Heat 92, Hawks 75

In tonight’s NBATV special, the Hawks came out incredibly flat, while the Heat came out firing on all cylinders and never looked back. Miami had a 16 point lead entering the second quarter, while Michael Beasley poured in 20 of his 22 total points in the first half. In the second half, Dwyane Wade finished the deal with 28 points and 8 rebounds. The bad news for Atlanta is that they’ve now lost four straight.

Jamal Crawford had a solid 23 points off the bench, but it obviously wasn’t enough. Atlanta can blame this loss on a horrible 35% shooting percentage from the field. Miami also out-rebounded the Hawks 52 to 30. Both of theses statistics are examples of how to play poor basketball.

Stat of the Night: Only one Hawks’ starter scored double figures (Joe Johnson with 11).

Thundercats 98, Bulls 85

The Oklahoma City Refereecats looked for revenge in this game, coming off a loss ruining their winning streak. Chicago, who’s actually been playing well as of late, started off playing solid basketball, carrying a five point lead into the intermission. The second half however, was a totally different story as the Thundercats outscored the Bulls by 18 points in the third quarter.

The Cats were led by my starting fantasy point guard, Russell Westbrook, with 29 points. Kevin Durant added in a token 25 points, while the Cats looked utterly dominant in the second half. Chicago had won 4 straight games until this loss tonight. So the heat shall turn up again on Mr. Vinny Del Negro.

Stat of the Night: The Bulls shot a mere 35% from the field. Keep in mind they led through 2 quarters.

New Orleans 91, Utah 87

Devin Brown not only has one of the greatest fake twitter accounts of all time, he also dropped a career high 30 points on the Jazz, helping N’Awlins hold off a late run from the Jazz. Chris Paul had a big time steal with less than thirty seconds to go, to help sink the Jazz for good.

Deron Williams surpassed 3,000 assists in the loss as he had 18 points and 11 assists. Carlos Boozer added a double double (18 points and 14 rebounds) in the losing effort, giving Utah 4 straight losses. This was a classic back and forth NBA game, but the Jazz hurt themselves with a lackluster third quarter, scoring only 11 points.

Stat of the Night: Not one Hornets player had double digit rebounds, while two players did for the Utah Jazz.

Clippers 105, Blazers 95

In what was likely the upset of the night, the Clippers had a big second half and especially fourth quarter, in their win over the Blazers. Coach Dunleavy, obviously very wisely, looked to combat the Blazers weak interior by starting both Camby and Kaman. The Blazers were without Greg Oden, Joel Pryzbilla, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Portland started Juwan Howard and Jeff Pendergraph. Camby tallied 15 rebounds, 4 more than Pendergraph and Howard combined.

The advantage on the glass, along with key scoring from Eric Gordon (19), and Chris Kaman (20), was the difference here. Andre Miller had a big game for the Blazers with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Let me mention that Brandon Roy had a massive 6 points. When that happens, the Blazers will lose. Case closed.

Stat of the Night: Has to be Roy’s lack of scoring. 40 minutes and 6 points. Ouchhhh!

-G