MVN: Most Valuable Network

Last night was a busy one in the NBA, with two-thirds of the league in uniform and on the court.  A number of intriguing matchups took place, including the Cavaliers at Pistons, Mavericks at Rockets, and Bulls at Trail Blazers. Which teams came out on top, and who has been playing well of late?  Keep reading to find out who's been looking good, and who might be needing another pep talk from Lou Holtz.

Rising:

Dallas Mavericks - One of the more intriguing story lines throughout the early part of the season has involved the three Texas teams. Both the Spurs and Mavericks have been struggling, while the Rockets have been trying to figure out how to best integrate Ron Artest into their gameplan. On Wednesday night, the Mavericks got their second chance to show the world that they are still a force to be reckoned with, as they faced Houston on ESPN. These two teams played during the first week of the season, with the Rockets, paced by Yao Ming's dominant 30/13 game, coming out on top.

Last night was a different story. Both teams were missing key players: Yao sat out because of a sore left foot, while the Mavs' Josh Howard was nursing a swollen ankle and couldn't go. Howard's absence gave Jason Terry a little motivation to perform off the bench, as he led the Mavs with 31 points, while Dirk Nowitzki added 24 and 12 as the Mavs beat the punchless Rockets, 96-86, for their third win in a row. Dallas will play nine of their next 11 games at home and should be back above .500 and in contention within a few weeks if they can keep up their solid play.

Dwyane Wade - The Miami Heat might just be an average team at this point, as they lost to the Raptors last night to fall to 6-6 on the season, but their main man, D-Wade, has been blazing all year long. Last night he notched a career-best five blocks to go along with 40 points and 11 assists. The last time someone put up a 40-10-5 game was 1977, five years before Wade was even born. There might not be anyone else in the league right now aside from LeBron James and possibly Chris Bosh that's playing up to the ridiculously high standards that Wade has set. It's still too early to start talking about MVPs, but this guy is certainly on my short list of candidates so far.

Marvin Williams - The Atlanta Hawks came into Wednesday night's tilt versus the struggling Wizards on a four-game losing streak. Washington, which still has only one win on the season, seemed desperate for a win last night, but it was Williams who refused to let the Hawks lose for the fifth straight time. With both Josh Smith and Al Horford injured, Williams was forced to play power forward and came up big. Even with having to defend Antawn Jamison, Marv scored 21 points and tied a career high with 14 rebounds. But best of all, he hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to give the Hawks their seventh win on the year.

Others:  Minnesota Timberwolves (snapped eight-game losing streak in win over 76ers), L.A. Clippers (moved to 2-9 with 20-point win over Thunder), Greg Oden (puts up 11/10/3 in only 17 minutes in home debut), John Salmons (29 points to lead Kings to road win over Hornets), C.J. Miles (25 points in helping to boost Jazz's home record to 6-0) and Denver Nuggets (now 7-1 with Billups after beating San Antonio).

Falling:

Chicago Bulls - I was really looking forward to the Bulls-Blazers game last night, pitting the last two #1 draft picks, Derrick Rose and Greg Oden, against each other. Too bad Rose and the Bulls barely showed up, as Chicago fell behind by 21 after the first quarter and ended up losing by 42 points, 116-74. I turned off the game and went to bed at halftime, because Portland was absolutely having their way with the hapless Bulls. Rose had by far his worst game of his young career, scoring only 6 points off 1-for-8 shooting, with one assist and zero rebounds. Chicago, 0-2 so far on their seven-game road trip, looks to get back on track against the Warriors on Friday night.

LeBron James - The Chosen One actually scored 25 points last night, barely below his season average, but upon close inspection you'd see that he had an off night in yesterday's loss to the Pistons, which snapped Cleveland's eight-game winning streak. James went only 8-of-21 from the field, including 0-for-4 from downtown, but did manage to add his usual LeBron-like numbers of six assists, six rebounds and four steals. I realize I might be nitpicking in saying that James didn't play well, but his game over the last couple of weeks has made me raise my standards for him to near-MJ heights.

Michael Beasley - Over the last two games, Beasley has averaged only 14 minutes and contributed a combined 13 points, easily his worst two games production-wise of the season. Last night he picked up two quick fouls after barely playing a minute, and didn't even get into the game during the fourth quarter when Miami tried to make a comeback. Look for him to rebound on Saturday when Miami hosts the defensively-challenged Pacers.

Others: Oklahoma City Thunder (league-worst 1-11 and losers of nine straight), Bulls backcourt (Rose/Gordon combined 5-of-20 from field in loss to Portland), and New Orleans Hornets (underwhelming 5-5 after home loss to Kings).