Seven games on the NBA schedule yesterday, and only one of them meant anything: Clippers/Hornets in Oklahoma City, two teams fighting for that No. 8 playoff seed in the Western Conference. Long story short, it came down to Elton Brand vs. David West: EB had the better stat line and both guys hit clutch buckets, but West ultimately got the W and brought the Hornets within one game of the last playoff spot. Twice in the final 10 seconds of regulation, Brand (37 pts, 10 rebs) scored to tie the game. The first came with nine seconds left, when West went for a steal as Brand was backing him down, giving Brand a clear path to the bucket for a dunk. Then with one second left, Brand faced up and stuck a jumper in West’s eye to force overtime. West (33 pts, 7 rebs) took over in the extra frame, hitting a fadeaway J to beat the shot clock and two big-time putbacks … Devin Brown also did his thing, going for 25 points and making two of the biggest defensive plays of the night. Late in the fourth Devin deflected a pass, got the loose ball (after Corey Maggette clobbered the ref) and threw down a breakaway dunk. And with three ticks remaining and NOK up by three in OT, Brown intercepted Maggette’s inbounds baseball pass to seal it … The Hornets wouldn’t have won without Chris Paul’s game management and one clutch offensive board he pulled down in OT, but CP3 (17 pts, 10 asts, 7 rebs) wasn’t helping them by putting up a couple airballs on jumpers from the top of the key in crucial spots … Nets/Wizards was also kinda important, if only because the Nets are gaining on Washington’s No. 6 seed as Antawn Jamison watches his team free-fall without Arenas and Butler. Jason Kidd’s tip-in with 30 seconds left was the go-ahead bucket and his only made field goal of the game — J-Kidd finished with 4 points, 14 boards and 11 dimes, while Richard Jefferson scored 35 and Vince scored 31. If Jersey can get that 6-seed, it means Vince safely avoids getting verbally eviscerated in Toronto throughout the first round … Dwyane Wade was back in the starting five, but Shaq was out (family funeral) and the Heat got popped in Charlotte. D-Wade had 14 points in 21 minutes. “I can’t jump right now. I can’t explode,” Wade said afterwards. “I’m waiting for that to come back. Once my explosion comes back, my first step comes back, you’ll see a difference.” … The Bobcats had Adam Morrison Mustache Night, only Morrison didn’t play (knee) and just found out he’s $25,000 lighter in the wallet after flipping the bird to a fan the other day. Question: how come media outlets always report it as an “obscene gesture” and never offer any description? We have to assume whenever someone gets in trouble it’s for the finger, but there are tons of obscene gestures out there. What’s wrong with being more specific? … Bulls/Knicks (rout), Celtics/Hawks, Kings/Grizzlies and Sixers/Pacers really weren’t worth your time … Kevin Durant ended the speculation by announcing he’s going pro. KD can not spend one minute in a gym in front of any NBA scout, and he’s still going no lower than No. 2, so how do you think he handles the whole pre-draft workout circuit? … If Greg Oden comes out, where will the ‘07 draft class rank among the rest of the draft classes in history? As of right now we’d say 2003 is the best, but we wanna hear from you … Durant is, of course, our cover guy for Dime #32, on newsstands and in selected stores nationwide right now. Inside the book we’ve also got a feature on Dirk Nowitzki, of which you can read an excerpt right here … We know ourselves here in the Dime office. When we said that our new Nintendo Wii was going to cause productivity problems, we were right. Sticking to the “Wii Sports” package (baseball, bowling, tennis, golf and boxing) until we get some more games, it’s already consumed the office. Josh bowls on Wii with the intensity of a pro, using his complete “real-life” walk-up and everything. Austin struck out a few people on the baseball game and spent the rest of the day chewing a huge wad of gum, wearing a MLB cap barely above his eyes and demanding he be called “Dontrelle” until further notice. Jon staked claim as Dime tennis champ, adding in a few grunts on some shots. And Naomi pieced Jed in bowling despite working on one leg. And you wonder what we do all day … We’re out like KD …