Rasheed Sparks picks his spots. He doesn't need to score, but when he does it has a profound impact on his team's success. Sparks, the Takamatsu Five Arrows' All-Star point guard, had five double-digit scoring games in February. His team went 5-0 in those games, beating the Tokyo Apache and Ryukyu Golden Kings two times apiece and the Sendai 89ers on another occasion.

More times than not, Sparks can control the game at the point, orchestrating his team's high-scoring offense like a conductor dictates the pitch, rhythm and tone of a symphony.

Sparks is The Japan Times' Offensive Player of the Month for February.

Friday's Rizing Fukuoka-Oita HeatDevils game, the bj-league's lone Leap Year Friday contest, was not factored into the awards' selection process. That game will become part of March's criteria.

Sparks dished out 52 assists in February. In the Five Arrows' eight games in the month, his number of turnovers was 18. He began the month with an 11-assist outing in Sendai on Feb. 2 and had 13 more a day later.

The Five Arrows (21-9) remain a strong contender for the 2007-08 title, and it begins with a heady veteran floorleader.