THE TIMES RANKINGS

GAME OF THE WEEK

SACRAMENTO AT LAKERS

*--* Rk Team (rec.) Comment (last week’s rank) 1 MINNESOTA (40-15) Already on 60-win pace when Szczerbiak, Hudson, Olowokandi finally got back. (3) 2 SACRAMENTO (39-14) Oops: Webber suspended, Miller out for a week, Jackson out for several. (1) 3 INDIANA (40-15) Oops: Pride of East loses Artest, best defender, playmaker, No. 2 scorer. (2) 4 SAN ANTONIO (36-19) Ready to bust up that old gang of theirs, Spurs tried trading Rose for Kurt Thomas. (4) 5 LAKERS (34-19) Looks like it’s mid-February (cont.): O’Neal reenergized, Bryant reformed. (8) 6 NEW JERSEY (34-20) Nice scheduling, kid: Lawrence Frank up to 12-0 but 11 were vs. East teams. (5) 7 DALLAS (35-20) Lebron James on Mavericks: “All you can do is hope they miss and they didn’t.” (6) 8 DETROIT (34-23) Brown, Wallace can relate since both are card-carrying wackos from Carolina. (9) 9 HOUSTON (31-23) Whichever radio station I told Yao has no shot against Shaq, never mind. (7) 10 MEMPHIS (33-22) First playoff appearance looks good as Grizzlies turn it up on 16-4 run. (10) 11 DENVER (32-25) First playoff appearance since ’95 looks good with four-game lead on No. 9. (11) 12 NEW ORLEANS (30-25) Magloire’s 19-8 in All-Star game shows he’s no stiff, and he’s just 25. (12) 13 MILWAUKEE (28-26) Van Horn’s fourth team in 21 months may be just the one he was looking for. (13) 14 PORTLAND (27-28) 76ers want Cheeks, but new Trail Blazer front office is now Mo-friendly. (15) 15 TORONTO (25-29) Coach O’Neill wants a big man, but GM Grunwald can’t even land Laettner. (16) 16 UTAH (27-29) Sloan was always upset when Jazz was great, so this isn’t going down well. (17) 17 SEATTLE (25-29) McMillan goes on endangered list as players sneer at plan to get tough. (18) 18 NEW YORK (26-30) Going all the way where? With six new Knicks come transition issues. (14) 19 CLIPPERS (24-30) Possibilities if not Bryant: Nash, Van Exel, Arroyo and/or Brent Barry. (20) 20 GOLDEN STATE (24-30) Dampier wants to stay, but Warriors worry he only puts out in contract seasons. (19) 21 MIAMI (25-32) Not that he’s desperate, but Riley says he’s interested in Vin Baker. (21) 22 CLEVELAND (21-34) Coming hard: Since Jan. 1 Carlos Boozer is averaging 16-11, shooting 51%. (22) 23 PHILADELPHIA (23-33) That was fast: Eight years after Iverson arrived, time to blow it up again. (23) 24 BOSTON (23-34) Pierce reportedly sullen as Ainge tries to fire up Celtics after Clipper loss. (24) 25 PHOENIX (18-39) Tried dumping Jahidi White’s $5-million salary to join Kobe hunt but no go. (25) 26 CHICAGO (16-40) Shopped Crawford, but no one wanted non- defending passing guard shooting 39%. (28) 27 WASHINGTON (16-37) Eddie Jordan’s Princeton offense doesn’t work as well here. Try No. 27. (26) 28 ATLANTA (18-37) New owners find all they’ve got is Terry, empty building and some cap space. (27) 29 ORLANDO (15-42) Why say you’ll turn over half of roster? McGrady doesn’t like any of them. (29)

*--*

When -- Thursday. Time -- 7:30 p.m. TV -- TNT.

Story line -- Chris Webber won’t be back, but Brad Miller may be. In any case, the Lakers have to show they can deal with a West power who, as Charles Barkley says, isn’t always getting ready to get ready.