Jeff Teague (photo. Hawks.com)

Jeff Teague (16 points) didn’t get an enormous dunk on Houston to count because of a charge a few nights back, but his filthy slam on Kevin Durant (22, 12 boards and eight dimes) was very much a counting, and top-10 worthy, bucket. It was more Kevin Martin‘s fault than KD’s, when Martin watched his man, Kyle Korver, fall on the baseline and forgot to turn around. KD made the rotation late and got stuck on a poster because of it. That’s no way to treat your new superstar teammate. The next time down, Teague went for a second helping until Serge Ibaka blew up the floater, which led to whip-whip-whip ball movement and a Martin triple in the corner in the first half’s final minute. That was his 22nd point in the first half – yeah, he’s been watching Twitter after the Harden trade, too – and that is how you win over your teammates (he finished with 28). Atlanta would prevail in the end though, 104-95, thanks to Al Horford‘s 23 points and 12 boards and three buckets in the fourth quarter. That was two more than Durant and Martin made in the final frame combined. … This was the game the Lakers could not lose. Moving to 0-4 against Detroit would have been disaster, but Dwight Howard‘s 15 points in the first 16 minutes paved the way to his 28 points in an easy 108-79 win over the Pistons. The fast breaks and points off turnovers were nearly identical, but the plus-22 advantage by L.A. in the paint, all because of Howard, crippled Detroit. Not a single starter scored in double figures for Detroit, and the promise of Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond was sapped instantly in the face of Howard and Pau Gasol (14 points). When Jonas Jerebko leads you in scoring (he went for 18 points), you’re gonna have a bad time. … Once J.J. Barea got hurt, Minnesota’s pace was thrown off in Toronto’s 105-86 win over the T-Wolves. He was the spark plug in Minny’s game Friday, but Brandon Roy (four points, five TOs) played like a man running in place and likewise, the T-Wolves went nowhere. How mad can the Raptors fans be that they were shunned by fan favorite Steve Nash for the Lakers? Kyle Lowry (22 points, seven boards, five assists) looks like a much better option at this point. When Jose Calderon and Lowry are on the floor together, they look good. But then too, why shake anything up between Lowry and DeMar DeRozan? The two combined for 44 points. … We’re out like L.A. panic.

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