Portland Trail Blazers dominating the West

Even after losing All-Star Brandon Roy to an injury-induced early retirement, look who's on top of the Western Conference early on this NBA season: The Portland Trail Blazers.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 30 points and eight rebounds and Portland clamped down on Oklahoma City in the second half to knock the Thunder from the top spot in the West with a 103-93 victory on Tuesday night.
The Blazers are the only team in the West without two losses this season.
"We've got a lot of players that can do a lot of different things," said Wesley Matthews, who added 16 points.
"You can't replace Brandon Roy, with all of the things that he did for this organization and the community itself. But we've got a lot of guys that can play and are willing to."

LA Clippers have great O, but no D?

New Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul made the playoffs three times in his six seasons as a New Orleans Hornet, never winning fewer than 37 games or more than 56.

Things changed offensively each year, Paul recalled -- sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. But the other side of the ball didn't waver.

The lone constant in the three seasons that featured playoff runs: defense.

"The thing about those teams was always our defensive intensity," Paul said Sunday, after the Clippers' 93-88 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. "Even last year. It's all about defense, and that's the thing that we've been preaching to each other day in and day out."

According to his new teammates, Paul's been doing a lot of that preaching.

Rookie Norris Cole...Something to look at?

Last Tuesday night, rookie Norris Cole stepped to the foul line with 9.3 seconds left, set to clinch the game as cries of "M-V-P" rained down upon him from the sold-out stands.
No, this wasn't a scene from his days at Cleveland State.

Taking over in just his second NBA game -- and with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all on the floor, no less -- Cole scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, including three huge jumpers down the stretch to save the Heat in a 115-107 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.

Rose leads Bulls past Hawks in 74-76 victory

     With Derrick Rose having a big fourth quarter for the Chicago Bulls, everyone expected the reigning NBA MVP to take the final shot with the score tied. Instead, it was Luol Deng who got the game-winner in the closing seconds. Deng's layup with 3.7 seconds left lifted the Bulls to a 76-74 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

     Rose scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Bulls from a 19-point deficit. Coming out of a timeout, Deng cut along the baseline and took a feed from Joakim Noah to put Chicago ahead. Turns out the play was designed for Rose after all.
     Coach Tom Thibodeau said they were obviously tring to get the ball to Rose. But they took that option away. Deng made a good cut a Noah made a good pass.