Denver 168, Seattle 116 

You're going to hate me for writing this.

You're going to think that this stat-stuff has gotten out of hand.

You're going to think that I'm just looking to draw eyes to an NBA post on a random Monday in March

(Argybargy, it's St. Patrick's Day!)

You're going to think that I'm purposefully looking for the obscure to drone on about.

Hang with me. Please. Here goes:

The 116 points the Denver Nuggets gave up to the Seattle SuperSonics on Sunday night were nearly as impressive as the 168 points the Nuggets scored on their own.

Seriously.

There were 118 possessions in this game. That's a ton. This game was incredibly fast, with the Nuggets scoring 27 fast-break points in the first quarter, and 49 overall. Even in the half-court, the Nugs were putting up (open, mind you, Seattle's defense was obviously crummy, and Kevin Durant's was the crummiest on several levels) shots within the first few seconds of the shot clock, and watching the bombs go in.

And while the 168 points left me in awe – I had to take another look at this one in full before heading to the laptop – the Denver defense was almost as brilliant as the Denver offense. Denver gave up a pro-rated 98.3 points per 100 possessions, and by comparison, the Celtics lead the league with 99.8 points allowed per 100 (with Houston a little further down the list at second, with 102.2 per 100).

That's some great, active defense that led to heaps of easy buckets on the other end for Denver. This broke Seattle's young spirit, the SuperSonics couldn't even be bothered to get out on shooters in the half-court, and the Nuggets made a point to make the extra pass all night long.

The thing is, this could happen every night out for Denver. If they keep up the defensive esprit de corps, while sharing the ball offensively, it might be enough to make up the game and a half that separates the Nuggets and the Warriors and send Denver to the playoffs.

Might be. The Nugs start a five-game road trip this week, with four of the games coming against sub-.500 teams. Let's see how that one fleshes out.

In the meantime, that was an entertaining few hours of hoops. Denver didn't rub it in, they were hot from the outside, kept the hot shooting up once the pace slowed a bit, and never stopped trying to find the open man. As a fan, it was much appreciated.

Houston 104, Los Angeles Lakers 92

My biggest issue with the Houston Rockets' 22-game winning streak is that I'm not covering it the right way. I need to be one of those national columnists who has to touch on five different sports in a workweek, usually loathing to take on any NBA story that doesn't involve Shaq and/or Kobe and ... I'm not.

I'm essentially taking in these wins in the same way the Rockets are taking on these wins, one at a time; and that's why you'll have pardon me when I call the NBA's second-longest winning streak – performed by what is probably the fifth or sixth-best team in the NBA this season (depending on what you think of the Jazz, Mavs, and Hornets) – not all that surprising.

It makes sense that a team this smart, this dogged, this competitive, and this damn good at defense could work its way toward 22 wins in a row. Sue me if I nonplus for too long.

For at least half of last October's 31 days, I had the Rockets as my favorites to come out of the Western Conference. And yet, if you tell me five months ago that the same Rockets (just leave Yao in for the whole 22, actually) would have won 22 straight at some point in the 2007-08 season, and I would have called bullhockey before asking to see your flux capacitor.

Tell me right now that the Rockets – currently the first seed in the West – will make it to the Finals in June, and I'll call you a nutter. Remind me that they've won 22 in a row? It makes sense. It makes total sense.

Playing against a Pau-less Laker team on Sunday, the Rockets (read: Rafer Alston) got hot from the outside against a Los Angeles defense (in Phil Jackson's own words, mind you) that didn't think they could keep up the hot shooting for long.

They couldn't, but the defense never faltered, Shane Battier harassed Kobe Bryant into a rough shooting night, Houston hit some tough (not exactly "good" shots, but necessary attempts) looks down the stretch, and a win makes sense.

I hope nobody mis-reads this as me denigrating Houston's accomplishment.

Try a re-read, or skip to this: I'm calling this team good enough and smart enough to pull off a 22-win streak considering its own gifts and the (let's face it) somewhat (not streak-defining, mind you) schedule that the team has had to work with. The streak is a testament to keeping things simple, and to honestly working that cliché about one game at a time. 

Detroit 105, New Orleans 84

I'm not going to tell you that a 19-point second quarter and 29-point game from Jarvis Hayes didn't help the Pistons – there's no way around that – but an interested Pistons team can take down just about anyone in this league, and Detroit was more than enthused to down the Hornets after a lousy first quarter.

Hayes was great, it's always nice to see someone who used to be in love with the pointless and low percentage 20-foot shot extend his range in back of the three-point line, but the Hornets didn't really have a chance after Detroit turned up the perimeter pressure and started nailing treys about 13 minutes into this one.

As it usually is when a prominent member of the rotation sits out, it's not the backup the affects the outcome, but the backup's backup that falls a little short. New Orleans All-Star David West's production was nearly approximated by Melvin Ely (15 and five rebounds in 28 minutes, hitting 7-11 from the floor), but rookie reserve Julian Wright was lost defensively (in spite of grabbing four steals), and not quite as sound from the field (4-12).

Nothing against Julian, he works hard and has kept up a strong attitude in spite of limited minutes and a few trade rumblings around the trade deadline, but he was a bit of a detriment in a game of this caliber.

Dallas 98, Miami 73

What happens if the defense overplays Ricky Davis, forces him to either have to give up the ball early in a possession or not get the ball at all, and the Heat don't find a way to swing the rock back to their swingman?

Uh oh.

Ricky gets mad. Then Ricky acts indifferent. The Heat score 30 points in an opening half and 12-less points in a game than the Denver Nuggets manage in an entire game, and end up losing by 25.

The Mavs are really starting to look good. I understand that this was the team's fifth straight win over a sub-.500 Eastern Conference team (average winning margin, 22.2 points), but the Mavs are starting to get back to the same brand of basketball that won them 67 games a year ago. If Pau Gasol isn't back for the Laker/Mavericks game on Tuesday, then this could be a 20-point Dallas romp that opens a few eyes.

It was in the AP report, and it's worth passing along: Tyronn Lue played in Miami for the fourth time this season, and for his third-different team (Atlanta, Sacramento, Dallas). He was also drafted into the NBA in June of 1998, and I still have to double-check the spelling of his first name for some reason, just about every time I type it.

Also worth passing along: the drafting of Lue directly led to Nick Van Exel's becoming inebriated in the bar of a chain restaurant. True story. Major props to anyone who is able to point out why in the comments section.

Atlanta 109, New York 98

I know he's a rookie, and that he's still not legally allowed to drink when he heads off to Scores with Zach Randolph, but I have a feeling Wilson Chandler might have his struggles staying in the NBA past his rookie contract.

You see, there are two shots that Marvin Williams is good at: the open 18-footer on the wing, and the uncontested dunk. There are only three spots on the floor (either wing, underneath the basket) that you have to stop the guy from getting to, and you can stop the 18-footers by merely catching up to the guy and making him put it on the floor.

But Chandler kept leaving him open to run to these three spots. Consistently. And Williams went off for 25 points, while Chandler missed eight of nine from the floor. It's an early call, and rub my face in it if I'm wrong come 2011, but I'll stick with it for now.

The Knicks are horrible, Zach Randolph took a ton of perimeter shots, while the Hawks (24 assists) were really into moving the ball. The Hawks needed this game to clean the pipes, so to speak, offensively.

Cleveland 98, Charlotte 91

It's understandable that Cavs coach Mike Brown wouldn't want to place undue stress and add to the fatigue levels of his coverboy superstar, but had LeBron James been placed on Bobcats wing Jason Richardson earlier in the game, this probably wouldn't have been a game.

Devin Brown and Sasha Pavlovic are pretty good defenders, but had Brown switched a turned-on James onto Richardson earlier in the fourth, the Cavs would have probably sustained their run, and Richardson wouldn't have kept shooting the Bobcats back into the contest.

Then again, whilst flipping around, I missed most of Richardson's 11 first-quarter points. Was he scoring them in the face of some lackluster LeBron defense? Let me know in the comments.

Either way, James (33 points, ten assists, seven rebounds, just one turnover) shut Richardson down on Charlotte's last two possessions, and the Cavs played a sound all-around game. Ben Wallace had his best game as a Cav, and though his 15 rebounds, and three steals were nice, it was ability to connect on two high percentage shots late in the fourth quarter that made the most impact.

Wally Szczerbiak also blocked Emeka Okafor. He didn't surprise Emeka, coming from the blind side or timing his jump properly. He just jumped a half-second before Okafor, and blocked his shot. Not the most promising sight for Bobcat fans.

Sacramento 106, Toronto 100

I give the Raptors all the credit in the world for sitting down Chris Bosh, the team has been pretty locked into the fifth spot in the East for a while, without much chance at home court advantage unless the Cavaliers really fell apart, and not too many teams in this part of the season (regardless of the conference) are secure enough to think of the postseason and sit a star during this stretch.

But the team's getting killed on the boards, and while Rasho Nesterovic has long been one of the NBA's more underrated defenders (and, out of nowhere, an "emerging" scorer who is averaging 13.2 points per game in March), he's a horrible rebounder: Rasho had eight tonight, but he only sat out 24 seconds of the entire game.

Slow it down, wrap it up: starting NBA centers should be expected to pull in more than eight rebounds if they play 47 minutes and 36 seconds of an NBA game.

Toronto isn't talking as much as it should on defense, I don't like focusing on why Toronto lost more than why Sacramento won (the Kings are a solid team with talent that plays hard and, sometimes, intelligently), but the Raptors may have pulled out a tough win on the road had it just let each other know just where Beno Udrih was going, or who had whom in transition. 

Related: Behind the boxscore