Before I get into my subject matter for the week, I want to congratulate LeBron James for becoming the youngest player ever to score 10,000 points. Kobe Bryant held the mark before James passed him Wednesday night against Boston.

In my first column this season, I mentioned this looked like the year the Eastern Conference would not look like a junior varsity squad compared to the Western Conference.

I must say my analysis was off now that March has arrived. The West has 10 teams with at least 30 victories while the East only has five teams with that number.

It is so tight out West that the New Orleans Hornets were No. 1 in the Western standings before three consecutive losses dropped them to third. The Lakers used their 10-game win streak to grab first place and sit one game in front of the San Antonio Spurs, winners of seven straight.

The Houston Rockets have won a lucky 13 in a row. However if the playoffs started today, they would be the seventh seed.

I like this tight race because it will provide interesting games during the current playoff stretch. I was talking with a friend about the Hornets dropping out of first and could not help but compare the situation to college football where losing a single regular season game can hurt you.

The West has the possibility of having 10 teams finish the season winning 60 percent of their games.

It is unfortunate all those teams cannot make the playoffs, while at least one team will make the playoffs having won less than half of its contests in the East.

The emergence of young stars like Brandon Roy of the Portland Trail Blazers and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets have made these teams surprises this year in the ultra-competitive West.

The East does not have bad players and coaches, and in fact has some great young players that should help close the gap soon. However this year is the same as it has been for a while now.

The power is out West.

MVP Race

Kobe Bryant

You can argue Pau Gasol is the reason the Lakers are 11-1 since his trade. Nonetheless, Bryant has an injured pinkie on his shooting hand and is still playing at a high level, refusing to use his injury as a reason to shut it down.

Chris Paul
New Orleans is still wet behind the ears. However, Paul refuses to let them fall out of the playoff hunt. He responded to three straight losses with a 25-point, 15-assist performance in New Orleans' rout of the Phoenix Suns. 

Kevin Garnett

The Boston Celtics still have the league’s best record at 44-12. The team dropped some games in Garnett’s absence with an abdominal strain. His return has the team focused and hungry like earlier in the season.

LeBron James

LBJ is averaging 30 points per game. He's the youngest player ever to score 10,000 points, and he sees the floor very well to be such a young player. He is the lone reason Cleveland can be mentioned in the title hunt.

Dwight Howard

Superman still averages 22 points and 14 rebounds per game. He has the Orlando Magic in third place in the East.

Top 5

1. Los Angeles
2. Boston
3. Detroit
4. San Antonio
5. Houston

The Lakers have risen to the top with their recent play ahead of three teams that have been in the hunt all year. I give Houston a nod because they have won 13 straight games. That is no easy task in the NBA.

Bottom 5

    26. Seattle
    27. New York
    28. Memphis
    29. Minnesota
    30. Miami

Seattle, Memphis and Minnesota all have a lot in common. They are extremely young teams who can look truly awful one night and then compete against good teams the next. The Knicks are the Knicks, and Miami is officially the worst team in the NBA with only 10 wins.