What you missed while wondering if your dog ate your toes….
The Lakers getting a win — not a statement, just a win — against Boston is our Game of the Night.
Mavericks 121, Nuggets 120: Arron Afflalo is a great story. Back at UCLA he was the man — they ran him off double screens (like Boston does with Ray Allen) to get him open, he was the guy the offense was built around.. The NBA was cold water splashed across his face, here he was just another guy. He had to carve out a new identity for himself. A lot of guys fail at that. Afflalo is just a good guy with a great work ethic who transformed himself into a quality NBA role player. He’s a plus defender, he sets the screens and he waits for his catch-and-shoot three opportunities.
With 16 seconds left and the Nuggets down one to Dallas — and Carmelo Anthony fouled out after maybe his best game of the season with 42 points — Denver’s plan was to have Chauncey Billups come off the high screen of Nene and create, but Billups slipped a little and Tyson Chandler defended it beautifully and the play blew up. Billups was forced to pass to the only open guy near him, Afflalo. Shawn Marion closed out like he expected another catch-and-shoot but Afflalo took one hard dribble to his left to create space, rose up and drained the jumper from 19 feet.
Ballgame. And the Nuggets ended the Mavs win streak at 10 in what was a wildly entertaining shooting display where neither team could seem to miss and the tempo was up.
Suns 112, Warriors 88: The Suns were motivated — win and they were .500 on the season. Golden State was on the second night of a back-to-back and was flat. The result is a spanking. The Warriors shot 40 percent as a team and the best three-point shooting team in the league hit 30 percent on the night. Steve Nash was vintage.