The Jazz are riding a five-game winning streak that includes road wins against four Eastern Conference playoff teams from last season: Miami, Orlando, Charlotte and Atlanta. Williams is playing at an All-NBA level (21.3 points, 10.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds) and the Jazz are getting great play from Paul Millsap (21.9 points, 9.3 rebounds) and Al Jefferson (16.7 points, 9.0 rebounds). With Jerry Sloan leading the way, the Jazz are going to out-execute their opponent just about every night which will usually put them in position to win. Maybe this will be the year that Sloan finally wins Coach of the Year.

Talk about finding your range at the right time…geesh.

Garnett’s knee is just fine. It has been a concern in camp, but apparently KG has his explosion back. In a recent practice, he caught an alley-oop and slammed it home. The Celtics’ fortunes depend heavily on the health of Garnett’s knee. Without him at full strength, they’ll have a tough time competing with the Cavs and Magic. As an NBA fan, a healthy KG is good for the league.

Is Russell Westbrook turning into a dependable point guard? The Oklahoman reports that is A/T ratio in the preseason is 5.4. Last season it was 1.6, which is quite bad. It’s a small sample size, but if Westbrook can get his A/T ratio above 3.0, it will reap dividends for the Thunder. From a fantasy perspective, if he were to cut his turnovers in half and have the same number of assists (which would result in a A/T ratio of about 3.0), then he’d be the 15th most efficient point guard (just below Mo Williams) instead of the 21st most efficient.

Stephen Jackson will play for the Warriors, but he’s not happy about it. There’s a good chance the Warriors will acquiesce and try to fulfill Jackson’s wishes to be traded, but the 31 year-old has three more years remaining on his contract at the tune of $9.3 per season, so there’s no guarantee that a playoff team would be willing to make a move for him. Miami could move Michael Beasley, but Jackson’s contract would ruin the Heat’s financial flexibility next summer. The Suns could use Jackson to replace an aging Grant Hill, but they’re in financial trouble. The Hornets probably make the most sense, but are they willing to spend?

Who will be on the court to finish games — Bynum or Odom? This seems to be the annual question with the Lakers. When is Bynum’s game going to mature enough that it demands that he be on the floor to finish games? Odom is the better player right now, and although he’s flaky at times, he shows up when it counts. Bynum has been erratic, and he’s going to have to produce consistently to convince Phil Jackson to go with a “twin towers” approach. Odom can face the basket, which helps the Lakers spacing. When Bynum is on the floor with Pau Gasol, the lane gets clogged and Kobe doesn’t have as much room to penetrate.

Andre Miller isn’t happy being a backup. If I were Miller, I wouldn’t be happy backing up Steve Blake either. But the simple fact of the matter is that Blake is more suited to running the Blazers if they continue to grind-it-out offensively. Blake is a 39% 3PT shooter (Miller is a career 21% shooter from long range), and if Portland continues to play at a slow pace, then they’ll need Blake’s accuracy on the floor to create penetration lanes for Brandon Roy. Miller can post up, which is one way that Nate McMillan could use him in the half court. But he’s a point guard that thrives on the break, and in recent years, the Blazers just don’t push the ball all that much. This will be one of the more interesting storylines to follow this season.

Paul Millsap doesn’t worry about whether or not he’s starting. And he shouldn’t, because he’s still not quite as good as Carlos Boozer. Millsap should just put his head down and go to work, because he will be the starting power forward in Utah soon enough. The team made it clear by the commitment it made in the offseason. Boozer probably won’t be in Utah next season.

Lakers only offering Odom a three-year deal?

Reports persist that Odom has been offered deals spanning three and four seasons in length from the Lakers, but that differs sharply from every bankable indication we’ve received.

The Lakers’ best offer to Odom, so far, tops out at $27 million over three seasons. The expectation among rival teams remains that the sides will eventually come to terms.

This makes more sense. I don’t know why Odom would turn down a four-year deal from the Lakers worth $36 million to consider a five-year deal worth $34 million from the Heat. If the Lakers are only offering three years, then the total value of the contract is about $24 million after state taxes, so Odom could elect to go with the security of the extra $10 million in the Miami deal.

This, coupled with the Lakers’ decision to pull their offer from the table, might convince Odom to head to Miami and play for the mid-level. Pat Riley also indicated that the Heat are trying to work out a sign-and-trade for Odom, though it’s not clear what players would have to be involved to get the Lakers to agree to take on the extra salary. Udonis Haslem? Michael Beasley?

Clippers going after Ramon Sessions?

The distinct vibe in the stands at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion is that the Clippers — apart from owner Donald Sterling — would greatly prefer to add more of a set-up man to a backcourt rotation that already features Baron Davis and emerging star Eric Gordon as opposed to signing Allen Iverson to a one-year deal up to the full $5.9 million midlevel exception.

The top choice in that scenario? Extending an offer sheet to restricted free agent Ramon Sessions.

I am a huge Sessions fan. Yesterday, I pondered why no one has signed him to an offer sheet when the Bucks are clearly looking to cut salary. He’s only 23, he had the 13th-highest PER amongst all point guards, and the 5th-highest amongst all point guards under the age of 26. With Brandon Jennings playing well in the summer league, the Bucks might be dumb enough to let Sessions go if some team made a substantial ($4-$5 million per year) offer.

A federal judge threw out the SEC suit against Mark Cuban alleging that the Mavs owner participated in insider trading.

Utah will match Blazers’ offer for Paul Millsap.

The Utah Jazz will match the four-year, $32 million offer the Portland Trail Blazers tendered restricted free agent Paul Millsap, the Jazz posted on their Web site Thursday evening. A league source confirmed the development to ESPN.com.

Under the terms of the contract, the Jazz will have to pay the 24-year-old forward $10.3 million this weekend. Portland front-loaded the contract to discourage Utah from matching, but the Jazz had said they would match any offer Millsap received.

While there are those that believe that the Blazers were just trying to put the Jazz in a tough spot, I think they were making a sincere attempt to get one of the best players left on the free agent market. After the Rockets series, the Blazers know that they have to get tougher, and the addition of Millsap would go a long way towards that goal. He doesn’t have the range of LaMarcus Aldridge, but his face up game is improving, so he could fit into Portland’s plan to always have four shooters on the court with Brandon Roy.

With the match, the Blazers have to move on to Plan C. What will it be?

The New York Post speculates that it might be the Knicks’ David Lee, who is apparently still looking for a deal averaging in the $10-$12 million per year range.

T-Wolves GM David Kahn is heading to Spain, hoping to convince Ricky Rubio’s current team (DKV Joventut) to lower his buyout number. Good luck with that, David.

- According to GM Mitch Kupchak, Lamar Odom and the Lakers aren’t on the same page. The team has offered $8 million per season but Odom wants $10 million, and the contract’s length may be an issue too. Dallas, Miami, Phoenix and Portland (if the Jazz match their offer for Paul Millsap) have emerged as possible landing spots for Odom. He doesn’t have much leverage if the Blazers aren’t interested. The other three teams would have to work out a trade and it would take a good player (Josh Howard, Michael Beasley, etc.) to get the Lakers to bite.

- The Jazz have until February to move Carlos Boozer before the luxury tax implications of keeping both Boozer and Paul Millsap kick in. Right now, it looks like the Jazz are planning to match, even if they have to take out a loan to pay Millsap the huge signing bonus that is a part of his deal with the Blazers. If the Jazz do match, it will be interesting to see if the Blazers have a Plan C after missing out on Hedo Turkoglu and Millsap.

- After a brief flirtation with the Bucks and the Bobcats, Josh Childress is heading back to Greece. The Hawks still hold his rights, and his camp was unable to work out a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee or Charlotte, so Childress’s best option was to play for Olympiakos for another season.

- Brandon Roy wants a fifth year option, but the Blazers have only offered four years. It’s not clear what the Blazers are worried about; I’d want to lock him up for as long as possible.

Portland is making a push for Utah forward Paul Millsap.

The Portland Trail Blazers elected Friday not to wait on trade possibilities, deciding instead to offer Utah Jazz restricted free agent Paul Millsap a four-year contract worth an estimated $32 million-to-$36 million, according to sources with knowledge of the Blazers’ plans.

This is more compelling than your average, run-of-the-mill restricted free agent signing because a few days ago the Blazers were rumored to be involved in a three-way trade involving Chicago and Utah where the Bulls would have acquired Carlos Boozer, sending Kirk Hinrich to Portland and Tyrus Thomas to Utah.

But those trade talks stalled in part because the Bulls were not prepared to surrender Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas (who would have been Utah-bound) without getting back promising Portland guard Jerryd Bayless in return in addition to Boozer.

Since the Blazers didn’t want to give up Bayless, they’ve made the decision to extend an offer to Millsap, which puts the pressure on the Jazz to move Boozer. The contract is frontloaded, so if Utah were to have both players on the roster it would put the team deep into luxury tax territory.

Another interesting thing about this move by the Blazers is that Millsap plays the same position as LaMarcus Aldridge, so either they (1) plan on playing Aldridge at center, (2) plan on bringing Millsap off the bench or (3) aren’t optimistic that they can keep Aldridge, who is eligible for an extension this summer. The bad news for the Blazers is that the Jazz have seven days to decide whether or not they’ll match the offer, and during that time Portland’s cap space is tied up, so they can’t make an offer to another free agent. But other than Lamar Odom, Allen Iverson and Andre Miller, there isn’t much out there in the way of unrestricted free agents, so it doesn’t make sense to hold onto the cap space if they aren’t going to use it elsewhere.

If the Blazers can pry away Millsap for $8-$9 million per season, it will be a great move. That’s a good value for a young power forward has proven that he has a potential to be an All-Star-caliber player. But I’d expect that the Jazz will be able to trade Boozer and get a good young player (of Tyrus Thomas’s caliber) in return. There are a number of teams that are interested, including the Bulls, Pistons, Heat and Knicks.

I’d also expect this deal to bring David Lee’s contract expectations back to Earth. I think he and Millsap are about on the same level value-wise, with Millsap having a small edge due to his ability to score in the post.

Because as much as teams are spending in pursuit of unrestricted free agents, it stands in sharp contrast to those of the restricted free agents on the market. Gortat struck a deal for an offer sheet from Dallas, but desirable commodities like Lee, Paul Millsap, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, Ramon Sessions and Nate Robinson have barely gotten a sniff.

Moreover, the market for those players to get anything above the midlevel exception is basically gone. Unless they can persuade one of the above teams to join in the bidding, somebody like Lee or Millsap could end up settling for the midlevel exception or playing on a one-year deal for a scandalously low qualifying offer — $1.03 million for Millsap, $2.68 million for Lee.

In turn, this has to be chilling news if you’re Rajon Rondo, Luis Scola, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrea Bargnani, Ronnie Brewer or Foye, all of whom will be restricted free agents next summer if they don’t sign extensions by opening day. (Brandon Roy, who is all but certain to get a maximum extension, needn’t worry.) The restricted free agents in the class of ’09 couldn’t get a sniff of big money even in a very underwhelming free-agent market; what can they possibly expect a year from now when the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and Amare Stoudemire could be available unrestricted?

On the other hand, the unrestricted free agents could once again make out like bandits — perhaps providing a carrot for the likes of Lee, Millsap and Williams to take the qualifier and play for a below-market-value price this season in hopes of recouping the difference next summer.

Detroit and Toronto have already burned their cap space on the likes of Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Hedo Turkoglu, but there are still a few teams — Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Memphis and Atlanta — who could make a significant offer to Paul Millsap or David Lee. The problem with trying to sign an RFA is that their current team has seven days to match the offer sheet, and during that time, the team trying to pry the RFA has that money tied up in that player. Most teams will wait the full seven days just to screw with the other team, and then eventually match the offer. This span should be reduced from seven days to two business days. Really — how long does it take to decide whether or not a contract is too big to match? If they shortened the span, these RFAs would be getting a lot more action.