5 Takeaways from Tuesday Night's Defensively Challenged NBA Action

Despite having just three games on the schedule for Tuesday night, Commissioner David Stern was proudly beaming as some of the league's most storied franchises took to the hardwood.

The Boston Celtics looked to continue their winning ways in the aftermath of a rash of injuries that decimated coach Doc Rivers' rotation.

The Denver Nuggets, a trendy sleeper pick before the season started, figured to be in line for their sixth straight win with a matchup against the stumbling Sacramento Kings (3-7 in their previous 10). But the Seacramento SuperKings had hopes of playing spoiler, pushing the Nuggets for all 48 minutes.

The marquee matchup of the night pitted the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers (7-3 in their previous 10) against an Oklahoma City Thunder team eyeing the Western Conference's top spot—ever the more a possibility thanks to the Grade 2 ankle sprain sidelining Spurs star Tony Parker. The Thunder flaunted their youthful athleticism, but the proud Lakers pushed them for everything they had.

Offense trumped defense, and less was certainly more, as these six teams packed a horde of excitement (and 670 combined points) into a compact 148 minutes of action Tuesday night.

The Wisdom of Youth

If this was a typical night for the Oklahoma City Thunder, there's a strong possibility that they don't find themselves on the right side of a 122-105 decision.

The Thunder weren't in grave danger for most of the game, but their one-time 18-point lead dwindled to just five midway through the fourth quarter.

An unfortunate byproduct of their athletic, blistering style of play has been a team-wide carelessness with the ball that has seen the club rack up the second-most turnovers in the NBA this season (15.8 per game entering Tuesday).

And here were the Thunder on Tuesday night, playing with that same frenetic pace. Only this time, they managed to keep their dribble drives under control and their passes consistently hitting their intended targets.

The Thunder turned the ball over just twice—once by Russell Westbrook (who sort of more than made up for that blunder with 37 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals in a shade under 36 minutes) and once by newcomer Ronnie Brewer (who added a steal and a board in his six minutes of game time).

It's not as if the Lakers weren't trying defensively, it's just that the Thunder were faster and more precise with their decision making. Five other OKC players finished in double figures (including Kevin Durant's 26), and the team shot nearly 48 percent from the field.

Considering that the team only bolstered its ridiculous ball control with a swarming, pesky defensive effort (10 steals and five blocks), the Thunder showed why they're the Western Conference's most desirable sacrificial lamb for the Miami Heat come Finals time in June.

A Convenient Truth for the Celtics

For as topsy-turvy as this Boston Celtics season has looked from afar, there has been a rather consistent feel to the franchise. Even through a rash of injuries that saw starting point guard Rajon Rondo (knee) and key rotation players Jared Sullinger (back) and the since-traded Leandro Barbosa (knee) lost for the season, the Celtics have weathered the peaks and valleys that typically accompany the league's grueling 82-game schedule.

There've been a few winning streaks and a few losing ones along the way, but all of them left Boston close to where they sit now—comfortably in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, but far removed from the conference's elites.

Boston carried a two-game winning streak (which came on the heels of a 2-4 stretch) into the Wells Fargo Center for Tuesday night's game with the Philadelphia 76ers. The game played out in the same manner as the team's season, with the team holding a modest lead over the hometown club, but never able to choke out the desperate hopes of the lowly Sixers (23-35) until the game's final minute.

Boston (31-27) survived with a 109-101 road victory, just their 11th in 29 chances this season.

And they did so on the shoulders of their unquestioned leader, Paul Pierce, a Celtics lifer. The 15-year veteran again flirted with a triple-double (he's already had two this season), finishing the night with 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. It was the third time in his last four outings that he's finished with at least 18 points, seven boards and seven dimes.

If the Celtics make any noise in the playoffs (a likely outcome regardless of their regular-season record), they'll surely need more of the same from Pierce.

His scoring (18.6 PPG) and field-goal percentage (42.2) have dipped a bit from his career norm, but his rebounding (6.3 RPG) and assists (4.5 APG) have both seen modest increases.

The Sting of Defeat

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Despite a masterful performance from Kobe Bryant (team-high 30 points), the Los Angeles Lakers looked disjointed on offense.

The Lakers moved to 11-15 on the year when Bryant scores at least 30 points, but it's hard to place too much blame on his shoulders. Although he led the team in field-goal attempts (19), he still finished the night 10 shots behind Westbrook and three less than Durant.

Noticeably absent from coach Mike D'Antoni's attack was the distributing Bryant that had made several appearances of late (eight games with five-plus assists in the previous 10).

In fact, the Lakers lacked any distributor at all. Steve Nash emerged as the team's top table-setter with four dimes, as L.A. assisted on just 11 of its 31 field goals.

The Lakers managed to keep things competitive with a plus-12 advantage on the perimeter and plus-nine advantage at the free-throw line. But with yet another off game from Dwight Howard (six points, 1-of-7 from the field), the Lakers' few advantages weren't enough to keep pace with the energetic Thunder.

The Lakers needed a historic effort from Bryant, but his production was somewhat slowed after exiting in the first quarter with what the team called an ulnar nerve contusion (according to Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register).

In layman's terms, he suffered a stinger. And that sting clearly stuck with him throughout his 39-plus minutes, as Bryant continually grimaced each time the arm was hit.

Despite analysts fawning over what this win could've meant for a franchise lurking just 2.5 games back of the Western Conference's eighth seed, this was far from a setback. Pushing the Thunder in front of a hostile Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd with a hobbled Bryant and an offensively disengaged Howard showed glimpses of what this franchise could be capable of if they can make their playoff goal a reality.

Miller Time Is Winning Time

It hasn't reached a deafening tone quite yet, but the Denver Nuggets (40-22) continue to make noise in the Western Conference.

Taken by itself, a 120-113 win over the Sacramento Kings isn't exactly a threatening war cry directed at their conference foes. Considering it was the team's sixth straight win, though, those victory cheers are gaining momentum as they rain down from atop the Rocky Mountains.

Let's get one thing clear: No, the Nuggets still don't have a superstar on their roster. But the combination of Ty Lawson (24 points), Danilo Gallinari (23) and Kenneth Faried (19) gives them scary depth. And that doesn't even mention Andre Iguodala, who made up for his quiet scoring night (six points) with seven assists, five rebounds and five steals.

Still, there's a certain level of concern that this team won't be able to maintain its current form when playoff time rolls around. When the games slow down, just how will this fast-paced team fare in the half-court setting?

As long as veteran Andre Miller's involved, the Nuggets will be in good hands. The crafty 14-year veteran is the antithesis of the Nuggets roster—slow, old and grounded. Yet, that hasn't stopped him from remaining one of the game's premier reserves.

He gave the Kings a firsthand glimpse of just how much life is left in his soon-to-be 37-year-old legs. He finished the night with 16 points (on 8-of-11 shooting), seven assists and just one turnover in his 27-plus minutes. In his last five games, he's amassed 38 assists to just 10 turnovers.

When Lawson plays a little too fast, Gallinari's jumper isn't falling, Faried's held off the boards or Iguodala's too pass-happy, Miller is the calming presence that makes the Nuggets engine go.

No Days Off for Holiday

If coach Doug Collins is unimpressed by the collective effort of the Andrew Bynum-less Philadelphia 76ers this season (via CSNPhilly.com), imagine how his All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday must feel.

The Sixers brass promised us all that the fourth-year floor general was capable of so much more than he'd shown in his first three seasons (topping out at 14.0 PPG and 6.5 APG in his sophomore season of 2010-11).

Holiday's upside (and the impossible-to-resist temptation to add a potential franchise big like Bynum) led the 76ers to cut ties with former face of the franchise Andre Iguodala in a blockbuster four-team trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets, a host of young players and draft picks to the Orlando Magic and...well, just 33 games from Jason Richardson to Philly.

And despite orchestrating a one-man band for the majority of the season, Holiday found a way to tap into that vast potential (19.1 PPG and 8.5 APG) that Sixers execs salivated over like the fans did when Bynum first limped into town (via New York Daily News). Holiday had even kept them in the playoff picture for most of the season, until their recent 1-9 stretch all but extinguished those hopes.

Tuesday night's game with the Celtics was an all too familiar sight for Holiday. He was impressive again (18 points, 10 assists and five rebounds) yet couldn't find enough help to make his effort translate into a Sixers victory.

Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young combined for 37 points, but needed 39 shots to hit that mark.

In fact, outside of rookie Arnett Moultrie's efficient 20 minutes (10 points, 5-of-5 from the field), Philly's entire box score showed a collection of volume scorers. Spencer Hawes needed 12 shots for his 14 points, Royal Ivey nine for his 10 points. Reserve Dorell Wright was the worst offender, tallying 10 points but connecting on just three of his 13 field-goal attempts and two of his seven shots from the perimeter.