There were plenty of amazing battles on this Friday night, and I am actually considering myself lucky to be coped up at home ‘forced’ to watch awesome NBA action! Oh yeah, and I apologize for my terrible headline, but I thought it was moderately clever. Let’s get to some of the great games from Friday night!

Mavericks 111, Hawks 103 (OT)

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game such as this one – where neither team could grab a hold of the game.

The quarter-by-quarter scoring shows exactly how back-and-forth this game was:

So obviously I wasn’t shocked to see the Mavs make a comeback in the fourth quarter for their sixth straight win. For the Mavs, it was the bread and butter of the team that carried them in the fourth and overtime: Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd. Nowitzki scored 37 points and Kidd picked up his first triple-double of the season (104^th career) with 19 points, 17 assists, and 16 rebounds. SICK game by JASON KIDD!

There was one wild play down the stretch where Kidd bumped into Hawks coach Mike Woodson, who was on the court for a millisecond. The play resulted in a technical foul by the Hawks, which helped the Mavs gain an extra point. This was definitely and odd decision by Kidd, but a smart one since it worked out. And Woodson definitely took exception to it.

Knicks 118, Wizards 116 (OT)

In a battle between two teams that made trades with their sites set towards NEXT season, the Knicks hung tough to edge the Wiz Kids. New York had lost eight games in a row and they are lucky that Washington was worse than they were in OT. The teams combined for 3-16 shooting in the extra period, with the Wizards only making one shot and four points. David Lee (26pts, 16rebs) won the game for the Knicks with a layup with only 1.6 seconds left. Eddie House then stole the inbounds pass to clinch the game for NY. Al Harrington, the forgotten player on this team, scored 37 points – I guess I’ll remember him for a little while now.

Bobcats 93, Grizzlies 89

The Bobcats are very bad on the road. BUT, they avoided a winless four game road trip with a win in Memphis on Friday night. Stephen Jackson led the way with 32 points and 11 boards for Charlotte, who stepped up their game to snap their losing streak. Speaking of losing streaks, the Grizzlies have now lost six straight games at home. They were really good at home earlier in the season, and it seems they lost their swagger ever since the NBAtoday staff gave them props. Sorry Grizz!!

Thunder 109, T’Wolves 92

How do you get back when your team is in a little bit of a bind? You play a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That is exactly what the OKC Thunder were prescribed on Friday night, as they just owned the lowly T’Wolves right from the start. Russell Westbrook nearly missed another triple-double as he scored 18 points with 15 assists and eight rebounds. This guy is doing it for the Thunder and pretty consistently too. The best stat for me though from Westbrook is only having two turnovers. That is his downfall as a young PG, but games like this make wonder what is yet to come from him. FYI – Kevin Durant is back on track with a 25 point game. Another streak to come?

Suns 125, Clippers 112

All of the talk around the Lopez twins has been focused on Nets C Brook Lopez from draft day on. Well, I am going to go out of my way, as a Nets fan, and give Robin Lopez his due. The Suns big man had a career best game against LAC with 30 points and 12 rebounds. He shot 13 of 16 shots from the field! He has stepped up his game tremendously in his second season, and I know the Suns organization has to be pumped about this. A center that can run the court is an absolute dream for this team. The Suns have now won five straight games as they continue to climb back up the Western Conference standings.

Nuggets 107, Pistons 102

Mr. Big Shot was winless against his old team, until tonight. Chauncey Billups had another big game for the Nuggs with 25 points. The Nuggets snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Pistons, for their first win against the club since 2006. That really shocked me. If you had asked me before the game who had won the last seven meetings between these two teams I 100% would have said the Nuggets. I sound hung up on this because I really don’t have much else to add about this game…

Wait! How could I forget the best part of this game – Vanilla Ice performed at halftime at the Pepsi Center! I’m sorry, I forgot he was alive…

-Shooter