Last night was a stunning night in NBA with 12 back-to-back games with see-it to believe-it results. In Los Angeles Super Star Kobe Bryant struggled through out the night after taking a hard hit on his broken finger early on, he only scored 11 points on 4 of 19 shooting. Kobe said, “Every time it gets hit real good like it did tonight, it really feels fractured. I’ve just got to take it as it comes.”

Point Guard Shannon Brown scored a career high 22 points and Pau Gasol had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat of the Orlando Magic 98-92. Thursday in Cleveland the Lakers, now 32-9, will face the Cavaliers, both teams are the NBA’s two conference leaders. Jordan Farmar scored 11 points and Lamar Odom helped with nine points and 16 rebounds for the Lakers who haven’t lost at home since the Cavaliers’ visited on Christmas, and are on a 7 game winning streak.

For Orlando, Center Dwight Howard had 24 points, but only one field goal after halftime, and 12 rebounds for the Magics and Vince Carter finished with 9 points. The Magic have lost seven of their last nine games. Kobe is now 30 points from become the youngest player in NBA history to score 25,000 points.

In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks took advantage of  a Kevin Garnett-less Boston Celtics and was able to beat them 99-90. Nowitzki scored 37 points and Jason Kidd scored 13 points with 17 assists for the Mavericks. Rasheed Wallace was on the bench early for foul trouble. Mavericks really bounced back after losing three of their previous four games, not to mention a 22-point loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Paul Pierce put up 24 points, Ray Allen scored 21, Kendrick Perkins helped with 14 points plus 12 rebounds and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists for Boston. Rasheed Wallace was on the bench early for foul trouble but put up 11 points with 3 rebounds before that.

Kevin Garnett has missed the past nine games due to a hyperextended right knee and the Celtics have lost four of their last six games.

Elsewhere in Texas the Houston Rockets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 101-98 in overtime on Monday. Power Foward Luis Scola led the Rockets with a season-high 27 points and 15 rebounds, and teammate Aaron Brooks helped out with 10 assists. The Rockets shot 42 percent and reached 20 assists for the 10th straight game. Carl Landry and Chase Budinger scored 12 points apiece for the Rockets.

Brandon Jennings had 25 points and Andrew Bogut, who now has double-doubles in his last eight out of 10 games, added 18 points and 17 rebounds for the Bucks. Luke Ridnour, who scored 14 points off the bench, was mad and said “I’m getting tired of the fact that our team just keeps fighting.” The Bucks signed Jerry Stackhouse for the rest of the season, and the two-time All-Star will play on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors.

More Game Results for Monday, January 18th were:

NY Knicks 99, Detroit 91
Washington 97, Portland 92
Oklahoma City 94, Atlanta 91
Charlotte 105, Sacramento 103
San Antonio 97, New Orleans 90
LA Clippers 106, New Jersey 95
Minnesota 108, Philadelphia 103 (OT)
Golden State 114, Chicago 97
Memphis 125, Phoenix 118

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