The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 108 Golden State Warriors 96

I understand the reasons for it, but it still amuses me that while everyone talks about how the Spurs, Lakers, Suns, or Jazz will win the West, everybody keeps ignoring the fact that the Hornets still have the best record in the conference. It's not a new phenomenon, either, as they've been on top, and stayed on top for a while. They're one of only two teams in the West that have a winning record against the playoff contenders (Utah being the other team) and they have Chris Paul, who's awesome. Paul had a triple-double(16 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds) on Sunday to lead the Hornets to a win over the Warriors. For Golden State, the loss knocked them out of the playoff picture temporarily, but if Denver lost in Seattle they'd be tied again. So what did Denver do?

Seattle Sonics 151 Denver Nuggets 147 2OT

They lost! To Seattle! I could go into details on how many points were scored by whom, but damn man, look at that score. Everybody had 20 points. Was there a new rule enforced before the game that said teams were only allowed to use three players on defense? Kevin Durant led Seattle with 37 points, 8 boards, and 9 assists to spoil the efforts of Carmelo Anthony(38 points, 11 rebounds) and Allen Iverson (26 points, 13 assists). For Denver right now, every game is a must win, but losing to Seattle is an especially big blow. Especially to start a 4-game road trip that has stops in Oakland and Utah.

Dallas Mavericks 105 Phoenix Suns 98

The Mavs are good all of a sudden. Not only are they finally beating good teams, but they're doing it on the road. Dallas overcame a 13-point deficit in the 4th quarter by outscoring the Suns 27-9 in the final period. Dirk Nowitzki finished with 32 points, and the Mavs look like, well, the Mavs again. "Every team we'd played so far we were right there, on the road or at home," Nowitzki said. "So it feels great to get finally over the hump. I think everybody in the locker room was pretty hyped up that we had finally pulled this one out. Hopefully this could build some momentum."

Elsewhere...

• Pacers 105 Bucks 97
• Pistons 91 Heat 75
• Spurs 72 Blazers 65
• Grizzlies 113 TWolves 101
• Knicks 100 Magic 90
• Lakers 114 Kings 92
• Rockets 105 Clippers 79