Playing without Steve Nash (shoulder), the Suns were taken to the limit by the Blazers. It was beginning to look ugly after Phoenix got easy layups on their first three possessions and went up 6-0, but Portland kept their heads and hung in there. In the closing seconds of the fourth, score tied, Travis Outlaw blew past Amare and had a clear path to the basket. Instead of dunking or putting it off the glass, Outlaw tried to drop in a finger roll and bricked. Just an inexplicable miss, as the Blazers play-by-play guy put it, Outlaw was so open “He could’ve knocked the ball in off his head.” … In the OT, Amare made up for the almost-costly defensive slip, taking over offensively and helping Phoenix pull away. Stoudemire finished with 36 points and 9 boards. Leandro Barbosa started for Nash and put up 25 points, 6 boards, 7 dimes and 4 steals. Zach Randolph had 33 and 10 for Portland … In yesterday’s Smack we questioned Tyrus Thomas’ placement in the dunk contest. Apparently he’s not too thrilled about it, either. Asked by a Chicago Tribune reporter if he was excited for the All-Star Weekend contest, Tyrus said, “Not really. I’m just going to go out there, get my check and call it a day.” Then, asked if he was at least pumped to be around all the superstars that will be in Vegas, Tyrus answered, “I’m just into the free money. That’s it. I’ll just do whatever when I get out there. I might have to break out some tapes of old contest, but I’m just taking it for what it’s worth.” The Bulls fined Tyrus $10,000. While we’re not necessarily sticking up for Thomas, we can offer this: The few times we’ve been around Tyrus (at the pre-draft Media Day and at the Rookie Photo Shoot post-draft), he’s shown a knack for playing around with reporters; for example, pretending to seriously say something that makes someone uncomfortable, only to reveal later he’s joking. But like Tyrus said, take it for what it’s worth …

Chauncey Billups

The Pistons were smoking the Celtics for most of the game, but Boston at least came back in the fourth to make it respectable. But don’t tell Doc Rivers that. “I’m not going to put a lot of stock in that,” Doc said about the late-game comeback, which happened while Detroit’s starters were on the bench. “I’m not sure how much the other team was still competing at that point.” C-Webb (17 pts) and Antonio McDyess (18 pts) dominated Boston’s young bigs in the paint … That’s 15 losses in a row for the Celtics, who have a firm grip on last place in our updated NBA Hit List … If the Grizzlies are gonna win games, they clearly need Pau Gasol and Mike Miller to come up big on the same night. Last night wasn’t the case; Pau hung 30 points, 13 boards, 5 dimes and 5 blocks on the Rockets, but Miller shot 5-for-17 and Memphis lost again. T-Mac went for 33 points and 8 assists … Tim Thomas caught a sick dunk on David Lee early in Clippers/Knicks, and later on he caught Lee with an elbow that gave him a black eye. One of the Dime crew e-mailed during the game: “That joint is swelling as I type.” … The Knicks got the W, though, going on a 24-4 run to start the second half. Stephon Marbury was getting to the hole at will, scoring 12 of his 15 points during the run … Milwaukee got a rare win, getting 27 from Ruben Patterson (contract year) against Orlando and 20-plus points from Charlie Bell, Earl Boykins and Charlie V … Recent e-mail from Smack reader Michael: “Was it me or did I spot someone in the League with a rat tail, circa ’87-88? (You know, the solitary patch of hair about the size of a quarter on the back of your head.) I don’t remember who it was, but they deserve a two-game suspension.” We wrote Michael back and eventually we all figured out it was Drew Gooden he was thinking of … We also got this e-mail from reader Evan, talking about what would happen if Kevin Durant played at Duke, which we brought up yesterday in Smack: “Kid would be getting 8 minutes of tick a night and buried behind Josh McRoberts in that boring-ass system. Durant needs a school like Texas to toughen him up for the NBA. Notice the bench on this year’s Duke team? Tall, pale, skinny, with great cheerleading skills. Don’t hate Duke, just bored of them.” … In Tuesday’s college action, Greg Oden put up 15 points, 8 boards and 5 blocks in a win over Michigan; Javaris Crittenton (we told you about him next week) went for 21 points, 7 dimes and 3 steals in a win over N.C. State; and Villanova (we told you about Jay Wright last week, too) slapped some ridiculous D on Philly rival St. Joe’s, holding Phil Martelli’s squad to 39 points on 26 percent shooting (13-for-50). No St. Joe’s players scored in double figures … We’re out like Nash …