Steve Nash Is Back; LeBron Destroys Utah

Christmas came early for the Lakers. Steve Nash is back, and he brought one of the Lakers’ most impressive wins of the season with him. L.A. had to fend off a list of issues to win against the Warriors: Jarrett Jack (29 points, 11 dimes) torching them, Dwight Howard foul trouble, a 14-point deficit, and Kobe Bryant (16-for-41 shooting, 34 points, 10 boards) shooting so often they classified his arms as unregistered firearms. But they eventually did, controlling the overtime session. The biggest shot of the game came from Nash (12 points, nine dimes, 40 minutes), of course: one of his patented buckets in the lane that put L.A. up three with under 20 seconds left in OT. Steph Curry (20 points) missed a triple in the closing seconds that would’ve tied it … We think it’s pretty fair to say Cleveland is the most exciting 6-23 team we’ve ever seen. They beat Milwaukee by 12 despite 37 from Monta Ellis, and just in the first few minutes, Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters (18 points) put bombs in defender’s eyes, Waiters had a play where he dropped his man off the bounce, Irving found Tristan Thompson with a sick dime for a dunk down the lane, and even when it went bad, like when Tyler Zeller airballed a reverse layup by about four feet, it still looked good: he only got the shot because Waiters carved up Milwaukee off a dribble drive … Twice last night, Ersan Ilyasova took a shot where we immediately said, “That might be the worst shot we’ve ever seen” … We tried checking out the start of the Wizards/Pistons game, then watched in horror as Detroit jumped out 20-6. From there, the Pistons held on, 96-87, but it was never a game we’d recommend for the faint of heart. Charlie Villanueva had 19 points, and Jordan Crawford dropped 21 in a losing effort … In the midst of Rodney Stuckey‘s eight-point, four-assist second quarter (he’d finish with 18 points and eight assists), Washington’s announcers compared him to Jordan Crawford because he’s a combo guard that can get you a shot. We’re sorry, Rodney. Remember when Joe Dumars was touting Stuckey as the next big thing in Detroit? Instead, Stuckey hasn’t improved in about two years. He doesn’t look like a point guard. And now, he’s been passed over by a new cat, Brandon Knight. He’s like the city’s new Kid Rock: seems solid enough, but’ll never be able to live down the initial hype … Last night was otherwise known as the “Isiah Thomas debut” on NBA TV. No, no one was traded off the set. No, no one in studio was offered a multi-year deal after showing promise during the night’s first segment. Thomas just did a pretty damn good job, and was the voice of reason during a couple of arguments. But we already knew he would – he’s always been a solid commentator, as long as the basketball in question didn’t involve Michael Jordan … Meanwhile the Mavs have waived Derek Fisher at the vet’s request. D-Fish released a statement that said his recovery time will be two weeks and that he wanted to return home to be close to family … Keep reading to hear about why Utah’s announcers were so in love with LeBron …

For most of the game between the Jazz and the Heat, the Utah broadcast had an epic slurpfest going on with LeBron James. He repaid their respect by disintegrating the Jazz in the fourth quarter of Miami’s 105-89 win. LeBron (30 points, nine boards, seven dimes) hit pull-up threes, he got all the way to the rim, he found Ray Allen for dagger threes, he hit the glass, he did literally everything in the final frame … How many of his teammates do you think were asking Randy Foye “What did you do last night?” after he looked like a walking zombie against Miami? Foye (1-for-9 shooting) had a play in the third quarter where he caught a ball behind the three-point line and threw up a shut that looked like something out of Bugaloo from Above The Rim. It was ugly, and barely touched the rim. South Beach might’ve claimed another victim … Chicago came into Atlanta feeling pretty good about themselves after winning that New York City slugfest on Friday night, as well as nine of their last 12. They left the ATL as 17-point losers as Al Horford put 20 and 10 on them. It was lopsided almost from the start, and really, the only good thing that came out of it for Chicago was at least the Teagues got the chance to have their unofficial family reunion. Marquis and Jeff matched up against each other for portions of the game, and in typical big brother fashion, Jeff (11 points, eight rebounds) took his lil’ bro’s dinner … Up 13 near the end of the first half, we actually saw Lou Wiliams (16 points) give more than mandatory effort on the defensive end, blocking Kirk Hinrich‘s jumper, grabbing the Hawks an extra possession, which they then capitalized on when Kyle Korver stroked a trey ball. It wasn’t the only time Sweet Lou embarrassed Kirk – he also caught him with a facial … Anthony Davis had the defining play in a 9-2 run late in the fourth quarter of the Hornets/Pacers game as he climbed up the human ladder (Roy Hibbert) for a nasty follow-up jam. It’s too bad the Pacers immediately hit New Orleans with a 10-0 run en route to a six-point win as David West (25 points) murdered Davis with the same moves he’s been scoring on since Davis was hitting up Chuck E. Cheese’s. On the other side, Austin Rivers was attempting to shoot a hole through the backboard … In other scores from last night: James Harden (31 points, eight dimes) and the Rockets turned one of the league’s best defenses (Memphis) into a streetball team, winning 121-96; Denver blew out Charlotte, 110-88, as seven Nuggets scored in double figures; and Portland barely survived by three against Phoenix, largely because of Damian Lillard‘s (25 points, seven dimes) huge second half … In college ball, despite now being 10-1, No. 9 Kansas has yet to play a true road game. That still didn’t matter in their biggest test of the season as they beat No. 7 Ohio State, 74-66. Behind 22 from Ben McLemore, the Jayhawks beat the Buckeyes for the third time in a little more than a year … And No. 3 Syracuse spoiled a 25-point night from C.J. Fair in a four-point loss to Temple in the Garden … We’re out like Jerry Rice‘s receiving yards record.