What can I say, but the same thing I always say at this time of year. ...

Thank heavens that's over.

I used to wait until it actually ended, but, barring even more bizarre outcomes than usual in the final days, it effectively has with the Cavaliers two games ahead of the Lakers and the Celtics two up on the Magic, with the tie-breaker in hand.

Unfortunately, with the Lakers doing another impressive belly flop on the Oregon Trail, I was obliged to rewrite my original column, describing the decline of the Western Conference, which started:

As to the best draw for the Lakers in the Once Wild West...

What's the difference?

It's true, the Nuggets are no longer a mob, the Spurs still worthy of respect, and the Lakers would rather paddle a canoe through the Bermuda Triangle in a typhoon than play in Portland.

Nevertheless, since the Lakers have to play someone, one of these teams is about as good as the others, and none is as good as they are.

I figured out the difference afterward, watching them unravel in the fourth quarter in Portland.

The Lakers are still the biggest, most talented team in the West, and the league for that matter, with experience going deep into the playoffs and the game's greatest closer.

Unfortunately for them, potential only counts when it's realized, and they have never put it all together.

Or, put another way, anyone for doing it on the fly in the playoffs?

In their 21-3 start, when people talked about perfect seasons and 70 wins, Andrew Bynum was tentative, Vlade Radmanovic and Luke Walton vied for the job neither would win, and the Bench Mob often bailed out the starters.

They peaked in their 11-1 run after losing Bynum, stunning the Celtics in Boston and the Cavaliers in Cleveland, as Lamar Odom played out of his mind.

From then until Bynum's return, they went 14-6, as Trevor Ariza became a starter, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic struggled, and assistant coach Frank Hamblen noted, "The Bench Mob hasn't been much of a mob recently."

Now Bynum is getting his legs back, as opposed to being a weapon on offense and an eraser on defense, and Shannon Brown is auditioning for Farmar's job.

So if the West isn't all it was, it's lucky for the Lakers, who have things of their own to work on.

Of course, who doesn't?

Denver — Not that things have changed, but the zoo they swept in the first round is now No. 2 in the West.

Chauncey Billups changed everything. Unfortunately, he didn't arrive until they had given Marcus Camby away.

Oh, and they still have Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith, who all may not have matured completely yet.

San Antonio — Manu Ginobili, who hasn't been right for two seasons, is gone.

Tim Duncan's knees are so sore, Coach Gregg Popovich, miked by ESPN, pulled him in last week's home loss to Portland, telling him, "You can hardly move. ... I don't want a hero. I want a healthy guy."

Portland — Promising as they are with Brandon Roy, the Kobe Bryant of the Pacific Northwest, the notion they couldn't miss was based on the pre-knee-surgery Greg Oden.

That Oden was slimmer and quicker, measured at 6-11 and 257 pounds at the 2007 pre-draft camp.

Now, after spending his lost rookie season in the weight room, he's massive, slow and reduced to playing on pure power.

Houston — Tracy McGrady was the only Rocket who could get his own shot in crunch time, but no-showed a lot, whether he did or didn't play.

Now that he's gone, opponents blanket Yao Ming, Ron Artest pounds the ball into the floor for 10 seconds before taking a bad shot, and they still lose a lot at the end.

New Orleans maxed out last season.

Utah has gone from the 2007 West Finals, to a bruising six-game 2008 second-round loss to the Lakers, to a possible first-round matchup with them.

As for the Suns and Mavericks, feared gunslingers in the Old West, they had a "showdown" last week to see which of them would squeeze into the playoffs before being broken up.

The Mavericks won, 140-116, as the Suns' Shaquille O'Neal, looking for a new home, batted his eyelashes at Dallas Owner Mark Cuban.

Or how about Shaq, whom the Cavaliers took a run at, and and Jason Kidd in Cleveland?

The Mavericks want to re-sign Kidd, but he's dropping hints about taking the mid-level exception to play with his pals, Bryant or LeBron James.

"I could just sit and watch from the bench," Kidd said of the LeBron Option, to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"He's so talented, he's going to get guys wide-open shots. So we'll look at free agency and what happens for me next year."

Or Kidd could be in Philadelphia, with Shaq in Dallas and Steve Nash in Portland.

It's like the end of "Dr. Strangelove," after the Doomsday Machine sets off a nuclear holocaust and mushroom clouds bloom as chanteuse Vera Lyn croons the words of a World War II-era ballad, "We'll meet again/Don't know where/Don't know when/But I know we'll meet again some sunny day."