GAME OF THE NIGHT (BY DEFAULT) CHARLOTTE 103 RAPTORS 95 
: The Raptors are in a bad place. Charlotte was on a road second-game-of-a-back-to-back, Toronto had been off since Sunday, they needed a win coming off the road trip, and though Charlotte's been better, they were without Lance Stephenson and Al Jefferson. And they were outworked, out-executed, and out-classed by the Hornets.
Kyle Lowry's line looks good. 24 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three turnovers for the Raptors' best player. But he was 7 for 22 from the field and a minus-15.
Lowry's biggest problem is that despite his gifted passing abilities, he looks for his shot a huge amount of the time, and often will drive into multiple defenders trying get shots to go or get to the line. He throws himself into the teeth of the defense. The Raptors have the best offense in the league on account of their ability to share the ball and find quality looks. Lowry can grind the offense down with trying hero ball too often, and the Hornets took advantage.
Kemba Walker (29 points on 12-of-25 shooting, seven boards, eight assists, three steals) was huge, and hit this dagger to clinch it.
A more important possession, though, might have been on the Hornet's possession two plays before, where Walker split a tough double, found himself with an opportunity for an open look with a defender closing, and instead passed to Gerald Henderson (who finished with 31 points and was brilliant) for an open pull-up jumper. It was a really smart play and an example of Walker not trying to do too much, the way he did early in the season and that Lowry does nightly. (Lowry's also superb at tough contested shots most nights.)
Toronto shot 40 percent from the field. Great win for the Hornets, the Raptors have dropped four straight.
LACK OF NBA FLEX SCHEDULING ON THURSDAYS
: The league needs to stop clearing the schedule on Thursday nights to make it a marquee night, and instead have more options. Because the result of having the Knicks on national television is disastrous. ESPN has already flexed out several games of New York for better matchups but the league needs to mandate they are not on TV again. Ban the Knicks from TV. Even local broadcasts. Even radio.
THE DAY THE 3-MONOCLE JUMPED THE SHARK : Tyler Hansbrough celebrating after a 3-pointer is reason to ban the monocle. And threes, maybe.
I DON'T KNOW WHO LANGSTON GALLOWAY IS BUT THIS WAS AWESOME : The Knicks are "erase them from your memory using one of those things from Men in Black" bad, but this was a fun dunk from the youngster.
A PARADE OF MISERY : The Knicks are horrible, the Rockets beat their faces off. The end.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES, IN THAT PORTLAND SPLIT MIAMI IN TWO IN THE SECOND HALF 
: Miami entered their game vs. the Blazers Thursday as the worst team in the league in second halves, being outscored by 9.9 points per second half this season. That trend continued as the Blazers outscored Miami 33-16 in the third quarter, and 56-35 in the second half overall, running away from the Heat for an easy win.
Miami had great success early. Dwyane Wade had it going, the Blazers couldn't quite find their rhythm offensively due to strong rotations from Miami, and Hassan Whiteside had another strong performance on both ends for Miami. But then the second half started, and the Heat just imploded. They couldn't contain the perimeter as the Blazers got hot, and when they hit that gear, they're impossible to stop.
Damian Lillard took a nasty spill in the second quarter and it looked like he might not even play the second half. Then he came out and started dishing, slicing, and scoring. Typical Dame stuff. LaMarcus Aldridge scored ten in that third quarter, and that was pretty much it.
If the Heat don't figure out whatever their problem is coming out of the half, they're not going to make the playoffs. It's as simple as that.
Portland's awfully good on both ends.
