By Marc Stein The NBA’s trade deadline is now only three Thursdays away. Which naturally calls for some fresh dribbles of trade chatter from various team executives and league insiders: The Blazers have indeed registered their interest in Washington center Brendan Haywood, given Haywood’s obvious appeal as a short-term replacement – with an expiring $6 million contract – for the fallen Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla.

David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images There was a time this sight made Timberwolves fans cringe. Something changed.

The Houston Rockets felt good after getting a road win against a Southwest Division rival in their last game. Now they look to enjoy some extended time at home. The Rockets look for their 10th win in 11 games at the Toyota Center on Saturday when they host the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose, who is coming off one of the highest-scoring games of his career.

It’s weeks before the All-Star game, and John Hollinger’s playoff odds are already saying that nine teams — nearly a third of the League — are essentially out of the running for the playoffs. The Wizards are given about a 5% chance of making it.

Roland Lazenby, writing on LakerNoise, about Laker owner Jerry Buss and his financial brilliance . Which comes with some strings: “As for those teen-aged girls, Buss has long dated hundreds of them, usually only once or twice each, and then collected their photos in albums

HOUSTON (AP) — Luis Scola scored a season-high 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, Aaron Brooks dished out 10 assists to offset a bad shooting game and the Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 101-98 in overtime Monday.

Not sure you can defend the inbounds play that produced Jamal Crawford’s cold-blooded game-winner from 28 feet any better than Phoenix did. Bret LaGree of Hoopinion notes the irony : “Phoenix’s defense of Atlanta’s final inbounds play was far and away the best thing they did, collectively and individually, in the game’s final moments.” An incredible scene in Oakland last night, as the Warriors ran out of players

Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images Aaron Brooks in the lane, working against all the Timberwolves. 24 hours ago, nobody would have picked Minnesota at Houston as the game of the night, but that’s why they play the games! You never know what’s going to happen, and that one turned into a triple overtime thriller, which the home team won by a millimeter. The play of the night, in case you haven’t seen it already, came at the end of regulation when Corey Brewer — a player whose 3-point shooting stats are marred by the fact that he throws up half-court buzzer-beaters every chance he gets — showed why every player should send up prayers: Despite that make, this was really a story of misses.

By Chris Broussard While the Houston Rockets realize that trading Tracy McGrady will not be easy, the club now believes it has a better than 50 percent chance of moving the fading superstar by the Feb.

By Marc Stein Minnesota Timberwolves president David Kahn insists that Al Jefferson has not been made available — to anyone — in advance of the Feb. 18 trading deadline.