---

Team reports on the second set of Western conference teams, exclusively on InsideHoops.com. This is up through Wednesday's games.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS: The good news for the Hornets is guard Baron Davis finally returned. He was activated off the injured list prior to Tuesday's game against the Clippers but did not play. He had been out since November 17 with an inflammed disk in his lower back and in Wednesday's 101-89 loss to the Lakers, the Los Angeles native scored 17 points in 17 minutes off the bench. In the 18 games he missed, the Hornets were 2-18 and when he is out they are 26-39. ... In last Friday's loss at San Antonio, the Hornets were 0-of-7 from the arc, marking the first time since February 21, 2002 they failed to make a 3-pointer. ... Sunday's 107-71 loss at Sacramento was the franchise's worst since moving to New Orleans following the 2001-02 season. ... The Hornets list a bunch of negative stats on their team notes and some of the highlights are, they have trailed by double digits in 20 of 25 games, they have failed to shoot 45 percent in 19 of their last 22 games and just five times overall.

PHOENIX SUNS: Point guard Steve Nash has reached double figures in assists in nine straight games, which is how many in a row the Suns have won. Nash is one of four players to reach 10 or more assists in eight straight games and win each game. The others are John Stockton, Oscar Robertson and Mark Jackson. Nash also is the first player to record nine straight games with at least 10 assists since Jackson did it for Denver during the 1996-97 season. His streak is the longest by a Sun since Kevin Johnson reached double figures in 11 straight games in 1993-94. The Suns improved to 11-1 on the road with Monday's 107-105 win in Denver. Last year they finished 11-30 on the road, winning their final road game. ... Phoenix leads the league by averaging 109.4 points per game, the most since the 1994-95 Orlando Magic averaged 110..9. ... The Suns have scored at least 110 points in nine of their last 12 games. Swingman Quentin Richardson hit the game-winning shot Monday and over his last 13 contests is averaging 18.8 points while making 45.1 percent (87-of-193) from the floor. .... Reserve center Steven Hunter scored 10 points Monday, marking just the second time in his four-year career he has scored at least 10 in consecutive games. ... When forward Amare Stoudemire scores 30 points or more, Phoenix is 7-0. ... According to Wednesday's Arizona Republic, assistant coach Alvin Gentry's name has been mentioned as a possibility for the Southern California job. "I'm flattered, if it is," Gentry told the newspaper. "That's a hell of a university. But I'm pretty happy where I am. I could see myself (coaching a college team). Right now we've got a great situation here with a young team, and we're winning games. I'm pretty content where I am."

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: Portland completed its first six-game road trip at 3-3. After losing on back-to-back nights by a combined 35 points in Minnesota and Cleveland, the Trail Blazers won at Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee. ... Forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim missed the final five games of the trip with a hyperextended right elbow and coach Maurice Cheeks used Darius Miles as Abdur-Rahim's replacement. Miles was more than up to the challenge as he averaged 16.2 points, shot 56.2 percent (36-of-64), while playing 37.4 minutes in his last five games. Abdur-Rahim has missed just 10 out of 655 career games and before getting hurt had played in 186 straight contests. But when he is ready to return, Miles is more than willing to return to the bench. "He's the starter," Miles said to the Oregonian Wednesday. "He's one of our go-to guys. It ain't hard to see. He knows what it is. I know what it is. There isn't any need to feel me and there doesn't even need to be any bring-me-in-the-office type deal. That stuff is for the birds. When (Abdur-Rahim) says he is ready to play, put him in as the starter and see what he does. I know I've got confidence in him. It's his spot. It ain't my spot. This stuff is old." ... Moving Miles into the starting lineup has not been the only change of late by Cheeks. With guard Damon Stoudamire shooting 21-of-78 from the field in his first eight games of December, Cheeks moved Nick Van Exel into the starting lineup. ... Stoudamire had made 103 straight starts but in four games off the bench, he is shooting 51.3 percent (21-of-78). ... Van Exel had struggled in his first three games as a starter, making just 11-of-34 shots. But in Wednesday's 104-95 win at Milwaukee, Van Exel had season highs of 26 points and six 3-pointers in 30 minutes while shooting 9-of-17 from the floor. After the game, he announced to reporters this will be his last season. "This will be my last season," he said to the Associated Press.. "So, I've got to try to make as many as I can." He continued by talking about the difficulties of waking up with assorted ailments. "Just getting up every morning and my body is just always aching -- knees, back, hips. It just gets boring after a while," the 33-year-old Wisconsin native said to the AP. ... The Blazers have played eight of their previous 11 games on the road and have three home games next week. But after that, they play eight of nine away from home through January 18.

SACRAMENTO KINGS: The Kings remained unbeaten against Eastern Conference competition with Tuesday's 104-93 win over the Wizards. They are 9-0 against the East and have won their last 11 vs. the East. Since 1999, Sacramento is 78-7 vs. the East at home. ... Forward Chris Webber has scored at least 20 points in his last five games and returned from a sore knee to collect 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in 37 minutes Tuesday. ... Guard Bobby Jackson sprained his left wrist with 8:23 left in the second quarter and results of an MRI were revealed a torn ligament. He is expected to miss three months. ... The Kings have not lost at home to the Wizards since December 1996 but have a newfound respect for one of the East's most surprising teams. "They're for real, and we know it," center Brad Miller told the Associated Press. "They're aggressive, and they hustle. We had to match that, or they were going to sneak out of here with one." ... Thursday marks Shaquille O'Neal's lone visit to ARCO Arena. But O'Neal, who once called the Kings, "The Queens", may not play due to a calf injury.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS: The Spurs had a four-game winning streak stopped with Wednesday's 93-87 loss at Orlando. San Antonio rallied from 12 points down to beat Orlando last week but struggled at the line, going a season-worst 13-of-26. .... In his last 12 games, guard Tony Parker is shooting 56 percent (87-of-155) from the floor. ... After averaging 8.5 points and 24.9 minutes in his first month as a Spur, reserve G Brent Barry is averaging just 2.4 points and 10.9 minutes this month. Barry played 16 minutes Friday in New Orleans and 14 the next night vs. Golden State and was hopeful to get back in the rotation. "I feel I'm at a point of having to earn minutes," Barry said to the San Antonio Express News Sunday. "I've never been a guy to go to a coach and say, 'I've got to have minutes,' so I'm just trying to work hard in practice and earn my spot back in the rotation. But Wednesday, he was the second-to-last guy off the bench and went 0-for-3 in seven minutes. ... On December 15, the Spurs announced Sean Elliott's number will be retired prior to the March 6 game vs. the Jazz. Elliott's jersey will join George Gervin, David Robinson, Johnny Moore and James Silas in the rafters of the SBC Center.

SEATTLE SONICS: Although they were handed a 112-110 loss to the Suns Friday night at Key Arena, the buzz surrounding the nationally televised game brought back memories of the glory days in the mid-1990s with Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp running fast breaks. "It reminds me of '96," owner Howard Schultz said to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer before the game. "Yeah, we haven't seen this type of press and excitement in a while," coach Nate McMillan said to the Seattle Times. "I think it's because of the style of play everyone is expecting to see, and you've got two teams I don't think anyone expected to be in this position." ... The Sonics rebounded nicely from their second home loss with Wednesday's 98-83 win over the Nuggets. ... The flu bug hit a few of the Sonics as guard Ray Allen and center Jerome James battled the illness while Antonio Daniels sat out with tonsillittis. Allen missed 12 of his first 16 shots but scored 20 points while James played 17 minutes. Daniels' absence allowed guard Ronald Murray to score a season-best 15 points in a season-high 27 minutes. Murray was the only Sonic to appear in every game last season but injured his quadriceps during the preseason and missed the first 20 games. ... F Rashard Lewis missed practice Tuesday with a sprained left ankle but scored 21 points Wednesday.

UTAH JAZZ: Losing emerging forward Andrei Kirilenko has impacted the Jazz rather negatively. He went down with a knee injury on November 27 at San Antonio and Utah is 3-10 in his absence. ... The Jazz concluded a five-game road trip at 1-4 with the only win coming Monday at Philadelphia. ... In that game, the Jazz overcame a 50-point effort from Allen Iverson, a blown 16-point halftime lead and 21 turnovers to snap a seven-game road losing streak. The Jazz were pleased with their ball movement following that game but admitted they were flat in Wednesday's loss at Toronto. ... In order to keep center Mehmet Okur fresh for down the stretch, coach Jerry Sloan has started Alexandar Radojevic in the last three games. Radojevic, Toronto's first-round pick in 1999 had never started before Sunday at New York. ... In the last three games, Okur has scored 44 points, grabbed 39 rebounds and shot 55.5 percent (15-of-27). He also has six double-doubles in his last seven games. Although he hasn't started at point guard for five straight games since getting into an argument with Sloan, Carlos Arroyo has averaged 30.6 minutes in that span.