Basketball Diaries

Houston Rockets 94 Utah Jazz 92

Tracy McGrady is getting all the credit for the upset over the Jazz but not from me. Yeah, he scored 27 points - 7 critical ones in the fourth quarter - but his missed shots and boneheaded offensive foul against Andrei Kirilenko in the last 47 seconds allowed the Jazz to make it a one-point game. My vote goes to Carl Landry, who made clutch rebounds in the final quarter and a brilliant block that crushed a Deron Williams go-ahead jumper with just three seconds left, giving McGrady a chance to give interviews instead of excuses. (By the way, was that kiss Rafer Alston planted on Landry after the block just a teensy bit too sincere?)

Washington Wizards 108 Cleveland Cavaliers 72

This must-win game for the Wiz can best be summed up by Cleveland coach Mike Brown: "It was a good old fashioned behind-kicking." (I'm guessing he put it a bit differently to the team once they got into the locker room.) And they did it without Gilbert Arenas, who left the game after injuring his surgically repaired knee in the first half. DeShawn Stevenson made good on his trash talk with 19 points - Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison added 17 and 15 more, respectively. Those 15 first-half Cleveland turnovers didn't hurt either.

Toronto Raptors 108 Orlando Magic 94

It looks like Toronto wants to make this a series. After going behind by four in the first three minutes, they kicked into overdrive, took the lead and never looked back, leading Orlando by as much as 23 points. T.J. Ford, who shot just 2-17 in the first two games of the series, posted 21 points, with Jose Calderon adding 18 and 13 assists. "Right from the get-go, the Raptors were outstanding," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Their point guard play was phenomenal and probably the key to the game for them. The game was pretty well decided at halftime."