So far this year, the Bulls are humming without having to lean too hard on Derrick Rose. It happened again last night in their 14-point win over the Magic. Rose had 21 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists, but he wasn’t alone. Luol Deng continued his strong start with 21 points while Carlos Boozer went for 20 and 13. Even Kyle Korver finished with 18 big points off the pine. Compare that to Superman (28 points, 15 rebounds) who seems to be out there playing by himself these days. But someone needs to explain the whole Dwight Howard-shocking-Big-Baby-back-to-life thing in the fourth quarter. Matter fact, forget that. We don’t want to hear an explanation … After a couple of off games, Kevin Durant responded with an easy 26 on 16 shots in OKC’s 109-94 blowout win over the Rockets … Who said Kobe Bryant was slowing down? His wrist might be screwed up, but apparently it only affects his free throws (despite the percentage, they don’t look good) because his game is all the way there. He scored 39 points – his third straight game over 30 points – as the Lakers won by seven over Golden State … Atlanta learned a lesson from their three-OT loss at home on Friday night: don’t fall behind in overtime. After doing it over and over again against Miami, the Hawks jumped all over Charlotte in the extra frame, scoring the first seven points and winning by six behind a huge night from Josh Smith (23 points, 13 rebounds). Seems like he’s finally coming around after a slow start to the year … “Both teams set offense back about 50 years today,” Doc Rivers said after the Pacers’ big 87-74 win in Boston. Doc may have been exaggerating, but not much. It was “lockout ball” at its worst. After combing for just 28 first quarter points, the squads finished the game shooting a combined 40 percent from the field. It was Indiana, led by Danny Granger (15 points) and Darren Collison (14 points), that came out on top, closing the game on a 10-4 run … To make matters worse for the Celtics, who scored just 25 points in the first half, the squad didn’t look too sharp defensively either. The Cs were uncharacteristically caught out of rotation on a number of occasions, leaving Pacer shooters wide open on the perimeter. Indiana made Boston pay, connecting on eight of 14 threes … Celtics fans have a tough time dealing with any double-digit loss, but it’s even harder to deal with when Tyler Hansbrough is responsible. Psycho T lived up to his nickname, scrapping his way to 12 points off the bench … Ray Allen must have crushed Vitamin C over the past 48 hours. After watching Wednesday’s game from home while he battled the flu, the 36-year-old sharpshooter returned to the lineup last night and kept the Cs afloat. Allen posted a game-high 23 points, knocking down 4-of-5 three-pointers, increasing his season average to a blistering 63.4 percent from deep. If it hadn’t been for Allen’s 7-of-11 shooting performance, Boston would have been 19 of 55 (34.5 percent) from the field … In one of the more entertaining sloppy games we’ve seen in a while (43 combined turnovers), the Knicks came from 15 back to beat the Wizards 99-96. Carmelo Anthony (37 points) made the game-winning triple with only 15 seconds left. So how much longer until Washington wins a game? John Wall and Nick Young combined for 46 points, and yet they lost another big lead. That’s already happened to them numerous times this year … We love how Portland went out and backed up our claim of them being the best in the West. They went out and… lost by 25 to a Suns team that doesn’t look very good. In a way, it’s explainable: a back-to-back, away game after coming off an emotionally-draining matchup the night before. We were chatting up Steve Nash the night before and he had so much respect for the Blazers. Maybe that’s why he went out and didn’t miss a shot the whole game (7-for-7, 17 points) … Utah and Al Jefferson (20 points) got a huge nine-point win over Memphis … New Jersey got 24 and nine from Deron Williams in their 97-85 win over Toronto … Philadelphia blew out Detroit 96-73 for their third straight win. Dr. J, Moses Malone, Bobby Jones and Andrew Toney were all honored before the game, but as far as the team goes, someone needs to show Spencer Hawes some love. He dropped 16 and 14 and has been rock solid all year. Some Sixer fans in the Dime fam are still coming to gripes with the fact that Hawes is the best player on the squad right now. By far. And they somehow keep winning. It makes no sense … Denver got 23 points from Danilo Gallinari in their 96-88 win over the Hornets … In the battle of rookie point guards, our cover boy Kyrie Irving (14 points, five dimes) got the job done. He outplayed Ricky Rubio (10 points, five assists) for most of the night and led Cleveland (somehow above .500 now) to a 11-point win … And speaking of rookie point guards, who do you think is the best ever. Answer here to get a shot to see your response in the next issue of Dime … We’re out like the Truth‘s J.
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