Sometimes you just want to see history. We don’t think anyone would confuse us with Miami Heat fans, but yeah, we were rooting for the Heat to win last night. We wanted to see someone break that 33-game record. It’s too bad the schedule dictated they go into Chicago and run with the Bulls, a place that was ripe for some spoiling … Chicago stopped Miami’s 27-game winning streak, beating the visitors by four after getting 28 points from Luol Deng and 21 points and 17 boards from Carlos Boozer. Those two were crucial down the stretch. Deng made two monster wing three-pointers (before Van Gundy and Breen had to cross the line and call him one of the best overall players in the league… come on now). Then even with only a minute remaining, Miami still had a chance before Boozer scooped up an offensive rebound and scored in the lane to put them up seven. From there, Deng immediately came up with a steal and after a Nate Robinson floater, it was all but over. By the end of the night, Chicago hadn’t just taken away LeBron‘s (32 points) chance at history, but they had beat him up too. He eventually responded by trying to go James Harrison on C-Booz, and when it didn’t quite work out, all the King could do was stand there sporting the Jersey Shore duck face … How many times did Kirk Hinrich have his shot blocked last night? Twenty? It felt like it. Yet that wasn’t as bad as Chris Bosh getting an embarrassing scalping from Jimmy Butler … Atlanta clinched a playoff berth after pounding Toronto by 19. Jeff Teague destroyed Kyle Lowry, outscoring him by 21 … The Raptors have a turban-rocking superfan who sits in the front row along the baseline, and Ivan Johnson came in during the first quarter, went after a loose ball and knocked it right off his head. Ivan the Terrible had a pretty eventful night overall, as well. Later in the half, he also threw a bowling ball-esque pass to John Jenkins on the break for a bucket. Johnson’s legs were sliding out from underneath him and nearly had people mistaking him for Shawn Johnson … Jeff Green‘s maturation continued in Boston’s one-point win over Cleveland. The team finished the game on a 21-6 run, and Green not only had 21 points, seven boards and five dimes, he hit a driving layup at the buzzer for the W … The Nuggets have now lost two straight games, falling by one point against the Spurs last night. Tim Duncan had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Tony Parker looked as good as ever (18 points, 11 assists) after returning from injury. Down one in the closing seconds, Denver’s worst late-game pimples came to a head. They ran Danilo Gallinari off a high screen, and even though he had a look or a chance to attack, he gave it up. That left Andre Miller in a tough spot, and he ended up with a runner floater off the wrong foot. It predictably didn’t come close to dropping … Keep reading to hear how the Lakers survived a scare in Minnesota…
Typical Lakers win in Minnesota last night. Up 14 late in the fourth quarter, they nearly blew it during a run of ugly Dwight Howard free throws, opponent offensive rebounds and Kobe snarls. Then in the closing seconds of L.A.’s frantic 120-117 win, Ricky Rubio rebounded Bryant’s missed free throw, raced up court looking to tie it before getting hit on the arm by Bryant (31 points, seven assists). No call. It was a running 35-footer: would you have made that call? It’s almost like refs are conditioned not to call small bumps or slaps on crazy shots from that far away. Yet it was obvious Bryant whacked him … Howard put up a monster stat line (25 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks, five steals) while Kobe turned back the clock again with an alley-oop finish as well as a facial on Greg Stiemsma … L.A.’s competition for the No. 8 seed won last night as well. Utah got 25 points a piece from Gordon Hayward and Al Jefferson in an easy 15-point blowout of the Suns … Roy Hibbert had 28 points and 13 boards as Houston’s hold on the No. 7 spot in the West weakened, falling by nine against the Pacers … J.R. Smith (35 points) had his third-straight game of at least 25 points as New York beat Memphis, 108-101. Because of Miami’s loss, the Knicks suddenly have the NBA’s longest winning streak at six, and were so good at times last night that they actually opened up a 30-point lead on one of the West’s best teams … Iman Shumpert had 16 points, and scored 13 of New York’s first 15 points. We know he was hurt and missed a good chunk of the season, but that feels like the first time we’ve mentioned his name all season … Reggie Evans (22 points, 26 rebounds) was a monster on the glass, and Brooklyn had no problems whatsoever with Portland, 111-93 … Damian Lillard (15 points) wore some dope fan-designed D Rose 3.5s last night, but was also held scoreless in the first half for the first time in his career … In other scores from Wednesday night: Orlando fell to Charlotte, 114-108, after Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson each threw up 34 points; Spencer Hawes erupted for 15 points and 17 boards in Philly’s eight-point win over the Bucks; Russell Westbrook (21 points) and OKC ran the Wizards off the floor, 103-80; Blake Griffin had 19 to lead the Clippers past New Orleans, 105-91; while Isaiah Thomas scored 31 with seven three-pointers during Golden State’s seven-point loss to the Kings … And Phil Jackson has officially joined Twitter, getting the laughs almost immediately with his first, second grader-like update: “11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs.” Rough start, Phil … We’re out like the 27-game winning streak.
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