There are times when the best cure for an ailing team is adversity -- even if conventional wisdom states the opposite.
If you were to ask a team if they'd rather break out of a funk by beating up on one of the league's doormats in the comfort of their own arena -- or doing it on the road, without their best player, and against one of the league's elite teams -- it's a safe bet to assume they would opt for the latter.Those were precisely the circumstances for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night in Boston. The Rockets, playing without Tracy McGrady, had lost six of their last 10 games, including their last three.
Bleacher Report
Thursday's action
- Spurs keep winning, Clips keep losing
- Howard, Mavs overcome Knicks
FOXSports.com analysis
- Rosen: Hawks can't hang with Magic
- Hill: The importance of home court
- Rosen: Rose an impressive rookie
- Galinsky: NBA Power Rankings
Video
- Hill: Prince sparks Pistons' rise
Photos
- 2008 year in the NBA
- Christmas Day in the NBA
The Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from Tuesday night's loss to the Hornets in beating the Golden State Warriors 114-106 in Oakland on Wednesday.
Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, who combined to score only 17 points on Tuesday, tripled their total with 51 points and 29 rebounds against the Warriors.
The Lakers improved their record this season on the second night of back-to-back games to a very impressive 7-1. Surprisingly, four of the Lakers five losses on the season have come in the first night of back-to-backs.
The Warriors were without co-captain Stephen Jackson. Jamal Crawford led the Warriors with 25 points on 26 shots and Biedrins helped his case for the All-Star team with a near triple-double, picking up 12 points, 17 rebounds, and eight assists.
Finally, A Win Without Devin the Dude
The Nets got their first win in five games this season without Devin Harris in their 100-89 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Vince Carter had 25 points and 12 assists in a game the Nets led from start to finish.
Yi Jianlian, currently third among forwards in Eastern Conference All-Star balloting, did his best to quiet the critics for a night with 20 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
Yi and Tracy McGrady have both benefited tremendously from the All-Star votes they're getting in China. According to the most recent results released by the NBA, McGrady is currently about 100,000 votes ahead of Chris Paul for the second starting-guard spot.
McGrady has already missed 10 games this season, and his 15 points per game average is his lowest since his third season in the league.
Yi is at least a quarter of a million votes ahead of more deserving players like Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce, and Danny Granger, despite averaging under 10 points and about six rebounds per game.
Is it time for the NBA to reassess the current rules and decide if it's worth giving China a disproportionate amount of power in deciding the All-Star starters?
I'm holding out hope that the Chinese fans are at least watching games, and not just scanning their ballots for Chinese names. Otherwise, I'd expect David Lee to at least crack the top 10.
Too Little, Too Late For Atlanta
The Atlanta Hawks nearly bounced back from a 21-point third-quarter deficit but ultimately came up short in a 106-102 loss to the Orlando Magic. The win gave the Magic their 13th road victory of the season, tops in the NBA, and gave the Hawks just their third loss in 18 home games this season.
Dwight Howard scored 23 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for the Magic. Josh Smith scored 21 points to lead Atlanta.
Travis Outlaws Pistons Winning Streak
Travis Outlaw hit the go-ahead bucket with 8.9 seconds left in leading the Portland Trail Blazers to the 84-83 victory over the short-handed Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, thus putting an end to Detroit's season-long seven-game winning streak.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points to lead the Blazers. Tayshaun Prince scored 26 points in the losing effort. The win gave the Blazers their first season sweep of the Pistons in six seasons.
The Pistons were without Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton. The Blazers were again without Brandon Roy, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained hamstring.
Despite the loss, the Pistons still post an impressive 21-12 record after beginning the season a pedestrian 11-9.
Elsewhere
The Denver Nuggets won their first game after getting the news that they'll be without Carmelo Anthony for at least the next three weeks. Chauncey Billups, Linas Kleiza, and J.R. Smith scored 21 points each in the Nuggets 108-97 victory over the Miami Heat. Dwyane Wade scored 31 for Miami and has led them in scoring in 31 of the Heat's 34 games this season. New Orleans' old team beat New Orleans' new team when the Jazz defeated the Hornets 116-90. Paul Millsap scored 27 points and had 14 boards to lead the Jazz. Chris Paul had 26 points and seven assists for the Hornets. The Cleveland Cavaliers manhandled the Charlotte Bobcats from start to finish in their 111-81 victory Wednesday night. LeBron James led six Cavs in double figures with 21 points. The Cavs are now 18-0 at home this year heading into Friday night's game against the Celtics in Cleveland. Randy Foye matched his career high with 32 points in leading the Wolves to their 129-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Wolves are now 4-0 in 2009. The Raptors only had nine players in uniform against the Wizards on Wednesday night, but still managed to pull out the 99-93 victory over Washington. Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 25 points on 8-for-9 shooting. The Philadelphia 76ers came back from down six to start the fourth quarter in their 110-105 victory against the Bucks in Milwaukee. Andre Miller hit the game winning 3-pointer with 28 seconds left. Charlie Villanueva led the Bucks with 26 points.One Last Thing
The Grizzlies waived Darius Miles on Tuesday after he played in just two games. Miles did manage to serve the 10-game suspension he received for testing positive for a banned dietary supplement.
Up until now most people thought if Miles were to play in eight more games this season then the Blazers would have to keep his salary on their cap next season.
Now comes the news that the six games Miles played with Boston in the preseason counted towards the total, so he's actually only two games away from Portland losing the cap space.
The Blazers and Grizzlies are two of the only teams that could have significant cap space next summer -- but the Blazers would take a hit if Miles stays on the books.
The signing of Miles has to make one wonder if the Grizzlies only signed him so he could serve his suspension, thus clearing the major hurdle for other teams who might be interested in signing him.
Had the Grizzlies waived Miles after he had played 10 games, then they would probably be accused of doing it just to mess with the Blazers cap. Now the onus is on other teams to do so, without having to wait for Miles to sit out the suspension first.
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