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Andre Miller‘s signing has been called into question several times this season. His play wasn’t great to start the season, he wasn’t fitting in well with the guard rotations in Portland and he even got into an argument with his head coach Nate McMillan after practice earlier this month.

Tonight, all of those doubts went away. Miller went of for a career high 52-points to lead the Blazers to an important victory. Going 22-of-31 from the field, Miller was on from mid-range throughout the hole game and, after being forced into it, even swished a three despite being a below 20% three-point shooter. His most impressive play game on a post-up as he stepped from one box to other throwing up an impossible hook shot over Shawn Marion that somehow managed to get it go.

After taking over the fourth quarter by scoring 17 points, Miller took over the overtime period by scoring seven of the Blazers 11 points.

Equally as important to the victory was Nicolas Batum‘s defense in overtime on Dirk Nowitzki. After knocking down a clutch two with 40 seconds left in the fourth, Dirk missed his final four shots of the game with Batum on him, including a potential game-tieing shot at the buzzer.

Going into Dallas and getting the win is something in itself, but going there without Brandon Roy is even sweeter.

Dirk finished with 28 points on nine-of-19 shooting but couldn’t come through in the extra period.

I thought Jason Kidd did a good job of controlling the game, scoring 10 points on eight shots and collecting 10 assists.

The Hawks looked pretty good to start this game. They were hitting open jumpers, playing solid D and wearing Orlando out. Then, after a SVG timeout, the Magic picked up the pace and started working harder offensively.

Dwight Howard had his second straight monster game, going for 31 points, just one shy of his season high, on 10-of-16 shooting with 19 rebounds and three blocks. With Howard playing like this, the Magic look to be one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference again after spending the first half of the season finding their groove.

The Hawks could have used some better shooting from their point guards. Jamal Crawford and Mike Bibby combined to shoot 10-of-27 from the field.With Chris Paul out with a sore knee, rookie Darren Collison stepped in and had the game of his young career. The Hornets were down 33-18 after the first quarter but managed to outscore Memphis 67-41 in the second half to comeback for the victory.

Collison finished the game with 17 points, getting to the line 10 times, and a Hornets rookie record 18 assists to go along with six rebounds. Collison also had a game-changing steal and dunk in transition late in the contest.

Emeka Okafor had 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting with 10 boards and a pair of blocks. His counterpart, Marc Gasol, had 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting with 16 boards and two blocks. Strangely, I think they both played good D on each other.

Zach Randolph scored 25 and had 12 rebounds for Memphis and David West dropped 22 points in the battle of power forward all-stars from the past two seasons.With Michael Beasley out for the second straight game, Miami failed to find a second scoring option, which is what caused them with Dwyane Wade having an off night (six-of-20 from the field, 0-of-6 from three).

Andrew Bogut had 17 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to lead the Bucks.Antawn Jamison went off for 21 points and a career high 22 rebounds. Mike Miller put in a game high 25 points on seven-of-10 shooting from deep.

For the Knicks, all-star snub David Lee had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Gerald Wallace had a season high 38 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field and 12-of-15 shooting from the line. Crash also had 11 rebounds, giving him a double-double along with a couple of blocks and a couple of steals.

Kevin Martin had 31 points, his second straight night with nice scoring numbers, but took 25 shots to get there. Tyreke Evans only managed four points on five shots in 29 minutes of play.

The Chase Down Block Chris Berry Interactive Chris Berry Interactive