NBA Scores & More: Linsanity Shares Spotlight And Ball In Knicks Win, Rockets Edge Thunder

Well, Linsanity wasn't quite as Linsane as it had been in prior games, but it wasn't exactly needed in this one. Jeremy Lin broke his streak of six consecutive games of 20 or more points, but finished with 10 and a career-high 13 assists in the Knicks' seventh straight victory. New York pretty much cruised to a 100-85 win over the Kings in New York.

Both teams were playing in the second of a back-to-back, but only one looked the part. The Kings came out meek as ever, shooting miserably for pretty much the entire game and repeatedly collapsing on defense. They concentrated way too hard on Lin, over-helping on his drives to the rim and allowing him clear lanes for feeds to his big men and shooters.

And those big men and shooters finished the job more often than not. The Knicks got incredibly balanced scoring, with seven guys reaching double-digit point totals and Tyson Chandler finishing with nine. Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire (in his second game back since leaving the team to mourn the death of his brother) both slammed home a number of splendid Lin feeds, and Landry Fields snuck baseline to tomahawk Linsane alley-oops and lead passes.

The Knicks built a quick double-digit lead, and were only momentarily threatened in the second quarter before racing ahead and never looking back again. The game felt pretty much over in the second quarter, and Sacramento couldn't be bothered to muster a run on the road. For the folks at Sactown Royalty, the game wasn't just bad, it was boring:

What a miserable game to watch. With all the hype and energy surrounding the Knicks currently and the way these Kings have stepped up playing in the Garden the last few years, you'd think that they'd come out looking to prove something. Instead the Kings came out flat and stayed that way much of the night.

Indeed, the Kings offered very little resistance, though some credit must be given to Lin for continuing his fine play against another defense keyed on stopping him. While other teams have looked to hedge and trap on his pick-and-roll plays, the Kings just ball-chased and mobbed the guy. Instead of forcing the action (something he's been prone to do in stretches), Lin kept his dribble and waited patiently for an outlet so as to the exploit the Kings' willingness to leave men open. And, many open men later, the Knicks had their seventh straight win.

Check out Posting and Toasting for semi-decent Knicks coverage and Sactown Royalty for more on the Kings.

With Danilo Gallinari, Nene and Timofey Mozgov all hurting, the Nuggets trot out some pretty interesting lineups. Against a hot Mavericks team, a Nuggets squad that leaned heavily on the likes of Corey Brewer for offense just wasn't going to hang. This game was over pretty much as soon as it started, with the Mavericks racing ahead to a 9-1 lead and never really looking back en route to a 102-84 home victory.

Dallas got balanced scoring with Shawn Marion leading the way with 16 points. Marion, as he's wont to do, really influenced the game on all fronts. He dominated the offensive glass and led the Mavs with 10 rebounds, led the team with 6 assists, and spent quite a bit of his defensive time guarding -- and stopping -- Ty Lawson. Lawson shot just 1-8 and scored a season-low of just three points against a defender roughly three time his height.

While Denver was unquestionably the team more hampered by injuries, the Mavs weren't at full staff either. Dallas entered the game missing two rotation guards -- Jason Terry rested due to a quad strain (though Rick Carlisle added that he'd miss the next game for personal reasons) while Rodrigue Beaubois was missing to mourn the sudden death of his father. In the second quarter, Delonte West suffered an incredibly gruesome compound fracture of his finger. All of the above elevated Dominique Jones to back-up point guard status, and Jones played 31 fairly mediocre minutes to spell Jason Kidd, who had a great night from downtown (4-6).

Despite all the bad news from the backcourt, Mavs Moneyball saw plenty of reason to be excited about the win:

Tonight, we don’t have to worry about the bad news. This was a thrashing from nearly the beginning. The Nuggets are missing some important pieces too, but as Rick says, this is a no sympathy win. They wouldn’t have felt bad beating us either.

Indeed. Despite all the injuries and a relatively off night from Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs destroyed a good (albeit badly short-handed) team to win their fifth straight. The Nuggets, meanwhile, fell back into the loss column after breaking up their recent skid with consecutive wins against the Pacers and Suns.

Visit Mavs Moneyball for more Dallas Coverage and Denver Stiffs for all things Nuggets.

Kevin Martin scored 32 points, including two late free throws to push the Rockets past the Oklahoma City Thunder 96-95 despite a flurry of last-possession shots by the Thunder that included a Kevin Durant runner that missed and the Russell Westbrook follow-up layup that failed to mark as well.

Durant and Westbrook, who scored 59 points between them with 16 combined rebounds, led the Thunder back from an early deficit on the strength of their strong transition play (along with third amigo James Harden) and efficiency in the pick and roll. The trio accounted for 80 percent of the Thunder scoring for the night, and they needed it after a 29-13 Rocket first quarter lead.

The Rockets jumped out early behind Martin and Chandler Parsons, who along with scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds for the game also played some excellent early defense on Durant, getting a couple of steals from the All-Star for his efforts.

Durant got even later, scoring in the fourth quarter on Parsons on two excellent plays. One was a fantastic pick and roll from Westbrook as Parsons got stuck on the hard show and couldn't get back to Durant, who slammed to put the Thunder up by two with six minutes left. The other was a great cut to the basket when Parsons guessed wrong on a screen and Durant simply stepped towards the basket, got the rocket pass from Harden and layed it in to put the Thunder back on top by one with 3:40 left to play.

But that would be it for Durant, as he would misfire on his last four shots, all in the last minute of the game and three on that final Thunder possession.

Houston's balanced attack beyond the efforts of Martin and Parson was supported by Kyle Lowry who, in addition to his nine assists, finally broke into double digits in scoring late when he captured an ill-advised Samuel Dalembert baseline jump shot and put it back to bring the margin back down to a single point going into the last minute of the game.

After that it was Martin's turn after Dalembert tipped high the rebound of another Durant miss and Lowry claimed it. After Martin got the ball from Lowry, he dribbled, used a couple of screens at the top before finally coming off a pick by Dalembert and getting bumped by Kendrick Perkins. Two free throws later and the Thunder would go through those multiple misses at their end by Durant and finally Westbrook's errant tip to seal the game.

For more on the Rockets, visit The Dream Shake. For more on the Thunder, visit Welcome To Loud City.

The Portland Trail Blazers were without a win in six games decided by three points or fewer heading into Wednesday night. Their hosts, the Golden State Warriors, were 1-4 in close ones. Neither team led by more than five in the entire second half, so as the game headed down to the wire, the question was, which of these two teams that have had trouble closing would get the job done?

In the end it was the Blazers who came out on top, 93-91, with Jamal Crawford scoring his team's final five points, including the decisive free throws with 44 seconds left. It was an unlikely win for the Blazers on several levels. Not only was it their first close win of the season, it also came on the road, where Portland has fared poorly (4-10 coming in). Perhaps most surprising, it came without their leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge, who remained in Portland to receive treatment on the ankle he sprained in Tuesday night's loss to Wizards.

The Warriors finished the game without their leading scorer as well. Monta Ellis started, but his effectiveness and minutes were limited by illness. Ellis is fifth in the NBA in minutes per game at almost 38, but played only 27 in this one, sitting out the entire fourth quarter. He scored just 10 points, 12 below his season average.

In the absence of Aldridge, several players stepped up for Portland. Chief among them was Gerald Wallace with 24 points and 6 rebounds. A 28 percent three-point shooter on the season, Wallace made all four of his three-point attempts, including two key ones in the fourth quarter. Nicolas Batum, inserted into the starting lineup just before Aldridge was injured, also had a strong game with 17 points, and Crawford finished with 14.

For Golden State, it was the David Lee show. Lee had 29 points and 11 rebounds, but for some reason the Warriors seemed to forget about him in the fourth quarter. After scoring 25 points on 18 shots through three quarters, Lee had just two field goal attempts and four points in the fourth quarter. With Ellis on the bench and Stephen Curry having a cold shooting night (3 for 10 for 8 points), it was up to super sub Nate Robinson to carry the load in the fourth quarter. Little Nate scored 10 of his 21 points in the final period, but was unable to convert on two possessions with his team down two in the final seconds.

The loss snaps a season best three-game winning streak for the Warriors, and drops them to 11-15 overall, 8-9 at home. Portland gets a rare road win and improves to 14-12 overall.

For more on the Warriors enter a Golden State of Mind. To read up on the Blzaers, move to the Blazer's Edge.

Somebody forget to remind Ryan Anderson and the Orlando Magic that the Philadelphia 76ers are the top-rated defense in the NBA. In the first head-to-head meeting back on Jan. 31, the Sixers' defense dominated a low-scoring slug fest. This time around, Ryan Anderson's 27 points and 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc paced a powerful offensive attack propelled by 15 made threes on 60 percent accuracy. The Magic secured the opening tip, hit the first shot, lunged to an early 23-6 lead and never trailed at any point during their impressive 103-87 home win

Jameer Nelson missed the first matchup due to lingering concussive symptoms, but he certainly made his mark in the rematch. The Sixers' defense sagged and smothered passing lanes to keep the ball away from Dwight Howard -- who still managed a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double -- so Nelson exploited the additional space, sliced towards the basket and distributed the ball on the perimeter on his way to tying a career-high with 14 assists (10 of them on made threes) to accompany his 12 points. .

Philadelphia never found a comfort level on either end of the floor. Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner, Andre Iguodala and the rest of the Sixers wing defenders tried to stifle post entry gaps but then failed to close out on Magic sharp shooters fast enough, as Ryan Anderson (7-10), Jason Richardson (4-5) and J.J. Redick (2-3) feasted on wide open looks behind the three-point line. The Magic relentlessly executed the extra pass to stress Philly's defensive rotations throughout the game and they recorded assists on every one of their 15 made three-pointers as a result.

On offense, Jrue Holiday stumbled through a five-turnover, 1-of-8 shooting performance as the Sixers' starters got outscored 81-38 by their counterparts. Lou Williams entered from the bench and salvaged 21 points and seven assists amid the wreckage, but even he struggled to get Philadelphia back into the game. Each time they whittled the margin to single digits, Orlando renewed the focus until the game moved out of reach again. A 14-point first quarter from Ryan Anderson opened up the early lead, 8 points from Dwight Howard in the second period pushed the margin to 16 at the half and a balanced Magic attack blazed the path to victory over the remainder of the game.

Elton Brand worked in tandem with Nikola Vucevic to defend Howard admirably on the interior, and Brand added 13 points while Vucevic dropped in 10 on the offensive end. Howard still got the better of the matchup down low, but not by a huge margin. Brand grabbed only two rebounds, and Vucevic emerged with five, but after the game two rebounds from Ryan Anderson became the bigger story. Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy got a bit nitpicky with the leading scorer on the night in the post-game interview, especially considering that Orlando matched Philadelphia with 39 total rebounds:

"I don't think Ryan needs to think about getting shots, tonight they were there. Guys made plays to him, and that's how Ryan needs to play. He shot the ball great, but he played 29 ½ minutes and got two rebounds. That's not good enough, that means all you're doing out there is shooting the ball. He's got to be more than a shooter, he's got to be able to play well. I know what he's capable of doing."

"I want the guy to be striving to be a great player, not just a shooter."

After a disastrous end to the month of January, the Magic have now won seven of their last nine games, including three in a row, and are 19-11 overall. Meanwhile, the loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Sixers, who are 20-10 on the year.

For more on the Orlando Magic, visit Orlando Pinstriped Post. Philadelphia 76ers news and analysis is available at Liberty Ballers.