The Knicks decided real basketball was for the birds, and started launching a monsoon of treys. That might work against some teams, but not Miami, especially when Dwyane Wade is healthy and cooking. With Carmelo Anthony sitting out, the Heat weathered a random Bill Walker night (21 points, all on treys) and a bunch of other weird stuff (in the first half the Knicks were 5-for-19 on twos and 10-for-23 on threes) to pull away in the fourth quarter, 99-89. LeBron and D-Wade were all over the place, combining for 59 points and only 15 missed shots. Early in the first, LeBron had a “This is how you do it rook” moment with Iman Shumpert. Iman got his Roddy Beaubois on and tried to jump from Tallahassee to jam and missed. Immediately following, LeBron went in with a one-handed tomahawk. In fact, the Heat already had four dunks in the time it takes Pitbull to ruin a song. That would become a theme … In the midst of all that, Amar’e Stoudemire (12 points, six rebounds) still wasn’t getting good touches, and the Knicks went 18-for-43 from beyond the arc. Must’ve been ‘Melo’s fault … Speaking of Beaubois, the lil’ man had one of the best games of his life (22 points, six rebounds, seven assists) as Dallas beat Utah by 15. 116 points for an offense that came in ranked No. 21 in the league, and all this after Jason Kidd left two minutes in with a calf strain? That wasn’t a coincidence … Yi Jianlian (remember him?) also had the first dunk of his career that wasn’t against a chair … The Warriors’ play-by-play guys called them the best team in the league and they might be right. OKC took every energy burst Golden State threw at them, and then kicked it into another gear in the fourth quarter, rolling 120-109. It was the Big Three again doing work: Kevin Durant (37 points, 14 rebounds), Russell Westbrook (28 points, 11 assists, seven steals) and James Harden (19 points) looked like they were in Heaven playing that up-and-down style … Paul Pierce went off in the third quarter (17 of his 28 points) in Boston’s seven-point win over the Pacers, spearheading a run of 11 straight points to let the C’s coast into the finish line. Every time we start to believe in Indiana, they go face a team coming off an emotional road win on the back end of a back-to-back, and lose … Roy Hibbert went down in the first half with an ankle injury, and while he eventually returned to post 11 points and seven rebounds, he might as well live in a hospital right now … The Magic need to give up this act and admit they aren’t contenders. Last night, they were destroyed by New Orleans 93-67 despite 28 and 16 from Dwight Howard. We hope someone had an eye on him last night. In the meantime, the Hornets are shopping Chris Kaman, and won’t play him again until they do. If it was allowed, they should deal him back to the Clippers just for laughs. And you know, so he could play with Reggie Evans … Keep reading to hear about Joe Johnson’s game-saving shot …
We will never say another bad word about Joe Johnson again. Okay, that probably won’t stick. But Johnson hit one of the craziest shots we’ve seen this year in the final seconds of regulation in Atlanta’s 107-101 OT win in Detroit. Down three, he came down, no timeout, no ball movement, straight isolation. Somehow (Rodney Stuckey must’ve forgot they were up three or maybe he was just commemorating ’80s night too hard by not playing D), he hopped back behind the line, found the separation to shoot it, and banged a wing trey with 1.9 seconds left to send the game to overtime. Johnson had just two points at the half, and then went 10-for-14 after the break, finishing with another monster night (30 points), and teaming with Josh Smith (19 points, 11 rebounds, eight dimes) to take the game over in overtime … Deron Williams and Kyrie Irving had themselves a good ol’ fashioned Righteous Kill shootout in New Jersey’s 99-96 road win. Williams, showing signs he still cares, dropped 27 and 10 assists. But Irving nearly stole it from him, going for 32 points … Ricky Rubio might be one of the worst shooters in the entire league, but his 20-foot J in the closing minutes against the Spurs sparked a game-ending 10-0 Minnesota run. The young upstarts were led by Rubio (18 points, 10 assists) and Kevin Love (18 points, 16 rebounds) in yet another win over San Antonio, 87-79. We think as long as the Wolves keep winning, Love will be smiling. Do they really have a shot at the playoffs? … Chicago (107-100) and Derrick Rose (34 points) might’ve beaten him down, but Brandon Jennings better make the All-Star Team. He gave the MVP 25, which was his sixth straight game with at least 20 points. We’ll forgive the loss because it came against a team that rarely even allows a close one at home, and because the only help he had came from Drew Gooden (23 points, 15 rebounds, six dimes), who became a good player for a night … Lou Williams (17 points) and Philadelphia had all Charlotte fans drinking heavily as they wiped the floor with the Bobcats, 89-72 … Elton Brand should suck more often. The Sixers are 6-0 when he scores less than 10 (he had four last night) … Denver ran over Toronto by 15 behind 20 and 10 from Nene … Portland did Phoenix like they did Stringer Bell, absolutely blowing out the Suns 109-71. Markieff Morris had a rookie education, getting owned by LaMarcus Aldridge (23 points). At one point after Aldridge rolled off him for an easy oop, the Blazers play-by-play guy goes, “Morris is a fish out of water. He just has no idea how to check LaMarcus” … And John Wall (17 points) had back-to-back emphatic lefty dunks at the start of the game, and it looked like Washington’s new momentum would carry over. Houston ended up beating them by 27 … We’re out like 43 threes.
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