Morning Hardwood: Stirrings in the East

Reminding you why there's two conferences...

Statement dunk. You can't script them any better than this. With 0.2 seconds left, post player of the future Dwight Howard dunked over Tim Duncan for the 106-104 win. One-handed. Off the in-bounds pass. I can't decide what's more significant: topsy-turvy Orlando beating the rock-solid Spurs, or Howard exerting his dominance over Duncan. Timmy did his thing, though, to the tune of a mountainous 24 and 16, and limited D-How to only 8 boards...and 30 points. The secret to the Magic's magic: 16 points from the indigent J.J. Redick, who silenced the doubters with 16 big ones.

When system teams clash. We all scoffed at the Raptors' plan to build another Suns. Then again, we also found it far-fetched that Phil would go to war with Kobe, Lamar, a bunch of bench players, and The Triangle in its purest form. The Lakers shut us up a while ago, but now it's looking like the Rap Committee is doing the same. Triumphing over L.A. 96-92, Toronto got another MVP-caliber night from Chris Bosh (29/12), who also got some MVP-to-MVP love from Kobe after the game.

ATL: GET MONEY! Saving the best of these for last. No one talked about Joe Johnson versus Phoenix as a revenge game because, well, he left them and no one remembers the Hawks, anyway. But dude came out firing like it was, ending up with 32/8/5 and a 120-111 win over The Best Team in the History of Basketball (or so I'm told). Nash was out, but that's becoming less and less of a short-term excuse. Especually when the formerly clueles Amare can go for 29 points, 13 boards, and 5 assists with the scruffy one absent.

Other assorted events. LeBron barely outplayed Wade, but then Cavs still thumped the Heat, 103-79. I have no idea what to infer from that. Dallas over Houston, 95-74, reminding us that the Rockets are a mirage until Yao's back. Paul Pierce returned to the line-up for the Little Lepers, and still they fell to their great forgotten rivals the Nets, 92-78. And in a preview of the 2012 NBA Finals, Portland bested Charlotte 108-100 in an OT beast of a game. Z-Bo came strong with 40 points, Gerald Wallace was at his finest (30 points, 15 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks), and Adam Morrison contributed 7.