Dallas 105, Phoenix 98 

You hold the Suns to nine points in half a quarter, maybe even the first half of the second quarter of a game in December, and you're deserving of all sorts of plaudits.

You hold the Phoenix Suns to nine points in the fourth quarter of a game where they're playing at home on national TV while attempting to move up the Western Conference standings, and you're obviously a motivated bunch of sorcerers. I've no idea how a team pulls that off without some weird, hooded-stuff being involved.

It wasn't spread out over the full 12 minutes. Dallas held the Suns to seven points in the last 11:41 of this game, forcing the team into shots and looks it didn't want to take, missing 12 of them in a row at one point, while putting the Mavericks two games up on the Warriors and Nuggets in the race to stay in the playoff bracket.

And, while it was the defense that took over late, Dallas' offense was on point all afternoon: turning the ball over just six times in a 92 possession game. For a squad with a newish point guard running the show, or even a group that has been together for years, that's a great accomplishment.

I'm not going to kill Phoenix for this loss. I don't know of too many teams in recent history that could have dispatched these Mavs in this game.

Also, Jeff Van Gundy? You're very good at what you do, and you've been that way since your TNT days after you quit the Knicks. But you're not writing a blog post, you're calling a nationally televised game. Stop making it all about yourself. Learn from Hubie Brown. 

Houston 105, Los Angeles Clippers 79

The refereeing was pretty one-sided in Houston's favor in the Rocket win, but Rick Adelman's crew would have cruised even if things had been even, or if the Clippers were getting all the calls.

And, though it isn't fair, credit has to go to the Rockets for amping up terms of competition - the more you put the onus on certain referees, the more they'll pass on making certain calls. The Clippers had to adjust, and didn't. An important lesson for whoever gets Houston in the first round.

New Orleans 108, Golden State 96

Stephen Jackson is incredibly important to the Warriors, on several levels. A lot has been made about the team's record with Jackson on the pine, and though the games that Jackson has sat out have seen the W's take on some pretty loaded teams, it makes sense that he'd be the linchpin above all that would keep this team together.

It doesn't mean that he should be an MVP or All-Star candidate, because that would be - well, incredibly stupid. But it does mean that a mopey or indifferent game from Jackson usually results in a loss like this. Six points on 11 shots, eight rebounds, five turnovers for Jax, by the way.

Golden State had its chances, but couldn't hold onto a lead (three different chances at extending a lead into a double-digit advantage in the second quarter ended with two boneheaded three-point attempts, and a botched alley-oop), and the team's bench gave them nothing.

It seems like just about the worst analysis I could muster to offer that New Orleans started to take the game over once its offense and defense started to improve, but that's how it goes.

The Hornets couldn't keep Golden State out of the lane for the first 18 minutes of the first half, and New Orleans kept turning the ball over, while looking a little uneasy offensively. Once those issues were taken care of, the Hornets romped.

The New Orleans crowd was obviously preening for its national TV appearance, and I've no problem with that. They offered up a "DE-FENSE" chant on the first defensive possession of the game, but didn't give in too much to the typical annoying PA announcer attempts at imploring the crowd to make a big noise as ABC came back from commercial. Good stuff.

By the way, the ABC bumper music? "Born To Run," "Start Me Up," "Low Rider," "Runnin' Down a Dream," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," some miserable Creed song, "Happy Birthday," "Greensleeves," "The Star-Spangled Banner," the theme from "The Twilight Zone," that song that the aliens played to Richard Dreyfus in "Close Encounters," and whatever the theme to your prom was.

ABC wants to know what song you've heard more than any other song you've ever heard, and they want you to hear it one more time.  

Indiana 105, Milwaukee 97

Ball movement and a spread offense, we'll have more on Indiana later in the week (lots of corn, desperation), but this one came down to Indiana's passing touch (25 assists on 38 field goals), the three-point percentage (12 of 30, 40 percent, and that's a healthy 36 points on 30 possessions), and only eight turnovers.

Jermaine O'Neal is complaining about only being able to play 20 minutes a game, but I'd feel a whole lot better about his chirping had he not been offering one point on four shots in the 20 minutes JON played.

New York 100, Orlando 90

Orlando didn't rest its starters in the loss, and that's pretty significant.

The Magic are guaranteed the East's third seed, so it would make sense to give the millionaires a rest, but Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy apparently still has a whole host of things he wants to work on with his flighty group, and he'd be right in that regard.

Still, the Magic starters decided to mentally check themselves out of the fourth quarter, while providing us with an answer to an age-old question: "can the Knicks beat a bunch of zombies, even if the zombies are using the bodies of what were once really good players?"

SVG: "It was our worst game of the year by far. Both ends of the floor, no energy. We did an awful job. I did an awful job leaving those guys in the game. I should have gone with some other people in a game like that because the guys out there either couldn't or wouldn't.

We were awful. It was embarrassing. We shouldn't be tired. We played a game yesterday, so what? It's the NBA. You can't use that as an excuse. It was just an awful, awful night."

Dwight Howard: "BRAINS!"

Los Angeles Lakers 114, Sacramento 92

I didn't get to see a lot of this one, but every time I clicked over (with my TV remote clicker, cord and all), the Lakers were moving the ball, ending up with an open shot, and nailing the open shot.

Ron Artest also seemed to be a little too aggressive offensively, which is a bit of a bummer for a fan that has been begging him to be a little less aggressive offensively since 1999 or so.

The Kings were killed on the boards (46-33), and though they did force the Lakers into 19 turnovers, it's kind of hard to make up for the deficit on the glass and a 54.5 percent mark from long range for Los Angeles.

Detroit 91, Miami 75

This seemed like a good idea back in August.

Detroit's bench is 16 points better than the NBDL All-Second Team.

Memphis 113, Minnesota 101

Seriously? Alright.

Mike Miller had 34 points on only 20 shots, with ten rebounds, six assists, and ZERO turnovers. Of course, Marko Jaric was prominently involved, so ...

Seattle 151, Denver 147 (2 OT)

A pathetic weekend for the Denver Nuggets, who lost at home to the Kings on Saturday night, and couldn't be bothered to best the SuperSonics by a single point in regulation or overtime on Sunday night.

Denver gave up a pro-rated 118 points per 100 possessions in the loss, and for a team that was giving up about 15 points less than that on average for the first half of the season, to allow worse than New York's league-worst 114.3 points per 100 in the midst of a playoff race is pretty damning. 

I'd say this regardless of his (career-high of) 35 points, but Jeff Green was hitting shots that reminded of a veteran scorer from the late 1980s. Smooth, savvy shots that make me wonder if calling his selection with the fifth pick a "reach" wasn't a mistake.

Kevin Durant was also on top of it, throwing in 37 points on 24 shots, including one clutch bomb to send things to a second overtime, with eight rebounds, nine assists, five turnovers, and three steals. Denver missed 12 free throws in a game that went into double overtime.

San Antonio 72, Portland 65

A fun watch, I'm sure, as both teams turned in sub-40 percent shooting efforts, while only combining to shoot 32 free throws.

Another reason why the "double-double" stat is incredibly pointless: LaMarcus Aldridge (12 points, 11 rebounds) picked one up on Sunday, but his game was shot.

It took him 16 field goal attempts to get 12 points, and got his 11 rebounds in a game where both squads combined to miss 99 shots and free throws.

Related: Behind the boxscore