Ballin': The Portland Trailblazers Are the Best Team in the NBA (Right Now)
By Jason McIntyre
Miami 116, Atlanta 109 3OT: Why didn’t Atlanta foul? They just let Chris Bosh take and make this three-pointer, sending the game into overtime. The Heat blanked the Hawks in the third overtime period (7-0) to steal a win without LeBron or Wade. For Bosh, it must have felt like life in Toronto – very little help, but 33 points and 14 rebounds are enough to get his team the win. Mario Chalmers added 29 (13 in the overtimes). Condolences to anyone holding a Hawks -5 in the second half ticket. It looked like a lock for 23 minutes and 59 seconds. You should have turned off the TV and went to bed after that.
Sacramento 103, Milwaukee 100: The Kings trailed by 21 at halftime, but outscored the Bucks by 17 in the fourth quarter to register a great victory for new head coach Keith Smart. (As a Syracuse fan, I’m conditioning to root against Mr. Smart for what he did in 1987.) The Thornton-Evans combo had 27 and 26 points, respectively. DeMarcus Cousins, freed from the shackles of Paul Westphal, scored 19 and took 15 rebounds. Jimmer shot 3-of-8 in 22 minutes, with all of his highlights below.
San Antonio 93, Dallas 71: The defending champs scored 29 points in the first half. They had 42 points going into the 4th quarter! For the game, they were 1-of-19 on three-pointers. The only started in double figures? David West had 10. Dirk shot 3-of-8 and finished with six points. It gets worse – Jason Kidd suffered a lower back injury. The Spurs made as many three-pointers (16) as the Mavericks made free throws.
Portland 107, LA Lakers 96: The Gerald Wallace-LaMarcus Aldridge tandem is nasty (59 points, 15 rebounds), the Blazers only turned the ball over four times, and the Lakers missed all 11 three-point attempts. Too early to get excited about the 5-1 Blazers? The Lakers are winless on the road.