* Kevin Garnett scared the bejeezus out of Portland’s big men (read: Joel Przybilla) last night. “First, LaMarcus Aldridge got an earful, then Channing Frye, then Travis Outlaw, and Jarrett Jack, and Brandon Roy,” writes John Canzano. “And when Garnett saw Trail Blazers’ center Joel Przybilla foul Celtics’ teammate Paul Pierce, oh man, here was Garnett, hurrying over, lips flapping, staring down Przybilla. Shouted Garnett: ‘I’ll chop his head off on the other end!’ KG finished with 26 points while Big Joel managed to drop 3.

* Down 86-81 with under two-and-a-half minutes to play, LaMarcus Aldridge got his finger on a Ray Allen three-point attempt. “I went from ‘This is good,’ to ‘Oh my goodness, this is the worst thing that can happen right now,” said Aldridge, as the triple swooshed through the net. The Celt’s eight-point cushion allowed them to coast to a 90-80 win.

* Whopping up on the Heat really helps to get some perspective. After yesterday’s reports of a locker room showdown between Joakim Noah and Ben Wallace, the word out of Chi-town today is that there was no heated exchange and the Bulls are as happy go-lucky as the Brady Bunch. “After the suspensions, they were trying to make Joakim seem like a bad guy, like he was tearing apart this team,'’ said Chris Duhon. ‘’He’s not. We enjoy his energy. He’s a great kid. There’s times where he has too much energy and needs to take a step back, but other than that, we love him.”

* The official diagnosis on Stephon Marbury’s foot: “I’m going to hear from them what I already know,” said Steph. “My foot is messed up.”

* Flip Saunders is looking to get Rodney Stuckey acclimated to action with the first unit. “I’m not in my rhythm yet,” said Stuckey. “Hopefully, it will come back soon. I kind of feel like I’m still second-guessing myself, which I shouldn’t be doing, because I’m an aggressive player. But it will come back, though.”

* Tyson Chandler set a franchise record in the Hornets’ win over the Sonics last night with 17 rebounds in the first half. “Mainly we just missed a lot of shots and Tyson grabbed every one of them,” said Kurt Thomas. “You’ve got to take your hat off to him. … We’ve just got to shoot the ball better. We got off to a horrible start in the first quarter and it just carried over to the rest of the game.”

* The Warriors were outscored 46-24 in the fourth quarter last night, in which the Pacers hit 17-17 free throws. “Sometimes we just get frustrated and it just snowballs. Tonight was one of those nights, said Baron Davis. “All we had to do was go into that fourth quarter with a defensive mentality. It’s the worst feeling.”

* The Raptors’ key to success in their 116-91 win over Sacramento last night was sharing the ball. They doled out 34 assists on 43 field goals. “I had to threaten Jamario [Moon] with taking him out of the game if he didn’t drive, so he drove and dropped the ball off to Chris [Bosh], who got two free throws,” said Sam Mitchell. “We just have to keep encouraging guys to do that, and guys have to recognize if a big guy’s running out at you, you have to take him to the basket.

* The Knicks downed the Nets for the third time this season and the second time in the Izod Center. New York rallied from being down early to take a 15-point lead, and ultimately hold onto the game for a 6-point, 111-105 win. “It’s a tough road back, but the guys are really working hard to dig us out of this hole,” said Isiah Thomas, whose Knicks are 12-26 less than a month away from the All-Star break. “This was kind of our first test.”

* Charlotte played stifling defense in their win last night, holding the Magic to nine scores in their final 30 possessions. Ultimately the game turned into a free throw shooting contest down the stretch, in which the Bobcats sunk six straight attempts. “People need to just stop thinking about free throws. You need to stop writing about free throws,” said Gerald Wallace. “Just go shoot them; we’ve been taking them since we were 4 or 5, right?”

* Sure Mike Woodson isn’t happy that the Hawks lost to the Bucks 87-80 last night. But Cheryl Miller only has positive things to say about the Hawks - mostly because Al Horford invited her into his home to enjoy some authentic Dominican cooking.

* Some love for KD from SI’s Ian Thomsen. Josh Howard compared the rook to Tracy McGrady and admitted that holding Durant to 15 points was a tough, but important task for his own morale. “I didn’t want to be showed up by a rookie, so I went out and played D.'’