Baseline to Baseline recaps: It took three overtimes for Celtics to stop Nuggets streak

Welcome to PBT’s roundup of yesterday’s NBA games. Or, what you missed wondering again why you watch the Grammy’s every year…

Heat 107, Lakers 97: The Lakers are playing better, they are starting to figure things out. But that’s still a process. And when the Heat cranked it up in the fourth quarter they pulled away for the win. Brett Pollakoff broke it all down for us.

Clippers 102, Knicks 88: How much that crazy deep Clippers bench helps them in the playoffs, when rotations shorten, remains to be seen. But in the regular season it is an insane weapon — the Clips won the bench battle 48-15 and that was the key in this game. Even Carmelo Anthony’s 42 could not change that. We broke this game down in more detail.

Celtics 118, Nuggets 114 (3OT): For three quarters you thought the Celtics were going to have a pretty easy time ending the Nuggets nine-game winning streak — the Celtics opened the game on a 12-0 run. For much of the night Boston was out hustling a team whose game is based around energy.

But Denver does not go quietly and they pushed back with a late 7-0 run that forced overtime and the game went on to be a three overtime thriller. Paul Pierce had a monster line of 27 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists — plus the key three at the end of the second overtime to force a third. A shot he had to hit because Ty Lawson a clutch jumper moments before (he had 29 on the night).

In the third it was Kevin Garnett’s six points with Jason Terry’s five plus key defensive play that got the Celtics the kind of win that has to give them even more confidence. Rondo or not they will be a tough out in the playoffs. For the Nuggets, no shame in this loss.

Spurs 111, Nets 86: No Tim Duncan, no Manu Ginobili, but there was still Tony Parker and that is enough. He is having his best season in the NBA.

The Nets were actually in the lead most of the first half, by 10 at the end of the first quarter and six at the half. But Parker had 10 points in the third and sparked a 12-0 run where the Spurs took the lead early in the third quarter and never looked back. Parker had 29 points and 11 assists on the night.

Thunder 97, Suns 69: This was a thumping that really took shape midway through the second quarter when Oklahoma City went on a 16-2 run. From there is felt like Pickett’s charge. The Thunder were putting up points — Russell Westbrook had 24 points, Thabo Sefolosha 20, Kevin Durant 18 — meanwhile the Suns didn’t even cross the 50 point mark in their home court until midway through the fourth quarter. Phoenix had one player in double figures, Markieff Morris with 12 points.

Raptors 102, Hornets 89: Aside for a stretch at the start of the second quarter Toronto led most of the way in this game, but it took Rudy Gay scoring 8 of his 20 in the fourth quarter and John Lucas III adding 10 of his 19 in the final frame for the Raptors to pull away. The big news for Toronto was Jonas Valanciunas moving back into the starting lineup and providing 11 points, 10 rebounds. The Hornets got 19 points from Robin Lopez while Greivis Vasquez had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. What the Hornets did not get was good games from their young starts — Eric Gordon shot 2-of-7 and Anthony Davis had just 2 points.

Magic 110, Trail Blazers 104: The Magic snapped their 12-game losing streak and you can credit their offense or blame the Blazers defense for that (it’s a little of both). The Magic attacked off the dribble and got the ball inside and Portland’s defensive rotations were nonexistent it seemed. The result was 60 points in the paint for Portland plus they had 17 offensive rebounds — 34 percent of the time the Magic missed a shot they got a second chance. Orlando went on a 9-0 run right before the half to take control of the game and they never looked back. J.J. Redick had 22 points to lead Orlando, plus Nikola Vucevic added 17 points and 19 rebounds.

If Portland has dreams of catching Houston or Utah for that final playoff spot in the West, they can’t have games like this.

Grizzlies 105, Timberwolves 88: Memphis went on a 15-3 run to take control of the game late in the second quarter then went on to outscore Minnesota 58-41 in the second half to win going away. Memphis shot 64.7 percent in the third and by the time the quarter was over so was the game. The good news for Memphis is that Tayshaun Prince shot 8-for-8 from the floor and had 18 points to lead the team, while Austin Daye chipped in 16 — the two new Grizzlies may be finding their groove with this team. Ricky Rubio and Luke Ridnour each had 17 for Minnesota.

Kings 117, Rockets 111: Houston had a 10 point lead early in the fourth quarter but gave it all back and were undone by Sacramento’s three point shooting late as the Kings won for the home fans on “Here We Buy Night,” a fan effort to show how much support there is in the community for the team (there’s just not a lot of support for the current owners, the Maloof family). The key guy in the Sacramento comeback was Isaiah Thomas, who had 17 of his 23 in the quarter. John Salmons added 10 of his 23 in the fourth and hit a number of key free throws down the stretch. But the real key was Sacramento shooting 5-of-8 from three in the fourth quarter — if you hit threes and free throws late you will win a lot of games. James Harden had 30 for the Rockets.