What you missed while being thankful this wasn’t your fifth grade teacher...
Heat 98, Lakers 87: Miami looking like contenders and the Lakers looking lost was our game of the night.
Rockets 90, Hornets 88 (OT): The most entertaining game of the night was the one almost nobody watched. Houston led from the opening tip in large part due to Kevin Martin, who had 27 first half points.
Houston was in control the entire way until they came apart in the fourth quarter — the Rockets shot 3-21 overall (14 percent) and 0-8 from beyond the arc, which allowed the comeback. Houston’s defense was good, New Orleans only had 19 fourth-quarter points, but it was enough to erase a 12-point lead as Houston only scored 7 points in the quarter. At the final buzzer, New Orleans’ Jason Smith got a good look at the game winner in regulation, a 16-foot jumper, but it rattled out.
The overtime saw New Orleans jumped out to the lead because Jarrett Jack was carving people up. But then he started doing his Kobe in isolation imitation and soon it was tied again.
With the Hornets looking to get their final shot off in OT, Courtney Lee made a steal, Martin picked it up and pushes the pace back the other way but misses transition layup — only to have Samuel Dalembert follow for the game-winning dunk.
Mavericks 94, Jazz 91: Dallas seemed in control of this one until a 17-4 third quarter Utah run sparked by Maverick turnovers and Al Jefferson made this a close one that stayed that way pretty much the rest of the way. Down the stretch it was Shawn Marion doing the work for Dallas (22 points on the night) as the Mavs went after the mismatch and C.J. Miles couldn’t stop him. Rodrigue Beaubois had 17 points and looked like that guy we expect to see.