Spurs 113, Suns 110

It’s pretty incredible that the Suns have Amare Stoudemire drop 41 points, and lose. What is even more remarkable is that the Spurs leading scorer only put up half of Amare’s points.

Oh, but it gets worse. How did the Suns really lose this game? A missed dunk. Jason Richardson missed a dunk with 41 seconds left that would have tied up the game. San Antonio made them pay after that, hitting 9 of 9 foul shots after that point. What was evident was the impressive play of the Spurs bench – Manu Ginobli (21 points), Richard Jefferson (20), and Dejuan Blair (14) all contributed to the win.

Tough one to swallow for Amare, who had a 41 point, 12 rebound night. Nash added 18 points and 11 assists, and Richardson added 20 points (should have been 22).

Let’s hope this doesn’t derail Phoenix, who have been white hot as of late. They snapped a 5 game winning streak, a season high.

Lakers 95, Nuggets 89

Another epic battle between the two best teams in the Western Conference had LA hold off the Nuggets at the Staples Center. The Lakers had lost 20 percent of their games to Denver (they are now 1-3 on the season series), so this victory for LA was a step in the right direction. I can’t imagine the critics picking Denver to win the series because they were 5-0 or 4-1 in the regular season.

Kobe didn’t see it that way. To him, it was a regular win. “This (win) has nothing to do with the playoffs,” he told NBA.com. Denver had the lead for most of the game, but the Lakers surged in the fourth quarter to take an 8 point lead. After that, the Nuggets were unable to get themselves closer than the final score.

Carmelo Anthony led the way for the Nuggets with 21 points, and Nene put up a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. For the Lakers, Lamar Odom had a big game off the bench to lead the team with 20. Gasol (15 points, 14 rebounds) and Bryant (14 points, 11 assists) posted double-doubles in the win.

Thunder 119, Raptors 99

If the Raptors don’t get Chris Bosh back, they are in trouble. However, Chris Bosh wasn’t stopping the Oklahoma City Thunder, as they now move to 35-23 and seem to be a lock for the playoffs in the West. They are one of the NBA’s hottest teams, going 8-2 in their last ten.

The Thunder opened the first quarter by outscoring Toronto 34-24, and added another 14 points to their lead by the end of the 3rd. They did that by their defense, however – the team had 7 blocked shots and 12 steals in the game. Toronto committed 18 turnovers, and just didn’t appear to be in the game from the start.

Kevin Durant (who is starting to become my favorite player in the League) dropped 29 points on 9-18 shooting. Russel Westbrook added 14 points and 10 assists in the win. For the Raptors? Sonny Weems led Toronto in scoring (14 points)…WHO?

Here’s a quick wrapup on the rest of the games played on Sunday, as each game had their own INCRBL moment(s):

Hawks 106, Bucks 102 (OT)
INCRBL: Joe Johnson - Down 5, he scored 9 straight points to put this game away in overtime. Also, Josh Smith (22 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists).

Magic 96, Heat 80
INCRBL: Howard scored 7 points, but the Magic still won. Wade? Didn’t score in the last 20 minutes of the game, yet still had 21 on the night.

Wizards 89, Nets 85
INCRBL: The Nets almost won 2 games in a row! (I’m still reeling over the win against the C’s…). Oh yea, Andray Blatche put up 36 and 15.

Kings 97, Clippers 92
Nothing really INCRBL about this game, except the play of Tyreke Evans. He scored 4 of his 21 points in the final two minutes of play to hold off the Clippers.

Mavs 108, Hornets 100
INCRBL: One could see Dirk having a big night and scoring 36 points, but Darren Collison dropping 35? I smell another player making Rookie of the Year noise…

Thats it for now. Until next time, this is the Commish.