The New York Knicks tried desperately and valiantly to overcome the odds and take a game from the Miami Heat in South Beach. But with every Knickerbocker lunge, Dwyane Wade hit back and kept New York at an arm's length, resulting in an eventual 106-98 Miami win.
NBA Scores And More: Dwyane Wade, Heat Knock Back Knicks
The Heat rode Dwyane Wade’s 40 to beat back the charging Knicks. Meanwhile, the Spurs sent the Lakers to another embarrassing loss.
With 6:30 left in the third, the Knicks, who had been down by 20 early, pulled within six. Wade responded by nailing a jumper and taking a rebound coast to coast to put the Heat back up by 10. Midway through the fourth, Danilo Gallinari brought the Knicks to within eight. Wade hit another jumper to push it 10. With three minutes left, New York scratched to within six. Wade responded with a dunk. A minute later, the Knicks pulled to within three. Wade hit a monster three-pointer to make it a two-possession game. That was all the margin Miami needed.
Wade has been doing this to NBA teams since 2003. The problem for opponents is that if you focus too much on trying to stop Wade in crucial situations, you stand the risk of not paying enough attention to LeBron James, who has also been doing this to NBA teams since 2003. It's like choosing between the firing line and the guillotine. How do you want to die?
Speaking of head shots, Amar’e Stoudemire successfully got LeBron into one of his posters. Achievement unlocked.
Posting And Toasting accuses the Knicks of playing like zombies in the first quarter. For Heat reaction, check out Peninsula Is Mightier.
The Lakers couldn't possibly look worse than they did in L.A.'s awful Christmas Day performance against the Heat, could they? Oh, they could! The champs shot 35 percent against San Antonio, with Kobe Bryant taking 27 field goal attempts in 30 minutes. (That's actually impressive. I'm impressed. His arms must be tired. That's like high-intensity interval training, but during a game.)
The Spurs weren't great shakes on offense either, with Tim Duncan going 1-7 and Manu Ginobili just 3-12. But DeJuan Blair's excellent work on the offensive boards (six, and 15 rebounds overall) and a great game from Tony Parker (23 points, 10-18 shooting) got the job done with room to spare.
The Lakers have lost three straight by at least 10 points each. I can’t imagine Kobe is going to be pleased with his teammates. I can’t imagine Kobe’s teammates are going to be pleased with Kobe.
Since 2008 the Lakers have been the bully of the NBA schoolyard. Now that bully has been knocked to the ground, and everyone’s getting their punches in while they can. If Phil can somehow pull this situation back together and win another title - hey, a girl can dream - he’ll have earned every last dime of his prodigious salary.
Pounding The Rock notes that the Spurs were able to unleash their new fast break offense while still stifling the Lakers’ attack with vintage tough defense.
In other action:
Raptors 84, Mavericks 76: Dallas, missing Dirk Nowitzki, suffered its first bad loss in ages. Leandro Barbosa was the hero here -- he scored three straight baskets to turn a three-point lead with six minutes left into a nine-point lead with 4-1/2 minutes left. The Mavericks couldn't get any closer until the game had been decided. Rookie Ed Davis had 17 and 12 for Toronto.
Magic 110, Cavaliers 95: Orlando hit 19 of 31 from behind the arc. Since 1986, only two teams have ever hit 19 or more three-pointers and lost. One of those games was a triple-overtime affair between Kobe's pre-Gasol Lakers and the Gilbert Arenas Wizards. But I digress ... When the Magic shoot like this? No chance, C-Town. Gil had 22 points, 11 assists and six rebounds off the bench, a rare feat.
Celtics 95, Pacers 83: Boston's offense struggled early, but its famous defense choked off the Pacers attack and the C's got back on the winning track. Paul Pierce was a killer, with game-highs in points (21) and assists (7).
Bulls 90, Bucks 77: Andrew Bogut had another rough night on offense (four points on 2-12 shooting), an as good as his and the Bucks' defense is, without Brandon Jennings and Carlos Delfino, Milwaukee can't survive numbers like that against good teams like the Bulls. Carlos Boozer had 24, but then Luol Deng was like, "Ha ha! I'm scoring 24 too!"
Nuggets 95, Blazers 77: Each team was without its best player as Brandon Roy remains on the shelf and Carmelo Anthony is still grieving the loss of his sister with his family in Baltimore. Denver's starters just blew their Portland counterparts out of the water. Kenyon Martin and Nene went a combined 11-12 against Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge-Dante Cunningham gauntlet.
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