What you missed while being blinded by Oregon’s home court this season…
Timberwolves 112, Knicks 103: We talked about Kevin Love’s 31-31 night that sparked the come-from-behind win. Michael Beasley also dropped 35 in this one. He had 42 the other night. We’re far from convinced with him, but we’re watching now.
Jazz 90, Hawks 86: First Miami, then Orlando, now Atlanta — yup, you can give the Southeast division crown to Utah.
Of course, when the Jazz win it is a comeback. Utah was down 11 at the early in the fourth then came back, completing a trifecta of double-digit come behinds against the Southeast division.
It looked like Deron Williams was going to lead this comeback as he took over in the third quarter, scoring 11 in a row for the Jazz. Josh Smith answered for the Hawks 4-4 shooting plus a couple really nice assists and some key boards. All of which meant the Jazz were down 11 when Williams went to the bench at the start of the fourth quarter — then Earl Watson came in and led the charge to tie this one up. It’s that kind of year for the Jazz, Earl Watson is making big plays. The Jazz starters returned finished it.
All of which led to the quote of the day, courtesy Jerry Sloan (from John Hollinger at ESPN):
“Even when we had a little trouble to start the season,” said Sloan, “at least they stayed together, and worked themselves out of it. That’s the only way you have a chance. If you get [in] an ice pick fight out in the parking lot then you have to try to solve that problem.”
Yeah. Exactly like that.
Thunder 110, Blazers 108: Another classic from these two — sign me up for wanting them to meet in the first round of the playoffs. This one saw very little defense or good rebounding by either team, which helped make it all the more entertaining. The key in this one was the ability down the stretch of Oklahoma City’s best players to make plays — Russell Westbrook (36 points) and Kevin Durant (34) scored the final 18 points for the Thunder. For the Blazers Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez had lots of key shots along with Brandon Roy. Fernandez had a good look to win it at the end (and he had been shooting well), but missed. Which is why you want your stars shooting in the clutch, have your best players making the plays.
Bobcats 93, Wizards 85: Charlotte really dominated this game and would have run away and hid but they turned the ball over 22 times. Gerald Wallace with 25 and 14, looking like his old self.
Raptors 110, Magic 106: How does Toronto grab the offensive rebound on 30 percent of its missed shots on against Orlando? Well, because they hustled more, played with more passion. Shockingly. Nobody on either team was really in the mood to play defense (especially in the first half), Orlando was happy to settle for the jumper (they got to the line just 6 times in the first half) and Andres Bargnani was hot early, hitting 9-12 for 21 before the break.
Every team has some clunkers, this is the Magic’s.
Rockets 102, Pacers 99: How does Darren Collison have zero assists in a game? Brad Miller gets the start at center for the Rockets and drops in 23. Chase Budinger had to be carried off the court at the end of this one but it turns out just to be a sprained ankle.
Mavericks 99, Sixers 90: Dirk Nowitzki still isn’t right, shooting 5 of 15 on his bum ankle. Some team is going to make the Mavs pay for that, but the Sixers can’t. Dallas is just too deep.
Suns 103, Kings 89: Steve Nash with 28 points, 14 assists and when the game got close midway through the fourth quarter he came in and took it over. He’s still playing at an elite level, even if the Suns are not the same.
Pistons 113, Clippers 107 (OT): Blake Griffin’s 18 and 18 would be impressive if it were not for Kevin Love. His dunks certainly were. But in a battle of two bad teams desperate for a win, Detroit played better in overtime — the Clips missed 10 shots in a row in OT. Not pretty.
