Where The Jazz Are Backwards (Day 21)

The Jazz, after going through a rough 5-game (all come-from-behinds) winning streak on the road against some of the toughest teams in the league, finally returned home to a struggling Thunder team- and lost, 115-108. Not that it was Deron William's (31 points on 12-18 shooting, 4-7 treys, 3-3 free throws, with 5 boards, 11 assists and a steal) fault (or Paul Millsap's [20, 6 and 6, on 8-15 shooting, with a trey and 2 steals]). He outplayed OKC's Russell Westbrook (22, 1 and 7, on 8-13 shooting, 6-6 free throws, with a steal), but the rest of his team couldn't keep Serge Ibaka (22 points on 9-13 shooting, 4-4 free throws, 11 rebounds, with an assist, a steal and 4 blocks) from having a career night and Kevin Durant (30 points, 16-16 free throws, with 6 boards, 4 assists, 2 treys and 2 steals) from scoring his usual thirty. By the way, Ibaka's outburst should not be a surprise. He has been playing exceptionally well all season thus far and is a dependable option for percentages, rebounds and blocks with minimal turnovers- regardless of whether Jeff Green is in the lineup or not.

The Hornets lost for the first time this season, as they fell to the Mavs, 98-95. Chris Paul (22 points on 9-16 shooting, 2-5 treys, with 4 boards, 9 assists and 3 steals) was brilliant as usual, but he got into some foul trouble and missed out on some minutes that may have made the difference between a perfect record and an imperfect one. Dallas was led by their three-headed monster of Dirk Nowitzki (25 points on 7-12 shooting, 1-2 trey, 10-13 free throws, with 10 rebounds and 3 assists), Jason Terry (26, 2 and 4, on 9-19 shooting, 3-6 treys, 5-6 free throws, with a steal and a block), and Jason Kidd (16 points on 6-8 shooting, 3-5 treys, with 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and a steal).

In the much anticipated matchup between Kwame Brown (3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in 11 minutes) and Darko Milicic (13 points on 5-11 shooting, 3-4 free throws, with 12 boards, 5 assists and 4 blocks- take that, coach Brown!), Larry Brown's Bobcats beat the Wolves, 113-110. I'm just playing. Nobody cares about Kwame or Darko. Gerald Wallace (26 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 17-19 free throws, with a trey, 2 steals and a block) and Stephen Jackson (26 points on 9-16 shooting, 5-6 treys, 3-3 free throws, with 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal, with no turnovers) led the way, with Tyrus Thomas (20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks, on 8-11 shooting) posting a double double, while the Wolves were led by Michael Beasley (28 points on 12-25 shooting, 3-3 treys, with 5 boards, 2 assists, and 2 blocks), Milicic, and Kevin Love (20 points on 8-16 shooting, 3-3 free throws, with only 9 boards, but he did have a trey, a steal and a block). Both teams are pretty pathetic in real life, but there's a lot of fantasy gold mines between these two teams.

Speaking of pathetic teams, the Nets beat the Clippers tonight, 110-96. They were led by Brook Lopez (24 points on 10-16 shooting, 4-4 free throws, with 3 boards, 2 assists, and 3 blocks with only 1 turnover), Travis Outlaw (23 points on 9-14 shooting, 4-6 treys, 1-1 free throw, with 5 boards, 2 assists, and a block), and Jordan Farmar (15, 2 and 12, with a trey and 2 steals), while the Clips were led by their backcourt of Eric Gordon (30, 4 and 4) and Eric Bledsoe (15, 8 and 6).

Carmelo Anthony abused the Phoenix frontcourt for 20 points and 22 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to beat the Suns, as Phoenix beat Denver, 100-94. Steve Nash (15, 4 and 7, with a trey, 2 steals and a block, with only 1 turnover), Hakim Warrick (21, 3 and 1, on 7-9 shooting, 7-8 free throws), and Channing Frye (15, 7 and 1, on 6-11 shooting, with 2 treys, a steal and a block, with no turnovers) led a balanced attack.