Good morning, LaMarcus Aldridge just scored again

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

BLAZERS! So now both No. 5 seeds are up 2-0 after playing a pair on the road. The Blazers edged the Rockets as LaMarcus Aldridge went for 40 again and James Harden stunk it up again. Portland could clinch on Sunday.

MAVERICKS! Dallas’ defense stepped up again as the Mavericks smoked the Spurs in San Antonio. The Spurs had 22 turnovers. The Mavericks had seven. Shawn Marion and Devin Harris had huge nights on offense.

HEATLES! The Bobcats gave Miami a helluva game, and McBob gave LeBron a helluva forearm shot to the throat, but the champs survived to take a 2-0 lead.

TONIGHT: Three more games for you, all of the series tied 1-1.

Pacers at Hawks, 7 p.m. ET, NBA TV
Thunder at Grizzlies, 8 p.m. ET, TNT
Clippers at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT

MOCK DRAFT! See who Tyler Lashbrook puts in the first round.

WELPVILLE: Find out who accidentally filed their MVP picks for Most Improved Player, resulting in a bizarre second-place vote for LeBron James in MIP. Goran Dragic, by the way, won by a wide margin.

HOW THE WIZARDS CLAWED BACK TO RESPECTABILITY.

RAPTORS FIGHT BACK: Toronto’s two longest-tenured Raptors -- DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson -- were behind the team’s series-knotting win on Tuesday.

ANOTHER NAME FOR THE JAZZ: Quin Snyder is reportedly a candidate! How about that?

PERO WORLD: Find out which NBA legends Pero Antic outplayed this season, courtesy of a Macedonian newspaper and Google Translate. Andrea Bargnani has been known since antiquity!

AMARE HAS CHOLERA: It’s the New York Knicks on the Oregon Trail. Brilliant.

BASKETBALL DIPLOMACY: Cool 30 for 30 Short on the Globetrotters in Cold War Moscow.

Happy Thursday. See you next time.