The Basketball Diaries

San Antonio Spurs 99 New Orleans Hornets 80 (Series tied 3-3)

Okay, so the playoffs have been incredibly predictable so far. Another home team won on Thursday night, as the home teams improved to 20-1 in the second round.

Manu Ginobili had 25 points, and Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds to help the Spurs hold off elimination. Well, for a few more days anyway. Unless the Spurs flip the script and pull off a road victory.

"That's what you want to have, an opportunity," said Tony Parker, who had 15 points. "That's why Game 6 was huge. We won the game and now we have an opportunity to win a game on the road."

The Hornets weren't helped out much by the officials, as both Chris Paul and David West picked up their 4th fouls early in the third quarter. Byron Scott left both in the game, but they were pretty limited on defense afterwards.

Though West didn't have to worry about foul trouble for long, as he left the game with back spasms. Luckily these teams will have two days off before game seven, so David will need all the treatment he can get on that back. If he can't go in game seven, that's a huge boost for San Antonio.

The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 101 San Antonio Spurs 79 (Hornets lead 3-2)

The third quarter has been huge in this series, and that didn't change last night. As had happened in games one and two in New Orleans, the Spurs led at halftime, but the Hornets came out and took over in the third quarter. The Hornets outscored the Spurs 28-11 as San Antonio couldn't make a bucket to save their lives.

David West kept the Hornets alive in the first half, scoring half of their points with 22, and finished the game with 38 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Decent, I guess. Chris Paul had 22 points and 14 assists, and came alive in the second half after his teammates that didn't have the name West written on the back of their jerseys started sinking shots.

Tim Duncan, on the other hand, didn't have things so easy. He was only able to manage 10 points on 5-of-18 shooting, though Tony Parker did have 20, and Manu Ginobili finished with 18. The Spurs will probably go home and win game six, probably, but I'm not too sure they're going to be able to come back and win in New Orleans if they do.

Detroit Pistons 91 Orlando Magic 86 (Pistons win 4-1)

So the Pistons will be playing in their sixth straight Eastern Conference Finals after disposing of the Magic last night. The Pistons were without Chauncey Billups again on Tuesday night, but they seem to be doing just fine without him.

Rip Hamilton led the way on offense, scoring 31 points, and hit the clinching free throws at the end of the game. Tayshaun Prince didn't struggled from the field on offense, but his huge block of Hedo Turkoglu in the closing seconds more than made up for all his bricks.

The best news of all for the Pistons is that they'll now get to rest up while Boston and Cleveland keep pounding each other (same can be said for teams out west as well). I don't care who wins that series, the way those two teams are playing I don't think either will beat Detroit.

The Basketball Diaries

Utah Jazz 123 Los Angeles Lakers 115 OT (Series tied 2-2)

The Jazz tried to give this one away, as they blew a 12-point lead in the final minutes and let the game get to overtime, but from there the defense locked down Kobe and the Lakers. LA only made two field goals in overtime, and the Jazz sent the series back to Los Angeles tied.

Deron Williams had 29 points and 14 assists, Carlos Boozer had 14 and 12 boards, Mehmet Okur had 18 and 11, and Andrei Kirilenko had 15 and 5 blocks. He also played very good defense on Kobe, because even though Kobe finished with 33, he only made 13 of his 33 shots.

"No excuses for me. [Kirilenko] did a great job," Bryant said. "They did a terrific job. They did big plays when they needed to."

San Antonio Spurs 100 New Orleans Hornets 80 (Series tied 2-2)

This game was not as close as the score would lead you to believe.

San Antonio took a 13-point lead until halftime, and nearly had it up to 30 before going to the bench in the fourth quarter. Tim Duncan had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Tony Parker chipped in with 21 more points of his own.

Of course, the real difference in this game was that the Spurs finally stopped letting all the Hornets not named Chris Paul kill them. They figured out that Paul is going to get his no matter what, and the key to beating New Orleans is to stop everybody else.

"We've got to play Game 5 the same way we approached Game 3 and 4," San Antonio's Manu Ginobili said. "That is going to be huge, so we don't have to have any satisfaction with what we just accomplished. We are the same way we started."

The Basketball Diaries

San Antonio Spurs 110 New Orleans Hornets 99 (Hornets lead 2-1)

Yep, so the Spurs are definitely too old and slow to stop the Hornets. Chris Paul had another great night for New Orleans, scoring 35 points and 9 assists, while David West had 23 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to push the Spurs to the brink of elimination.

Tony Parker seemingly answered every basket by Chris Paul with one of his own, and joined Manu Ginobili with 31 points on the night. The key difference in this game for San Antonio was that, while they still weren't able to really stop Paul, the role players hit their shots. Bruce Bowen had 12 points, all on three-pointers, and Michael Finley finished with 11 point of his own.

The Hornets, meanwhile, didn't get much from anybody but CP3 and David West. Peja Stojakovic only had 8 points, while Tyson Chandler was the only other Hornet in double digits with 12.

Boston Celtics 89 Cleveland Cavaliers 73 (Celtics lead 2-0)

I'm guessing that after this game was over, LeBron James showered as quickly as he could, and ran to the airport. Anything to get the hell out of Boston. James struggled from the field again on Thursday, going only 6-of-24 from the field. That brings him to 8-of-42 in the series.

Despite his horrible shooting, LeBron did manage to score more points than anybody on the Celtics, with 21, but I doubt that's of much consolation. Paul Pierce had 19, Ray Allen 16, and Kevin Garnett 13, but it was enough for Boston to get a pretty easy victory.

Still, given the way Boston played on the road in the last series, there's no way you can say that the Cavs are done in this series. Plus, you gotta figure LeBron's shots will start falling at some point. They have to, right?

The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 102 San Antonio Spurs 84 (Hornets lead 2-0)

After the first game of this series, Spurs coach Greg Popovich wasn't very happy with his team's performance on defense against New Orleans' David West. So on Monday night he came up with a gameplan to help minimize West's contributions. The good news was that it worked, as West was held to 10 points on 2-of-11 shooting. The bad news is the Spurs were so worried about West that Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic ran wild on them. CP3 finished with 30 points and 12 assists while Peja had 25 thanks to his 5-of-7 shooting behind the arc. Now, over the next few days you're going to hear a lot about how the Spurs are old and washed up, and just can't hang with the Hornets. Don't buy it. These teams have played 6 times now this season, and the home team has won each game. With all of the Hornets wins coming in the blowout variety. Don't be shocked if this series flips on it's head when they get back to San Antonio.

Detroit Pistons 100 Orlando Magic 93 (Pistons lead series 2-0)

This game turned on a pretty controversial play at the end of the 3rd quarter. After the Magic caught fire from the three-point line to get back into the game, Detroit had the ball with 5.1 left in the quarter. As they inbounded the ball, the clock stopped at 4.8 seconds, and the game kept playing as nobody noticed and Chauncey Billups hit a three. For some reason, it counted. A closer, TIMED, look showed that Billups didn't get the shot off until after 5.2 seconds, so it wouldn't have counted had the clock actually not "malfunctioned." Now, I know the Pistons won by 7, so if you took those three points away, they'd still win, but it doesn't work that way. This was a two-point game in the final minutes that only grew to seven thanks to the free throws at the end of the game. Take away those three points from the Pistons at the end of the third, and it's Orlando protecting a lead in the final minutes, not Detroit.

The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 99 Dallas Mavericks 94 (Hornets win series 4-1)

For the second straight year, the Dallas Mavericks have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, as Chris Paul and the Hornets finished them off in New Orleans on Tuesday night. Paul finished with a triple-double, scoring 24 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. A lot of those assists went to David West who had 25, Jannero Pargo who had 17, and Tyson fucking Chandler who had 10 points and 14 rebounds. "A lot of people may be surprised with how this thing turned out, but we're not too surprised," West said. "Coach has a lot to do with that, his mentality. It's a trickle-down effect. We go out and we pride ourselves on competing." That coach is Byron Scott who earlier in the day won the NBA's Coach of the Year award. As for the Mavericks, who knows where this is going to lead. I wouldn't be surprised if Avery Johnson is looking for another job next season.

San Antonio Spurs 92 Phoenix Suns 87 (Spurs win series 4-1)

Suns general manager took a pretty big risk when he traded for Shaq, a move I never thought made any sense, but the reason he did it was to beat the Spurs. Well, it didn't work. The Spurs knocked the Suns out of the post-season for the second straight year. Tony Parker had 31 points, Tim Duncan had 29 and 17 boards, while nobody else on the Spurs roster managed more than 8 points. It didn't matter though. The Spurs move on to the next round where they'll be facing the Hornets in what should be a very entertaining series. As for the Suns, you have to wonder whether it's time to blow it up. I'm not sure what Shaq's plans are, but I'm willing to bet the Suns wouldn't mind if he just retired. I don't think Mike D'Antoni will get fired because he didn't make the trade for Shaq.

Detroit Pistons 98 Philadelphia 76ers 81 (Pistons lead series 3-1)

Something told me that the Pistons weren't going to come out in game 5 with the same lackadaisical demeanor they showed in game 1 of this series, and I was right. Yeah, me! They jumped out to a 14-point lead after the first quarter, and never relented. Chauncey Billups had 21, Rip Hamilton had 20, and Rasheed Wallace had 19 to lead Detroit. "We knew Game 6 was going to be an elimination game either way it went," Billups said. "We wanted to be on the upper hand of that."

Houston Rockets 95 Utah Jazz 69 (Jazz lead series 3-2)

Everything the Rockets hadn't been doing in the first four games of this series, they did last night, as they handled the Jazz rather easily to stave off elimination for a few more days at least. Tracy McGrady had 29 points, Luis Scola had 18 and 12 rebounds, and Rafer Alston scored 14 to extend the series back to Utah. The odds are still in Utah's favor considering they've only lost 5 times all season at home, but two of those losses came to these Rockets, so I guess you never really know. "We're in a great situation," McGrady said. "We know we can win in Utah because we've done it before." Yes, you're one loss away from having your season end, and you have to do it in the toughest place for a road team to win. What a great situation.

The Basketball Diaries

Cleveland Cavaliers 100 Washington Wizards 97 (Cleveland leads 3-1)

It's unfortunate that this series probably only has one game left in it, because really, it's been one of the more entertaining matchups this postseason. It all started with the trash talk about LeBron from the Wizards, then Brendan Haywood sent LeBron flying into the crowd, and now even Jay-Z has gotten involved with a diss record on DeShawn Stevenson. Which I'm guessing will be the highlight of Stevenson's career. "He's worth $500 million, and he's writing songs about me," Stevenson said before tipoff. "What does that say about DeShawn Stevenson? Ballin'!" Yes, ballin all the way to another first round exit. LeBron scored 34 points to lead the Cavs, but it was Delonte West who hit the game-winning three-pointer in the final seconds that helped Cleveland place their foot on Washington's throat.

Phoenix Suns 105 San Antonio Spurs 86 (San Antonio leads 3-1)

The Suns came out on fire on Sunday, and maintained the intensity all day as they blew the Spurs out at home to stay alive. Unfortunately, they waited until the series was already over before they started playing. Boris Diaw had a huge day for the Suns, scoring 20 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and handing out 8 assists as Frenchmen continue to dominate this series. Which is an odd thing to say because usually the only thing the French dominate at is getting their ass kicked in wars.

New Orleans Hornets 97 Dallas Mavericks 84 (New Orleans lead 3-1)

The Mavericks started this game where they left off in game 3, but New Orleans' bench took things over in the 2nd quarter to get the Hornets back into the game, and once they took the lead they didn't give it up. David West had 24 points and 9 rebounds, while Chris Paul had 16 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds to help put the Mavericks on the brink of elimination. As a side note, Mavs fans suck. After Jason Kidd got ejected in the 4th quarter for a flagrant foul on Jannero Pargo, the Hornets had a 19-point lead, but there were still 6 minutes left in the game. That didn't stop Mavs "fans" from filing out of the arena in droves. It's hard enough to come back from that kind of deficit, but it's a lot harder when your home crowd just gives up on you and leaves. I mean, it's not like there were any high school football games going on.

Detroit Pistons 93 Philadelphia 76ers 84 (Series tied 2-2)

During the first half it looked like the Sixers were going to do the impossible: go up 3-1 on the mighty Pistons. Then at halftime the Pistons remembered they were the Pistons and realized there's no effin way they should be losing to the Sixers. They came out of the locker room and absolutely dominated in the second half, turning a 10-point deficit into a 9-point victory. Even though the series is still tied at 2, Philly's only chance to win this thing was if they won on Sunday night, and I think it's safe to say Detroit's going to take this one now.

The Basketball Diaries

Spurs 102 Suns 96 (Spurs lead 2-0)

This game lacked the same excitement of the double-overtime thriller in game one, but in the end the result was the same. It also featured the Suns blowing another double-digit first half lead, as the Spurs outscored the Suns 27-11 in the third quarter. Tony Parker finished with 32 points and 7 assists to lead the Spurs, while Tim Duncan had 18 points and 17 rebounds, including a monster dunk to help end a 10-0 run the Suns went on late to get back into the game. Oh, and Manu Ginobili had another ho-hum 29 points off the bench. Still, even though the Spurs now have a commanding 2-0 lead in this series, I full expect the Suns to take the next two in Phoenix, which is fine with me. I'll take as many games between these two teams as I can get.

Hornets 127 Mavericks 103 (Hornets lead 2-0)

You know, in my preview for this series I really thought that the Hornets inexperience in the postseason was going to kill them. Well, I'm an idiot, because somehow, after tauting Chris Paul all season, I somehow assumed he would just start to suck. Yeah, he's not going to do that anytime soon. Paul dominated the Mavs for a second straight game, consistently making Dallas' attempts to trap him futile. CP3 finished with 32 points and 17 assists and just carved the Mavericks up. "Sitting there watching Chris really develop into the best point guard in this league, it's amazing to watch how he's really risen his game to another level," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "But that's what great players do. He's definitely one of the best on this league right now." Though I should mention Paul wasn't the only performer on the Hornets, as David West finished with 27 points and Peja Stojakovic had 22.

Magic 104 Raptors 103 (Magic lead 2-0)

How about that Dwight Howard? After putting up a 20-20 in game one of this series, he only managed to score 29 points and 20 rebounds as he helped the Magic narrowly escape with a victory over the Raptors on Tuesday night. With the consecutive 20-20 performances, Howard becomes only the 4th player in NBA history to do that in the postseason. The other four? A couple of scrubs named Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett. "It was tough to come back and try to play the same way I played the first game. But one of the things [coach Stan Van Gundy] has put in my head, and [Magic assistant Patrick Ewing], is just trying to play as dominant as I could on both ends of the floor. Since the last game, the only thing on my mind, when I go to sleep, when I wake up, at the gym with the guys, is to dominate." The only thing on my mind in those situations? Adorable puppies.

NBA Playoff Previews: San Antonio vs. Phoenix

With the NBA playoffs beginning on Saturday, that means Foul Balls is allowed to start enjoying basketball again. So throughout the day today, I will be previewing each of the eight first round matchups.

Why You Should Watch This Series: Let's start with the past, shall we? Remember the second round of the playoffs last year when the Suns lost Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for a game for leaving the bench during a fracas? Well, the Suns would like some revenge, and these teams can't stand each other. Revenge and animosity always make for a fantastic playoff series, and I haven't even mentioned Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, and Shaq yet.

Why San Antonio Will Win This Series: Because they're the Spurs and all the Spurs ever do is win playoff series. They have the best coach in the NBA, three of the league's best players, and they're 100% committed to stopping you on the defensive end. All of which makes the Spurs the team to beat every year out west, no matter the seeds.

Why Phoenix Will Win This Series: Because as I said earlier, they're incredibly pissed off about the way their series with San Antonio finished last year. Plus there's the fact that they're probably sick and tired of hearing how their style of play just doesn't work in the playoffs (And it hasn't so far.) Plus if Shaq has been saving it for the playoffs like he used to, the combination of him and Amare could be just too much for San Antonio to handle.

Who Will Win This Series: Spurs 4-3. To me this is by far the most intriguing matchup of the first round, and should be incredibly entertaining to watch. In the end though, I think the Spurs will get by thanks to the home-court advantage and championship experience.

The Basketball Diaries

Denver Nuggets 111 Houston Rockets 94

And that will just about do it, the Nuggets should be the final team in the west to make the playoffs. Thanks to Allen Iverson's 33 points and J.R. Smith's 23 off the bench, the Nuggets basically dominated the Rockets from the opening tip to the final buzzer. The win puts Denver a half-game up on Golden State, and all they have to do is beat Memphis at home on Wednesday and they're in. Seems easy, but remember, the Nuggets have lost to Seattle and Sacramento in recent weeks. I was a bit surprised by how lackluster the Rockets played on Sunday considering they still have an outside shot at the top seed out west, but whatever, seeds won't really matter much in the west anyway.

Los Angeles Lakers 106 San Antonio Spurs 85

Speaking of the top seed out west, it's no longer held by the Hornets, as the Lakers' victory over San Antonio on Sunday moved them to the top. One more win against the Kings on Tuesday, and they get home-court advantage. Kobe Bryant had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Lamar Odom had 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Lakers team over a Spurs team that played like it has nothing to play for at the moment. Which I guess they don't.

Orlando Magic 104 Chicago Bulls 84

So what if the Bulls lost, there are only two games left in this miserable excuse of a season, and then the playoffs will start and I can start enjoying basketball again. It's a celebration, bitches!

Elsewhere...

• Pistons 91 Raptors 84
• Cavs 84 Heat 76
• Sonics 99 Mavs 95

The Basketball Diaries

Orlando Magic 115 Chicago Bulls 83

Does it matter?

New Orleans Hornets 122 Minnesota Timberwolves 90

A day after only being able to manage 66 points against the Jazz, the Hornets nearly doubled their output on Wednesday night in a victory over Minnesota. Hell, they scored 41 points in the third quarter alone. Chris Paul had 19 points and 16 assists, Peja Stojakovic had 24, and David West had 22. "We've got to come out early in the game and impose our will. I think about that going into every game, and I think that starts with me." Paul said. "Defensively and offensively it starts with me and I got to start doing a better job." The best news for New Orleans is that this win gave them a two-game lead over the Spurs, Lakers, and Rockets with only 4 games to go.

Phoenix Suns 96 San Antonio Spurs 79

And the reason the Hornets now have that two-game cushion is because they lost to the Suns on Wednesday night. Amare Stoudemire had 21 points, Steve Nash had 12 points and 10 assists, and Shaq scored 16 and pulled down 9 rebounds as the Suns grabbed a big victory in San Antonio. "Anytime you come here it's a good win," Steve Nash said. "But we're also still fighting for seeding. It gives us another possibility as far as seeding goes."

Elsewhere...

• Cavs 104 Nets 83
• Sixers 101 Pistons 94
• Wizards 109 Celtics 95
• Raptors 111 Bucks 93
• Knicks 109 Bobcats 107
• Rockets 103 Sonics 80
  

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

The Basketball Diaries

Chicago Bulls 103 Atlanta Hawks 94

I was at work on Tuesday night talking with my friend Marcus about how much we hate the Bulls and we'd like to punch every single player in the face. All of them except for one, that is. We both came to the conclusion that we love Drew Gooden. He's been the only good thing to come of this season so far. Little did we know that a few miles away at the United Center, Drew was having a monster performance against the Hawks. Gooden scored 31 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Bulls over the Hawks as they desperately try to steal a playoff berth. "I've been feeling good as of late, comfortable in the offense and getting my shot in rhythm, whereas when I first got here I couldn't knock down the outside shot for nothing because I didn't know when it was coming," Gooden said. "I'm confident. I feel every time I shoot, it's going to go in and tonight it just happened to go in."

San Antonio Spurs 107 Orlando Magic 97

The Spurs have gotten their act together again, winning their 4th straight game on Tuesday night after going 1-5 in a six game stretch earlier this month. Manu Ginobili had 28 points, Michael Finley had 24, and Tim Duncan contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds. The Spurs were also able to force Orlando to try and drive the lane instead of relying on the outside shot as they normally do. "We made a decision to make them penetrate," Ginobili said. "We were not going to let Rashard [Lewis], Hedo [Turkoglu] and Keith [Bogans] take wide-open shots." The strategy worked too because even though Dwight Howard managed 24 points and 21 rebounds for the Magic, it wasn't enough to overcome the Spurs.

Utah Jazz 128 Charlotte Bobcats 106

The Jazz were having such an easy time with the Bobcats on Tuesday night, they decided to make things a bit more interesting in the 4th quarter. After allowing the Bobcats to cut a 20-point lead down to three, the Jazz quickly built the lead right back up to 20 as they seemingly toyed with Charlotte. "We weren't exactly clicking for a while," said Kyle Korver, who made three 3-pointers during Utah's 17-6 run in the fourth. Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 28 points and 13 boards while Deron Williams scored 14 and handed out 15 assists.

Elsewhere...

• Hornets 114 Pacers 106
• Mavs 103 Clippers 90
• Blazers 102 Wizards 82

The Basketball Diaries

San Antonio Spurs 88 Dallas Mavericks 81

The Mavericks are in trouble. Not only did they lose to another winning team on Sunday (Since the Jason Kidd trade, the Mavs are 0-8 against teams with winning records) but they also lost their best player for a few weeks. Dirk Nowitzki landed awkwardly on his leg during the 3rd quarter, and had to be helped off the court. The way things are in the west, that's long enough for the Mavs to fall out of the playoffs. "I fell awkwardly and my left leg got caught underneath of me," Nowitzki said in a statement. "I am going to get re-evaluated in the morning and I hope to have more information then." Manu Ginobili had 26 points, and Tim Duncan had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Spurs.

Golden State Warriors 115 Los Angeles Lakers 111

The game was a lot closer than the Warriors would have liked, as they nearly blew a 26-point lead, but Stephen Jackson hit two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the game to help Golden State hold the Lakers off. Those final 6 points gave Jackson 31 on the night. "He has made big shots for us all year," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I don't know how he does it. We put him in a good position where he was open." Kobe Bryant did everything he could for the Lakers, finished with 36 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists, but it wasn't enough.

Denver Nuggets 109 Toronto Raptors 100

Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony were the stars of this game, as they scored 36 and 33 points respectively, but Kenyon Martin was the real reason the Nuggets beat the Raptors on Sunday. His defense on Chris Bosh in the 4th quarter was the key as he held the big man scoreless in the final 12 minutes. "Kenyon Martin's defense on Bosh was incredible and got better as the game went on," George Karl said. "You win games with stops more than making shots. I thought Kenyon was the star of the game." Of course, Bosh is so good that even with Martin's defense, he finished only one assist shy of a triple-double (17 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists).

Elsewhere...

• Wizards 95 Pistons 83

Basketball Diaries

San Antonio Spurs 102 Chicago Bulls 80

I'd like to thank the Bulls for accomodating my college basketball viewing schedule by getting their asses kicked early, and allowing me to stop paying attention. The Spurs destroyed the Bulls on Thursday night, using a 22-4 run in the 2nd quarter to open up a 53-33 lead. They never let it go. Hell, they built on it. At one point late in the 3rd the Spurs were up 74-47. I checked the score during a commercial break in the college tournament, and thought I'd stumbled onto UCLA-Mississippi Valley State on accident. Needless to say, the Bulls deserved the boos they heard last night. Their play in the game very much mirrored my attitude towards watching it on television. None of us wanted to be there.

Boston Celtics 94 Dallas Mavericks 90

And the Celtics sweep Texas. Dirk Nowitzki managed to score 24 points and grab 19 rebounds for the Mavericks, but it wasn't enough to overcome Boston's big trio. Paul Pierce scored 22, Ray Allen had 21, and Kevin Garnett had 20 points. Both Pierce and Garnett also finished with 13 rebounds. The win made the Celtics the first team to go 6-0 against the three Texas teams in a season since the Milwaukee Bucks in the 99-2000 season. They're also the first team to go 3-0 on a Texas road trip since the Kings in 2001. Which is all just a lot of words saying that the Celtics are the best team in the NBA. By far.

Los Angeles Lakers 106 Utah Jazz 95

The Jazz' 19-game win streak at home came to an end on Thursday night thanks to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Kobe scored 27 points, and Lamar Odom added 21 and 12 rebounds as the Lakers came out of the gate on fire. They made nine of their first ten shots and had a 24-point lead in the 2nd quarter. Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Jazz in a losing effort.

The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 108 Chicago Bulls 97

So how do the Bulls respond after blowing an 18-point lead during a 40-point 4th quarter against the Sixers on Friday night? By blowing an 11-point lead against the Hornets, of course! Chris Paul literally carved the Bulls up during the 4th quarter as the Hornets outscored the Bulls 33-13 in the final frame. Paul finished the game with 37 points and 13 assists. "It was all Chris Paul," said Tyson Chandler, who finished with eight points. "The little man was all over the floor. It was incredible. It's one of the best performances I've seen from him yet. He, at least to me, made his bid [Monday night] to consider him the MVP." Ben Gordon scored 31 points for the Bulls, but he was guarding Chris Paul, so he gave up more than he got. Only 16 games to go.

Boston Celtics 93 San Antonio Spurs 91

The Celtics have played well against the West all season, but you have to figure a three-game road trip through Texas against the Spurs, Rockets, and Mavs isn't going to be easy. Even for them. It sure didn't look easy on Monday night as the Spurs jumped out to a 22-point lead in the first half as Boston played it's 2nd straight game without Ray Allen. The Celtics fought back though, led by Paul Pierce's 22 points, Rajon Rondo's 20, Sam Cassell's 17, and Kevin Garnett's 21. "A lot of teams may have buckled," said Rajon Rondo, who scored 20 points for the Celtics. "But we knew we had to execute. Continue to get stops on defense and we knew the game would change for us, and it did." Manu Ginobili led San Antonio with 32, but the Spurs have lost 6 of their last 7 games, and have fallen to 6th place out West.

Orlando Magic 104 Cleveland Cavaliers 90

The Magic buried the Cavaliers in a three-point barrage on Monday night. The Magic converted on 14 of their 32 3-point attempts to help overcome a bad shooting night everywhere else, led by Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu who drained three each. Lewis finished with 21 and Turkoglu 18. Of course, the reason those guys were open is one Dwight Howard, who didn't make any 3-pointers of his own, but did manage to finish with 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Magic. "The main focus is to get the ball inside to Dwight," Lewis said. "Obviously he demands so much attention and they can't guard him 1-on-1. They try to clog the paint and they leave us wide open out on the wing, so we take what they give us." LeBron finished with 30 points for Cleveland, but the rest of his team still sucks, so they lost.

Elsewhere...

• Pacers 110 Knicks 98
• Hawks 105 Wizards 96
• TWolves 99 Clippers 90
• Grizzlies 98 Bobcats 80
• Jazz 96 Raptors 79

The Basketball Diaries

Houston Rockets 83 Atlanta Hawks 75

The Rockets have now won 20 in a row, and are now only the 3rd team in NBA history to do so. The 70-71 Bucks did it, and the 71-72 Lakers won 31 in a row before losing. To give you an idea about how impressive a 20 game win streak is, the Knicks, Heat, Sonics, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves don't have 20 wins this season. The Rockets got off to a sluggish start on Wednesday night, but Tracy McGrady scored 21 of his 28 points in the 2nd half to help Houston shake off the pesky Hawks. "It may be the ugliest thing we've done, but it might have been the best one," Houston coach Rick Adelman said, "the way we fought through it."

New Orleans Hornets 100 San Antonio Spurs 75

I know that with the strong competition in the West, the Spurs are going to lose every once in a while, but it's the very rare occasion when they get blown out like they did on Wednesday. The Hornets held the Spurs to eight points in the 4th quarter. Eight. David West returned to the Hornets lineup for the first time in three games, and he scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Chris Paul did what Chris Paul does, and scored 26 points and handed out 17 assists. If only he played in a market other than New Orleans so he could be truly appreciated for how good he is.

Philadelphia 76ers 83 Detroit Pistons 82

The way things are set up in the East right now, this is likely going to be a 1st round matchup in the playoffs. Something tells me the results will be different once playoff time comes around. Detroit came out sluggish, fell behind by double-digits early, and couldn't fight their way out of it. Even though the Sixers didn't score a point in the final 2:27 of the game. Chauncey Billups shot as time expired clanged off the rim and the Sixers escaped with a victory. "I tried to rock and get [Rodney Carney] off-balance, but they came at me with the double-team," Billups said. "I didn't think there was enough time to get the ball to anyone else, so I had to shoot it. I got a pretty good look, but that's not the shot I want to take in that situation."

Elsewhere...

• Magic 110 Clippers 88
• Celtics 111 Sonics 82
• Knicks 91 Heat 88
• Nets 104 Cavs 99
• Jazz 114 Bucks 110
• Mavs 118 Bobcats 93
• Nuggets 108 Grizzlies 86
• Warriors 117 Raptors 106

The Basketball Diaries

Houston Rockets 91 New Jersey Nets 73

Make that 19 consecutive wins for the Houston Rockets. Of those 19 wins, the last 10 have come by double-digits which ties an NBA record. Of course the biggest news is that win #19 moves the Rockets to within a game of the Lakers and Spurs in the race for the #1 seed out west. Tracy McGrady led Houston with 19 points, though he only played a little more than two quarters as the Rockets toyed with the Nets all night. "It's impressive, and we keep adding on games," point guard Rafer Alston said. "It's fantastic to have your name mentioned and your team mentioned with some of the best teams, some of the best players to ever play the game. It says a lot about our ballclub."

San Antonio Spurs 107 Denver Nuggets 103

It's not often that the Spurs lose two games in a row, and it's extremely rare that they lose three in a row, so I think it would have been impossible for Denver to come out of this one with a victory. Tim Duncan scored 23 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Spurs pull back into a tie with the Lakers atop the Western Conference standings. Manu Ginobili only had 13 points, but he did manage to hand out 14 assists which are always helpful. "Manu stepped up and was passing the ball great -- finding people left and right," Duncan said. "So we had good efforts all the way around."

Cleveland Cavaliers 88 Portland Trailblazers 80

Oh, look, LeBron had a triple-double. Yawn. It's only the 7th time he's done it this season, so frankly, I feel as if he's just rubbing it in at this point. 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists as the Cavs held on in a tight contest to beat the Blazers on Monday night. Of course, after the game, LeBron showed that "humility" we all love so much. "As an individual, I didn't feel I played particularly well," he said. "If you didn't play well and you have a triple-double, something is wrong. I could have played better."

Elsewhere...

• Magic 123 Hawks 112
• Celtics 100 Sixers 86
• Clippers 99 Heat 98
• Mavs 108 Knicks 79

The Basketball Diaries

Detroit Pistons 116 Chicago Bulls 109

So it's pretty clear that Jim Boylan has completely lost this team, right? There was the Tyrus Thomas suspension (Tyrus played 4 minutes on Sunday)from last week, then Aaron Gray (Aaron played 2) blew up at Jimmy over the weekend over playing time, and Chris Duhon flew to North Carolina to take in the UNC/Duke game on Saturday night without telling anybody. He then slept through the Bulls morning shootaround on Sunday and was benched. Still, it didn't seem to bother anybody as Duhon, Kirk Hinrich and others spent the closing minutes of the Bulls loss to the Pistons on Sunday laughing with each other on the bench. Without Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and Adrian Griffin, the Bulls locker room is in need of a leader, and Jim Boylan sure as hell isn't it.

Phoenix Suns 94 San Antonio Spurs 87

Shaq finally pulled through for the Suns. The Diesel, who just turned 36 a few days ago, scored 14 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to help Phoenix shake out of a slump and take down the red hot Spurs on Sunday afternoon. Shaq even elbowed a fan in the face while diving into the third row for a loose ball. Steve Nash also had 19 points and 14 assists, though he's not ready to say that this win really means anything. "There's a lot of teams with size in the West," Steve Nash said. "We added size, let alone a guy with championship experience. One win isn't going to say we're a finished product, but we're on our way, I think, to improving and getting to a place where we're going to feel confident once the playoffs come around."

Sacramento Kings 114 Los Angeles Lakers 113

With the Spurs loss earlier in the day, the Lakers had a perfect opportunity to put a little distance between themselves and San Antonio in the race for the #1 seed in the Western Conference. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Kobe Bryants 18-foot jumper in the closing seconds clanged off the rim, and the Lakers lost for only the 2nd time in their last 15 games. Beno Udrih hit the game winning free throws for the Kings, and led the team with 25 points and 10 assists.

Elsewhere...

• Sixers 119 Bucks 97
• Raptors 114 Sonics 106

The Basketball Diaries

Chicago Bulls 107 Cleveland Cavaliers 96

Stop the presses! The Bulls have won two games in a row! They even beat a real team this time. It was an all-around effort for the Bulls, as six players finished in double digits scoring wise, led by Luol Deng and Ben Gordon who each had 23 points. As is normally the case, the Bulls weren't able to stop LeBron as he followed his 50-point performance in New York on Wednesday with 39 points on Thursday, but he didn't get much help from his teammates. The Bulls pulled away in the second half against what seemed to be a Cavs team who was losing their legs on the second game of a back to back. Joakim Noah also had a big game for the Bulls, as he responded to coach Boylan's wishes that he be more aggressive, and finished the game with 13 points and a career high 20 rebounds. Ten of which came on the offensive glass. Oh, and if you're wondering, Ben Wallace never had a 20 rebound game with the Bulls. He did manage 2 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland on Thursday, though.

Houston Rockets 113 Dallas Mavericks 98

The Rockets have now won 17 games in a row, and are 5-0 without Yao Ming. The Mavs were without Dirk Nowitzki (suspended one game for clotheslining Andrei Kirilenko to avenge Hitler), but I don't think it would have mattered much. They've really struggled since Jason Kidd came to town, and they don't have Tracy McGrady. T-Mac scored 31 points and 9 assists to lead Houston, and Rafer Alston had 24 as well.

San Antonio Spurs 108 Indiana Pacers 97

Speaking of hot teams from Texas, the Spurs racked up their 11th straight win over the Pacers. Manu Ginobili lit it up for the Spurs, missing only three of his 13 shots on the way to 28 points. Tony Parker had 19 points and Tim Duncan had 12 boards, but only 6 points. Of course, they didn't need them anyway. "They're just really solid," Mike Dunleavy said. "They've got three great players. On any given night two of them are going to have very good nights. ... They have their principles and stick to them."