NBA Scores And More: Knicks End Skid, Blazers Stop Grizzlies' Streak, Magic Bust Up Pacers

The Memphis Grizzlies came into Portland having won seven straight games, including a nervy comeback over Golden State less than 24 hours prior. Comebacks are exhausting, though, and all streaks must end. The tired Memphis friends hung around with the Portland Trail Blazers for a couple of quarters, but tapped out in the second half to take a 97-84 loss.

So far this lockout-smushed season, teams have been especially prone to the odd night of truly rotten shooting. It's a contagion and, while both teams shot poorly, it was really the Grizzlies that caught the bug Tuesday night. The team as a whole shot at a 38 percent clip, and nobody in the first unit cracked 40 percent from the field. Rudy Gay, cold from everywhere but the inner shallows, was the lone starter to crack double-digit points with 11.

When Memphis did score, it did so in trademark fashion. Even at low battery, the Grizzlies were typically disruptive on defense, forcing 20 Portland turnovers, including 10 steals (five of which came from Mike Conley). Particularly in the second quarter, Memphis picked Portland pockets, poached precarious passes, and paraded promptly into the paint for plentiful points, even briefly taking the lead.

But the two teams diverged quickly out of halftime. Blazer's Edge explains:

Memphis got a reminder that Portland was serious about a victory as the third started, as Camby's rebounds and blocks provided a spark. Meanwhile, Portland ramped up the defense and the Grizzlies could not find the net. Just to complete the cycle, Blazer turnovers stopped, and jumpers rained into the hoop from all over the court.

Those rebounds were some of 22 (!) that Camby pulled down the evening. He and LaMarcus Aldridge formed a sporting rebounding 'n' scoring big man/buddy cop duo (Aldridge is the maverick hotshot with a secret, Camby is the obsessive-compulsive forensics expert on his last case. They are: MARCUS AND THE MARCUS) pretty much all game long until they were put on ice for garbage time. And we got garbage time thanks to a 22-2 run that secured Portland a double-digit lead that they wouldn't lose the rest of the way.

Also key for the Blazers: Memphis's slappy, foul-prone defense. Portland was granted 36 free throws and converted 30 of them, a marked advantage over the Grizzlies' 13-17 shooting from the stripe. On a night of exhaustion for two teams both intent on conserving energy (Portland was on the second of a back-to-back-to-back, the Grizzlies were on their fourth game in five nights), free points proved a major deciding factor.

The Grizzlies fell to 10-7 on the year while Portland moved to 11-7. They're third and fourth in their divisions, respectively. Damn, those are some tough divisions.

Head Straight Outta Vancouver for Grizzlies coverage and visit Blazer's Edge for more on Portland.

On Tuesday the Miami Heat played their eighth game this season without Dwyane Wade. The Heat have survived Wade's injuries quite well, winning their first six without him before finally stumbling Sunday against Milwaukee. In Wade's absence once again on Tuesday, playing against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Heat were looking to avoid consecutive losses, and counting on their All-Star forward to lead them. That's exactly what happened, but it's not the All-Star you're thinking of.

While LeBron James was held to just 18 points against his former team, Chris Bosh scored a season-high 35 on just 16 shots. Bosh was 10 for 16 from the field, and a stellar 14 for 14 from the line. In a game that was surprisingly close from beginning to end, Bosh had 17 points in the final quarter, including six straight free throws to help ice the game as the Heat won 92-85.

It wasn't Miami's best game. A top-10 defensive unit holding opponents under 43 percent shooting coming into the game, they allowed the offensively challenged Cavs to shoot 50 percent from the field. As for James, he took 21 shots to score his 18 points. In a season where he has been the model of scoring efficiency, it was the first time all year that he's accumulated more shots than points. He was also the only member of the Heat to miss a free throw all night.

The teams could not pull away from each other -- neither ever built a double-digit lead. At one point in the first quarter they swapped three consecutive 6-0 runs, each one taking a three-point lead in turn. Cleveland, playing on the road, hung in with the mighty Heat admirably. They managed to cut an eight-point lead down to three twice in the final seconds, but Miami made eight straight free throws to keep the game out of reach. Cavs blog Fear the Sword found plenty praiseworthy in Cleveland's solid effort:

I absolutely love how the team came out and fought tonight. I know people don't like the concept of a "moral victory" but this was one if I've ever seen it. After getting completely thrashed by Atlanta and Chicago, I thought the Cavs were in for another beatdown at the hands of a far more talented team. I'm not sure who, exactly, to credit for injecting some life into this team (although I suspect Byron Scott), but it was really great to see. Everyone played hard and fouled hard. It was 100% effort on every single play and they fought til the very last buzzer. Great to see from a young team after two potentially deflating losses.

The Cavs were led by rookie Kyrie Irving with 17 points. Anderson Varejao had a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Samardo Samuels scored 15 off the bench.

With the win, Miami improves to 12-5 while Cleveland drops to 6-10.

For more on the Heat, check out Peninsula is Mightier. To catch up on the Cavs, you should, nay you must Fear the Sword.

Dwight Howard became the Orlando Magic's all-time leading scorer, and was among five Magic players that scored in double digits in limited minutes as Orlando rebounded from a historically poor game on Monday before to beat the Indiana Pacers 102-83 on the road Tuesday night. After getting embarrassed the night before, being held to 56 measly points by the Boston Celtics, Orlando started slow again, but the its bench stabilized the game and began to turn the momentum around at last for the Magic.

The Pacers went on a 17-4 run early in the first quarter, but then the Magic outscored the Pacers 91-62 the rest of the way. The Pacers could offer no more rebuttals against the Magic attack than 6-1, 5-0 and 6-0 runs after their initial outburst as the Magic defense clamped down. Meanwhile, the Magic was able to snap off three 10+ point runs to catch and pass the Pacers early in the second quarter.

Defense was key for Orlando, as it held Indiana to under 34 percent shooting after an 11-19 (58 percent) first quarter. That strong defense created easier basket opportunities for the Magic as they had one transition play in the first quarter and 14 the rest of the game, including nine in the second half. Against Boston, even with plenty of garbage time, they could muster only six of these plays, converting a single basket.

Ryan Anderson led the Magic with 24 points after not registering a field goal for the first time in his career when playing 20+ minutes on Monday. Howard missed a lot of the first half with foul trouble so he and Anderson were the only starters to log major minutes in the fourth quarter.

For the Pacers, the first quarter was all about the play of Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert. Both players scored 10 points in the first quarter and 16 for the game, with Hibbert shooting 2-11 and Granger 1-6 after their pinnacles early in the game.

Nathan S. highlights the missed opportunity Indiana had to capitalize on their strong first quarter at Indy Cornrows:

So when Lou Amundson drew Howard's third foul at the beginning of the second quarter, it looked like the Pacers were in prime position to blow the game wide open and stay undefeated at home. But as Danny Granger and Roy Hibbert rested, the Magic kept the game within striking distance before rattling off a 10-0 run to give them a 41-39 lead as the teams went into the half knotted at 45, leaving the blue and gold feeling like they wasted a huge opportunity.

Meanwhile, Evan Dunlap at Orlando Pinstriped Post notes Howard's all-time moment:

At the 9:59 mark of the third, Howard darted down the lane, took a pass from--who else?--Hedo Turkoglu, and threw down a dunk on Roy Hibbert to bring his career scoring total to 10,561, one ahead of Nick Anderson on Orlando's franchise list.

After dropping six straight games and inspiring fans and NBA analysts to challenge the fabric of the team's construction more than once along the way, the New York Knicks finally pocketed a comfortable 111-78 win against the Charlotte Bobcats. So many things went right for the Knicks. They moved the ball well and shot 50 percent from the field, made more free throws than the Bobcats attempted, out-rebounded their opponent by 20, dished out 16 more assists as a team and effectively won the game before the fourth quarter even started. Everything the Bobcats attempted to do, the Knicks did it better and more often. For at least one night, New York thrived off great performances from a trio of players. It just wasn't the full trio they have been touting since the offseason.

Amar'e Stoudemire posted an efficient and impactful performance for the first time in almost two weeks -- 18 points on 7-12 shooting, 8 rebounds and zero turnovers -- while Landry Fields contributed enough quality plays to fill every category in the box score and touched every aspect of the game as he collected 18 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. However, both Stoudemire and Fields played a backseat role to Tyson Chandler, who made an indelible mark on the game with an absurd double-double featuring 20 points on 9-10 shooting and 17 rebounds, 8 of which came on the offensive glass. Oh yeah, and he did all that damage without playing a single minute in the fourth quarter.

As for Carmelo Anthony, he sputtered through an 0-7 shooting performance and scored a career-low one point while making little impact on the outcome, but he did manage to contribute 11 rebounds and 4 assists while limiting himself to just a single turnover. After the game, 'Melo reiterated that he is less than 100 percent healthy but maintains he is still in a good place mentally. On this night the 'Melo storyline simply didn't matter as the team played extremely well anyways.

Enough about the puncher, what about the punching bag? The Bobcats played uninspired basketball for most of the night and could not draw inspiration from what was a listless home crowd. No player grabbed more than five rebounds. No player dished out more than two assists. No player shot above 50 percent from the field. Already trailing by 16 points entering the final period, the Bobcats managed to get outscored by 17 points in the fourth quarter in a battle of the backups. Make no mistake about it, Charlotte earned every bit of embarrassment in their 15th loss of the season.

With starting point guard D.J. Augustin out due to inflammation in his right toe, rookie first-round pick Kemba Walker filled in at point and logged a team-high 36 minutes. He put together an up-and-down performance, but finished the game as the only bright spot for the Bobcats. After opening the game a bit jittery and committing all four of his turnovers in the first 15 minutes, Walker settled down and pumped out 22 points on 7-17 from the field to go with an underwhelming pair of assists. The rookie did not exactly orchestrate quality half-court offense, but so many of his teammates turned in poor performances that he can't take too much blame.

Tyrus Thomas played some horrid ball -- posting 4 points on 1-9 shooting with three turnovers -- yet the worst performance of the night belonged to Byron Mullens. The young center settled for jumpshots on offense, but the most inexcusable aspect of his play was his lack of effort and awareness on the glass. Tyson Chandler outworked and over-powered Mullens on almost every possession their matchup came into focus, and the only mercy afforded to the Bobcats' big came when Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni elected to rest Chandler for the entire fourth quarter.

Speaking of Chandler, if you need even more affirmation regarding his excellent performance, consider this excerpt from Seth Rosenthal's game recap at SB Nation's Knicks blog, Posting and Toasting:

Tyson Chandler was the undisputed MVP of (the non-garbage time portion of) this game. Byron Mullens was like "hey I'm Byron I'll be your opponent today. I'm really looking forward to guarding you and competing for rebounds with you" and Tyson was like "WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF ME DUNKING INTO YOUR MOUTH". Chandler got every rebound on both ends and dunked every dunk and was just awesome and dominant and awesome again. Big ups to the guards for hitting Chandler with a few nice feeds and also (seriously) missing shots when he was in good rebounding position.

The win boosted the Knicks to 7-10 overall, while the Bobcats fell to 3-15.

For more Knicks coverage, be sure to check out Posting and Toasting. Bobcats analysis is available at Rufus On Fire.