NBA Scores & More: Brandon Jennings Leads Bucks Comeback Over Heat, Chris Paul Slays Jazz

When the Los Angeles Clippers traded for Chris Paul in December, everyone knew that pairing him with Blake Griffin in Lob City would be exciting. Some people even realized that the team could be very good. But did anyone suspect that they would be this good, this soon?

In three games over the course of four nights, the Clippers have won in Denver (second best record in the West and 7-2 at home at the time), against Oklahoma City (best in the West), and Wednesday night in Utah against the Jazz (fifth in the West, 10-3 at home). The win over the Jazz must be particularly sweet for the Clippers, as they had lost 16 straight in Utah going back to 2003, and had won there only once since 1989 -- the year of Blake Griffin's birth.

Obviously, this is a different Clippers team than the ones that have compiled such a record of futility in Salt Lake City, and one big difference-maker is Paul. He had a season-high 34 points, including 12 in the pivotal fourth quarter, to go along with 11 assists and three steals. He was absolutely unstoppable in the fourth, making 5 of 7 shots and scoring every big bucket for the Clippers.

Two weeks ago, the Clippers were blown out in the same building, in a game Paul missed with a strained hamstring. In that meeting, the Clippers had no energy from the opening tip, but it was clear this one would be a different story when Griffin dunked a Paul lob on the first play, seven seconds in. In fact, the Clippers first four baskets were dunks, three of them by Griffin, three of them via lobs, all assisted by Paul. Lob City indeed.

But the Jazz are a quality team, especially at home, and they were busy scoring themselves. Al Jefferson had a huge first half, scoring 18 points on 9 of 11 shooting, most of them from his seemingly automatic jump hook (which at times looks more like a one-handed jump shot). Utah also forced eight first half turnovers and generated easy baskets off of them. At halftime, with the Jazz shooting a sizzling 61 percent, Utah led by two.

The second half was a constant struggle. The Clippers scored the first six points of the half to take a four point lead, but neither team led by more than five the entire half. How many times have you watched a half that was within two possessions the entire time? Utah had the ball down two with 90 seconds left when Paul Millsap was called for an offensive foul for lowering his shoulder into Griffin, much to the dismay of the home crowd. It was a tough call, and one that will often be ignored in that situation, but not necessarily the wrong call. Paul made a jump shot on the ensuing Clippers possession, and although Utah made some threes in the final minute to make things interesting, L.A. was 9 for 9 from the line in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.

This victory by the Clippers may be more impressive than the ones over the Nuggets and Thunder, because things did not come easily. L.A. has been red hot from long-range, and had made 14 three-pointers against Denver and 13 against Oklahoma City. Wednesday night in Utah, they were 5-22 from deep. With Chauncey Billups struggling (1 for 8 missing all five of his three-pointers), Mo Williams slightly cooler than he has been (he managed to score 19 but was just 6 for 18 from the field) and Caron Butler sitting out with a sore back, it was up to Paul and Griffin to grind out a win. Griffin finished the game with 31 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. He and Paul combined to score 65 of L.A.'s 107. And what may be most frightening for the rest of the league, they are just now beginning to develop some real rapport on the pick and roll.

Jefferson cooled off some in the second half, but still finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Millsap, who has been playing at an All-Star level all season, had a relatively quiet 14 points and 7 boards. C.J. Miles and Derrick Favors came off the bench to score 16 and 14 respectively.

With the win, the Clippers move to 13-6 on the season. The Jazz are now 12-8.

For more on the Jazz, check out SLC Dunk. Visit the Clippers in Clips Nation.

The San Antonio Spurs fell just short of coming all the way back from a big deficit against on Sunday in Dallas. On Wednesday, against another member of the Texas Triangle, the Spurs actually did the deed, erasing an 18-point third quarter margin to beat the Houston Rockets, 99-91.

It looked for a while like Houston had bolted too far ahead to let the Spurs back in the game. Kevin Martin shot Houston to a double-digit lead almost instantly, blazing over screens to ditch Kawhi Leonard and Richard Jefferson and dropping 11 of his 32 points in the first six minutes of the game. Houston also controlled the painted area in the early going, stifling any interior looks and limiting San Antonio to rushed attempts while gobbling up rebounds at both ends.

But the Spurs built a bit of momentum by sinking some buckets to end the first half, then made the necessary adjustments to gain on Houston beginning in the third quarter. Kyle Lowry did what he could to keep the Rockets afloat by attacking the rim, but the Spurs adapted their game plan a bit on both ends to chip away at the lead. On offense, there were increasing efforts to feed Tim Duncan inside. Duncan, ever shifty and with a noticeable pep in his step, flummoxed Samuel Dalembert into foul trouble, then mesmerized Jordan Hill with post moves and inside cuts. On defense, Gregg Popovich shelved Leonard and put Danny Green on Martin. Green, playing in front of his North Carolina coach, Roy Williams (who sat courtside in an argyle vest [yes, that's important]), pestered Martin to no end. Green chased him wildly around screens and hopped around waving his arms enough to force Martin farther and farther out on the perimeter and distract him on outside attempts.

In the fourth, Tony Parker came alive to drill some pull-up jumpers and carve the Rockets up off the dribble, getting some big outside shots from Matt Bonner, Gary Neal, and Green as well. After a back-and-forth period, a Neal runner put them up two, Bonner's signature catapult three-pointer made it five, and the Spurs hit their free throws to seal the deal. 'Twas a rousing win in front of a raucous home crowd, and a vintage showing from the Spurs' veteran stars (49 points combined for Duncan and Parker).

For more on the Spurs, head to Pounding the Rock. To read about the Rockets, check out The Dream Shake.

Jason Terry did all he could, dealing in some of his patented fourth quarter scoring to bring the Dallas Mavericks back to tie the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 85. Then Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook took turns knocking down game-closing shots leading the Thunder on a 10-1 run to close the game and a 95-86 win in Dallas.

Westbrook led all scorers with 33 points, alternately attacking the rim and using that success to pull up for open jump shots. The result was an 11-24 shooting night and taking 10 free throws (he made nine) while scoring 12 in the closing quarter. Durant didn't shoot well (7-19), but hit a turnaround that made it 89-85 and pulled in 13 rebounds as well.

Any fourth quarter possession that didn't feature Terry was a bad one for the Mavericks. Terry only took three shots in the quarter, but made two of them and got to the line for a 6-6 showing there, scoring 10 points in the fourth as the rest of the team shot 3-16. For the game, Terry shot 7-10 for 25 points while his teammates went 23-74 (31 percent).

Painfully, Dirk Nowitzki was among the chief conspirators in the plot to assail the team's offensive efficiency. Nowitzki is clearly having problems with his balky knee as he struggled with creating space with his lower body for his assortment of moves and bricked his way to a 2-15 night, scoring only eight points in 37 minutes.

Perhaps lost in the scoring of Westbrook and Durant was the 10-block night for Serge Ibaka, who did his part in keeping the Mavericks down. Ibaka showed exquisite timing in blocking layups and jump shots inside, part of a 13-block party for the Thunder.

Rick Carlisle, frustrated with poor play and what he thought was one-sided officiating, picked up two fourth quarter technical fouls within two minutes of each other and was sent to his office early. His second technical came after Westbrook slammed a transition basket and the ball rolled over to Carlisle. The Dallas coach then kicked at the basketball, not furiously, but still firmly and the ball sailed off the court and into the second row, hitting a fan. Carlisle immediately went over to apologize and again after he was ejected. Still not feeling he'd shown remorse, Carlisle also publicly apologized in his post-game press conference before taking any questions.

J.A. Sherman at Welcome to Loud City saw when things turned Oklahoma City's way:

The turning point tonight was during halftime when the Thunder finally realized that outside of Jason Terry, the Mavs had nobody else who could consistently score. OKC came out in the 3rd quarter and played exceptional defense, holding the Mavs to only 14 points in the quarter. The Thunder went from being three points down at the half to being up by five heading into the 4th. Given the Mavs' offensive struggles, this reversal of leads proved to be decisive.

For the Dallas perspective, check out Mavs Moneyball.

So much went right for LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the first half of Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks that any outcome other than a comfortable road win seemed impossible. King James outscored the entire Bucks roster 24-23 in the first period, the most points by any player in any single quarter this season, as the Heat jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead. Then Brandon Jennings put on a three-point shooting clinic -- hitting 5 of his 7 triples after the intermission on his way to 31 points, 8 assists and 0 turnovers -- and the Bucks completely turned the tables by outscoring the Heat by 21 points in the second half to earn an emotional 105-97 win at the Bradley Center.

Even in the loss, LeBron's first quarter performance deserves proper recognition. In his first 12 minutes, James accounted for 31 of Miami's first 42 points -- 24 points on 8-9 shooting to go with seven points off of three assists -- and amassed more value in a single quarter than most other players managed over the course of the game. Everything signaled that the Heat planned on mounting a resounding response to their 91-82 loss to the Bucks in Miami back on January 22. Milwaukee looked more pesky than dangerous during the first half, as they desperately tried to stay upright while absorbing the devastating body blows from the red-hot starting lineup of the Heat, who scored 55 of Miami's first 60 points and did so on a collective 68.9 percent shooting.

Suddenly the jump shots just stopped falling, and when the Bucks started to make their shots (52.2 percent shooting in the second half and 7-11 on threes) it stymied the vaunted transition game Miami can usually fall back on for instant offense. Luc Mbah a Moute spread his defensive efforts across the Big 3 spectrum all night, and head coach Scott Skiles coaxed excellent defensive rotations out of his team as they limited Miami to just 12 points in the paint in the second half. Everything that looked so wrong in the first half started to take on a different tone when the shooting percentages moved off their first quarter marks.

Jennings willed the huge reversal of fortune to fruition by what seemed like sheer force of personality at times. Feeding off the larger and more-engaged-than-normal home crowd, the speedy point guard looked like he was always plotting the path to his next made three-pointer. As he continued to rain down triples on a stunned Heat team, his confidence infected his teammates and everyone else in the Bradley Center not wearing a black jersey. Maybe 20 second half points and seven more assists against one of the NBA's elite teams has a way of evoking that type of response on its own, but the genuine bravado of Young Buck undoubtedly influenced anyone with an eye on the game Wednesday night. Everything alluring about Jennings was on full display in the 105-97 win, that's for sure.

As for Miami, all of their flaws and shortcomings emerged in the second half. LeBron, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers combined for 88 of the of the 97 points scored, but that lack of quality depth hurt the Heat when the Bucks made their run. Erik Spoelstra had nobody else he could turn to when the jumpers stopped falling and the transition opportunities dwindled, so the headline players just started to force up shots. James still finished with a game-high 40 points, but he slowed his scoring pace considerably after the first quarter, while Wade added 23 points and Bosh contributed just nine points. When required to alter the formula that served them so well in the first half, the Heat couldn't quite find the right balance to make it all work.

While Miami's top-heavy collection tipped fatally off its axis, the well-balanced (albeit less talented) unit in Milwaukee managed to find their equilibrium at the right time. Beyond Jennings' explosive perimeter attack, the Bucks tapped role players like Mike Dunleavy (10 points, 5 assists), Drew Gooden (17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (13 points, 8 rebounds) for meaningful contributions. Unselfish play and crisp ball movement played a central role on a Bucks offense that dished out 30 assists on 39 made baskets. For the second time this season, the hodgepodge style of the Bucks frustrated the Heat.

The Bucks are now winners of six of their last eight games and move to 10-11 overall with the win. Meanwhile, the Heat fall to 16-6, and their only two losses in the last ten games have both come against Milwaukee. The victory clinches the head-to-head season series for Milwaukee, while the third and final regular season matchup will take place at the Bradley Center on February 13.

Note: In the first quarter, LeBron James recorded his 4,500th career assist. He became just the 17th player in NBA history to reach 17,000+ points, 4,500+ rebounds and 4,500+ assists over a career, and he joined Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant as the only active players to reach those levels. It is a special achievement, but everyone knows LeBron is nowhere near finished when it comes to rewriting the NBA record books.

For more on the Miami Heat, visit SB Nation's Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier. Milwaukee Bucks news and analysis is available at SB Nation's Bucks blog, Brew Hoop.

The popular caveat for all the Philadelphia 76ers' success this season has been a dearth of wins against "quality opponents." Doug Collins's deep, entertaining crew has slain tons of putties, but faced few monsters so far. On Wednesday night, they made a giant step toward validating themselves by taking down the East's best team, the Chicago Bulls, in stirring fashion, 98-82.

The two teams traded baskets in the early going. Andre Iguodala paced Philadelphia on one end while Derrick Rose led the charge and found open looks for Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer, who stepped up in place of the injured Richard Hamilton and Luol Deng. Philly's bench -- dubbed the "Night Shift" -- then entered the game and helped them foster a bit of a lead heading into the second quarter. Lavoy Allen, of all people, seized some big minutes and got loose from pretty much every range, while Evan Turner put the clamps on Korver and handled the ball quite a bit on offense. Lou Williams's shooting and a one-man run by Thaddeus Young served to maintain the lead through halftime.

Then the day shift returned and pretty much ended the game. Iguodala absolutely lost his mind, torching the Bulls with fast break dunks, pull-up threes, and one swashbuckling assist to Holiday ("Gotta go to Facebook and like his status!" commented Malik Rose, almost single-handedly ruining Iguodala's moment). The Philadelphia defense operated at its absolute rowdiest and cornered the Bulls into turnovers and ill-fated jumpers all quarter long, harassing Chicago into just 11 points in the period and launching the Sixers to 20-point lead heading into the fourth.

Tom Thibodeau elected to let the Chicago bench play out the game (with a visit to New York less than 24 hours in the future, rest was at a premium) and actually got a spurt from them. C.J. Watson and Taj Gibson piloted the Bulls back to within 12, but Philadelphia sank the necessary free throws and finished under pressure to stifle any comeback.

And there you have it. After slugging out a win against the Magic on Monday and just squashing these Bulls, the Sixers face Miami on Friday to round out what could be the week that crystallizes their legitimacy in the East.

The Bulls, meanwhile are well rested and recuperating for a Thursday night match-up with the Knicks.

Visit Liberty Ballers for Sixers coverage and head to Blog-a-Bull for more on the Bulls.