The Basketball Diaries-Spurs Put Jazz in Check

San Antonio Spurs 106 Utah Jazz 83

In their first meeting of the year, the Jazz beat San Antonio in Utah. Last night the Spurs got their revenge. Coming back from an off week at home, Tim Duncan finished with 20 points and Tony Parker had 22. Duncan also held Carlos Boozer to 9 points and 7 rebounds on the defensive side of the floor. "We realized our mistakes from last game, and we understand that defensively we are a much better ball club," Duncan said. "I have to be able to block shots back there, be more of a shot blocker and more of a contester back there."

Dallas Mavericks 101 Phoenix Suns 99

The Mavs eliminated the Suns from the playoffs last year, beat them in Phoenix earlier this year, and beat them again on Thursday night. Jason Terry had 35 points, while Dirk had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Dirk also hit the game winner with 1.9 seconds left. "Dirk was the only option. We didn't have a plan B," coach Avery Johnson said. "We were trying to get him the ball. Just jokingly, we told Jason to try." We'll have more on this game, and the Nuggets/Sonics game later today.

Denver Nuggets 112 Seattle Supersonics 98

It's become obvious that Allen Iverson is feeling comfortable in his new digs. He dropped 44 points on Seattle last night to lead the shorthanded Nuggets to the win. The win was also the 800th in the career of Nuggets head coach George Karl. "I'm just kind of humbled by the opportunity to win 800 games," Karl said, "When I first started, I thought 250 (games) would be great. I thought 250 and you'd retire into a college job and coach into the sunset."