NBA Triple Threat: Your daily roundup of last night's action in the Association.

Boston 103 Atlanta 102 Paul Pierce's jumper with .5 seconds left gave Boston the one point victory over the previously unbeaten Atlanta Hawks. Marvin Williams hit a three pointer with 7.5 seconds left that almost sealed the deal for Atlanta but Pierce would have the final say. Kevin Garnett, who had 25 and 12, said this about the final shot, "The last play was drawn up: Get the ball to Pierce; get the hell out the way, Superman's in the booth. Let's go home. That was the play, and if you don't believe that ask Doc Rivers and he'll say the same exact thing." Pierce's game winner gave him his 23rd point of the second half and 34th point of the game. Joe Johnson had a team high 28 points but Al Horford could only muster 5 points after his career high 27 the previous night. So with that win the Celtics show they are still the team to beat in the East but even with the loss the Hawks show that they are for real and will be around all season.

Los Angeles Lakers 93 New Orleans 86 In the match up between last season's MVP and MVP runner up, the runner up had the much better game, but the MVP's team won the game. Chris Paul scored 30 points and dished out 13 assists, and in the process extended his NBA record for most games in a row to start a season with 20+ points and 10 assists. The Lakers led the entire game, even being up by 23 points at one point but needed a big Kobe three pointer late in the 4th quarter to secure the victory and stay unbeaten on the season. Kobe had a not so spectacular night, only scoring 20 points but he did the regular Kobe things to help the Lakers get the win. Chris Paul continued his assault on the record books with 30 points, 13 assists, and 7 rebounds. I have said here many times that Chris Paul is by far the best point guard in the game, hands down, and that he is my favorite player. The Hornets drop to a disappointing 4-3 but the season is still young.

Houston 94 Phoenix 82 ESPN had a wild one on their hands tonight. As 100% pointed out, so I won't rehash, there was a brew-ha-ha between the Suns and Rockets and Ron Artest had nothing to do with it. Tracy McGrady found his shooting touch by hitting 11-18 shots and scoring a game high 27 points. Yao Ming added a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds to help offset Shaq's throwback game of 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Even at 37 Shaq is much better than Yao will ever be. Shaq also moved into 10th place on the all-time scoring list, passing the legend John Havlicek. The Rockets improve their record to 5-3 while Phoenix drops to 6-3.

Best Lines

• Dwight Howard: 30 points, 19 rebounds, 10 blocks, and 3 assists (1st career triple-double and joined Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players with at least 30 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks in a single game since the 1986-87 season)
• Chris Paul: 30 points, 13 assists, and 7 rebounds
• Dwayne Wade: 36 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals
• Andre Iguodala: 18 points, 10 assists, and 9 rebounds
• Greg Oden: 3 points, 2 blocks, and 2 rebounds. He is on the list because he made it through a game without getting hurt.

Video Of The Night
As noted above, Greg Oden played in his second career game and actually made a basket. Well in case you missed it, it was a dunk and here it is.



Now its your turn, share your thought on tonight's NBA action.