Team who came away with the biggest victory Saturday night?  The Chicago Bulls and their 94-88 win on the road in Philadelphia versus the Chris Webber-less Sixers.  
 
 After a dreadful 0-9 start, the Bulls have evolved into one of the league?s most pleasant surprises this season ? that is until injuries to seemingly half the roster, including Eddy Curry (strained left hamstring), Luol Deng (sprained right ankle), Kirk Hinrich (playing with a pulled left hamstring), Chris Duhon (playing with a taped right index finger) and Antonio Davis (playing with a sprained ankle), and a four-game losing streak (including Friday?s stinker at home versus New Orleans) all of a sudden had them in jeopardy of fading from the playoff picture.

But thanks to Othella Harrington?s ? who replaced Curry in the starting lineup - season-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, Chicago managed to put a little distance between themselves and the Sixers and Orlando, who are currently tied for the East's eighth seed, two games behind the Bulls.  

 Harrington isn't a player we?ve necessarily been high on in the past, primarily because he?s been a notorious pouter everywhere he?s played ? from his days in Houston to Vancouver to New York ? but he?s been one of the many effective role players general manger John Paxson has assembled in the Windy City?  

 We?ve been pretty hard on Toronto Raptors? first-year general manager Rob Babcock this season.  And while I have received more than my fair share of ?fan mail? if you will from Toronto fans who?ve suggested I should be giving the rookie executive a break, it?s just hard to sympathize with Babcock when he seemingly performs one blunder after another.

 We weren?t impressed when Babcock panicked on draft night and selected the widest body available in Brigham Young center Rafael Araujo, not when he could have traded down ten spots and still nabbed him, and not when Arizona?s ultra-athletic swingman Andre Iguodala was chosen right after Araujo, ninth overall to Philadelphia (we were high on Iguodala then, and we still are now, especially when he not only is able to play both the two-guard and small forward positions, but is a beast defensively ? Toronto doesn?t have many of those on its roster, now do they?).  

 We also weren?t impressed when he traded former franchise cornerstone Vince Carter for a bag of peanuts and a couple of Spalding basketballs - especially when it seems he could have received so much more.

 Reports of out Toronto this past week suggested a deal was in the works between Toronto and the New Orleans Hornets with Carter and Hornets all-star center Jamaal Magloire as the focal points.    

 According to the reports, the Hornets were willing to do a Magloire-for-Carter swap but backed away when Babcock tried to sweeten the deal in order to fulfill financial obligations.

 Being a base-year player (in the first year of his new contract), only half of Magloire?s $8.53 million salary this season would have counted in any potential deal ? making him a rather difficult acquisition.  But if you?re Babcock, someway, somehow, you have to make the numbers work and pull the trigger.

 Magloire would have added credibility to the franchise both on and off the floor.  On the court, he provides double-digit scoring and rebounding, is a presence in the low post and at 26 is in the prime of his career, and will only get better (can it get any worse than the foul-prone bust Araujo?).  Off the court, Magloire, a Toronto native, would have been a marketer?s dream - a player the city would have identified with and embraced, an instant fan favorite.  
 
  But instead, Babcock gets two oft-injured bench warmers, one of which (Eric Williams) wishes he was back in New Jersey.  

 For Babcock?s sake, let?s hope the two additional first-round draft choices he received in the deal wind up panning out, because if they don?t, his tenure will be a short one?

 There is no question Celtics GM Danny Ainge?s re-acquisition of Antoine Walker has proven to be a real coup, as Walker has helped propel the Celtics comfortably atop the Atlantic Division.  With Saturday?s 113-100 win in New Orleans, Boston is now 11-1 with Walker in the lineup.

 Ainge may have once deemed Walker a bad fit in Beantown, but Walker, to his credit, has also been a different player in his second go-around with the green and white.  

 Gone is the player who made a living chucking 3-balls, and in his place is a new-and-improved Walker, a player who uses his 6-9 frame more often to his advantage by posting up defenders in the paint, who?s more unselfish with the basketball and a great fit chemistry-wise in the locker room.

 ?It all starts with Antoine Walker,? rookie teammate Tony Allen said.  ?He?s vocal, he?s a leader, he energizes the ball club and has simply been huge for us on the floor.?

 In 12 games with Boston, Walker is averaging 18.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks?

 Pacers veteran Reggie Miller may want to think twice before riding off into the sunset after this season.

 Miller, who earlier this season announced he would call it quits after an illustrious 18-year career, has been instrumental in the Pacers? turnaround of late.  

 With franchise forward Jermaine O?Neal now officially done for the year after spraining his right shoulder in a March 3 game versus Denver, Miller is once again serving as Indiana?s go-to scorer along with Stephen Jackson.  

 In a 103-97 victory at home versus the Lakers Friday night, Miller erupted for 39 points on 13-of-18 shooting - his highest point total in over four seasons.  After the game, the much-humbled Miller, retiring because he feels it?s time for Indiana?s young guns to take center stage, shrugged off his huge shooting night.

 ?Hopefully, I won?t always have nights like this, but right now we?re short-handed,? Miller said.  ?Stephen and myself recognize that we are going to take the brunt of the scoring load each and every night, so we both try to take an active role of getting into games early.?

 Miller will go down as a class act, and you have to respect the fact he?s leaving the game on his own terms, even if he probably still has a season or two left in him and could have very well been a vital contributor towards a Pacers championship run next season.    

Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com