Whew! Good time for the NBA to take a timeout. A full, not a 20.

The NBA All-Star Game is this weekend on TNT with the game Sunday and the Saturday night festivities both starting at 5:30 p.m.

Things have been moving at such breakneck speed, both on the court and off, probably everyone could use a break right about now.

The Western Conference has an overabundance of stellar teams, said TNT analyst Doug Collins.

"When you shake loose the West, the amazing thing is that you've got four teams in the Southwest Division that could all win 50 games," said Collins.

"Houston is playing much better basketball now. They're playing at a 60 percent pace. New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston could all win 50 and it looks like Utah and Denver also have a great chance to win 50 (along with) Phoenix and Golden State and the Lakers. You could have nine 50-win teams in the West, which means one 50-win team wouldn't even make the playoffs. So that gives you an idea of the competitive balance there."

With the Lakers trading for Pau Gasol, the Suns for Shaquille O'Neal and the Dallas Mavericks trying to make a play for Jason Kidd, Collins was asked who in the West has the edge.

"I really like the way the Lakers are playing. That's a big, big team," Collins said. "If (Andrew) Bynum gets back healthy and they throw him out there with Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom on that front line and Kobe Bryant, that is a big, big team. Everyone can't wait for Shaq to suit up and how that's going to fit for the Phoenix Suns. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back.

"I would say right now San Antonio is the team to beat because they are the defending champions, but every team has a flaw. There isn't a team out there that doesn't have a weakness and I think the matchups will decide if those weaknesses are exposed or not."

Reporters sidelined: ESPN next season will reduce the roles sideline reporters Michele Tafoya and Suzy Kolber will play on "Monday Night Football." USA Today reported Tafoya and Kolber will still be at the game sites, most likely appearing in pregame and postgame programs, but not as much — if any — during the game telecasts.

Tafoya and Kolber are the best in the business and ESPN should be careful not to fix something that isn't broken.

NFL vs. NASCAR: Interesting to note last weekend's ratings for two peripheral events put on by two of TV's top sports, the NFL and NASCAR.

Saturday's non-points Budweiser Shootout on Fox earned a 5.1 rating and a 9 percent share of the audience. Sunday's Pro Bowl, also on Fox, had numbers of 6.3 and 12.

The race was up 6 percent over last year's 4.8 and 9; the all-star football game was up 37 percent over last year's 4.6/9 on CBS and was the highest since 2000's 8.6/15 on ABC.

West's ways: Jerry West will be the subject of a 45-minute "uncut" interview with FSN West's Bill Macdonald after Tuesday's Lakers-Hawks game. West talks about his abhorrence of losing.

"Losing in the NBA Finals was the ultimate scar ... something I'll never forget," says West. "But there is an incredible joy in winning. It brings people together and unites cities. I expected this incredible feeling to change all those losing years, but I'll never be able to forget them. They've left indelible scars."

Other notes: Ken Squier, longtime NASCAR announcer on CBS, will be part of Fox's Daytona 500 prerace coverage looking at the race's 50th anniversary. Fox will use four point-of-view "Gopher Cams" buried under the asphalt at Daytona. NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham is joining ESPN as a studio analyst.

Santa Anita will honor former Channel 2 sportscaster Gil Stratton on Sunday by naming a race in his honor and showing video tributes throughout the day. Stratton hosted the "Santa Anita Feature Race" on 34 Western CBS affiliates from 1955 until the early '70s. The Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club continues at noon on Golf Channel today and on CBS over the weekend.

CSTV will change its name in March to the CBS College Sports Network, with a look and feel resembling CBS, which owns the network. NBC Universal will make Oxygen — which it recently acquired — one of its Olympics networks for the Beijing Games this year.

— Jim Carlisle