* The Raptors were as close to perfect as a team gets last night, sinking 15-21 triples en route to a 114-112 upset of the Celtics. “Half the guys in our league couldn’t shoot 15-for-21 if they were in a gym by themselves,” said Doc Rivers. “It was almost like we didn’t believe they would shoot another one.”

* While KG took the loss in stride, noting that the C’s lost to a team who played “damn near perfect,” Doc Rivers still saw room for improvement on the defensive end. “They moved the ball, but they had probably seven 3s that clearly we were there and just didn’t close out all the way,” said Rivers. “Late in the game we had one right in front of our bench. We just stopped and stared at the guy, and he shot it. It was almost like we didn’t believe they would shoot another one. We call them dare shots. We had a lot of dare shots tonight that we gave up, and they made them. But that’s what they do.”

* En route to crushing the Grizzlies, the Magic broke their franchise record of 16 three-pointers in a single outing with 18 longballs last night. The record was previously held by the 1996 team led by “3D” Dennis Scott. “I was just throwing the thing up and watching it go in,” said Hedo Turkoglu, who nailed 6 of 8 triples. “It was one of those nights, you know?”

* Gregg Popovich’s half-time speech last night was a break from the norm. “Usually,” Brent Barry said, “you just try to find a message in all the cursing.” But Pop did communicate an important point during the intermission of last night’s win over the Lakers: “It’s up to us in here to start to turn it around,” according to Barry.

* T-Mac gave Kevin Durant a first-hand reminder of why the rookie wants to model his game after the Houston superstar, as he took over the game in the final minutes, propelling the Rockets to a 109-107 win over Seattle. “That’s why I want to pattern my game after him,” Durant said. “On one leg and doing the things he did, words can’t explain it.”

* After getting smoked by the Clippers 111-85 last night, Francisco Garcia joked “We didn’t have that chemistry tonight, did we? That’s going to be the last time I talk to him [Ron Artest] in the shower,” referring to the conversation that he and Artest had about team chemistry before destroying the Nets.

* Al Jefferson blew through the Suns meager interior defense last night for a career-best 39 points, while the T-Wolves tallied 22 offensive boards. “We are a small dog out there, and if you don’t have fight, you get the hell beat out of you, and that is what happened to us,” said Mike D’Antoni. “If you lay on the ropes, they are going to beat you.”

* Randy Wittman says the Wolves are waiting in line to step up and make things happen. “Guys don’t have the look of ‘Who’s going to bail us out?’” Wittman said.

* Despite being up nine at the break over the Spurs, the Lakers retreated into “watch Kobe” mode. “No one seemed to want to step up, and they kept dropping it off in Kobe’s hands to try and let him do one-on-one stuff,” said Phil Jackson. “I’m not going to fault Kobe at all. You have the turnovers, they are credited to him, but it was other things that went on there.” L.A. fell to 2-2 without Andrew Bynum and have entered “the mid-season blues,” according to the Zen Master.

* Without Carmelo Anthony because of a sprained ankle, the Nuggets topped Atlanta thanks to a strong team effort. “When you lose Melo, your offense is: How are we going to play?” coach George Karl said. “Can we get a tempo-and-flow game, which gets us into the open court?” The Nuggets did that, getting 29 points from Allen Iverson despite a nagging soreness in his left wrist: “It’s killing me,” said Iverson, who said X-rays on the wrist were negative. “I couldn’t hit a shot from the field…It’s my (nonshooting) arm, but it’s just got to be rhythm.”

* Byron Scott’s club started last night’s game against Portland on their heels before digging in and charging ahead of the road-weary Blazers. “[The Hornets] can offer a brand of basketball that’s about as appealing as a warm bucket of spit, as they did in the first quarter against Portland on Wednesday night, and fiddle around until they find another gear,” writes John DeShazier of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “They can play the game with an efficiency that isn’t near peak, and walk off the court at the New Orleans Arena with a 96-81 victory.”

* Kirk Hinrich lit the Pacers up for 38 points last night, a career-best, as Indiana struggled mightily to defend the perimeter and keep the Bulls from penetrating into the lane. “We work on it every day, doing drills to keep people out of the paint, but we still let people in the paint,” said Danny Granger.

* He didn’t say it outright, but David Harrison just wants to smoke. And he doesn’t think that’s too much to ask.. “There’s the politically correct thing to say, there’s the basketball player thing to say and there’s what I really want to say,” Harrison said. “I don’t understand how they have a right to look into our lives on any level besides performance-enhancing drugs.

* Eddie Jordan knew that taking on the Cavs after their previous meeting without LeBron was a dangerous enterprise. ‘’We played them without LeBron (in December), and I certainly remember LeBron saying very shortly after that he was going to remember all the butt-kicking they got while he was out…and that he was going to get some payback,'’ said Jordan. ‘’This was one of the those paybacks.'’ James had 23 points, 8 boards and 8 assists, while Zydrunus Ilgauskus was a perfect 10-10 for 24 points.