With all of these fun matchups on Sunday, there were things that just drove me nuts. I have some BASHING to do…

Magic 96, Lakers 94

Solid win for the Magic, but it looks like we’re starting to see a chink in the Laker armor?  Los Angeles has now lost three road games to Eastern (read: the inferior) Conference opponents on the road, and perhaps its time for them to self-evaluate their position. The West maybe isn’t as clear-cut at the top as it was a week ago.

A nice night for Dwight Howard with 15 points and 16 rebounds, and VC actually shot the ball well to lead the team in scoring (25 points). Kobe had 34 points, but surprisingly could not come through with a good look at the basket to tie the game with seconds remaining. Pau Gasol, who recently has been publicly criticized for his quote “lack of hustle”, finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

I have two main bashes regarding this game:

Bash #1. Ron Artest – What the…? His bleach blond dyed hair with the words “Defense” written in three languages was so ugly it would probably cause burn-in on your plasma TV. It didn’t help his game – 0 steals, 0 blocks, 6 rebounds, 8 points.  Hows that rap album coming along?

Bash #2. Matt Barnes, shutup. You love talking trash to superstars and thinking you are some quote “bad boy”. You tried it with Paul Pierce and he shut you up. You tried it again tonight with Kobe and he didn’t even flinch. If you really think your antics on the court really got in the way of Kobe doing his thing (by the way, he scored 34 points), you are kidding yourself. I almost (keyword almost) wish Kobe drained another shot over you in the final minute. Good luck signing with your 13th team at the end of the year.

Celtics 86, Wizards 84

Oh Mylanta… The Celtics were giving me stomach pains for about 90 percent of this game. But Ray Allen and the C’s finally clamped down and won a game staying true to their defensive form. Boston was down 13 with about 5 minutes left to go in the game. They went on a 20-4 run in those final minutes to take the lead for good. I have to give credit to Ray Allen for waking up offensively (25 points) and to the strong play at the point guard position by Rajon Rondo (15 pts and 7 ast).

To be fair, the Wizards were not playing like their regular self. Al Thornton had a monster 24 point and 11 rebound performance, and Andray Blatche turned in 23 points and 9 rebounds himself.

1. Bash #1 – KG, for the first time in years, you finished a game without a field goal. No, the hoop wasn’t moving like the one at Dave and Buster’s. Just forget about it, and lets move on to the next game.

2. Bash #2 – Celtics Bench – 9 points, 3-21 from the field, and every player in the red on the +/-. This is not  going to get it done in the playoffs.

Thunder 108, Kings 102

I just wanted to mention the Thunder won again (as we are as close to a OKC Thunder fan site as their official NBA page). KD had a less than stellar game (led all scorers with 27 points, but  9-21 shooting), but I want to give props to Russell Westbrook for not only staying out there after getting eye gouged by Carl Landry, but finished with 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Tyreke Evans and Landry kept Sacramento in the game with 24 and 20 points, respectively. Evans also had a NBAToday Monthly Buzzer Beater Award nomination for his 3rd quarter shot last night.

This is the Commish, and the Celtics will be the death of me.