What you missed while wishing you were spending a beautiful day in Big Sur…
Mavericks 98, Hornets 95: It was bound to happen. It was doubly bound to happen after this humble blog — and basically everyone else — put the undefeated Hornets atop their power rankings this week.
Player of the game? I’d vote Tyson Chandler. Certainly not for the 7 points (although he did hit 3-of-4) or the 5 rebounds. It was his defense. For much of the game he was on David West and he was 5-24 on the night. Also, in the second half he did a great job protecting the rim, and Chris Paul went 1-for-5 in the half. (Part of that goes to Paul himself, who seemed more tentative in the second half.)
Thunder 115, Jazz 108: Once again the Jazz were down double digits and tried to come back, but that streak was not going to last forever. Once again the Thunder win a game at the free throw line — they got to the stripe 34 times and hit 33 of them.
Bobcats 113, Timberwolves 110: The Timberwolves were up 8 with less than two minutes left in this one but found a new and exciting way to lose this one. Bobcats won at the line, getting their 40 times and making 30, compared to 23 attempts and 15 makes by the Timberwolves.
Magic 89, Grizzlies 72: This one was over early so you were sure not to miss an episode of The Event.
Suns 100, Nuggets 94: Tired legs on a back-to-back led the Suns to hit just 4-of-20 from three — the fact they ground out a win anyway says something about the team really starting to find itself. Combined these teams were 7-37 from three, so this was a great game to watch if you like long rebounds.
Nets 110, Clippers 96: The Nets dominated this one inside — the starting front line of Brook Lopez, Travis Outlaw and Kris Humphries scored 60 points on 64.9 percent shooting in this one. Devin Harris got ejected in this one for tackling Blake Griffin on a breakaway and can expect to make a donation to the league for that one.
Warriors 101, Pistons 97: Warriors get a win — not a pretty one, but a win — in the first game under the new owners. Another sign that things are frayed in Detroit: Tayshaun Prince and coach John Kuester got into it during a timeout. After the game both played it off as nothing, but there has been a lot of that nothing around the Pistons this season.