I tend to agree with the assessment made a couple months back by Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones that Ivan Johnson should be one of everybody's favorite players. There's so many reasons to root for Johnson — the novelty of his status as a 28-year-old rookie who appeared on the NBA scene as if from nowhere (perfectly enough) in this weirdo lockout-shortened season; the eccentricity of a legitimate NBA forward who rocks diamond fronts during games and freely admits he  doesn't really watch basketball ; the underdog narrative of a player who went from overseas-and-D-League journeyman to key frontcourt rotation piece on the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks this year, pretty much through hard work, toughness and sheer force of will; and so on. It's hard to find reasons to root against a guy like that. Unless you're Nick Young, that is. If you're Nick Young, and you were the object of Johnson's frustration following a terrible turnover during the Tuesday night matchup between his Hawks and your Los Angeles Clippers, then it's OK to not be such a big fan of his. For a little while, at least. Johnson had six points, seven rebounds and a pair of blocks, including this clean and monstrous erasure of Young, in the Hawks' 109-102 home win over the Clippers. The win helped Atlanta (39-26) maintain a one-game lead in the standings over the Boston Celtics (38-27), whom they'll face in the first round of the playoffs, keeping them in line to snare home-court advantage in the series despite Boston's claim to a higher seed as the champions of the Atlantic Division.

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New York Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire looked solid in his second game since returning from a back injury at Philips Arena on Sunday, scoring 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 113-112 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

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The New York Knicks got one step closer to a playoff berth on April 17 by defeating the Boston Celtics 118-110. Carmelo Anthony had a triple-double for the game with 42 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, while Paul Pierce led the Celtics in scoring with 43 points of his own.

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NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double, and the New York Knicks made 19 3-pointers to preserve their Atlantic Division title hopes with a 118-110 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.

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NEW YORK (AP) Carmelo Anthony had 35 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double, and the New York Knicks made 19 3-pointers to preserve their Atlantic Division title hopes with a 118-110 victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.

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The Los Angeles Clippers posted an impressive win on Monday night, notching a 92-77 home victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder — their second straight over the Kevin Durant- and Russell Westbrook-led crew — to extend their winning streak to four and stay just a game back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference with five games to play. It was an impressive win that saw some impressive performances off the L.A. bench, which chipped in 36 points on just under 50 percent shooting for the game, plus 17 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks. After the game, Clippers guard Nick Young — who did the lion's share of the damage, leading the Clips in scoring with 19 points on 10 shots in reserve duty — dapped up his fellow second-unit players for their contributions. From Beth Harris of The Associated Press : ''We're one of the best second units in the league,'' said Young, who joined the Clippers a month ago in a trade from Washington. ''I'm excited. I was waiting for one of these type of games. To get it tonight against one of the league's top teams was great.'' It's good for Nick Young to think that — I'm sure coach Vinny Del Negro doesn't want his reserves to think that they stink or anything, and a Nick Young without confidence is a Nick Young less likely to take quite as many irrational long jumpers. (Wait, that might be a good thing.) Realistically, though, he is wrong, and he's pumping the L.A. reserves' tires in a way that defies reality. The Clippers bench is not one of the best benches in the league. Like, definitely not.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Pau Gasol made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, 112-108 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 23 points and 16 rebounds, Pau Gasol made back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game without Kobe Bryant, 112-108 over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

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LeBron James scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Dwyane Wade added 28 points to power the Miami Heat over the New York Knicks 93-85 on Sunday in a possible first-round NBA playoff preview.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Andrew Bynum had 30 points and eight rebounds, Matt Barnes added a season-high 24 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched a playoff berth without Kobe Bryant or coach Mike Brown, holding off the Denver Nuggets 103-97 Friday night.

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