Amar’e said afterwards he had “no doubt” Deron Williams came out with something to prove in MSG against Jeremy Lin. On second glance, we should’ve seen it coming. Williams basically flipped on a group of reporters earlier during Linsanity because no one wanted to talk about anything other than the new Knick sensation. He dropped 38 points with eight triples in New Jersey’s shockingly easy 100-92 win. Carmelo Anthony returned (as did Baron Davis) and yet the only one who mattered was Williams. Raining threes, dancing and prancing around, high-stepping on the dribble, you could tell he really wanted to kill it. He didn’t completely shut Lin up (a quiet 21 points, nine assists), but he definitely won the battle. In the third quarter, Williams just said screw the offense and started pulling up for treys on the break, off the dribble, getting fouled, in the face of everyone in the Garden. 10 points in 47 seconds was the result … The game was super chippy as well (Anthony Morrow lost four teeth and then came back in to score five straight), with Kris Humphries (14 points, 14 rebounds) in the middle of a lot of it. At one point with Hump on the foul line, all of MSG was chanting “You suck!” Landry Fields had a third quarter facial on Humphries (and the foul) that probably had everyone in the arena extra giddy … It took Minnesota and Denver three overtime minutes for someone to finally score, and it took one bonehead play from Martell Webster to clinch a 103-101 win for the Nuggets. Down three, Webster stole a pass and had a shot with four seconds left to shoot a triple. Instead he went in for a dunk with less than a second left. It continued a series of stupid mistakes from the Wolves, coming immediately after Luke Ridnour missed an easy layup that would’ve put them up one … Al Harrington was a monster all night, finishing with 31 points and nine rebounds … Everything has been going so well for the Spurs during this winning streak that they now have Richard Jefferson making game-clinching shots. The whipping boy hit a three in the closing seconds to secure San Antonio’s 10-point second half comeback in their 106-102 win over Utah. That makes 11 wins in a row. Tony Parker continued his “Don’t forget about me” tour, going for 23 points and 11 dimes … The Warriors ended the game on a 9-0 run and beat the Clippers 104-97. Monta Ellis (32 points) couldn’t miss a three, shut down Chris Paul in the second half (four points after the half) and had the Warriors TV guys calling him one of the best closers in the game … In the third quarter, Too Short came out out of nowhere to perform “Blow The Whistle.” The crowd went crazy … … Keep reading to hear how the Bucks screwed themselves …
We’re not sure what was more sad: Hearing about Greg Oden having yet another microfracture surgery or the Blazers’ effort last night in their destruction in L.A. They barely hit 30 in the first half and lost, 103-92. Kobe Bryant led the way with 28 points … Down two on their final possession, only the Magic could do something like this. J.J. Redick missed a wide-open, easy runner, but the ball bounced out, ending up in Ryan Anderson‘s hand just behind the arc with no one around him. You can connect the dots. The shot won them the game, 93-90, and caused the Bucks TV guys to yell this: “Now that just… STINKS!” … Milwaukee still had a shot at it, but they brought out some of the worst late-game execution we’ve seen since Motaw in Above The Rim. First Brandon Jennings just dribbled the ball straight off his knee to end one possession, and then down three with only seconds remaining, they not only went for the two but missed four straight shots at point blank range … Dwight Howard might’ve had 28 and 16, but at one point in the second half, he had four straight possessions isoed against Larry Sanders in the post. He ended up with one bucket and three turnovers … It’s close but we think Von Wafer might just take dumber shots than J.R. Smith … Derrick Rose (23 points) returned to the lineup after five missed games, and promptly picked up where he left off last postseason, dominating Atlanta and Jeff Teague (six points, one assist) in Chicago’s pretty convincing 90-79 afternoon win … One day after setting every courtside media member’s box scores aflame, the Thunder weren’t nearly as impressive on paper and yet still beat New Orleans easily. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook both had 31, but they seem to do that every game now. It’s clockwork … Marcin Gortat had 20 in the Suns’ 104-88 victory over Washington … Houston’s backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin combined for 46 points in the Rockets’ huge four-point win over potential playoff-seeding rival Memphis … Chandler Parsons should offer J.R. Smith some of the hair from his mane. Seriously Parsons looks like he’s being hazed as a rookie: You can’t get a haircut for the entire season. Meanwhile, J.R. Smith is walking around with a triangle at the front of his head … And Dirk had 26 and 16 in Dallas’ 16-point win over the Celtics. If we needed any doubt how valuable Rajon Rondo is to Boston, we found out here. Rondo was suspended for two games because he felt like tagging a ref with the ball during a frustrating loss to Detroit this weekend, and without him, Boston’s offense looked like it was yearning for the days of Kendrick Perkins. They shot 39 percent, scored 73 points and even had Kenny Smith calling Avery Bradley a really solid offensive player. Yeah, maybe compared to Chris Wilcox and Keyon Dooling … We’re out like J.R. Smith’s barber.
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