It was one of those questions that pop up suddenly when you're talking about sports.

"Who are the best two teammates in NBA history?" Curt Pickering asked.

We started to plumb our memory banks, and the names came up -- Bob Cousy and Bill Russell; Jerry West and Elgin Baylor; Larry Bird and Kevin McHale; John Stockton and Karl Malone; Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen; Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

Somehow, the definitive answer did not occur to us right away -- Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the master of the triple-double and the maestro of the skyhook. Together they won five NBA championships with the Lakers in the '80s.

Cousy and Russell won several more during the '60s, but the rest of the league was not as competitive as it was in the later years. Jordan and Pippen won six titles, but Jordan carried most of the weight in that relationship.

Magic is on the short list with Jordan as the greatest player ever, while Kareem is the highest scoring player of all time.

"I can't differentiate between Jordan and Magic as No. 1 or No. 2," Pickering said. "Jordan may have been the greatest player, but Magic was the best leader."

Pickering is the founder and coach of the Santa Barbara Breakers, who will make their home debut in the International Basketball Association on Friday night at the SBCC Sports Pavilion. The Breakers will face the Seattle Mountaineers in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

The IBL is minor league, as evidenced by the Breakers' first road trip last weekend. Their scheduled game at Chico was cancelled because the gym was not ready. They did play the Tri-Valley Titans in Livermore and lost a barnburner, 137-130. The IBL is not going to bore the fans with defense.

Pickering is doing his best to assemble a competitive roster. He announced the signings Tuesday of former NBA players Toby Bailey and Samaki Walker.

Bailey was a key player in UCLA's run to the 1995 NCAA Championship. He played two seasons with the Phoenix Suns before hitting the European basketball circuit.

Walker, a former Louisville standout, played 10 years in the NBA with six teams, including the Lakers during their 2002 NBA championship season.

Those were the good old days for the Lakers. I saw them play in the Staples Center for the first time this season a week ago. Fighting for a playoff position, they lost to the visiting Denver Nuggets, 111-105.

They lost despite 39 points from Bryant. There is no other go-to player on that team that can complement him. It was the same story Monday night in Denver, where the Nuggets defeated L.A. 115-111 for their sixth straight win.

Unless Kobe is making miraculous shots, the Lakers are toast in close games. He shot an air ball from 30 feet out last week in the final minute. There was seemingly no other option. Lamar Odom had a triple-double in the game (17 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists) but down the stretch all he did was turn the ball over.

Denver, meanwhile, is finishing strong with the high-scoring duo of Carmelo Anthony (29 points per game) and midseason acquisition Allen Iverson (26.6), plus a big contribution from Marcus Canby, who had 42 rebounds in the two games against the Lakers.

With a week remaining in the regular season, the Nuggets (41-36) have taken over sixth place from the Lakers (40-38). The Clippers seemed to be closing in on the eighth and last playoff spot, but they have lost three straight since beating the Lakers to reach the .500 mark.

Now they are just 37-40 and trying to stave off Golden State (38-40) and New Orleans-Oklahoma City (37-41). There could be only one L.A. team in the playoffs if the Lakers top the Clippers on Thursday night at Staples.

Of course, the teams finishing 6-7-8 in the Western Conference are not expected to last very long in the playoffs. They'll have to play the San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Sun and Dallas Mavericks. Pick your poison.

Speaking of playoff position, UCSB has an important volleyball match tonight.

The Gauchos play at USC, and if they win, they will clinch a home berth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinals April 21.

UCSB is fourth in the MPSF, two games ahead of UCLA with two matches remaining in the regular season. UCLA has a tiebreaker edge over the Gauchos and is expected to win its final two matches.

The Gauchos finish the season Saturday night at top-ranked Pepperdine.

UCSB has won four of its last five matches, and senior Evan Patak has garnered two straight MPSF Player of the Week Awards. The powerful 6-foot-8 hitter leads the nation in kills per game and in ace serves. His junior teammate Theo Brunner ranks third nationally in hitting percentage (.544).