What happened Sunday night while you were formulating Tiger Woods jokes…
Blazers 91 Lakers 88: That was messed up. Seriously. Just messed up. The final two minutes of this game saw the Blazers with a five point lead only to see Derek Fisher get away with murder on an illegal moving screen as Kobe Bryant hit a shot from Long Beach, then a questionable offensive foul returned the ball to the Lakers. Kobe Bryant got an and-one, sank the free throw, and the Lakers led. Marcus Camby hit a huge putback to put the Blazers up one, then on the ensuing possession, Martell Webster apparently thought they had a foul to give. They did not. The result was Bryant at the line to hit game tying free throws like he’s done thousands of times.
Except he didn’t.
He missed both. Except Pau Gasol grabbed the rebound and dished it to Derek Fisher, who pump faked and drew another foul on Andre Miller. Okay, Derek Fisher will take care of busine…
CLANG.
Derek goes one of two, and the Lakers tie the game. Then, then, THEN, Derek Fisher, notably clutch human being makes a terrible foul on Webster who parlays it into three shots at the line. The final Lakers possession? A Pau Gasol three pointer. Which is great, since he’s a 22% three point shooter in his career.
It was a bizarre game for most of it, with the Lakers looking strong early, then fading, and Brandon Roy going down to injury.
Marcus Camby played like a guy that can make a difference in the next month. Kobe Bryant played yet another in a series of terrible games.
Magic 98 Cavs 92: The Magic went down 16 in this one, then realized “Oh, they don’t have LeBron.” What’s odd is they stopped trying to create penetration and instead just creating opportunities on the perimeter. The Cavs had little invested, but Antawn Jamison continues to look like he’s fitting in, which is bad news for the rest of the East.
Bulls104 Raptors 88: Like we told you, this was the prototypical Raptors loss and Bulls win.
Jannero Pargo is still not good. But the Raptors’ defense is worse.
Heat 111 Knicks 98: If the Heat are going to do anything at all in the playoffs, it will be QRich who will help them, behind Wade, of course. Richardson makes huge plays and is in sync with Wade often.
Imagine the Knicks with a point guard.
Hornets 114 Wolves 86: The Wolves were annihilated inside and couldn’t defend anyone. When Julian Wright gets his season high? You know you’re playing the Wolves.
The Hornets really do have some good pieces going forward.
Suns 116 Rockets 106: Rockets surged. Took the lead. Then Nash did his thing.
He probed, drifted, and curled around screens to find three shooter after three shooter, and the Suns connected. And the Rockets effort was wasted again.
Amar’e Stoudemire is not someone you want to see for the next month.
Thunder 120 Warriors 117: The Thunder couldn’t close the deal, and Stephen Curry was too good. He hit huge shot after huge shot, and made all the right passes. The Thunder still worked their way into a position to tie, but Durant’s three came up short. The Thunder look to face the Lakers in round one if they can’t defeat Portland next.
