I wrote a column about Pat Riley over the weekend, and managed not to use any curse words. Give it a read.

Cleveland 88, Portland 80

I'm not going to say the Trail Blazers were "diversifying its offense," or that Cleveland (while damn good defensively) was forcing Portland into doing things it didn't want to do. That would be too easy.

What was obvious was the Blazers weren't hitting shots, the shots they'd normally make. Simple as that. Cleveland's aggressive perimeter D had a lot to do with this, but look at these numbers: Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack, Martell Webster, James Jones and Travis Outlaw (the best of the bunch, making four of 10 shots) combined to hit just 10-39 shots. No team can survive with 56 percent of its nine-man rotation hitting a quarter of its tries from the field, but give the Trail Blazers credit for hanging on.

And give Cleveland coach Mike Brown credit for going with what worked (Joe Smith: 18 points, five rebounds in almost 26 minutes) instead of what usually doesn't (Ben Wallace: ohfer four - including a missed lay-up and dunk in consecutive possessions - five rebounds, zero points, zero blocks in almost 16 minutes).

Throw that in with the usual LeBron James brilliance (24 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists ... ho hum), and you have nice Cavs win that can be built upon.

Boston 100, Philadelphia 85

Philly should be commended for this one. The Sixers spotted Boston 11 points to start with, and still managed to lose by only 15. This is not an observer being sarcastic.

Boston's defense is fantastic, they don't grab for steals, throw themselves at the floor whilst begging for whistles, or overplay with arms up at anyone who dares drive the lane. The C's just make a point to try and force you into a shot you're not comfortable with. Then they rebound the ball. It's lovely, really. It reminds me of a team that used to feature (among others) Jud Buechler and Jason Caffey.

Philly entered the game averaging 106.8 points per 100 possessions, and managed just (a pro-rated) 96.6 against Boston.

Los Angeles Clippers 99, Miami 98

This is the sort of game that makes you wish you were smart enough to invent the electric clavinet, which would allow you the capital to swoop in and pay billions for two different NBA teams, dissolve the franchises, hand the NBA a nice check so that the league can keep the WNBA afloat for another 10 years, and send anyone who was worthy to whatever playoff or lottery-destined team I deemed worthy.

Cuttino Mobley, Daequan Cook, Brevin Knight, Quinton Ross, Corey Maggette, Al Thornton? Go win some games for a team that counts.

Jason Williams, Ricky Davis, Tim Thomas, Dan Dickau? Some of the league's most unfortunate need some more ping-pong balls. Do your best.

Mark Blount? Retire. You obviously hate basketball, so just go away.

Yeah, this was a one-point game, but it was horrible to watch. Truly awful. And this is coming from someone who has this song as the ringtone on his cell phone for a prominent member of his family who tends to call quite a bit.

Houston 91, New Jersey 73

I really liked gym class, but I hate sounding like a gym teacher. That said, believe me even when I sound like a gym teacher: the Nets really didn't want to play a basketball game on Monday night, and Houston really, really did. Run some laps, Marcus Williams.

All Houston had to do, based around what little I could see before rushing off to take in a calming bit of Memphis, was close out on New Jersey's shooters off of simple screen/role plays. Otherwise, the Jersey dribbles were lazy, the execution imperceptible (that's giving the Nets the benefit of the doubt), and the Rockets ran away merely by sharing the working, covering on defense, and actually trying.

Odd triptych, I know.

Dallas 108, New York 79

The Knicks were Dallas' absolute creatures from the outset in this loss, and while we take no perverse pleasure in seeing New York go down handily (there's been enough of that since December of 2003), it was nice to see Dallas get in a good practice against a horrible team.

San Antonio 107, Denver 103

Easily the night's most competitive game, but a chore to watch, and that wasn't entirely a function of Denver's play-by-play team.

A top-tier basketball brain who happens to post at a message board I frequent while supporting the Nuggets offers this in his signature:

"I apologize on behalf of all Nuggets fans for anyone that has to listen to a game where Scott Hastings and Chris Marlowe are the announcers. I promise you, we don't enjoy it any more than you do. Thank you, and once again, I'm sorry."

Yeah, the Nugs team ... it's a miserable listen.

Denver lost some calls that should have gone their way on Monday, but they also got away with a bit. Close game, not a fun game, and not a revealing game.

Orlando 123, Atlanta 112

Orlando set the stun gun to "nobody takes us seriously, destroy" early on, and faced up against a Hawks outfit that barely appears regular-season (much less "playoff") ready, the result was a game that wasn't even close.

Nine turnovers for the Magic. Significant, significant, significant.

Related: Behind the boxscore