NBA Scores & More: Jeremy Lin Buries Raptors, Lakers Handle Hawks, Wizards Stun Blazers

The Toronto Raptors had done a good job all night on the newly engergized, Jeremy Lin-led New York Knicks. Through almost 44 minutes they had taken hold of the lead and knocked back every single attempt by their guests to grasp it. But in the last four minutes, the Knicks defense cranked up and Lin hit two big three-point plays to rob the Raptors and make it a Knicks 90-87 win.

Jose Calderon was a huge piece of the action for Toronto, and through three quarters Calderon scorched Lin and the Knicks for 25 points, seven assists and only two turnovers. Calderon's fourth quarter, however, was interrupted by Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert.

Shumpert switched over to Calderon for the final nine minutes of the game and immediately threw off the rhythm he had established throughout the game. Calderon did not score in the fourth quarter, as Shumpert barely allowed him to halfcourt before getting up into his jersey.

Meanwhile the Knicks, who had scored only 36 points in the first half, were busy getting their offense back on track after getting down as much as 17 points to the Raptors.

It was the first game back to the lineup for Amare Stoudemire since the newly minted Jeremy Lin era raced out to a 5-0 record. Stoudemire, who shot 8-22 for his 21 points, worked well with Lin for a couple of pick and roll hoops including a nice fourth quarter dunk after Lin drove to the hoop and wrapped a pass back around to Amare for the jam.

With a little more than four minutes left, the Raptors still had a nine-point lead and had forced Lin into seven turnovers with an eighth coming a minute later. Then the New York defense clamped down.

Calderon turned the ball over twice, including a sweet steal by Shumpert who took the ball down the court and jammed. Then it was Tyson Chandler's turn, smushing a DeMar DeRozan shot attempt to set up the Knicks latest big finish.

Lin, who had 15 points and 11 assists to begin to offset the eight turnovers at that point, took the ball inside when he saw a crease, drew contact from Amir Johnson and made the basket. After Lin made the free throw and Leandro Barbosa missed his shot, Shumpert missed his shot, but Chandler was there to get it back for the Knicks and threw it back to Shumpert. Chandler immediately motioned to get the ball into Lin's hands.

On the deciding shot, Lin motioned for everyone to get back along the baseline, in order to isolate against his in-game nemesis Calderon. After watching Lin go and get to the hoop on a number of occasions one can understand when Calderon looked around for help and gave ground by a half step as the clock wound down.

It was all Lin needed.

Seeing the chance to take the game-winning shot, he did so and sank it true, leaving the Knicks a winner and 6-0 in the Lin Era. Linsanity, indeed.

For more breathless commentary on all things Lin, check out Posting and Toasting. For where to send condolence cards (and you know who you are Lakers/Wolves/you're next fans), go over to Raptors HQ.

Remember when LeBron James made "The Decision"? Remember how when it was first revealed James and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh would all be teammates in Miami, the general consensus was that the Heat would win multiple championships as long as those three were together? Jeff Van Gundy said they would not lose consecutive games all season before they'd played a single game.

Well, maybe those predictions were all just a little early, but not exactly wrong. The Heat had a fine season in Year 1 of the Three Amigos, finishing as Eastern Conference Champions. But a disappointing loss to the Mavericks in the Finals left unfinished business. Right now, the team looks like it might never lose again.

Tuesday night in Indiana the Heat embarrassed the Pacers, 105-90, in a game that was not nearly as close as the final score would indicate. The Heat more or less doubled up on the Pacers through the middle of the second quarter when the score was 50-24, led by 29 at halftime, and coasted from there.

And here's the thing -- the Heat were playing their third game in three nights, the dreaded back-to-back-to-back, all three games on the road. Not only did they win all three, but they won them all by double digits. The league doesn't schedule back-to-back-to-backs in non-lockout seasons anymore, but they used to, and this is the first time since 1979 that a team has won three road games in three nights. It's the first time since 1970 that a team has won three straight by double digits. And continuing with the history lesson, the Heat matched the franchise's best ever start at 23-7.

Although the Pacers have now lost four straight, this is a team that was 17-10 coming into the game and harbors aspirations of competing in the Eastern Conference this season. But as they did to the Hawks in Atlanta on Sunday night, the Heat delivered a message to Indiana -- the road in the East leads through Miami. And oh, by the way, don't bother.

The Heat are simply firing on all cylinders right now. Their defense is absolutely stifling. The combination of length, athleticism and energy smothers every route to the basket, cuts off every passing lane and challenges every shot. A lot of it is talent, but there's also a lot of hard work going into Miami's success. On one play in the second quarter, James deflected a pass on one side of the floor, which then caromed off the rim into a Pacer player's hands, where James blocked the shot, and saved the block from going out of bounds on the other side of the floor. That's three plays on the ball across 50 feet of basketball court with a stop at the rim, all in about four seconds. When your superstar is exerting that kind of effort on defense, it's difficult for the rest of the team not to follow suit. The pressure defense then leads to transition offense, and no one is better on the break than James and Wade.

While things were clicking for Miami, nothing went right for Indiana, and at least one thing went particularly wrong -- leading scorer Danny Granger left the game in the second quarter after turning his ankle. Granger will likely miss the Pacers' game Wednesday night in Cleveland.

LeBron finished with 23 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals -- in 33 minutes; Wade had 16 in 24 minutes, and Bosh scored 13. But one reason Miami looks better this season than last is depth, as both Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller are healthy, while Shane Battier has been added to the mix. One pleasant surprise has been rookie point guard Norris Cole, who tied a career-high with 20 points in 30 minutes Tuesday night.

The Heat didn't quite take the NBA by storm last season -- but it's beginning to look like a case of better late than never.

For more on the Heat, bear in mind the Peninsula is Mightier. To read up on the Pacers, wander through Indy Cornrows.

Kobe Bryant's on a bit of a scoring slide after devastating defenses throughout the month of January. Since the first of the month, Kobe's cracked 30 points (in a loss to the Knicks) and 40 percent shooting (in that win over the Celtics) just once apiece. Tuesday night's match-up with the feisty Hawks didn't change much, but it did offer one kind wrinkle to Kobe's evening. While Bryant scored just 10 points on 18 shots, the rest of the Lakers scored at a respectable 48 percent clip, which far outpaced Atlanta's dismal 34 percent shooting (including 7-27 from downtown). Hell, Kobe could've bricked 10 more shots and the Lakers still would have outgunned the Hawks.

In any event, pretty much every other Laker added something to the Laker scoring: Andrew Bynum's 15 points were efficient as ever. Pau Gasol caught quite a bit of rim in the paint (9-22 from the field) but ripped down eight offensive rebounds. Mike Brown's second unit contributed solid three-point shooting (Troy Murphy lives!) and a few scrappy inside buckets from the hands of Matt Barnes. Oh, and Metta World Peace pensively sank two of his five three-point attempts (such visible inner turmoil before each attempt!).

The Lakers defended decently, too, but it often seemed like the Hawks had just eaten something funky for breakfast. Atlanta missed in pretty much every imaginable realm -- at the rim, from medium range, and around the perimeter. Bad shots and good shots alike struck iron, though it did feel like a couple important Hawks tossed more of the former than the latter. Guys kept leaning on shots they weren't hitting and avoiding shots that they were. Joe Johnson, for instance, shot 1-8 from outside the arc and 6-9 inside of it. Josh Smith hit just 3 of 11 outside the paint and 4-7 from inside. And -- without taking too much credit away from the Laker defense -- it seemed mostly to be that kind of decision-making, combined with just lacking the touch, that doomed Atlanta. Silver Screen and Roll saw some solid individual performances, but little in the way of team defense to stand behind the numbers:

...the Lakers held the Hawks to a moribund PPP of .87, and yet their defense seemed a little flat, especially as it pertained to limiting offensive rebounding. The Hawks routinely missed wide open layups (at one point missing three in a row), and the Lakers were often caught flat footed in watching the Hawks pursue loose balls. None of that mattered, because Atlanta couldn't hit a shot to save their lives. There were some strong defensive performances (Metta World Peace kept Joe Johnson in check, and Pau Gasol did a great job altering shots near the rim), but there was nothing overly special about the Lakers defensive performance, despite the very strong defensive result.

So, it wasn't the cleanest or prettiest of wins, but it was a balanced effort and a solid accomplishment for the Lakers against a top team (albeit playing some of their worst basketball). The win moved L.A. to 17-12 and an impressive 12-2 at home while Atlanta fell to 18-11 overall.

There's plenty more on the Lakers at Silver Screen and Roll. Check out Peachtree Hoops for Hawks things.

For the first time in 2,137 days, and for the first time ever as a starter, Houston Rockets shooting guard Kevin Martin failed to score a single point in an NBA regular season game in which he played. Martin has scored an average of 18.4 points per game in the 2011-12 season, but in the Valentine's Day Showdown against Tony Allen and the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, he went 0-3 from the floor in 19 minutes and was held scoreless. That hasn't happened since April 9, 2006, when he played for the Sacramento Kings. With Martin neutralized, Kyle Lowry struggled to shoulder the load -- he scored 24 points on 7-16 shooting -- as the Rockets shot just 38.5 percent as a team, while the Grizzlies grabbed the lead in the middle of the first quarter and never let it go in a 93-83 home win.

The Grizzlies played fairly well on offense, but were not dominant on that end of the floor by any means. They hit 47.9 percent of their shots, but still turned the ball over (16) more times than they dished out an assist (15). The frontcourt played particularly well, considering Rudy Gay (8-15 for 20 points), Marreese Speights (4-6 for 8 points) and Marcus Gasol (7-9 for 18 points) survived as the only three Grizzlies players to make more than half their shot attempts. That trio combined for 31 first-half points on an absurd 73.7 percent shooting as Memphis built a 52-43 lead by the intermission, and on the night they helped the Grizzlies record 18 made baskets in the paint on 35 tries while holding the Rockets to 19 baskets on 45 attempts down low. All three players attacked the front of the rim and worked to gain premium position near the basket throughout the night.

Even with the quality interior offense, there is no doubt that Memphis won because of their effort and execution on the defensive end. With the Rockets on the last leg of their six-game road trip, Tony Allen set the tone by forcing Martin into a turnover on the opening possession and Marc Gasol added emphasis by rejecting Luis Scola the next time the Rockets touched the ball. Martin has been dealing with various injuries, including a bout with plantar fasciitis that forced him to miss a pair of games in January and a more recent run-in with back spasms. He had already been held under double-digits in scoring four times in February, but Tony Allen forced K-Mart to follow up his 28-point performance against the Warriors on Sunday with one of the worst games of his career. How bad did it get? With Memphis up just six entering the fourth quarter, Kevin McHale elected to go with Chase Budinger and left Martin on the bench for the rest of the game. In answering questions during post-game interviews, Martin didn't offer any encouraging words, either:

"I don't need plays for me to get going. I've been successful in my career just getting in the flow of the game. I'm over there chilling. It is what it is at the moment."

With their leading scorer locked down, almost every halfcourt possession for the Rockets' offense felt like a struggle. They opened the game 8-27 (29.6 percent) from the field and never really recovered, but a lot of it had to do with active hands, energetic on-ball pressure and quick rotations by Grizzlies defenders. Luis Scola had more turnovers (five) than made baskets (four) and the only starter to score in double-figures was Lowry. Memphis consistently rerouted penetration away from the rim and forced Houston players into difficult shots, which is a big reason why the Rockets finished up with 18 turnovers and just 14 assists as a team.

Although Houston never led after a turnaround bank shot from Tony Allen gave Memphis a 15-13 lead with 5:10 remaining in the first period, they did briefly threaten to make it a game late. Lowry swiped a Mike Conley pass and raced down for a layup to cut the lead to five points with 2:58 left, but Gasol set up Conley for a second-chance three and then Rudy Gay pushed the lead back to 10 points and effectively sealed the win with a steal off a deflection and an assist on the ensuing O.J. Mayo layup.

The Rockets (16-13) finished up their six-game road trip with a 3-3 record after the 93-83 loss, while the Grizzlies (15-14) are winners of of three of their last four games after stumbling to a 1-3 record to open the month of February.

For more on the Rockets, head over to The Dream Shake. Grizzlies news and analysis is available at Straight Outta Vancouver.