The Basketball Diaries

Utah Jazz 116 Dallas Mavericks 110

The Utah Jazz were on a roller coaster ride on Monday night. The Jazz blew a 21- point lead before going on a 16-0 run in the fourth quarter to complete their 16th straight home victory. Deron Williams had 17 points and 20 assists to lead the Jazz. "Everybody right know is fighting for their lives and fighting for a playoff spot. It was a fun game to be a part of," said Deron Williams. "I wish we would have held on to that lead. We let that slip away. We knew they were going to make a run, but we should have put them away a little earlier." Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 28, and Mehmet Okur had 20. Josh Howard led the Mavs with 25 while Dirk Nowitzki scored 23, but the Mavs fell to 4-4 since acquiring Jason Kidd.

New Orleans Hornets 100 New York Knicks 88

The Hornets had a little too much trouble with the Knicks before Chris Paul helped his team finish the game on a 10-0 run, and get out of Madison Square Garden with a victory. Paul finished the game with 27 points, 19 of which came in the second half, and had 8 assists and 5 rebounds. He's so good that even Isiah Thomas noticed. "As I said before the game, he's great. He's just as good in person as he is when you watch him on tape," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said. "I thought Nate in the first half did a good job in terms of applying pressure and trying to keep up with him, and then he got in foul trouble and I thought that took away some of his aggressiveness."

Philadelphia 76ers 106 Los Angeles Clippers 80

Yeah, because you really care about anything that happened in this game. Long story short, Philly outscored the Clippers over a regulated span of 48 minutes.