THE TIMES RANKINGS

GAME OF THE WEEK

SAN ANTONIO AT LAKERS

*--* Rank Team (rec.) Comment (last week’s rank) 1 LAKERS (10-3) Great, ordinary, great, ordinary, great, ordinary ... oh, I give up. (1) 2 SAN ANTONIO (8-6) Usual deal, or as Popovich says: “If we could shoot, we might be dangerous.” (5) 3 INDIANA (10-2) Deja Reggie: Miller hits six three-pointers in New York, falls in Spike Lee’s lap. (3) 4 SACRAMENTO (8-4) Scuffling without Webber is getting old as Kings cry about the referees. (6) 5 HOUSTON (8-4) Game’s best rebounding tandem: O’Neal and Malone. Next best: Yao and Cato. (2) 6 DALLAS (9-4) Not that Mavericks are desperate: Nelson has traded nine guys, working on more. (4) 7 DETROIT (9-4) Bringing up Darko: On the bright side, Milicic just got a driver’s license! (9) 8 NEW ORLEANS (9-4) With his feels-the-heat rep, Tim Floyd needed a good start and this one’s OK. (7) 9 MINNESOTA (8-5) Unsure if Olowokandi has sore knee or head, Timberwolves put him on bench. (12) 10 SEATTLE (6-4) Team with too many shooting guards gets another with Murray in Allen’s spot. (8) 11 PORTLAND (7-5) Bonzi Wells predicted that he might regress 10%, but he left off a zero. (10) 12 PHOENIX (6-6) It’s open season on coaches as frying pan heats up under Frank Johnson. (15) 13 NEW JERSEY (5-7) With Kidd gunning for him, Byron Scott needed good start and this isn’t it. (14) 14 MEMPHIS (6-5) Update: After I noted he couldn’t throw it in ocean, Mike Miller averaged 18. (22) 15 UTAH (7-6) Who are these guys? With Carlos Arroyo out, Raul Lopez gets 18 in win. (20) 16 PHILADELPHIA (7-7) 165-pound Iverson started 110 in a row before sore knee sidelined him. (11) 17 DENVER (7-6) Way better: Last season it took Nuggets until January to win this many. (23) 18 TORONTO (6-6) Just asking: Who’ll be Raptors’ center if/when Antonio Davis gets traded? (24) 19 CLIPPERS (4-5) We like to focus on positive: 10 of 12 at home and Brand may be OK by then. (18) 20 GOLDEN STATE (5-7) Jason Richardson putting up career highs in rebounds, free-throw attempts. (19) 21 BOSTON (5-7) Leprechaun, come home: Celtics are 3-3 in new white sneakers at FleetCenter. (13) 22 WASHINGTON (5-7) Brown breaks out with 15-10 in Cleveland, breaks back in with 8-3 at Denver. (21) 23 MILWAUKEE (5-7) Too bad he can’t shoot yet, or at all: Ford has 44 assists, 28 field goals. (17) 24 CHICAGO (4-9) John Paxson, who just became a GM, wants to dump the whole roster. (16) 25 NEW YORK (4-9) Say goodbye: Eight of next 10 on road, including five-game Western trip. (27) 26 ATLANTA (5-9) Him or them? Abdur-Rahim has 21-8 career average but best team went 35-47. (25) 27 CLEVELAND (4-10) Ticketed to ride: Ricky Davis. Paul Silas doesn’t like his me-first act. (28) 28 MIAMI (3-11) Good news: Odom averages 20-10-4 over five. Bad news: Everything else. (26) 29 ORLANDO (1-12) 2000 Coach of year Rivers out. Next in line of fire: 2000 GM of year Gabriel. (29)

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When -- Friday. Time -- 7:30. TV -- FSN, ESPN.

Story line -- The Lakers beat the Spurs in San Antonio without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker ... in two overtimes. Let’s see how it goes with Duncan and Parker in Los Angeles.