Shelden Williams, who I alternate between calling "Spike," "Angelus," and "Turok-Han," grabbed fifteen boards. If he's lucky, he can grow up to be Emeka Okafor.

Dwyane Wade is making a living just shooting free throws at this point: he scored 37 despite shooting 9-21, as he got to the line seventeen times and made sixteen of them. Perhaps a lower shooting percentage is inherent in getting to the line a lot for a player like Wade: he gets to the line by driving the ball inside and taking whatever shot he can possibly get, hoping for the foul. When he gets the foul, great, he'll get the two points. When he doesn't, the shot misses.

This is, of course, rank speculation, because I just don't see Wade play that often.

This, by the way, was the first game that Shaq missed because of injury. Alonzo didn't exactly light it up as a fill-in, scoring nine points in 29 minutes.

Adam Morrison, starting again, scored 21 on 9-18 shooting, but Emeka Okafor was again the star for the Bobcats with 25 points (11-14 shooting - that's positive Yao-like), 16 boards, and seven blocks. Did I say Elton Brand? Forget Elton Brand. Emeka's his own man, and quite a man he's turning out to be.

Dirk Nowitzki seems to be alive again, as he scored 31 and grabbed ten boards in the game. He only took two threes in the game (and missed both). I'm actually a little disappointed in the kind of player that Avery Johnson has turned Dirk into. It probably helps the team if he's willing to go bang inside (ten boards) and drive the lane instead of just pulling up with jump shots (eleven free throws). That said, his jump shot is so beautiful to watch when he's on that it's unfortunate that he's much less likely, under the current style, to have a crazy game where he's really hot and hits 7-10 from three en route to 45-55 points.

Ben Gordon, who might be the most overrated guard in the game, shot 6-18 on the way to 17 points for the Bulls, leaving Luol Deng to be the star for Chicago: 10-13, 24 points, ten boards, four assists.

The Spurs' stars, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, weren't great, combining for 11-29 shooting (27 points), but the rest of the guys made up the slack: 25-45 shooting, including 7-12 from three. That's without the help of Brent Barry, by the way, who shot 0-2 in six minutes.

Houston, conversely, shot 38% as a team: Yao and Tracy shot 17-46 (though McGrady was 4-7 from three), and the rest of the team shot 15-38. Basically, no offensive good came out of this game for the Rockets, and it wasn't much better on the glass, either, as San Antonio out-rebounded Houston by fifteen.

All of this was too much for L.A., who had no 20-point scorers and no double-digit rebounders. Even Elton Brand had just six boards and sixteen points. Chris Kaman earned his salary by fouling out in 19 minutes, and Shaun Livingston continued to live up to the hype by shooting 0-4 and dishing three assists in 22 minutes.