Yao Ming

After a month of playing short-handed, the Los Angeles Lakers are back to full strength. If yesterday is an accurate indication, that means trouble for every other NBA team. Kobe Bryant scored 22 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Lakers beat the visiting San Antonio Spurs, 99-85, in a matchup of the Western Conference's best teams that turned out to be a mismatch. The win was the fourth straight and 14th in 17 games for the Lakers (35-8)

It's time for three impertinent questions. 1. Now that Sidney Lowe and Lon Kruger have been fired, who will be the next NBA coach to qualify for unemployment? All the signs point to Toronto's Lenny Wilkens being the next coach to get bounced, perhaps in the next few weeks. Even with the injuries to Antonio Davis and Vince Carter, the Raptors are a mess with an 11-game losing streak. Wilkens, the winningest coach in NBA history, may be too laid-back for a Toronto squad that seems to need a firmer hand.

WASHINGTON - Just when the weather outside, not to mention their injury situation, has turned frightful, the Washington Wizards have picked this time in the season to play fearful basketball. With their two main horses, Jerry Stackhouse and Michael Jordan, nursing minor leg injuries, the Wizards lost a 16-point fourth-quarter lead, but dug deep into a recently found well of resiliency to claw out a 100-98 overtime win against the Houston Rockets last night at MCI Center. Jordan, nursing an ailing right quadriceps muscle, scored 35 points, his fifth straight game with 20 or more, and had 11 re bounds.

NBA Cavaliers @Rockets 8 p.m. [TNT] Good chance to catch a few of the NBA's biggest stars, Cleveland's LeBron James and Houston's Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. Both teams have been hot lately. The Cavaliers have won nine of their past 11 games. And the Rockets have won eight of their past nine.

Atlanta Falcons coach Jim Mora had a conference call yesterday, speaking with local reporters at the Ravens' Owings Mills complex. Asked about comments his quarterback, Michael Vick, made after Sunday's game, Mora replied: "I didn't see those comments, so I really can't comment on those comments." I want this guy speaking at my daughter's school. Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas was asked if he brought his track shoes to chase Vick. "Yeah, track shoes and a couple rockets." I assume he doesn't mean Yao Ming and Juwan Howard.

1 Marissa, Marisa: The Maryland women face Utah in the NCAA second round at Comcast Center (7 p.m., ESPN2), so let's recall My Cousin Vinny in honor of the Utes. 2 Other Utah team: Watch out for Yao Ming the passer. And, watch out for those Rockets, who face the Jazz (10:30 p.m., TNT). 3 Momentum: needed: With the playoffs not far off, the Capitals (vs. Toronto, 7 p.m., Comcast Sports-Net) are still stumbling around (5-4-1 in the past 10). 4 Stick it: A good early-season high school lacrosse matchup: No. 4 Boys' Latin at No. 12 Dulaney (4 p.m.)

All-NBA G Dwyane Wade: Might be the best player in the league when healthy. G Kobe Bryant: No amount of off-court drama will keep him from averaging 30 points. C Yao Ming: He has quietly become unstoppable on offense. F Dirk Nowitzki: Despite the playoffs, he was MVP for a reason. F LeBron James: His ceiling is still the highest in the league. Teams to Beat in the East 1. Bulls Depth, defense and versatility make them an underappreciated threat. 2. Pistons On the downside, but the starting five remains superb.

The Wizards' Gilbert Arenas was fined an undisclosed amount for faking an injury before Tuesday's preseason game against Atlanta. Arenas, making his return to the Wizards following a felony conviction for bringing guns into the locker room last season, indicated before the game that he was nursing a sore left knee. After the game, however, he told reporters he faked the injury in an effort to give teammate Nick Young more playing time. Young went on to score a team-high 24 points in a 107-92 victory, but the Wizards were not pleased with Arenas' actions.

All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki notified the Mavericks he is opting out of the final season and $21.5 million on his existing contract. Mavericks President Donnie Nelson already has booked a flight that will have him in Germany on Thursday, when free agency begins, to show Nowitzki how sincere the club is about keeping its all-time leading scorer and rebounder. The Mavs had been discussing an extension, but it would've been for three years. He can get four as a free agent. •Sources close to the situation told ESPN.

A matchup between All-Star centers Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming failed to boost the preliminary rating for ABC's first NBA telecasts of the season. The rating for the Walt Disney Co. network's Christmas Day doubleheader fell 9 percent from last year in the top 55 U.S. markets, according to Nielsen Media Research Inc. The Dallas Mavericks vs. Sacramento Kings and O'Neal's Los Angeles Lakers vs. Yao's Houston Rockets were watched by an average 4.1 percent of households in the top markets.