Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 9:01 am  |  138 responses

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Post Up: Mason Saves Spurs

While Hinrich steps in for Rose.

by Holly MacKenzie

Okay, back to the daily grind we go.

Thanks for being patient with that one day hiatus! Appreciate it. Even though my plan to go to bed early and wake up late became foiled as news of Bosh’s baby-drama hit the wires. I had heard about this story awhile back and all I will say is I’ve heard some other things that lead me to believe that we’ve heard only one side of this story. I’m not implying that I know the truth, only reminding everyone that they don’t either. I’m sure the entirety of this story will unfold in a court where it belongs. In my opinion, there is no need for this to populate sports blogs and television shows

Maybe that’s just my opinion though. I don’t know. I do know that it is almost the end of March already. Not sure how that happened.

We had a pretty quiet night for a Tuesday and there wasn’t a lot of excitement besides that Spurs/Warriors game that -of course- the Spurs won, 107-106. This one was close throughout and while Tony Parker led the way for the Spurs with 30 points, it was a jumper from Roger Mason with 23.9 seconds remaining that gave the Spurs the lead for good. San Antonio didn’t exactly close out the game properly. After Mason’s jumper, Kurt Thomas went to the line and missed two free throws, giving Monta Ellis a chance to take the last shot of the game, running upcourt and launching a last-second three that didn’t make it. Parker had 10 assists to go with his 30 while Mason scored 24 points and Tim Duncan added 21 points and 10 rebounds. The Warriors were led by Ellis and his 27 points while Stephen Jackson added 18 points and 8 rebounds and Anthony Randolph added 13 points and 9 boards off of the bench.

The Lakers rolled over the Thunder, 107-89. This one was basically over before it began as the Lakers led 37-20 at the end of the first quarter. LA led 62-38 at the half and things didn’t get any better for Oklahoma City. There were six Lakers in double-figures, led by Pau Gasol’s 14-point, 14-rebound performance as Kobe Bryant finished with 19 points and Lamar Odom added 18. Kevin Durant had 24 points for the Thunder, Jeff Green added 12 points and Nenad Krstic added 11 points and 7 boards.

Without Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich shone for the Bulls as they took down a Detroit team that was without Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton, 99-91. Close in the first half, Chicago pulled away in the third quarter as the short-handed Pistons couldn’t keep up and were outscored 32-25 to give the Bulls a 75-68 lead going into the fourth. From there, Chicago laid it on, going up by as many as 19 points before the Pistons made the final score more acceptable in the final minutes. Hinrich led the way for Chicago with his 24 points as Tyrus Thomas scored 18 points to go with 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Joakim Noah scored 15 points to go with 10 rebounds and Ben Gordon added 19 points. The Pistons had 20-point performances from Tayshaun Prince and Will Bynum and 16 points and 8 rebounds from Antonio McDyess.

The Utah Jazz used a strong second half to get a W against the surging Houston Rockets. Taking the 99-86 victory, Utah was up only three at the break, needing a 15-4 run in the third to get some breathing space from the Rockets and go into the fourth leading 75-67. While Houston would cut the Utah lead to only one, they would not be able to go ahead and the Jazz took care of things from there. Deron Williams led the way with 19 points and 12 assists, Ronnie Brewer scored 17 and Paul Millsap added 15 points and 9 rebounds off of the bench. Aaron Brooks had 20 points for the Rockets, Shane Battier scored 18 and Ron Artest added 13 points and 11 rebounds.