the next position.

"More teams are eliminating the power forward," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "Most are going with small forwards who are quick and athletic at the power forward position. That's the way the game is going now, trying to go more with speed, because not many of us have a traditional power forward."

Utah has one in Carlos Boozer. But look next to him at center and you find Mehmet Okur, who stands around the 3-point line.

Golden State's first-round elimination of the Mavericks last season helped validate this stance. It affirmed that smaller teams built around athletic ability rather than convention can make noise in the playoffs.

Think back to the previous season, when the Mavericks eliminated the Spurs in the second round. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was criticized because he went small with the Mavericks and left centers Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed on the bench.

"It's funny," Johnson said. "One of our coaches said they like to stay big against the Warriors.

"If you have big people you can stay big with, then do it. If you've got Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal] or Bill Russell or Hakeem [Olajuwon], you can do a lot of things."

You've heard the phrase, if you can't beat them, join them?

The Suns, Nuggets and Warriors reject that notion.

"I don't know of anybody that would want to try to outexecute San Antonio," Karl said. "That's a tough assignment. I think when you do that, you play into their hands.

"We're trying to play up-tempo, play more penetration basketball than most teams in the league. And we realize this year that defense has to be more important, and I think we've accepted that responsibility. We have some great statistical things on our side right now. But we still have some work to do."

T.J. Ford is one of the NBA's fastest players with the ball in his hands. But even he can't outrun a condition that threatens his career with every spill.

Ford has spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal column. Family, friends and teammates held their breath again last week, when a hard foul sent Ford to the hospital. It marked the fifth time since his sophomore year at Texas he's been carried off the court with a stinger or temporary paralysis.

Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo has suggested Ford must alter his style of play to avoid contact in the lane. The problem is, Ford's ability to penetrate is what makes him special.

After Ford took a terrible fall his rookie season, several doctors recommended he never play again. You have to wonder how many more collisions he can endure before he takes their advice.