The Basketball Diaries

Unfortunately for Aaron Gray, the reason he's on the bench is because that's the only way he knows how to play defense.

Boston Celtics 106 Chicago Bulls 92

I write this recap with full disclosure: Now that baseball season has begun, I don't plan on watching another Bulls game this season. This means that I didn't watch this game, but I'll bet I can tell you what happened anyway. The Celtics were led by Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce as they toyed with the Bulls and their feeble attempts to stop any of them. Am I way off? I do see that Tyrus Thomas had a nice game, leading the Bulls with 24 points, and even impressed Garnett with his play. "Tyrus has a lot of potential. Obviously, that's no secret. It's all going to be about what he wants to do in this league, if he's able to listen and follow direction and have a work ethic." Well, 0-for-3 ain't bad!

Denver Nuggets 126 Phoenix Suns 120

The Suns and Nuggets met in another defensive slugfest for the second consecutive night, but this time it was the Nuggets who prevailed and moved back into the Western Conference's final playoff spot. Allen Iverson had 31, Carmelo Anthony had 25, Kenyon Martin had 18, and J.R. Smith finished with 17 points to lead the Nuggets. Of course, just because they've won their 9th straight game at home, and 9th in their last 12 games overall, the Nuggets realize that they still can't relax in the ultra-competitive west. "One loss and you're back down the totem pole," J.R. Smith said. "We can't be too excited about this. We've got to just keep playing our game."

San Antonio Spurs 116 Golden State Warriors 92

The reason the Nuggets moved back into the playoffs? The Spurs dominated the Warriors on Tuesday night in San Antonio to pick up their 8th straight win. Tony Parker led the way with 26 points, but Tim Duncan added 17 and 12 rebounds while Manu Ginobili dropped in 16 more to help pace San Antonio. "On offense Tony did another great job running the show for us and distributing and scoring," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "Timmy was great in the hole. I thought everybody really contributed and knocked down shots and moved the ball well." The win puts San Antonio in a virtual tie with New Orleans for first in the west, but since the Hornets have played two less games, they're still ahead on percentage points.

Elsewhere...

• Hornets 98 Magic 97
• Sixers 108 Nets 99
• Bucks 119 Knicks 115 OT
• Pistons 94 TWolves 90
• Kings 99 Rockets 98