remarkable 1st half after 3 straight bad losses

Fred Hoiberg might as well update his pop culture references to something merely 10 years old.

There’s a ship sinking in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but it’s not in Chicago. Both them and the Pistons came into Monday night in desperate circumstances, but it was only the Bulls who played desperately, riding an insane first half performance to a 113-82 victory.

The start wasn’t pretty, but it became apparent which team has an offense.

So far this season, the Raptors’ offense has overwhelmed the need for defense on most nights. Friday’s loss to Atlanta, though, was a bellwether moment — the team was slipping from a mediocre defense to a dirt poor one, relying on their offense to scrape by. It didn’t work against the Hawks, and that effort carried over into Sunday’s game.

Early on against the Orlando Magic, the Raptors were allowing a 27th ranked offense to dictate. Orlando had 30 points in the first frame, with old pal Bismack Biyombo scoring the first four and Evan Fournier dropping in nine to lead the team.

Atlanta got a crucial win tonight in Oklahoma City

The Atlanta Hawks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 110-108, moving to 14-14 on the season. This was a particularly thrilling game, coming down to the final possession (and final tenths of a second).

Atlanta led after the first quarter, 22-16, holding the Thunder to under 20 points in an impressive defensive performance. This margin didn’t hold, though, as Russell Westbrook and the Thunder exploded in the second quarter to take the lead by a score of 53-48 at the half.

On Tim Duncan’s celebration night, the Spurs made it easy on everyone and took care of business against the Pelicans. A loss wouldn’t have been a good start to the after-game festivities.

The Spurs picked up their 22nd win of the season as they put down the New Orleans Pelicans behind 22 points from LaMarcus Aldridge (his first game leading the team in scoring since the November 26th tilt against the Wizards) and a bit of a throwback performance from 39-year old Manu Ginobili, who scored 17 points in just 15 minutes.

Pau Gasol chipped in a season-high 14 rebounds just two games after he pulled down 13 boards against the Boston Celtics. He also contributed seven points, four assists and a couple of blocks for good measure.

Thaddeus Young’s runner in the closing seconds put Indiana in the win column against Washington. Paul George led the Pacers with 27.

Thaddeus Young was inbounded the ball with under five seconds in the fourth and the game tied. Young drove around Markieff Morris and put in an off-balance left-handed floater to seal the win for the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers found themselves in a tie game late due to a 7-0 Wizards run over the course of a minute with flops and moving screens setting up a 105-105 tie that would eventually swing in Indiana’s favor after a Bradley Beal missed three with 0.9 seconds remaining put Indiana into the win column.

Good teamwork gets the Celtics the win in Miami despite a shaky second half

Due to injuries, the Celtics’ starting lineup has seen limited time together on the court this season, but when they have played together it has been pretty impressive. This game against the Heat saw the starters impress yet again as, despite some setbacks in the second half, the healthier Celtics were able to overcome their opponents handily.

Even though they were visiting the Heat’s hometown it was the Celtics that were on fire. Finally able to roll out virtually a full roster (minus Gerald Green, who was out with a hamstring injury) the Celtics looked a lot more like the force that they were expected to be this season.

Reporters were sick of Sam Hinkie. After two years of the press complaining about a lack of access to the Sixers’ GM, the sudden trade of Michael Carter-Williams had whipped the press corps into a frenzy. They had sharpened their knives and were hoping to expose Hinkie for the fraud they found him to be. Out of that press conference, one answer stood out to me above them all.

A reporter asked how Hinkie would know when the rebuilding process is complete and he has the right players in place.

Don’t sweat the details in an 82 game schedule. Utah won.

The Utah Jazz (17-10) handed the Dallas Mavericks (6-20) their 20th loss of the season tonight, off of a Rodney Hood no time-out buzzer beater, 103-100. It was similar to what Howard Eisley did years ago, on a team that would end up going to the NBA Finals. Will history repeat itself for this club? Time will tell. But for now, this is a victory that caps a 4-1 home stand. Utah beat the Phoenix Suns 112-105, lost to the Golden State Warriors (missing four starters) 106-99, beat the Sacramento Kings 104-84, the Oklahoma City Thunder 109-89, and now Dallas.