Nuggets 102, Hornets 95

Down two going into the fourth, Carmelo Anthony saved his best for last.  Melo scored twelve of his thirty two points in the final frame.   Melo and Chauncey Billups helped break an 86 to 86 tie with six minutes to go outscoring the Hornets by nine in that stretch.  Billups ended up with 27 points and Nene added 17 points and 12 rebounds.  As much as I want to talk about the Nuggets winning this game, I cannot help but notice that both New Orleans Hornets rookies continue to play out of this world.  Darren Collison had his fourth double-double this month (17 points and 10 assists).  Marcus Thornton scored at least 20 points (23 tonight) for the seventh time in his last ten games.  I hope these two guys keep it up because they are so fun to watch.

Thunder 104, Nets 102

The last time these two teams faces off the Nets allowed Kevin Durant to drop forty points on their home court.  Tonight they were able to hold Durant to a measly 32 points and 12 rebounds.  On top of that, they let passive Jeff Green go off for 27 points on eleven of sixteen shooting from the field.  Russell Westrbook also notched a double-double scoring eleven points and dishing out ten assists.  Down 100 to 90 with two minutes left Jarvis Hayes led a comeback by hitting back to back three pointers.  The Nets were able to cut the score to two points, but unfortunately for the Nets, they scored their last bucket as the buzzer sounded, ending their comeback.  Devin Harris (8-20 FG) was the high man for the Nets with 19 points.

Cavs 100, 76ers 95

In all honestly, even with LeBron coming back from injury against the Philadelphia 76ers, not many people would pick the Sixers to win this game.  To their credit they were able to hang in the the game until Cleveland tightened up their defense late in the fourth.  LeBron finished with 23 points, 10 assists, and 6 rebounds in 43 minutes.  Mo Williams pitched in scoring 21 points and one of my fan favorites, Delonte West, added 17 points off the bench.  Andre Igoudala and Elton Brand led the Sixers, who only had three players score in double figures.  Igoudala put up 30 points while Brand added 24.  Thaddeus Young did what he could scoring 15 points off the bench.

Celtics 122, Pacers 103

The Pacers have given up on this season.  They are giving up points like it is going out of style.  Tonight they were victim to the Boston Celtics, who barely played their starters in the fourth.  Paul Pierce led the onslaught scoring twenty points and Rajon Rondo contributed with a double-double (16 points and 11 assists).  Roy Hibbert led the Pacers with 23 points and Danny Granger scored 16 points while only taking thirteen shots.  That is about thirteen too few.  I am interested to see what the Pacers will do this offseason because whatever they have tried to do the past few years has not worked at all.

-JB