THE LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS ARE ROLLING RIGHT NOW WITH NINE STRAIGHT: 
There are a few teams on big win streaks right now and the Los Angeles Clippers' streak has reached nine wins after a 103-96 victory in Indiana against the Pacers. DeAndre Jordan was phenomenal on the boards in this game and did a great job of protecting the rim against a strong front line. Jordan finished with 12 points, 19 rebounds, and three blocks as he dominated Roy Hibbert and the rest of the Pacers' bigs.
The Clippers didn't rely on Blake Griffin for a big night, although he was solid with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. Chris Paul kept the ball moving with 15 assists and Jamal Crawford scored off the bench with 18 points. The Clippers' survived a big explosion from C.J. Miles off the Pacers' bench, scoring 30 points and finally finding the 3-point stroke that had escaped him for most of the season. Miles has hit 11 3-pointers in the last two games with seven coming Wednesday night. Prior to this game, he was 11-of-56 from deep on the season.
The Clippers continue to feast on the easy part of their schedule, but that's what great teams are supposed to do. If they want to be a great team, they have to take care of business.
THE WASHINGTON WIZARDS WON THEIR GAME ON A BEAUTIFUL LOB PLAY: Randy Wittman drew up a perfect lob play with 0.8 seconds left in a tie game between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic while Jacque Vaughn didn't realize he should put a big man at the rim for protection. Paul Pierce set a screen that was mostly legal and Bradley Beal finished on the lay-in for the two-point win. There really isn't an excuse for why Orlando defended this play so poorly.
Overall, the Magic blew a chance to have a really nice win under their belt. They couldn't stop John Wall, but nobody can stop him right now. He had 21 points on 10-of-17 from the field and 11 assists. It snapped his streak of games with 12 assists or more, but I think we can forgive him for that.
AL JEFFERSON WAS DOMINANT ON THE LEFT BLOCK, AS PER USUAL: 
The Boston Celtics don't exactly have Bill Russell or Kevin Garnett patrolling the paint, so Al Jefferson going for 23 points and 14 rebounds isn't a huge surprise. But he showed Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk a thing or two about just how far away they are from being a decent presence on defense. The Charlotte Hornets dominated when Jefferson was on the floor, as he was a plus-23, and they really didn't have an answer for him at any point.
Jefferson was 9-of-15 from the field with all nine makes coming from the center of the paint or to the left of it. Five of his six misses came from the right side of the floor. Put Al on that low left block and let him go to work. Not many people can stop it.
LANCE STEPHENSON WASN'T GREAT BUT HE SHIMMY'D: 
Lance Stephenson has been horrendous this season and with 13 points on 6-of-14 from the field, he's still struggling to find an offensive impact. He can still make some incredible individual plays from time to time, and we saw it with him breaking down Evan Turner for the one-handed scoop plus the foul.
He broke down his former Pacers' teammate so bad that he decided to celebrate with a little shimmy.
RAJON RONDO WASN'T HAVING ANY OF THAT WITH LANCE THOUGH: 
Celtics' point guard Rajon Rondo wasn't loving Lance's antics and when he came down the court at one point, Rondo gave him a little shot to the chest.
GORGUI DIENG HAS YOUR BACK, NBA MASCOTS: Portland Trail Blazers' center Robin Lopez was beating up on NBA mascots earlier this week and he's put out the challenge to any mascot that wants to tangle with him. Well, Minnesota Timberwolves' center Gorgui Dieng is on the side of the mascots. He exacted a little revenge for his masked buddies in furry costumes.
BLAKE GRIFFIN MAKING CARNIVAL SHOTS: David West wanted a violation for the ball going over the backboard, but it didn't go over the part of the backboard that would make this an illegal play. Blake Griffin working on his bank shot has been a thing over the last couple years, but this is a new wrinkle in his game, clearly.
ELFRID PAYTON MADE ANDRE MILLER HIT THE LIFE ALERT BUTTON: Look, you can't blame Andre Miller too much. Old people fall all the time, so it's only natural that being as active as he is at his advanced age that he may stumble from time to time. And trying to keep up with a young whipper-snapper like Elfrid Payton is going to be tough. Just make sure you watch your step and always have your Life Alert button handy.
THE ATLANTA HAWKS ARE ALSO ON A BIG STREAK:Hey, the Atlanta Hawks are also on a streak after dispatching the Philadelphia 76ers at home and securing their eighth straight victory. Their winning streak has lifted them up to second in the Eastern Conference as they've righted the ship on both offense and defense over the last couple of weeks.
Kyle Korver led the team with 17 points, hitting five 3-pointers. When Korver hits four or more 3-pointers in a game, the Hawks are 5-3. Sure, it was against a horrendous Sixers team that just can't score points or defend all that well, but the Hawks' defense was exactly what it was supposed to be and they had 26 assists on 38 made shots. The Hawks are playing great basketball right now and making up for a mostly lost 2013-14 regular season when they had so many key injuries.
CORY JEFFERSON'S SHOT COULD USE A LITTLE WORK: 
Cory Jefferson is a rookie, and therefore he has a lot to work on as he gets acclimated to the NBA. Let's check how his jumper is coming along...
SHABAZZ MUHAMMAD IS GOOD FOR ONE BIG DUNK PER GAME:Apparently, Chris Kaman is incapable of handling Shabazz Muhammad on the break with a full head of steam. The more you know...
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS IN MINNESOTA WEDNESDAY NIGHT?This was a completely unacceptable loss by the Portland Trail Blazers in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. To put it in perspective, the Wolves were already a team looking like they'd max out at 30 wins this season as they begin another rebuilding process. On top of that, the Wolves are missing three starters (Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, and Kevin Martin) and their backup point guard (Mo Williams). Their only point guard play right now is coming from 19-year old rookie Zach LaVine and small forward Corey Brewer.
The Wolves also have the second worst defense in the NBA. And yet, the Blazers managed to completely botch this opportunity with a full lineup. The Blazers shot 38.8 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from 3-point range. LaMarcus Aldridge shot 3-of-14 from the field and Damian Lillard had more shot attempts (24) than points (23), including going 2-of-12 from 3-point range. Portland shot just 16-of-49 on uncontested shots, and couldn't take advantage of the Wolves shooting worse percentage by going 10-of-32 on uncontested attempts.
Andrew Wiggins had the best game of his young career with 23 points on 9-of-16 from the field with 10 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. But the Wolves shot under 40.0 percent from the field, went 1-of-12 from 3-point range, turned the ball over 19 times, and still beat a playoff team in the West? It's just one game but that's a gross loss by the Blazers.
BULLS' STARTERS BEAT THE BROOKLYN NETS BY THEMSELVES:The only redeeming part of the Brooklyn Nets' season at the moment is that we're down to just 62 more games of it, unless they pull things together a little and make the playoffs again. That's not to say the Nets should be this bad. Deron Williams is still talented, Joe Johnson is still talented, and Kevin Garnett has been much more effective this season than we saw last season. But the adjustment to playing under Lionel Hollins hasn't been totally smooth in the first 20 games of the season and they're getting hammered right now.
For example, the Chicago Bulls' starters scored 82 points, which would've been enough to best the Nets' total of 80 as a team. The Bulls ended up winning by 25 points overall, but the points of Derrick Rose (23), Jimmy Butler (18), Pau Gasol (16), Mike Dunleavy (14), and Taj Gibson (11) were enough to get the job done.
DIRK NOWITZKI AND MONTA ELLIS VS. ANTHONY DAVIS AND JRUE HOLIDAY WAS PRETTY GREAT: One of the best power forwards we've ever seen in Dirk Nowitzki faced off against arguably the best player in the NBA so far this season in Anthony Davis and we got a pretty excellent match-up on both sides. Davis starred pretty well on national TV, finishing with 31 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. He couldn't shut down Dirk, who finished with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, but few players in history have been able to shut Dirk down. You can't really blame him for that.
On top of that match-up though, we had Jrue Holiday vs. Monta Ellis, which was highly entertaining. Ellis rebounded from a 1-of-11 effort last night to score 26 points on 11-of-19 from the field, which helped the Dallas Mavericks keep up with the New Orleans Pelicans' point guard, who finished with 30 points. The Mavericks ended up winning by five.
THE KNICKS LOST TO THE SPURS' THIRD UNIT:The San Antonio Spurs were without Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Kawhi Leonard Wednesday night as they faced a Carmelo Anthony-less New York Knicks team. The Spurs started Cory Joseph, Danny Green, Kyle Anderson, Matt Bonner, and Aron Baynes was enough to grab the victory. So if you were wondering what the Knicks might look like without Carmelo during this stretch of him being banged up, it looks like this:
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS CAN'T LOSE; EXTEND STREAK TO 14 WINS:The Golden State Warriors are like Parker Lewis; they can't lose. Google it. The Warriors absorbed the James Harden 34-point explosion on Wednesday to come away with their 14th straight win, extending their franchise record for consecutive victories. They didn't have a heroic effort by any one player. Harrison Barnes probably played his best game of the season and Steph Curry and Klay Thompson both scored 20 and 21 points, respectively. And while the Houston Rockets were without Dwight Howard, the Warriors were without their defensive anchor as well with no Andrew Bogut.
The Warriors kept the Rockets from killing them from 3-point range. Houston shot just 9-of-35 from 3 and had a little bit of bad luck by missing some open looks. But Golden State also did a good job of closing out on the perimeter too. The Warriors hit a three-game road trip in Dallas, New Orleans, and Memphis. The streak can't possibly keep going after those three games, right?
