
Wizards 108, Nets 88
The Washington Wizards were able to contain red-hot point guard Devin Harris and his wingman Vince Carter on their way to a 20 point victory. It was the Wizards third win of the season, but second under Ed Tapscott in four games.Coming into the contest, Harris was averaging a league leading 9.7 free throws made per game and the Nets are 7-1 when Harris shoots over 10 free throws in the game. In those 8 games Harris averaged 31.3 points.
On Tuesday night Harris was limited to three free throw attempts, capitalizing on all of them. He finished with 18 points and two assists.
Caron Butler has played especially well under Tapscott. He has averaged 25.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 2 steals per game with two double-doubles in the four games.
Blazers 104, Knicks 97
Greg Oden started the game with two missed dunks for the Blazers, who have been sub-par on the road this year. It may have been the bright lights or the busy streets but Oden was a non-factor, with only two points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes of play.
Rudy Fernandez seemed to be right at home, however. The Spaniard had an impressive fan-base at the game and canned two fourth quarter threes to the delight of the New York fans, finishing with 18 points.
Along with Fernandez, Joel Pryzbilla really stepped it up against the under-sized Knicks. The former Minnesota Golden Gopher finished with eight points and 14 rebounds. Pryzbilla is shooting an unprecedented 81.9 percent from the field this season, which means his 4-for-6 shooting-night actually hurt his percentage.
The Knicks were out-rebounded 36-to-54 by Portland.
Pistons 89, Spurs 77
Spurs season ticket holders were ecstatic to cheer on a starting lineup that included Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili for the first time this season.
After three quarters the Spurs were down by two, and fans were on the edge of their seats, ready for a come-from-behind victory.
Unfortunately for San Antonio, Rasheed Wallace and the Detroit Pistons outplayed them in this battle of the Alamo. Wallace hit three threes to spearhead a 28-14 fourth quarter for Detroit.
The Spurs' big three combine for 54 points, 70.1 percent of the team's 77 points. The trio shot 43.1 percent from the field while the rest of the Spurs shot 33.3 percent.
With Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili back Greg Popovich has to continue to get the most out of his role players in order to get the Spurs back in the playoffs.
Nuggets 132, Raptors 93
Denver fans were enjoying three tacos for a dollar thanks to a team effort from the Nuggets Tuesday Night.
Or maybe it was the lack of effort from the Raptors, who have been outscored by 46 points through two games of their Western road trip. Things won't get any easier either, as Toronto, at 8-9, heads into Utah on Friday.
With 7:38 left to play Cheikh Samb checked into the game. If you're not familiar with Samb, he was the player who had you saying "Who?" in the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson trade. Having logged only 11 minutes for Denver in four games, Samb was still searching for his first points of the season.
In eight minutes of play the 7-1 native of Senegal had career highs of four points, six rebounds and two blocks. Over 36 minutes, those numbers project to 18 points, 27 rebounds and 9 blocks. Watch out.
Mavericks 100, Clippers 98
The Jason Kidd stat-watch continues as he was held scoreless on the night. It was the sixth time in his career he has been held to zero points. Kidd's teams are 3-3 in those games.
For more from this Bleacher Report writer, click here.