The Basketball Diaries

Chicago Bulls 94 Sacramento Kings 93 (Sat.)

The Bulls were able to sneak away with a victory on Saturday night at the United Center, thanks to a Ben Wallace free throw and then a Ben Wallace block on Brad Miller. And while it was nice that the Bulls actually beat the Kings for once, Sactown had won 15 of the previous 16 meetings, this win actually served to further drive home the point that the Bulls just aren't that good. I know they were without Luol Deng, but there's no way the Bulls should have had this much trouble with a Kings team that was without it's three best players(Mike Bibby, Kevin Martin, Ron Artest).

Cleveland Cavaliers 93 Toronto Raptors 90

LeBron James and the Cavs looked pretty damn mediocre for the first three quarters of action on Sunday, but then James took things over in the fourth quarter to lead Cleveland to a nice road win over the Raptors. LeBron scored 24 of his 39 points in the final quarter, to lead the Cavs on a rally from a 13-point deficit. "In the fourth quarter, he was amazing," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "He just took the game over and put us on his back. What a tremendous, tremendous performance."

San Antonio Spurs 88 Los Angeles Clippers 82

The Spurs finally started to resemble the defending champions on Sunday thanks to the return of Manu Ginobili to the lineup. Ginobili scored 23 points in his return, while Tony Parker had 26 and Tim Duncan had 17 points and 17 rebounds to lead San Antonio to victory. Ginobili's return is big because after starting out the season 17-3, they're only 6-6 in their last 12 as they've battled through injuries. "He's our finisher. He's our attacker and he just adds another dimension to our team, especially down the stretch," Duncan said. "When plays don't work or things aren't working exactly right, someone like that can break down a defense."He's a great guy to make things happen and find open shots for people. And we missed that the last few games."

Elsewhere...

• Wizards 108 Sonics 86
• Mavs 101 TWolves 78
• Grizzlies 101 Heat 94
• Bucks 93 Bobcats 89
• Nuggets 109 Sixers 96
• Lakers 112 Pacers 96