The Basketball Diaries

Los Angeles Lakers 111 Utah Jazz 104 (Lakers lead 3-2)

As good as this series has been at times, it's also been incredibly boring. In each of the first five games of this series, the team that takes the lead halfway through the first quarter holds onto it for the rest of the game. The Lakers jumped out to an early lead to start the game yesterday, and they never trailed, not even for a second.

The Jazz tied the game a few times, but never capitalized on an opportunity to actually take the lead from the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant said his back felt better before last night's game, but you could tell watching him play that it's still bothering him. He was much more passive last night, and even though he finished with 26 points, not a single one came in the fourth quarter. Instead it was Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol scoring all the points at the end, as Odom finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Pau dropped in 21 with six boards and eight assists.

"I just had to pick my spots," he said. "I knew I wasn't 100 percent healthy, so I wanted to get us off to a good start, give us an emotional boost. Then in the third quarter, there were moments where I had to pick it up, and I was able to do that. And in the fourth quarter, Lamar [Odom] and Pau [Gasol] took it from there."

Boston Celtics 96 Cleveland Cavaliers 89 (Celtics lead 3-2)

The way this game started, I had a feeling that Boston was finally going to give one up at home, as LeBron James came out hitting his shots and giving the Cavs a 14-point lead at times in the first half. Unfortunately for Cleveland, LeBron's scoring touch disappeared in the second half, and the Celtics took advantage.

Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and had 16 rebounds, and Paul Pierce had 29, but the man who made it all work was Rajon Rondo who finished with 20 points and 13 assists for Boston.

"This momentum, and what we did here tonight," Garnett said, "we've got to figure a way to carry this on the road."

LeBron would finish with 35 for Cleveland, easily his highest scoring game of the three played in Boston, but only 15 came in the second half. Also not helping matters was the fifteen missed free throws for Cleveland, and the fact that they hit two three pointers in the opening minutes, and only went 1-for-14 from there out.

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

Los Angeles Lakers 120 Utah Jazz 110 (Lakers lead series 2-0)

On the night when Kobe Bryant was given his first ever MVP award, he went out and showed everyone why he got it. Kobe scored 34 points, had 8 rebounds, and handed out 6 assists as the Lakers maintained their perfect playoff record, and more importantly, went up 2-0 on the Jazz.

Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol also had big nights, scoring 19 and 20 respectively (Odom had 16 boards as well) using their length and quickness to get Carlos Boozer in foul trouble, and just abuse Mehmet Okur. Derek Fisher had 22, and hit a big three in the third quarter to give the Lakers their double-digit lead back.

As for Utah, Carlos Boozer didn't get much playing time thanks to all those fouls, but he didn't do much with the time he had, finishing with only 10 points and 5 boards. He also missed seven of his 10 shots.

Deron Williams had 25, 22 in the second half, and gave the Jazz a spark at times, but they were forced to play from behind all night. Plus, Matt Harpring and Kyle Korver could never get going, but role players play better at home, and that's where Utah's going.

Orlando Magic 111 Detroit Pistons 86 (Pistons lead series 2-1)

The Pistons didn't just lose a game on Wednesday night, they may have lost Chauncey Billups as well. Billups strained his right hamstring early in the 1st quarter, and was lost for the game. He's scheduled to undergo an MRI on Thursday, and the Pistons are crossing their fingers.

If Billups is out for a considerable period of time, it could change this series.

Still, we'll have to wait on that announcement, so let's focus on the Magic. Orlando was raining threes on the Pistons, with Rashard Lewis bringing the most thunder. Lewis scored 33 points for the Magic, making eleven of his 14 shots (including 5-for-6 behind the arc), and taking over the game to finish the first half.

Speaking of thunder, Dwight Howard had a ho-hum 20 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks. In defense of his low rebound total, it's hard to get a lot of rebounds when you're swatting away so many shots.

The Basketball Diaries

Los Angeles Lakers 109 Utah Jazz 98 (Lakers lead series 1-0)

The Lakers continue to roll, as they improved to 5-0 in the postseason this year after finishing the season winners of eight of their last nine. Soon to be named MVP, Kobe Bryant, scored 38 points, grabbed 6 boards, and handed out 7 assists. He spent the majority of the afternoon at the free throw line, where he made 21 of 23 shots. "You've got to be able to knock those free throws down. They're open looks," said Bryant. "It's my responsibility to knock them down." Hell, most of this game seemed to be spent at the free throw line, as the Jazz and Lakers combined for 76 free throws, with 31 of them coming in the fourth quarter alone. It doesn't exactly make for the most exciting basketball.

Boston Celtics 99 Atlanta Hawks 65 (Celtics win series 4-3)

It was a nice story that the Atlanta Hawks were able to take the Celtics to a full seven games in this series, but anybody who thought that they actually had a chance to win in Boston should be beaten. With a big stick. Kinda like the beating the Celtics gave the Hawks on Sunday. Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics, who won their four home games by an average of 25 points per game. "I really had no doubt in my mind how we were going to come out," Paul Pierce said. "You kind of saw it from the guys after Game 6 on the plane, there wasn't a lot of talking. We knew that we let a couple of games get away in Atlanta and I knew we were just going to take care of business."

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.

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."

The Basketball Diaries

Utah Jazz 90 Houston Rockets 84 (Jazz lead 2-0)

It's pretty odd, while I was well aware of the Jazz' 37-4 home record this season, I was just as aware of their 17-24 mark on the road. Still, I figured they'd be able to get at least one victory in Houston and take care of the Rockets at home. I didn't think they'd win the first two games in Houston though, virtually locking up this series already. (There's no way Houston can win 2 of 3 in Utah. Not happening.) Really, that's fine with me because the Jazz are my pick to come out of the west and lose to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. Deron Williams had 22 points and one sore ass, while Mehmet Okur had 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Jazz. "It's great for us to come out the way we did and not settle for the one victory," said Williams, who re-aggravated a tailbone injury. "We wanted to get both of them, get greedy. We've just got to go back now and take care of business." Tracy McGrady had 23 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists for the Rockets, but for the second straight game he went scoreless in the 4th quarter. Not exactly the kind of performance he needs to have if he ever wants to see the second round.


Cleveland Cavaliers 116 Washington Wizards 86 (Cavs lead 2-0)

I had high hopes for this series, what with the fact that these two have now played in the postseason the last three years, and the trash-talking going back and forth between the teams before the series started, but those hopes have been squashed so far. The Wizards look like a team that's out of sync as they try to work their three big pieces back into the puzzle, and LeBron James looks like LeBron James. LeBron scored 30 points, handed out 12 assists, and grabbed 9 rebounds as the Cavs just blew the Wizards out of the gym. Though on the bright side, at least the bad blood has remained, as Brendan Haywood was ejected for a flagrant foul on LeBron, and there were some hard fouls being handed out by both teams all night. So at the very least, maybe we'll get a fight out of this series before it's over. Unfortunately, I think that's the only thing left to look forward to, but you never know in the playoffs. Things could turn around drastically come game 3 in Washington.

NBA Playoff Previews: Houston vs. Utah

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: Of all the series in the Western Conference this season, this one probably hosts the two most evenly matched opponents. Plus, the series these two played in the first round last season was a pretty entertaining one, and I expect this series to be more of the same. Finally, there's the great question of all: Is this the year Tracy McGrady finally gets out of the first round?

Why Houston Will Win This Series: Houston will win this series if Tracy McGrady plays well, but doesn't try to do too much. He can't let the pressure of never winning a playoff series get to him, and he must let his teammates help him out. He's been doing a very good job of this ever since Yao Ming went down, but the playoffs are a completely different animal.

Why Utah Will Win This Series: Utah will win this series if they keep playing the way they have all season. There's nobody on the Rockets that is going to be able to keep Deron Williams out of the lane, and the Jazz will run the pick and roll between Williams and Carlos Boozer all day if Houston lets them. If not, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver kill the Rockets from the outside with their sharpshooting.

Who Will Win This Series: Utah 4-2. Sorry, T-Mac, it's not happening this year either. Dikembe Mutombo did a nice job this season filling in for Yao, but he's a horrible matchup covering Okur, and I expect Jerry Sloan to exploit this pretty often. Plus, the Jazz are damn near impossible to beat at home and they're good enough to steal a win in Houston. If that happens, the series is over.

The Basketball Diaries

Phoenix Suns 122 Golden State Warriors 116

And with that, the already slim hopes of the Warriors making the playoffs have been dashed. The Suns blew a 17-point lead in the 3rd quarter, but were able to rally back in the 4th thanks to Amare Stoudemire, who scored 11 of his 28 in the final 12 minutes. Steve Nash also finished just shy of a triple-double with 13 points, 14 assists, and 9 rebounds. As for the Warriors, I think there will probably be a few questions asked on Don Nelson after he benched Baron Davis for the entire second half after a horrible first half. Sure, his shot was off, but when your playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, you don't put your team's heart and leader on the bench. Maybe Don has a vacation planned already, and doesn't want to reschedule.

Chicago Bulls 151 Milwaukee Bucks 135

Holy shit, what the hell happened here? I know the Bucks aren't exactly a defensive powerhouse, but giving up 151 points to the Bulls? Damn. Though, as he just has a knack for doing, Joakim Noah said it best afterwards. "It definitely wasn't a playoff atmosphere. Put it this way, if people were playing for something right now, like a playoff berth, the score would have never been like that." Oh, and Milwaukee rookie Ramon Sessions finished the game with 20 points and 24 assists. The first time a Buck has put up a 20-20 in points and assists in franchise history, and what a glorious history it is!

Utah Jazz 105 Houston Rockets 96

This was a huge victory for the Jazz, because even though it only ties them with Houston record-wise out west, it gives them the tiebreaker over the Rockets at the same time. So should the two teams meet in the first round of the playoffs (which they would if the season ended riiiiiiight....NOW), the Jazz will have the home-court advantage which is a huge bonus for Utah. They're 37-4 in the land of the Mormons, and only 17-23 in Christian America.

Elsewhere...

• Cavs 91 Sixers 90
• Wizards 117 Pacers 110
• Raptors 91 Heat 75
• Celtics 99 Knicks 93
• Spurs 101 Kings 98

The Basketball Diaries

Denver Nuggets 115 Golden State Warriors 104

Normally a battle for the 8th and final spot in the playoffs is a pointless exercise. Odds are the team that does win it is going to end up getting their asses kicked in the first round anyway, but not this year. This year in the West the 8th seed is just as good as the 1st seed, and the Nuggets went a long way in helping make sure they lock it up. By overcoming an early 16-point deficit to beat the Warriors in Oakland on Thursday night, the Nuggets put themselves a game ahead of the Warriors in the battle for the final spot. Allen Iverson had 33 points, Carmelo had 25, and J.R. Smith contributed off the bench with 24 of his own. "Everybody knew what was at stake," Iverson said. "It's easy for players to say it's just another game. But everybody knows it wasn't just another game. It was a game that both teams felt they had to have." Even more important than that one game lead is the fact this win also gives Denver the tie-breaker if they should finish with the same record as Golden State. All Denver needs to do is win two of their last three and it's theirs, though it won't be that easy with a trip to Utah next, and two home games against Houston and Memphis. Okay, so Memphis will be easy.

Dallas Mavericks 97 Utah Jazz 94

The reason there's only one spot left out west to play for is because Dirk Nowitzki's three-pointer with 0.9 seconds left (which answered a game tying three by Deron Williams seconds earlier) gave the Mavs a big win over the Jazz, and clinched a playoff spot. Nowitzki finished the game with 32 points, and Jason Terry scored 21, but the duo was responsible for 25 of Dallas' 4th quarter points. "I heard people say we wouldn't even make the playoffs, but now we're in," Terry added. "Tonight, we took another step in the right direction. We have to treat all these games like playoff games. We have a long way to go but winning games like these is big for us." And I'll fully admit I was one of those people who said Dallas would miss the playoffs, and I was wrong. It happens from time to time, kind of like Haley's Comet, except rarererererer.

Los Angeles Lakers 116 Los Angeles Clippers 78

The Clippers have long been the red-headed stepchild of the LA basketball scene (behind both UCLA and USC, not just the Lakers), and the Lakers beat them like it on Thursday night. The 38-point victory gave the Lakers a series sweep over the Clippers this season, and moved them within 1.5 games of New Orleans for the top spot out west. Luke Walton led the Lakers with 18 points as every single Lakers starter sat out the 4th quarter, save for Lamar Odom. Kobe finished the night with a rather pedestrian 16, but who cares, take away his points and the Lakers still win by 22.

The Basketball Diaries

Miami Heat 95 Chicago Bulls 88

Weren't these two teams battling each other in the playoffs last season? Wasn't that 4-0 sweep by the Bulls supposed to be what helped catapult them to Eastern Conference power status? My how far they've fallen. The following sentence is a complete microcosm of this Bulls season: Some guy named Kasib Powell (Who!?) was just recalled from the D-League for this game, and he led the Heat with 18 points and was a driving force in their win on Tuesday night. That's right, the Bulls can't even stop D-Leaguers. The good news is that this loss eliminates the Bulls from the playoffs mathematically, so you can now allow yourself to stop paying attention. If you are still watching this team I urge you to stop, there are plenty of other things you can do that are much better for your health. Have you ever thought about starting to smoke? Maybe you want to shoot heroin or speed (hell, why not both?) into your eyeballs? And these are just a few options, really, the world is your oyster.

Utah Jazz 77 New Orleans Hornets 66

It wasn't the kind of game you'd expect between these two teams, but I don't think the Jazz are complaining since the victory clinched their second consecutive Northwest Division title. Mehmet Okur led the Jazz with 22 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the Jazz in what was a defensive struggle to say the least. Hell, the 22 points doesn't seem like that much, but they still accounted for 29% of his team's points. "I feel really good right now," said Okur. "I try to stay active on the boards, grab every rebound out there, start the game with a couple easy baskets, then I step back. I've really got my confidence." Deron Williams also had 16 assists (his team made only 35 field goals, so Deron had a hand in 46% of his team's baskets) but more importantly he continued his dominance over Chris Paul by holding CP to only 4 points and 9 assists.

Denver Nuggets 117 Los Angeles Clippers 99

Wow, something is definitely wrong in Denver because the Nuggets scored less than 135 points on Tuesday night. I know they won and everything, but still, they should be worried. Carmelo had 36 points, while Allen Iverson had 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists as the Nuggs snapped a two-game losing streak. Marcus Camby also had a big night with 13 points and 18 rebounds. Unfortunately for Denver, the Warriors won as well so they weren't able to seperate themselves in the race for the final playoff spot, and both teams remain tied at 47-31.

Elsewhere...

• Pacers 112 Hawks 98
• Bobcats 121 TWolves 119
• Knicks 98 Pistons 94
• Celtics 107 Bucks 104 OT
• Suns 127 Grizzlies 113
• Mavs 99 Sonics 83
• Blazers 112 Lakers 103
• Warriors 140 Kings 132

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

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

Chicago Bulls 108 Utah Jazz 96

I'm not sure what got into the Bulls on Tuesday night, maybe they've all united in their indifference towards Jim Boylan, but they played like an actual basketball team. Not only did they make shots and attack the lane on offense, but then they actually played defense too! Seriously. To top it all off, they even won the game. Drew Gooden had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Gordon had 19 points to lead the way in what was really a team performance. "When people question our team, I respond that we have guys in the locker room with a lot of character who care about their craft and work at it," Boylan said. "The guys were hurt the last couple days. There were a lot of things swirling around our team, and no one likes to see that stuff in the paper. This is a basketball team, not a soap opera." Okay, but let's see what he says when they crap the bed against Philly on Friday night, as they're currently a half-game out of earning the right to be swept out of the first round by the Celtics.

Phoenix Suns 132 Memphis Grizzlies 111

Don't look now, but the Suns got themselves a win streak. They're not playing crappy teams like San Antonio anymore, either, taking down the might Memphis Grizzlies this time. Amare Stoudemire had 29 points and 13 rebounds, Raja Bell had 20, Grant Hill had 17, Leandro Barbosa and Gordon Giricek finished with 18, and even Dan Majerle and Charles Barkley managed to score 15 points apiece as well. The Suns had leads as big as 32 in the first half and 38 in the second half, so don't let that 21-point final margin fool you, this one was a blowout. "You feed off each other and the team feels good about themselves right now," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Before, even when we had a big victory and came back and were flat, it was hard to understand sometimes. But there's some good stuff in the dressing room and some good stuff going on, and they're starting to believe it." Oh, and Shaq managed to get 2 points. So he's really having an impact.

Los Angeles Lakers 117 Toronto Raptors 108

The Lakers stayed on top of the Western Conference with a win over Toronto on Tuesday, as Kobe Bryant scored 34 points, and Lamar Odom added 20 and 9 rebounds. Of course, the true test for the Lakers will start on Friday when they start a four-game road trip in New Orleans before flying off to Houston, Dallas, and Utah. If they want to stay on top of the West, it isn't going to be easy. "It's going to be a tough one," Bryant said. "Those teams are great teams. In the East, you have a couple gimme games. In the West, you don't get those." Yeah, that's what the Jazz were thinking too.

Elsewhere...

• Pacers 114 Sonics 107
• Wizards 105 Bucks 97
• Blazers 103 TWolves 96

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.

The Basketball Diaries

Denver Nuggets 124 Boston Celtics 118

Finally, the Celtics have fallen to a Western Conference opponent. Kevin Garnett played for the first time since January 25th, and he played like somebody who hadn't played in a month. KG scored only 4 points for the Celtics on 2-of-7 shooting. Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson showed no such rust for Denver, scoring 29 and 28 points respectively. "Winning this game puts a lot of pressure on us, because if you can beat a team like this, then you can beat all the other teams," Iverson said. "We have enough talent to scare some people, but we just have to bring it night in and night out."

Utah Jazz 119 Golden State Warriors 109

The Utah Jazz exploded on the Warriors on Tuesday night. Utah scored 77 points in the first half as neither the Jazz or the Warriors seemed to remember how to play defense after the All-Star layoff. Deron Williams had 29 points and 12 assists for the Jazz, both Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur had double doubles, and Andrei Kirilenko had 18 points as Utah completed a season sweep of the Warriors. "The only good thing about the game tonight for us is that this is the last time we have to play in Utah," Golden State coach Don Nelson said.

Orlando Magic 103 Detroit Pistons 85

It seems Dwight Howard left his Superman costume in New Orleans, because he was far from the man of steel on Tuesday night. The reigning slam dunk champion scored only 8 points for Orlando, but that didn't stop them from ending the Pistons 10-game win streak. Orlando hit 65% of their three-pointers, making 13 of the 20 they attempted. Also, just because Dwight was contributing on offense, that doesn't mean he didn't sway the game in the Magic's favor. "Dwight had eight points and eight rebounds, and there's been other nights when he's gone 20-20, but this might have been his best game of the season," he said. "In the third quarter, he made it virtually impossible for Detroit to get any offense going inside. He changed every shot."

Elsewhere...

• Rockets 93 Cavaliers 85
• Knicks 113 Wizards 100 OT
• TWolves 104 Sixers 88
• Spurs 85 Bobcats 65
• Kings 104 Blazers 95
• Sonics 108 Grizzlies 101
• Lakers 122 Hawks 93

The Basketball Diaries

Portland Blazers 100 Chicago Bulls 97

The Bulls were able to fight back from a 13-point deficit in the second half, making big shot after big shot in the final minutes. Unfortunately, after every shot the Bulls made to pull within 1 or 2 points, the Blazers answered with their own. Brandon Roy led the Blazers with 28 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge had 18. Thabo Sefolosha had a career high 22 points for the Bulls, who were without both Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. "I think we did pretty good and we played hard and we played with heart," Sefolosha said. "I don't really see what we could have done different." You could have won.

Utah Jazz 118 Denver Nuggets 115 OT

The Utah Jazz are rolling. They won their 10th straight game on Wednesday night thanks to Kyle Korver's 27 point effort and four big free throws in the final minute of overtime. "You win games like this when you are playing well," Korver said. "Our confidence was high going into the game." Deron Williams also did his part, scoring 29 points for Utah, including a three-pointer at the end of regulation that tied the game.

New Orleans Hornets 132 Phoenix Suns 130 2OT

Shaquille O'Neal got to see his new team up close and personal on Wednesday night, and he got an entertaining game to watch. Of course, the Suns lost, but that's what they do against the Hornets. The Hornets improved to 3-0 against the Suns this season, including two wins in Phoenix, thanks to Peja Stojakovic's three-pointer at the buzzer in the second overtime. "A lucky one," Stojakovic said. "I can't say I knew it was going in." Chris Paul had 42 points for New Orleans, though only 2 of them came in the overtimes, and also had 9 assists and 8 steals. Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and 20 rebounds for Phoenix, while Steve Nash had 32 points and 12 assists.

Elsewhere...

• Hawks 98 Lakers 95
• Magic 100 Nets 84
• Spurs 85 Wizards 77
• Celtics 111 Clippers 100
• Pistons 100 Heat 95
• Pacers 103 Knicks 100
• Mavs 107 Bucks 96
• Sonics 105 Kings 92

The Basketball Diaries

Chicago Bulls 118 Seattle Sonics 108

Thankfully there are teams in the NBA that are actually worse than the Bulls, because even though they suck, it's still nice to see the team you care about play "well" once in a while. Whether it had to do more with the Bulls, or Seattle, I don't care. They looked decent last night. Joe Smith had 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bulls, but it was an all around effort. Ben Gordon had 20, Kirk Hinrich had 15 (before leaving with a rib injury), and Ben Wallace had 7 assists and 10 rebounds, 8 of which came on the offensive end. Ben also had about 5 tipped balls to keep the Bulls possession alive as apparently Monday night was the one night a month Ben decided to bring some energy to the game. Can't wait to see what he does in March.

Utah Jazz 110 New Orleans Hornets 88

Apparently Deron Williams took his omission from the Western Conference All-Star team a bit personally. With the Hornets and Chris Paul, who did make the team, in town on Monday night, Deron decided to take his frustration out on them. Williams scored 29 points and handed out 11 assists to lead Utah to it's ninth straight win. "He came out tonight to send a message and I think that message got sent across," said Carlos Boozer, who had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Jazz as well. For the Hornets, it's their third straight loss.

Denver Nuggets 105 Portland Blazers 103 OT

Allen Iverson was having a very quiet night on Monday, but it didn't much matter at first. The Nuggets jumped out to a big lead during the first half, but blew a 15-point lead in the third quarter. Then Iverson hit a 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third, and the light came on. The Answer scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, the most important of which came on a fadeaway jumper in the final second of overtime that gave the Nuggets the win. "I hadn't hit anything all game, and then I make the bomb at the end of the third. I've been around long enough to know to keep on playing and fighting and that's what I did."

Elsewhere...

• Hawks 96 Sixers 91
• Mavs 107 Magic 98
• Raptors 114 Heat 82
• Clippers 103 Knicks 94
• Rockets 92 TWolves 86
• Suns 118 Bobcats 104

The Basketball Diaries

New Orleans Hornets 117 Denver Nuggets 93

Would it be possible for ESPN/ABC, TNT, or NBA TV to start showing some damn Hornets games? I honestly had no idea they were doing so well this year until I was checking the standings last night and noticed the Hornets were the top seed in the West right now. The biggest reason, I'm guessing anyway because I haven't seen them play this year, is Chris Paul. Paul had a decent night on Monday, scoring 23 points, dishing out 17 assists, and grabbing 9 rebounds. He's reason enough to get this team some national exposure. He's a better player than Dwyane Wade (Yeah, I said it.) and he's on a better team, yet we're all forced to watch the Heat every weekend. Of course, watching the Hornets play will probably also serve to piss me off because not only will I have to see Tyson Chandler, but I'll have to see Tyson Chandler playing All-Star caliber basketball. I don't know if I'm quite ready for that.

Utah Jazz 97 San Antonio Spurs 91

Sticking with my theme of young point guards who I love watching play, we now turn our attention to Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz. San Antonio may have dominated Utah in the Western Conference Finals last season, but Utah dominated them on Monday night. The Jazz led the entire game thanks to Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko, who both scored 23 points, and the aforementioned Williams who had 11 points and 14 assists. Tim Duncan had 26 points for the Spurs, but he was the only San Antonio starter who scored more than 5 points. Add to that the 20 turnovers the Spurs committed, and they're not going to win many games like that.

Dallas Mavericks 103 Memphis Grizzlies 84

When the NBA decided to send the Mavs on an east coast trip through Boston, Detroit, and Orlando they probably thought to themselves, "Man. That's kinda tough don'tcha think? Maybe we should help them out a bit." So the NBA then decided to start Dallas' road trip with a quick stop in Memphis to face the Grizzlies. Dallas then thanked the NBA by shooting over 50% from the field and running away with this one, and they all lived happily ever after. Well, not the Grizzlies. They went home and cried because not only do they play on a bad team, but they also live in Memphis. There's a reason Elvis killed himself, people!

Elsewhere...

• Bobcats 107 Clippers 100

The Basketball Diaries

Cleveland Cavaliers 90 San Antonio Spurs 88

Well I guess this can count as some sort of revenge for the Cavaliers. They were finally able to beat the Spurs, something they couldn't do in last year's NBA Finals. A big reason Cleveland couldn't win a game in the Finals was because the Spurs defense was able to keep LeBron James wrapped up for the most part. They didn't do that on Thursday. King James didn't repeat his 51-point performance from Tuesday, but he did manage to score 27 points while grabbing 9 boards and handing out 7 assists. Despite all that, the Spurs had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Manu Ginobili-who scored 31 points to lead San Antonio-missed a last second shot that would have tied the game. The good news for San Antonio is that I don't think they have to give the trophy to Cleveland because of it.

Denver Nuggets 120 Utah Jazz 109

When you think about the Denver Nuggets, you think about a couple of guys who are liable to go off on you at any point. Guys who can drop 40, 50 points like it's nothing. Guys like Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, and Linas Kleiza. Wait a second. Linas Kleiza? He scored how many points on Thursday? 41!? What in the hell happened? Oh, and even though Kleiza sold his soul and scored 41 points, don't worry, Melo and Answer still got theirs. Anthony went for 23 while Iverson went for 28. Also, Marcus Camby had a decent night, grabbing 24 rebounds and blocking 11 shots. Apparently, and I haven't seen any game tape, the Nuggets were playing Utah's junior varsity squad.

Elsewhere...

• Suns 106 Lakers 98