Armageddon Hits San Antonio; Lakers Silence The Jazz

Something is amiss. Dreams of more championships along the River Walk have been interrupted. It ain’t even the injuries anymore. It’s something else. That Spurs team that we thought we knew has slept way past their wake-up call. Someone needs to flip the mattress before it’s too late …Six losses in a row? That didn’t seem possible two weeks ago for the team that has had the best record in the league almost the entire season. But after a physical 119-114-overtime loss in Houston, the Spurs are on the brink of losing homecourt advantage … San Antonio was up late in the game, but then Courtney Lee came up with a steal and a basket, Kyle Lowry hit a jumper and it was on to overtime. In OT, the Spurs trailed by three with just 20 seconds left, and had to foul because the shot and game clocks were too close. But the place was so loud, no one could hear Gregg Popovich screaming instructions. Eventually, Tim Duncan (23 points, 13 rebounds) fouled the best free-throw shooter on the team in Kevin Martin (33 points), who made both with only seven seconds left. Pop chucked his clipboard … Another bad omen for Spurs fans: After hitting a sweeping hook in the extra frame, Duncan was grimacing badly as he hopped back on defense, obviously favoring that recently sprained ankle … Any game between the Rockets and the Spurs is like the Flopping Olympics. Each team has two or three possible gold medals candidate in that art. It’s hilarious when Spurs’ color commentator Sean Elliott is crying about Martin’s flopping. Dude, Manu Ginobili (23 points) plays on your team … Read more: the Lakers take over Salt Lake City, Nicolas Batum crushes on OKC’s heads and Dennis Rodman gets his jersey retired…

The crumbling of San Antonio wouldn’t have been so bad had the Lakers not disintegrated Utah in their 11-point win. L.A. fell behind by as many as 17 during a first half where they were the personification of embarrassment. They brought their tea party routine, moving around like they were out shopping with their lady friends. A perfect example came in the second quarter when Lamar Odom (16 points) posted up Paul Millsap and had the ball tipped away. Odom wobbled over to pick it up as Millsap dove and slid by his ankles, grabbing the ball and then throwing it out off of Odom … At the core of Utah’s strategy was physical play. That seemed to piss the Lakers off, especially Kobe Bryant (21 points). Bryant took three body shots in the third quarter, including two hard ones from a cement wall…err, Kyrylo Fesenko. So L.A. quit playing around and ended the drama with a 30-5 second-half run to win the game … If L.A. does indeed finish strong and pulls out that No. 1 seed, is it even a good thing? We say that because the second-best team in the West might be the fourth-seeded Thunder, who have been killing it. Last night, they dissected Portland during the first quarter, but slowly melted from there, eventually losing to the Blazers 98-91 as LaMarcus Aldridge went hard for 32 points and 8 rebounds. Portland took over the third quarter, punctuated by a monster put back from Nicolas Batum (19 points) in the final minute. Batum was also a menace to Kevin Durant (9-24 from the field, 25 points, 11 rebounds) … Portland could be the scariest lower seed in the West, except there’s a team out in Memphis that might be even more dangerous. The Grizzlies went into New Orleans and bullied the Hornets all night long in a 12-point win. Zach Randolph (28 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) nearly had a triple-double and Memphis shut down Chris Paul (13 assists but only 5 points) … The Hawks melted the Celtics in the second half of their five-point win. Somehow Atlanta won despite trailing for most of the game and with Joe Johnson (19 points) shooting 4-20 … Atlanta’s energy was there all night, and up three in the final seconds, they secured the game on an offensive rebound by Al Horford (16 points, 15 rebounds). When Big Baby‘s chest pass disguised as a shot careened off the backboard and nearly killed Jamal Crawford (20 points), it was over … One night after being the star in some “coach’s porn,” Rajon Rondo wasn’t much of a factor in the second half. Whenever he has just five assists for the game, it means Boston’s offense was stagnant … Derrick Rose (27 points) helped Chicago escape Detroit by five, but the larger storyline was the retirement of Dennis Rodman‘s number 10. We were surprised he didn’t show up naked. The Worm also said he’s been voted into the Hall of Fame and will be in Houston on Sunday for the announcement … Other headlines from around the league: Roy Hibbert (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Indiana inched closer to the playoffs with a one-point over the Bucks; the Magic rode Dwight Howard (26 points, 14 rebounds) to an easy 12-point victory in Charlotte; the Sixers and Elton Brand (21 points) blew out the Nets 115-90 to clinch a playoff spot; Washington beat the Cavs by eight because Andray Blatche (36 points, 19 rebounds) played like a man and Jordan Crawford (21 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) played like an All-Star; in what is becoming a nightly ordeal, the Heat’s three studs went nuts (LeBron James – 27 points, Dwyane Wade – 32 points, Chris Bosh – 24 points) as Miami roughed up Minnesota 111-92, courtesy of a 25-1 run to start the second half; Phoenix blew out the Clippers by 13 as Grant Hill had 19 points; and the Nuggets continued their hot streak with a nine-point win in Sacramento behind six players in double figure scoring … We’re out like “coach’s porn.”

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