The Los Angeles Clippers welcomed Chris Paul. Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups back to the lineup of Friday against the Miami Heat. But it was hardly noticeable as Lebron James scored 30 points on only 11 shot attempts from the floor and Dwayne Wade chipped in 20 points to blow the Clippers out 111-89. The Clippers have struggled lately with Paul missing 12 of the previous 14 games. They have now lost eight of the last 11. But perhaps with their stars back they will get things going back in the right direction starting with Sunday when they travel to face the New York Knicks. Their record has fallen to 35-17 and they are now third in the Western Conference.
The Heat, and especially Lebron James are playing their best basketball right now. James has now scored 30 or more in four straight games. The Heat leads the Eastern Conference standings at 33-14, one and a half games up on the Knicks. They will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday in a game the Lakers have got to get.
The Lakers are coming in following a comeback win over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night. Kobe Bryant scored all 20 of his points in the second half while Earl Clark and Steven Nash had 17 each. The Lakers are 24-27 and are 4-2 on their current road trip. A 5-2 road trip would feel a lot better than a 4-3 with the Lakers needing to make up ground in a hurry. The Lakers trailed the Bobcats by as much as 20 in the second quarter and went into the locker room down 12 in a game they could ill afford to lose.
The Toronto Raptors pulled one out behind Rudy Gay as he scored 17 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as they snapped the Pacers five game win streak. Gay stole an in-bounds pass and Amir Johnson beat the buzzer to send the game into overtime and then Gay won it with a bucket with 1.7 left in the overtime for a final score of 100-98. The loss dropped the Pacers to 31-20 and cut their lead in the Central Division to a half game over the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 93-89 as Carlos Boozer got hot down the stretch in that one. Boozer had 11 of his team-leading 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls rebounded from a dreadful performance against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. The Bulls ended their six game road trip on a positive note at 30-20 only a half game out of the division lead. They will come home feeling much better about themselves than they did after getting blown out the night before by 32 points in Denver.
Carmelo Anthony scored 36 points as the Knicks kept pace with the Heat by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-94. The Knicks outscored the Wolves 30-18 in the fourth quarter after they trailed 76-70 at the end of three. The Knicks now lead the Atlantic Division over the Brooklyn Nets who lost to the surging Washington Wizards 89-74 on Friday. Nene led the Wizards with 20 points and 11 rebounds as they improved to 14-35.
