1.   An injured-list stay, requiring five games off, is unlikely, but a shorter rest is possible, even with the Lakers battling for playoff position.

2.   And given that eight of their next nine are on the road, maybe they can improve their playoff position.

3.   As nudges go, it was like a crane lifting his team into the best playoff position it could have hoped for.

4.   Both teams were trying to get a point and jockeying for playoff position.

5.   But the Knicks, fighting for playoff position, had a lot more at stake.

6.   Fighting for better playoff position, Gary Payton and the rest of the Sonics are doing their best to compensate for an injured Vin Baker.

7.   I would also tell you that if we were three games out of a playoff position, we would not be releasing him.

8.   In one of the most scintillating finishes to a National Basketball Association season, almost every playoff position is up for grabs in the wild Western Conference.

9.   Intraconference play has magnified the importance of every game because the outcome of each now has a direct bearing in the races for Stanley Cup playoff positions.

10.   It should have been a sleepy game between two teams locked in their playoff positions and meeting as a mere formality to complete their schedules.