ROUNDBALL- CAVS CAVS CAVS CAVS

Proving that anything is possible in the NBA, the Cavs avenged an embarrassing loss to the Lakers by beating them last night. The Cavs were able to do all of this despite a ridiculous game from Pau Gasol, where he finished with 30 points and 20 rebounds. The Lakers were only down by two in the final seconds of this game, but Ramon Sessions made two key free throws to ice this one. Coincidentally, I picked him up in fantasy basketball yesterday. The word is that this might have been him showcasing himself for other teams. Sessions finished the game off with a season high 32 points. The Cavs also got double doubles from JJ Hickson (13 and 15) and Antawn Jamison (19 and 10). In a perfect world, Jamison would get traded to a contender next week.

The Clippers and Timberwolves played the final of their (over)hyped up "Double double bowls" last night. Blake Griffin produced a line that was almost identical to the last game, with no double double. He finished with a game high 29 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists. The lack of a double double didn't matter much as the Clippers were able to defeat the Timberwolves. Kevin Love had 18 and 18 in the loss for Minnesota. It will be exciting to see Griffin and Love this weekend during all star festivities.

The bad news is that Houston lost to Philadelphia last night. Andre Iguodala had a triple double in the victory (13/12/10), although he did shoot 3/15 from the field in this game. Six other 76ers players scored in double figures in this game. Kyle Lowry (36/4/7, including six threes) and Luis Scola (26 and 13) had big games in the loss for Houston. The good news is that The Rockets are aggressively trying to acquire Nene from the Denver Nuggets. I will take that consolation if we can't snag Carmelo Anthony, although acquiring BOTH in a trade would be amazing.

The Magic did in fact win this game by 25 points. The Wizards are one of the worst teams in the NBA right now. But I still ended up watching the highlights several times, to watch Kirk Hinrich cross JJ Redick over. See the previous post for that and be prepared for a laugh. Anyway, Dwight Howard (32 and 10) and Jason Richardson led the Magic (16/6/3 with three threes) in the victory. Despite getting his ankles broken, JJ Redick did finish off the night with six points.

The Pistons defeated the Pacers in overtime last night, giving Frank Vogel his first losing streak. Tayshaun Prince had 25 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pistons in the victory. Rip Hamilton sat yet again with a "groin" injury. He has played a total of 20 minutes in the last month for the Pistons and you have to wonder what they expect to deal him for next week. Tracy McGrady reached the 18,000 career point plateau in this game. Roy Hibbert continued his recent strong play, finishing off with 29 points and 9 boards in the loss.

Chris Bosh returned to Toronto to a chorus boos as the Heat handed the Raptors their 41st loss of the season. The Big Three all had great games for the Heat, as they combined for 76 of the Heat's 103 points. Dwyane Wade led the Heat once again with 28 points. Andrea Bargnani continues to piece it all together for the lowly Raptors. He led all scorers with 38 points in this game, giving him an average of just under 27 points a game in February.

Despite a flurry of trade talks, negative publicity, and locals losing faith in him, Carmelo Anthony has been having one of his best pro seasons this year. He continued that run last night, helping the Nuggets in a defeat of the Milwaukee Bucks. Anthony led all scorers with 38 points and 12 rebounds. In the final days leading up to the deadline, it has been all but certain the Carmelo Anthony will be playing basketball elsewhere come March. That hasn't effected his play all that much this season from what I have seen. John Salmons led the Bucks with a season high 33 points and Andrew Bogut added 20 rebounds.

Ty Corbin fell to 0-3 as the hot Warriors inched their way closer to the .500 mark. They will head into the all star break only three games under, not bad considering how competitive the west is. Monta Ellis led the Warriors with yet another great game, finishing with 35 points, 4 boards, and 7 assists. I would refer to him as another in a long line of western players that could have been all stars. This was the fifth consecutive home loss for the reeling Jazz.

Having watched my share of Nets games this season, I did not believe that had it in them to close it out against the Celtics last night. Sorry, but I was correct in my judgement of this team. On a night where some teams were clearly looking ahead to the all star break already, the Celtics kept getting down to business. The Nets were actually tied with the Celtics heading into the fourth quarter. Being that they have no clutch players, their whole team shut itself down halfway through the fourth quarter and the Celtics were able to go on a 16-0 run towards the end of the quarter. That obviously did New Jersey in. Paul Pierce rebounded nicely from his 0-10 performance in his last game. He finished the game with 31 points.

The Knicks went into the all star break on a winning note, defeating the Atlanta Hawks by 12. Amare Stoudemire returned from a one game absence and led all scorers with 23 points. Marvin Williams had 17 points and 8 boards for the Hawks in the loss. Unfortunately, neither Williams from either team threw a punch last night though.

The Blazers defeated the Hornets last night, behind yet another big game from Lamarcus Aldridge. Aldridge had 34 points, 7 boards, and 4 assists as the Blazers came back in a big way in the fourth quarter. This was the third loss in a row for the Hornets and the sixth win in a row for the Blazers. I still think Alrdridge should have been an all star over Tim Duncan. One of the big rumors I am seeing today involves a lot of Portland Trail Blazers players. Anything to get more consistent play out of Devin Harris would make me happy at this point. If he gets traded for the second time in his career though, that would make me start wondering about his future in the league.


The Dallas Mavericks had no problem with the Kings last night. They beat them by 16 points, as Tyreke Evans missed his second consecutive game with plantar fasciitis. Jason Kidd led all scorers with 20 points, including six threes! The Mavericks were very well balanced in this game, as seven of their players scored between 11 and 14 points. Demarcus Cousins started this game and responded with another double double- 16 points and 12 boards.