There's not a lot of action in the NBA tonight with just three games on card. One involves the Timberwolves who head to the Chicago Bulls.

Points Spread Chicago -5.5

Chicago has an appalling record at home at 12-15, they 9-18 against the spread at home. The Timberwolves are 8-18 on the road.

Minnesota at (24-31) is losing its chance at the final playoff spot in the Western Conference - poor for a team that won 58 games a couple years ago and were top in the conference.

Minnesota started well this year but have let it slip. It could be the trade with Boston - that involved Wally Szczerbiak and Michael Olowokandi for Ricky Davis, Marc Blount and Marcus Banks - that could be partly to blame. It worked well to begin with as they went 2-1 but they've let it go to 3-10 since.

Chicago also has a 24-31 record well down on there target after winning 47 games last year and a visit to the playoffs. A lot of the Bulls problems may have arisen from trades again.

These teams have met this season already, a 99-93 home win for Minnesota. This is the only chance to even it up for Chicago - as it's their final meeting.

Two teams with similar records, similar problems, that could end up with similar scores tonight

The Detroit Pistons are having to take note of the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs. The Western Conference powerhouses have ambushed the Pistons, and as the NBA gets going again tonight after the All-Star break, the race for the best records and home advantage is there for the taking. Detroit are 42-9, Dallas 41-11 and San Antonio 40-12. The NBA title went to Texas last season with the Spurs beating the Pistons in seven games, it may happen again.

Dallas are the hottest team in the league, having won 14 of their last 15 and probably have the deepest squad in the NBA.

Time will tell.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers play well at home. Last night they did so again with James exploding for 44 points as the Cavaliers defeated the defending champs, the San Antonio 101-87. It ended a nine game winning streak for San Antonio.

Cleveland is 14-2 at home against the better teams (teams with over .5 records) and 5-5 against poorer teams (teams with under .5 records). A prime example was that this win over the Spurs came a after a home loss to the Golden State Warriors.

This was James' sixth game over 40 points this season. James scored 18 in the third quarter, tying his career high for points in a period. The win ends a two game slide for Cleveland.

Tim Duncan wasn't at his best for this game, still suffering from a bug that had kept him out of the previous game. Yet he made some key plays in San Antonio's win over the New Jersey Nets 83-73. The Spurs have now won 12 of their last 13.

Duncan missed five of six shots at the start of the game, but he helped the Spurs pull away in the final four minutes after running to the locker room during a timeout midway through the quarter.

Having been well ahead, the Spurs later found themselves at 69-66. Duncan then came into his own to ease the pressure and helped rebuild the lead to 76-66 - that eventually led to a ten point victory - breaking New Jersey's impressive home record.

Duncan ran to the bathroom over half a dozen times during the game.

Even on the eve of Super Bowl the Owens - Mcnabb saga rumbles on. The Eagles quarterback injected 'a race element' into his strife with Owens on Wednesday, saying that the suspended player's comments had amounted to "black-on-black crime".
In an interview with ESPN, McNabb brought up some of the bad blood regarding his relationship with Owens.

In a previous interview, Owens said the Eagles would be in a better situation if Brett Favre was the quarterback in place of McNabb. McNabb took offense and called it a 'slap in the face' likening it to him calling for replacements for Owens.

Let it rest people.