The NBA gave its fans multiple overtime battles, a scary moment for one of its best players, a stellar early national game and as big of a statement win from its defending champ as you'll ever see.

• Chicago Bulls 87, Miami Heat 86

Just as nobody wanted to be the team that finally lost to the Cavaliers during their streak, no ‘good’ team wants to be the first one to drop a close decision to the Heat. The Bulls wanted this win for competitiveness sake and also for potential homecourt advantage sake, but I sensed that was on the table as well in those final minutes. Miami is painfully aware of their own track record of late game inadequacy, all of us in the media are getting in on and enjoying the piling on and the opposing teams know it as well.

As excellent as Derrick Rose was with the 1-on-LeBron/Wade play being a microcosm of his season, he admitted the true cost of his turnover and missed jumper in the final stretch and the excellent two-way play of Luol Deng and his rebound on the missed free throw was what put Chicago over the top.

Even though it was Mario Chalmers with the big buckets late that put Miami back in the lead, Erik Spoelstra still isn’t getting enough out of his non-Big 3. Excluding Chalmers and the Big 3, Miami was 2-for-12 from the floor.

But both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had opportunities to hit the game-winner and neither was a look you had much confidence in when it was attempted. Miami is now 1-for-16 in the final 10 seconds of games when attempting to tie or take the lead. We all know this is going to flip at some point in the near future, possibly against the Lakers on Thursday, but it is one of the most utterly perplexing regular season stories we have seen in recent memory.

In the meantime, enjoy it all you want, Tom Thibodeau. You probably sealed Coach of the Year with this win.

• Los Angeles Lakers 99, San Antonio Spurs 83

This win doesn’t validate anything, but for weeks I’ve been standing behind the Lakers as my favorite to come out of the Western Conference. As long as Andrew Bynum is healthy, he is the difference-maker that turns the Lakers into a team that hasn’t lost a playoff series since his 07-08 breakout. If he would have been available for the 2008 Finals, perhaps we are now looking at the Lakers attempt a historical fourpeat.

In Sunday’s thorough win at San Antonio, Bynum set the tone in the interior on the glass and as a shotblocker. The Spurs scored just 97 points per 100 possessions and had an eFG% of 40.1%, a direct consequence of being unable to get anything going inside. In the past, Bynum's impact came largely on the offensive end, but if he continues to play this type of defense, the Lakers become unbeatable in seven.

Offensively, the Lakers did a better job at staying within the triangle. The only blemish came from the bench and the message Phil Jackson sent by reinserting his regulars.

They have a big week on the road, especially the Miami and Dallas games, and it will be interesting to see where they are when they return home a week from Monday against the Magic.

• New York Knicks 92, Atlanta Hawks 79

Not a pretty game offensively for both teams, as they each struggled with their shooting more than they were stopped by quality defense. New York was +6 in turnover differential, hit at a much stronger clip from beyond the arc and generally just had better ball movement and execution.

• Detroit Pistons 113, Washington Wizards 102

The Wizards don’t win on the road and the Pistons have enough talented scorers to have their way against the likes of Young, McGee and Blatche.

Detroit had 29 assists to Washington’s 15 and also had seven players in double-figures, which tells a large chunk of the story.

• Philadelphia 76ers 125, Golden State Warriors 117

Another triple-double in as many tries for Andre Iguodala (15, 11 and 10), but overtime wins at home to teams like the Warriors should count as a half wins in the standings for playoff teams. Philadelphia’s three top scorers were reserves in 20 apiece for Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young, plus 19 from Louis Williams.

The 76ers had a +15 advantage on fastbreak points and predictably a +18 on rebounds.

Philadelphia played a bad game defensively, but were bailed out in part by Monta Ellis needing 27 shots to get 27 points since just about everyone else on the Warirors had at least a decent game offensively.

• Oklahoma City 122, Phoenix Suns 118

On a Sunday of struggle for Kevin Durant (18 points on 14 shots), James Harden had an extremely efficient 26 to go with six boards, four assists, two steals and no turnovers. Durant, Harden and Westbrook combined to attempt 39 free throws (47 overall) compared to just 14 from the Suns.

Serge Ibaka had an excellent two-way game with 15 points, seven boards and four blocks while playing strong help defense.

Phoenix shot the ball well enough from the perimeter to stay in the game and also countered Oklahoma City’s work off the dribble by distributing their way to 32 assists on 48 of their makes. Vince Carter had 29, while Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus each had 20 off the bench.

• New Orleans Hornets 96, Cleveland Cavaliers 81

Scary moment for Chris Paul, who left on a stretcher but only suffered a concussion. David West had one of his finest offensive games of the season, scoring 23 on 13 shots. This road trip can't end quickly enough, though wins at Memphis and in this one have salvaged it regardless of what happens against Chicago (without Paul). The five-game homestand beginning with Dallas and ending with Boston has to be no worse than 3-2 and ideally would include more nights for Paul like he had against the Grizzlies.

• Memphis Grizzlies 104, Dallas Mavericks 103

Memphis scored more points in the third quarter (41) than they did the entire first half (38) and the one-point lead they held going into the fourth quarter was just enough thanks to Zach Randolph’s game-winning jumper. Randolph scored 27 points on 13 shots, continuing one of the finest underrated individual seasons of the past five years.

Dallas shot the ball better from the field and matched Memphis at the line, but the Grizzlies killed it on the offensive glass as we have come to expect and had a +14 advantage on second chance points.

• Boston Celtics 89, Milwaukee Bucks 83

The Celtics turned it on defensively in the second half, holding Milwaukee to just 34 points after giving up 49 in the first half. Nenad Krstic had 17 points on eight shots, continuing to be the overlooked acquisition.

Boston’s bench (Troy Murphy, Sasha Pavolovic, Jeff Green, Avery Bradley) is entirely new and it is striking to see the turnover job Danny Ainge has done outside of the Big 4. Glen Davis is the only member of the Celtics outside of the Big 4 that is a carryover from last year’s club.