The Basketball Diaries

Denver Nuggets 124 Boston Celtics 118

Finally, the Celtics have fallen to a Western Conference opponent. Kevin Garnett played for the first time since January 25th, and he played like somebody who hadn't played in a month. KG scored only 4 points for the Celtics on 2-of-7 shooting. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson showed no such rust for Denver, scoring 29 and 28 points respectively. "Winning this game puts a lot of pressure on us, because if you can beat a team like this, then you can beat all the other teams," Iverson said. "We have enough talent to scare some people, but we just have to bring it night in and night out."

Utah Jazz 119 Golden State Warriors 109

The Utah Jazz exploded on the Warriors on Tuesday night. Utah scored 77 points in the first half as neither the Jazz or the Warriors seemed to remember how to play defense after the All-Star layoff. Deron Williams had 29 points and 12 assists for the Jazz, both Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur had double doubles, and Andrei Kirilenko had 18 points as Utah completed a season sweep of the Warriors. "The only good thing about the game tonight for us is that this is the last time we have to play in Utah," Golden State coach Don Nelson said.

Orlando Magic 103 Detroit Pistons 85

It seems Dwight Howard left his Superman costume in New Orleans, because he was far from the man of steel on Tuesday night. The reigning slam dunk champion scored only 8 points for Orlando, but that didn't stop them from ending the Pistons 10-game win streak. Orlando hit 65% of their three-pointers, making 13 of the 20 they attempted. Also, just because Dwight was contributing on offense, that doesn't mean he didn't sway the game in the Magic's favor. "Dwight had eight points and eight rebounds, and there's been other nights when he's gone 20-20, but this might have been his best game of the season," he said. "In the third quarter, he made it virtually impossible for Detroit to get any offense going inside. He changed every shot."

Elsewhere...

• Rockets 93 Cavaliers 85
• Knicks 113 Wizards 100 OT
• TWolves 104 Sixers 88
• Spurs 85 Bobcats 65
• Kings 104 Blazers 95
• Sonics 108 Grizzlies 101
• Lakers 122 Hawks 93