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Bucks 97, Celtics 117 : Well, congratulations to the Bucks for ruining my dream of seeing a team put together by Danny Ainge not reaching the NBA record of 23 straight losses. Deep breath. Paul Pierce shot 5-8 from beyond the arch, scoring 32 points to assure the losing streak ends at 18.

Grizzlies 104, Pacers 114: Rudy Gay scored a career high 31 points, but it wasn’t enough. The Pacers improved to 28-24, which means I must only see the box score of their games when they lose, because I swore they were under .500.

Trail Blazers 91, Magic 103: Hedo Turkoglu scored 24, Dwight Howard had a 20/16 night, and Darko Milicic — that’s right, Larry Brown, you simp — had 21 points. It’s nice to see Darko having some good games. He’s a young kid, and I’ve felt pretty bad for him, being involved in that ‘Melo/LBJ/DWade/Chris Bosh draft, going before three of them. He may never be as good as any of those mentioned, but it’d be nice to see his career pan out in Orlando.

Wizards 92, 76′ers 85: Gilbert Arenas was 8-26 from the floor, and Caron Butler was 7-20, but the Wizards still got the win. If you’re going to pick an off night, it’s probably best for that night to be against the 6′ers. Or the Celtics. Arenas has struggled since the Portland guarantee that came up 41 short, which is only two games, but it’s Gilbert Arenas, and I’m not used to slumps.

Nets 109, Raptors 120: The Nets were without Jason Kidd for a second straight game, and for a second straight game the results were less than favorable. Chris Bosh had 25 and 10 (wasn’t that his exact total two nights ago?), and a guy named Bostjan Nachbar led the Nets in scoring with 26 points. Marcus Williams, who filled in for Kidd, scored 19 points but only had 3 assists. Scary thought: The Raptors are now the four seed in the East.

Bulls 85, Bobcats 100: The Bulls shot 38% from the floor, which means they were lucky to score 85. Gerald Wallace scored 32 for the Bobcats, and three other starters scored in double digits.

Spurs 90, Pistons 81: Tim Duncan had 23 points and Manu Ginobli had 20, helping the Spurs snap the Pistons’ seven-game winning streak. The Spurs are now 15-5 against Eastern Conference opponents.

Kings 93, Hornets 110: The Hornets, surprisingly, are only one game out of a playoff spot right now. It’s a testament of how well this team has done with all the injuries this year.

Nuggets 94, T’Wolves 99: Minnesota’s got a knack for losing five and then winning five (I guess that explains their almost .500 record). The Nuggets have a way of not being able to win since they acquired Allen Iverson. I hate to throw him in this category, but both of them were big name freshmen, both of them were high picks in the same draft. . . and now it looks like both of them will make the team they join worse and the team they leave better. Iverson’s only been on two teams in the NBA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he started drawing comparisons to Stephon Marbury.

Cavs 98, Jazz 99: It was nice to see Cleveland score 9 points in the final 80 seconds, killing my pick of Utah as a 4.5 point favorite. Nice end of the game defense, Jerry. Thanks a lot.

Suns 90, Supersonics 114: For all those people who say the Suns would be just fine without Steve Nash — that includes me — you might want to rethink that. Phoenix is 1-3 without Nash in the lineup, with losses to Seattle, Chicago and Atlanta.

Knicks 101, Warriors 120: So much for last night’s win against the Lakers being a breakthrough for the Knicks.

Hawks 94, Clippers 90: Hawks were down 16 in the second half, but managed something the Hawks usually don’t manage: A comeback. The Hawks outscored the Clippers 34-18 in the fourth quarter to give them their third win in four games. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re a Hawks fan, it’s progress. I can’t ask for too much.