Denver 126, Phoenix 120

I gave this one quite a bit of hype, and it deserved it, but it went according to a lame-o plan to these eyes, and wasn't the most entertaining watch of the night (to these eyes), in spite of Steve Nash's brilliant late-game play. To these eyes.

The Nuggets moved the ball well in the first half, while playing solid defense. They were well aware of the New Phoenix Movement: getting the ball early and often to Shaquille O'Neal it the first and third quarters as if he were Bill Cartwright, and Denver involved Kenyon Martin offensively.

Of course, the defense faltered a bit in the second half, but more importantly, the Denver offense was lousy in the fourth quarter, as the Nuggets relinquished the lead (for however briefly) and Steve Nash continued to act like a bad, bad man.

Marcus Camby hit a tough shot, Nash then missed a tough shot, the Nuggets held on, I hate their offense and don't trust the team's defense, and it wasn't the barnburner I hoped in spite of the high score.

A killer, to me, was the Denver courtside reporter detailing George Karl's pleas as the Nugs frittered away a second half lead. Apparently, all he could talk about was getting a defensive rebound and running the other way for a lay-in.

Of course, he could actually demand that his team run a sound half-court play for a group of Nuggets that have obviously been revealed as a lot that could do better with a half-court offense instead of the NBA's fastest, but then again, that's why I'm not the coach of an NBA team.

A lottery team, I mean. I don't coach a lottery team. Gotta make these distinctions, y'know?

New Orleans 98, Orlando 97

This was such a fantastic game, there were mistakes made and both teams weren't playing the best brand of Magic/Hornets-ball that we've been privileged to see this year, but it hardly distracts from a game that was tighter than a Meters groove from the get-go.

I wrote a lot about this game, and I'll get to it in a sec, but the best summation about the back-and-forth comes from an email from Matt at Hardwood Paroxysm:

"These two in a Finals would be fascinating. It may not be as interesting as Kobe vs. KG, but the basketball may not be better."

Just the thought of the Lakers and Celtics (regardless of roster makeup) in the Finals leaves me giddy, and the thought of the Boston and Los Angeles rosters (forgetting, for a second, that the franchises in question are the Celtics and Lakers) in the Finals leaves me swimming. Either one works.

And yet, for the two and a half hours of actual game action, man, it might be hard to top Orlando and New Orleans. I know we've seen some real crackers from the C's and Lakers games this season, this is just a hypothetical, but it's worth understanding that this was a terrific, terrific pairing.

And I used the word "terrific." If it's OK for your Uncle Glen, then it's OK for me.

Let's go with notes on this one:

*Peja Stojakovic had a miserable, miserable game.

And he also hit a back-breaking trey in the game's final burst that shifted the tone of the contest and gave his team a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Earlier this week, Ryan Schwan of Hornets247.com wrote a startlingly-good post about Peja's defense, one of the better reads of the season from any outlet, bearing a message I completely agree with and observations that are right in line with what I've seen over and over. Brilliant work. That said, Peja's defense - though the effort was there - was even worse than his offense on Tuesday night. And "his offense" included 2-11 shooting in almost 39 minutes.

Matt Guokas, calling the game for Orlando's local outlet, even wondered aloud why Stojakovic was even out there in the second half. And, for the first time in [let's just come up with an arbitrary date so as to not rip on Guokas too much; how does 1999 sound?], I agreed with Matty.

*Chris Paul's shot was off. Way off.

You ever have those games where, no matter what you're thinking and what you put into each perimeter shot, your body simply will not execute the simple fundamentals of shooting that it has seem to come through with thousands of times before? Paul had that sort of night.

He shot every shot a different way, and in spite of his best intentions, things just weren't changing. Paul turned it on later in the game, but it was a shooting performance that hit a little too close to home for me.

*Hedo Turkoglu will never be better.

Enjoy him, kids. This is the year of the Turkey Glue.

*Pat Garrity cannot help an NBDL team.

From another email, this one coming from a prominent scribe from another major sports site who also invented something called PER:

"They have to sign another 4 to a 10-day. HAVE TO. This is ridiculous."

Orlando played Pat Garrity for 14 minutes and 39 seconds, he was horrible, and New Orleans had 21 offensive rebounds in a game where Dwight Howard played over 42 minutes. You make the call.

*I can't stand it when NBA announcers refer to a shot with poor rotation as a "knuckleball."

This has nothing to do with this game, neither announcer made that reference in the Magic/Hornets contest, but I've heard it a few times over the last week, and it's not working.

A knuckleball has no rotation. I knew that when I was seven. Shaquille O'Neal's free throws, while ugly, rotate quite frequently. Same with Joakim Noah.

Stop it. Stop equating "ugly" with "knuckleball." Just because Charley Hough was ... I should stop here.

Philadelphia 108, New Jersey 97

This was a fun one, both teams came out hot and attacking the rim, but the Sixers were able to sustain the touch and pull out the win. They also likely ended New Jersey's best hope at a playoff berth.

It was nice to see the Nets freelance a bit, Devin Harris was aggressive (if not, um, "good at it"), but at least New Jersey was entertaining to watch for the first time in 30 years. Yes, I saw them play plenty of games in 2001-02. Pass.

Louis Williams (13 points on nine shots off the bench for Philly) was quite good.

Milwaukee 119, New York 115 (OT)

I'll come clean on this one: I know what Michael Redd looks like, I've seen Randolph Morris try his up-and-under "moves," I formed my opinion about Isiah Thomas the day of the Stephon Marbury trade (it's yet to change, ask my Dad), and I know that Mo Williams is best served as a third guard on a good team.

Or the fourth guard on a great team.

So, yeah, with all the great games that were on tonight, I didn't see much of this one. Comment away down below, but I'm with Dr. Parver on this one.

Jamal Crawford, for the fifth time in six years, appears to be playing quite well in April for a lottery team.

Also, anyone who doesn't see their eyes mist over every time "Dancing Queen" comes on, and the band hits that F#m7 chord in the chorus, just isn't living right. That's not a joke.

Gus Johnson? Keep on.

Detroit 94, Minnesota 90

The Detroit Pistons -- while sitting Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, and Richard Hamilton - went into Minnesota and won by four.

Yikes.

The other two starters, the ones that played (Tay Prince, Antonio McDyess), shot 8-22. The sixth man, now starting, shot 1-5 and scored four points. And they won. And the Timberwolves played a good game. The Timberwolves starters played a good game. The bench was pretty abysmal: 6-26 shooting, 17 points. I lied in the middle of that paragraph.

Boston 106, Chicago 92

This could have been a 40-point win for the C's, and that's not a depressed Chicago fan throwing out hyperbole, because it was pretty obvious that the Bulls wanted nothing to do with this game in the first quarter.

Then, at about the 8:00 mark of the second quarter (if memory serves), the Bulls decided that they enjoyed playing basketball again. They should have done it earlier. Partially because they're paid to, but mostly because basketball is awesome. It's fun to play.

Maybe they were showing off for that cute KT Tunstall-look-alike that works underneath the hoop nearest Chicago's bench, but the ball started moving, the team took inspiration from a pair of the younger talents, and it was enough to stay with the Celtics.

Pity, because Chicago could have had a go at the C's this year: Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng have historically defended Ray Allen (save for a game early in 2005-06) and Paul Pierce ... well, I'll just stop now before this post hits 4200 words.

Boston was great. They turned the ball over too much (19 times), but they also rotate like fiends defensively, and boast the aura of NBA champs to-be. Detroit, working at full capacity, can still knock them off; but Detroit hasn't worked at full capacity in four years.

Also, not sure if I've mentioned this, but Tyrus Thomas (24 points and seven boards) can be quite good if given minutes.

This was his season-high in points, and yet, it was probably the 10th-best game I've seen him play this season. He honestly wasn't as good as some of the games where I've seen him log 12 minutes, and needlessly sit in favor of Andres Nocioni or Ben Wallace or Drew Gooden or Joe Smith and I'm, again, just going to stop right now.

San Antonio 116, Golden State 92

So, I try to watch all these games and tune into the parts that usually end up as the most revealing. It's part of the Doug Collins in me, evidenced by the fact that my knees and ankles don't work anymore, and I tend to pay attention to the ends of quarters and the first half. Nearly a decade in, I think that I have a good bit of repartee with the remote, and the Tivo only helps.

And when I paused the Warriors/Spurs game on Tuesday night, with Golden State down just three midway through the third quarter, I assumed that I was in for a barnburner that I needed to pay attention to. I flipped to my Tivo's other tuner, spun around on the other games, and tried to ignore the ticker on various outlets that would reveal what was currently going on in San Antonio.

Tried to. Saw it. The Spurs, if memory serves, were up by 187 points. With half a quarter to play.

San Antonio let loose on a 19-0 run, the team's defense was aggressive to the point where I would ask most toddlers to leave the room, and Golden State endured a quick reminder as to why it will stay a lower-rung playoff seed (in spite of downing the Spurs earlier this year), and why San Antonio might be the best bet to exit the West's playoff bracket come June.

Honestly, that was scary to watch. The Spurs just wanted to hurt someone.

Sacramento 99, Houston 98

A competitive game, and the last four minutes had my eyes glued to the tube, but not the most entertaining one-point win in NBA history.

Sacramento had its moments offensively, and most of them weren't great. They kept turning the ball over, but did well in putting up nearly a hundred points against one of the NBA's best defenses. Meanwhile, the Rockets kept reminding us not to be shocked if they every contribute a 12-point half, but stayed competitive by hauling in 21 offensive rebounds.

In the end, Ron Artest made the difference, though I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. I'm sure he broke several plays, but he also told each of his teammates exactly where to go and what to do in a game that ended with his team winning. I'm going to need a few days on this one.

Kevin Martin scored 27 points on 14 shots. Also, as has been brought to my attention, he pulled in zero rebounds in nearly 43 minutes of action. David Thorpe? You've another summer project.

Related: Behind the boxscore