Bulls 96, Thunder 86

The Thunder were in the midst of a tough stetch and a two game losing streak heading home; just the boost a young team could use right?  Wrong.  They squared off against the Bulls who are definitely the lesser of the two teams but the Bulls pulled this one out for their 4th conescutive road win which includes wins against the Rockets, Spurs and Suns; that’s impressive.

Kevin Durant put up his usual 29 points but was 7-19 shooting and the Thunder shot under 40% overall for the game.  The interesting thing about the Bulls 96 points is just 8 of those points came on free throws as they went 8-8 compared to the Thunder’s 23 times to the line.  The Bulls absolutely beasted the boards with a 53-40 advantage which just proves my point that the Thunder won’t make the playoffs until they get a serious rebounder on that team.

Clown of the game:  James Harden was 3-10 shooting.

Nuggets 97, Rockets 92

Even in Houston the Nuggets are mowin’ down the competition as they are hitting their stride at a time when many teams are slowing down.  The Nuggets have no reached the 30 win mark and are playing extremely well even without Carmelo Anthony in the lineup due to an ankle injury.  Kenyon Martin must have found the fountain of youth because he is playing very well this year (either that or it’s a contract year) and he snagged 15 boards on the night.

The Nuggets only made four 3′s this game which is low for them but they out shot the Rockets by 20 from the free throw line.  Despite JR Smith’s latest distraction he was still the first guy off the bench and led the team in scoring with 22 points.

Clown of the game:  Trevor Ariza.  He shot 8-21 from the field; this seems to happen on a nightly basis.  He takes too many shots and is more of a spot up jump shooter not a pull up jump shooter (which he shoots a lot).

Spurs 105, Hawks 90

The Hawks are now 1-1 when Mike Woodson has shaved eyebrows.  Unfortunately for him if they go on a losing streak it’s going to take a few weeks to grow those eyebrows back.  I really expected the Hawks to control the tempo of this game and win but when I saw the highlights it look like Tony Parker was in 5th gear the whole game before leaving with an ankle injury.  Tim Duncan had a monster 20-20 game with a career high 27 rebounds!  The Spurs ended their losing streak and the Hawks dropped to 29-14.

Clown of the game:  Tim Duncan.  Wait, what?  Yes, the player of the game is also the clown of the game.  He shot 5-20 from the field which is why he had so many damn rebounds!  10 were offensive and if I had to guess 5 were off his own misses.  He was 11-11 from the stripe though.

Jazz 106, Blazers 95

Utah started this game on a 23-4 run in the first!  Ouch, that’s tough to come back from and the Blazers… well they didn’t.  It was a close game in the fourth, as close as 4 points I believe but when you are on the comeback trail of 20 points from the 1st quarter on.  The Blazers just ran out of gas.

Clown of the game:  Martell Webster/LaMarcus Aldridge.  These two forwards combined to shoot 14-38 from the floor.

Hornets 123, Warriors 110

What do you know, the Warriors gave up 123 points!  Chris Paul was on first this game scoring a game high 38 points, although he did have 7 assists which killed my fantasy team but I’ll take the points.  After the Hornets recently traded Devin “Downtown” Brown to the Bulls, Marcus Thorton is starting and taking full advantage.  Thorton dropped another 18 points on the night and had 2 steals and 0 turnovers in 39 minutes of action.

Stephen Curry had another nice game for the Warriors with 19 points and 9 assits.  I think it’s time to give the reigns to Curry as the teams’ starting PG and have Monta handle the ball a little less.  The Warriors were outrebounded by 15 (seems to be the theme of the night) and shot over 50% from the field and still lost, THAT’s how bad there defense is.

-The Basher