Charlotte 95, Boston 83

This wasn't really the shocker that initial instinct would have you believe, the Boston Celtics were without Ray Allen and without their games, really.

The team went 4-20 from behind the arc, which is a pretty hard mark to overcome (12 points on 20 possessions? A bit of a disadvantage), and the backup point guard play was atrocious. Eddie House tries hard and can hit shots, and we're not saying this in order to make ourselves look better regarding the Tony Allen rip from two weeks ago, but he was killing his team last night with bad decision-making and an inability to get the C's offense in gear.

Defensively, Paul Pierce continually lost Jason Richardson on the baseline, and when Pierce got himself together long enough to play some great defense (which Paul did, make no mistake, for some stretches), Richardson was still able to nail the same tough shots he was hitting in Richard Jefferson's face on Tuesday night.

A veteran crew led by Ken Mauer called a pretty lousy game, but there wasn't a whole lot Boston could do to keep Charlotte from pulling out another win. These nights happen, even to the best teams.

Atlanta 91, Cleveland 80

Give Cleveland "credit" (?) for making a game of this one, but with five minutes to go in the third quarter, the Cavs had 35 points. Let me re-state: 31 minutes into the game, a team with LeBron James on it had 35 points.

The Hawks didn't play their best game, take away Josh Childress and a combined 42 minutes worth of bench performers managed to score three points, but they were able to run judiciously and keep the Cavs at bay after a late run. Cleveland was on the second night of a back-to-back, and coach Mike Brown wants to blame poor ball movement for the loss, but this team's issues go far deeper than that.

After Wednesday night, both Larry Hughes and Sasha Pavlovic are shooting 33 percent on the season, and I don't know how a team (even with the game's best player) can be expected to compete with these sorts of dogs in the starting lineup, and a coach that doesn't appear capable of devising ways to get his team easy baskets.

Anderson Varejao went down in the 4^th quarter with what looked like a nasty knee injury, but thankfully the Cavalier big man is fine.

Toronto 109, Philadelphia 96

Toronto didn't have its best showing of the season, at times they were pretty lousy, but it was still enough to pull away from the 76ers in the end.

Chris Bosh was superb offensively (21 points on ten shots in 25 minutes), it was almost enough for us to forget the fact that he had just one rebound; but then we remembered that we pay attention to things beyond scoring, don't think Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA merely because he scores a lot, and reminded ourselves to get on CB over this.

Anthony Parker also had an efficient offensive night (22 points on 11 shots), Sixers rookie Thaddeus Young was solid in transition (tying a career-high with 16 points), and I think four thousand people were at this game.

Orlando 113, Los Angeles Clippers 106

Not on TV? Dead to me.

New Jersey 99, Seattle 89

On appearances alone, forgetting their record, the statistics behind it, and the context involving the rebuilding process, one would probably assume Seattle to be the worst team in the NBA. This group works hard, but they make some pretty boneheaded mistakes, and have a long way to go.

The Nets played well at home, Jason Kidd (16 points, 11 assists, 6-11 shooting in just 28 minutes) was great, and Richard Jefferson (28 points, six assists in just 29 minutes) was all over the court.

Los Angeles 109, New Orleans 80

It was so obvious, I'm a little ticked that I didn't see it coming.

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson relied on an old trick left over from his days coaching the Chicago Bulls: make the hot-shot point man that you can't guard beat you by shooting a lot.

The Lakers stayed home on every Hornet save Paul (32 points, five assists), gave a little help and offered some flailing arms as Paul made his way into the lane, and as a result no Hornet had anything more than a passable game. And that's pushing it, because beyond David West (19 and nine rebounds, passable) and Tyson Chandler (11 and nine rebounds, passable), the Hornets were crap.

Look at this bench: nine points on 3-21 shooting. It's another thing we should have seen coming: the Hornet reserves have been alternately playing over their heads and getting away with sub-standard production, and a game like this was a long time coming.

Kobe: 19 points, seven boards, seven assists, three steals in only 32 minutes. The Lakers are rolling.

Milwaukee 98, Miami 92

This was such a dreary game to watch, Dwyane Wade (34 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five turnovers, three steals) was great and made a nice circus shot in the third quarter, and Andrew Bogut (17 points on nine shots and eight rebounds) really likes his right hand, but these are two teams that are waiting for the hammer to drop.

For more help, I turn to Ira Winderman for the Heat, and BrewHoop for the Bucks. 

Dallas 102, Detroit 86

There were ten games on last night, and as it usually is with the nationally televised affairs, I taped this one for future viewing, and haven't watched a second of it. Getting up early this morning, I noticed the 16-points Dallas win, rued my decision to tell my readers to watch this one and the Laker blowout, and I have to ask: is it worth my time to work through this game? Let me know. 

Looking at the box score, I have to point out that Dallas' 102 points are a lot more impressive than you might think. This was a slow-paced game, and the Mavs scored a pro-rated 121.4 points per 100 possessions. That's a lot. Phoenix leads the NBA at 115 per 100, and Dallas did this against one of the premier defensive teams in the NBA.

Phoenix 129, Indiana 122, OT 

A great game, as fun to watch as the score might suggest, but as someone who has watched way too many NBA games, it was hard to watch the Pacers work in the second because I knew they would find a way to blow this one.

Phoenix was without Grant Hill (appendectomy, out two or three weeks), Steve Nash had to leave the game in the third quarter with a stomach virus, and Amare Stoudamire (in spite of his 25 and 11) really didn't feel like playing a 48-minute (or, in this case, 53-minute) game. His attention span left a lot to be desired.

Luckily, Raja Bell was working as a point forward of sorts, nailing shots (27 points) and starting the break (nine rebounds) while Leandro Barbosa (27 points on 17 shots) saw a chance to win the game with clutch shooting and took advantage. 

The Pacers were without Jermaine O'Neal, and the kids (Travis Diener in the first half, Shawne Williams all game) played tremendous basketball, but the shots dried up in a 20-point 4^th quarter. No team could be expected to win with Kareem Rush and Jamaal Tinsley (33 points on 13 of 41 shooting) taking up as much of the offensive load as those two loads took up.

Portland 109, Golden State 91 

(Warming up my Charles Barkley impersonation, ‘ere ...)

"No disrespect to the Trail Blazers, but ..." 

... sometimes the Golden State Warriors don't feel like playing. Sometimes they take too many threes. Sometimes they don't attack and get to the free throw line enough. Sometimes they fall behind early and decide to pass on trying to catch up.

Sometimes all of these things happen in one night.

Related: Behind the boxscore