The season is saved. The San Antonio Spurs can be beat. The championship is, with roughly eight months left in the season, up for grabs.

This, of course, might always have been true, and the Rockets' 92-87 win Sunday night over the Spurs and their goofy zone defense experiment might not have been needed to prove anything.

But when the league's owners gathered to discuss the rule changes that eliminated illegal defense rules and allowed teams to play most zone defenses, two team owners passionately complained the league might as well hand the Spurs the championship trophy right then.

The Lakers, it turns out, still have a chance.