Spurs 100, Pacers 99

I’ve never played in the NBA (shocker), and I’ve never played against Tim Duncan. But I imagine defending him is pretty tough and that you can’t take anything for granted.

That seemed to be the case on Saturday night in San Antonio for Roy Hibbert and the Pacers. With the Spurs down by 1 point in the waning seconds of the game, Hibbert blocked Duncan’s initial attempt at the lead, but Duncan grabbed the ball right after and through it down hard to give the Spurs the lead and the game. The dunk capped a second half comeback in which the Pacers led by 13 points.

Duncan (19 points, 16 rebounds) was certainly not satisfied with his initial effort that did not equate to a basket. So after he slammed it home, he gave out a roaring yell. The dunk not only gave the Spurs the win but it also gave his coach Gregg Popovich his 700^th career victory. Quite an accomplishment for one of the best coaches in all of sports.

Shooter of the Game: Keith Bogans. He may not be the best shooting guard on the team (Manu Ginobili), but the guy can shoot. Bogans shot 6-8 in the game, including 2-3 from long range to total 14 points.

Kings 96, Bucks 95

Remember last month when Brandon Jennings was already crowned the Rookie of the Year?

Yeah, Tyreke Evans was paying attention too. The ‘current’ ROY, Evans, won the battle against November’s ROY, Jennings, with a reverse layup with only 0.9 seconds left in Milwaukee.

Evans finished the game with 24 points on 9 of 19 shooting. He also added seven rebounds and three assists in an all around attack. Another Kings rookie, Jason Thompson, added 22 points with 10 rebounds.

In the loss, Jennings had a great game, full of battle. He dropped 15 points with nine assists and six rebounds. Unfortunately for him Andrew Bogut had a TRBL game at the line. Bogut shot only 3 for 8 from the charity stripe, including two misses in the final minute. That came back to haunt the Bucks, who only lost by one.

Back to Evans, he is truly proving himself to be NBA ready this month. He controls the pace of the game for the Kings and always has the ball in his hands. He does have room to improve though, as he had six turnovers in 36 minutes. Nevertheless, he is a true bright spot for a franchise that has been looking for something special for a few years now.

Lakers 104, Nets 83

In a matchup of the NBA’s best and worst teams, the final score really came as expected.

But not so fast, the Nets (2-26) actually played their best half of the season to start the game against the Lakers (21-4) in New Jersey. They were up by two at halftime, but the Lakers completely owned the second half to run away with the win.

Coming into the game, I saw that Kobe has his worst career PPG against the Nets. I joked that the Nets would move up to about half way on that list after a huge game by KB. Ok, maybe not that much, but Kobe did score an easy 29 points, with 10 rebounds, to pace his team to the victory.

The Lakers shot 49% from the field and picked up 29 assists (to the Nets 14). Paul Gasol had a great game with 14 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists. Lamar Odom also scored 14 points with 12 rebounds.

The Lakers road trip ends on Sunday in Detroit, but that could be a little scary since the team will be stranded in Jersey a little bit due to a snow storm.

Rockets 95, Thunder 90

Houston coach Rick Adelman has publicly complained about the Rockets difficult month in which they play four different back-to-backs. After winning in OT in Dallas last night, Houston picked up a win on Saturday over the Thunder back at home.

Trevor Ariza scored 31 points, including hitting five 3-pointers, to close the Rockets four game in five day stretch with three wins in those four games. The team’s exhaustion showed though, as they nearly blew a 17-point lead. Chuck Hayes scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the win.

In the loss, Jeff Green scored 21 for the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook and James Harden each scored 15 points. The Thunder franchise has not beaten the Rockets in over 3 seasons.

Suns 121, Wizards 95

West coast road trips are extremely tough in any league, but in the NBA, a clunker becomes expected at some point during the trip. Saturday night was the clunker night for the Wizards in Phoenix.

Despite sitting out the fourth quarter, most of the Suns had some pretty nice stat lines:

Steve Nash – 15 points, 15 assists, 7 rebounds
Amare Stoudemire – 23 points, 14 rebounds
Jason Richardson – 22 points, 6 rebounds

The Suns remain the only NBA team without a loss on its home floor (10-0) and they have now won 19 in a row at home dating back to last season.

-Shooter