Today's Best - 02.26.08

5. mo williams - michael redd stole the show with his game-winning three-pointer to defeat the cleveland cavaliers. but the bucks were in position to steal a game because of 46 outstanding minutes from their point guard. thanks to mo's 37 points (season high), 7 rebounds (month high) and 6 assists (day high), the lowly bucks have moved to a mere 3 games out of a playoff spot. of course, were they in the western conference, they would have been relegated to the d-league at this point. milwaukee has dealt with injuries all year long, but with redd and charlie villanueva regaining form, they look poised to make a push for the post season. let's hope yi jianlian has his surgical mask and doesn't catch whatever yao has.

4. teamwork - all around the nba you could have found examples of players putting the team's interest first. thanks to double-digit scoring from seven players, the miami heat played their best game of the year in defeating sacramento 107-86. orlando did their best miami impression, but was only able to garner six (still enough to dispatch the nets). minnesota upped the ante with four 20-point scorers in their victory over the jazz. but the best teammate around was luke ridnour, who racked up 12 assists in the first half of the sonics' loss to golden state. then again, all those assists didn't leave many assists for the rest of the sonics. ridnour is redefining the term "selfish to a fault".

3. weird home court advantages - with benches on the baselines, sunken seats on the sidelines, and dual post basket supports, memorial gymnasium provides the vanderbilt commodores with one of the most unique environments in college basketball. it also was the site of vandy's victory over the number 1 team in the country, tennessee. shan foster was the hero for the commodores, with 32 points including 6 three-pointers. interestingly this marks the fourth straight time vanderbilt has a defeated a number 1 team at home. if it happens again we may have to investigate head coach kevin stallings regarding the allegations that his club uses flubber.

2. drama - brian mcnamee claimed that roger clemens attended a party in 1998 during which he and jose canseco discussed steroids. clemens claims that he ever attended this party. now, an unnamed major leaguer has come forward with evidence corroborating mcnamee's story. in fact, the source claims that clemens joked about an incident at the party in which clemens' wife and canseco's then-wife compared the results of their breast enhancement surgery. i can't tell if i'm listening to a federal investigation or an argument between chrissy and clay on "newport harbor". a smarter writer would find a way to lead up to this joke, but i'm forced to just blurt it out: roger clemens is a boob.

1. fire sales - now that the nba trade deadline has passed, there aren't any real deals to be made. but two role players are hoping to change all that. reports say that sam cassell has been bought out of his contract with the clippers and will soon sign with the boston celtics. management is concerned about letting rajon rondo run the show, so i guess they felt the need to import gollum from "lord of the rings". likewise, brent barry has been bought out after his trade to the sonics. interestingly, barry can resign with the spurs and be eligible for the post season, as long as he sits out 30 days and signs before march 1st. if barack obama really wants my vote, he should promise to close loopholes in the nba trade rules. screw the tax code.