Court Awareness: The Celtics' Slide, the Lone Granger, and the Rest of Wednesday

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 of his own 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 eight-for-nine 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 three-pointer with 28 seconds left. Charlie Villanueva led the Bucks with 26 points.


One Last Thing

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