Friday night brought us not one, but two, matchups of elite point guards.
As it turns out, Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Lakers and John Wall of the Washington Wizards were just the undercard to the real heavyweight clash in Chicago between former MVP Derrick Rose and All-Star Damian Lillard.
Wall had a solid double-double—10 points and 11 assists—while leading the Wizards to a 104-96 win over the Clippers.
Paul had 19 points and six assists, but also committed six turnovers and didn’t get a lot of help.
Wall, meanwhile, had Bradley Beal going off for 29 points and Marcin Gortat going 8-for-10 in just 22 minutes.
The loss snapped L.A.’s nine-game winning streak and left the Clips 1-1 on their current eastern swing.
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But the battle of the night happened at the House That Jordan Built in Chicago, where the Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls put on a show.
Damian Lillard poured in 35 points—including hitting 7-of-11 from behind the arc—and had six assists.
But Derrick Rose was … well … Derrick Rose again. At least for one night, anyway.
Rose scored 31 points—his first 30-point game since his ACL injury in the 2012 playoffs—and dished five assists and Chicago got the 115-106 win.
Chicago had six players in double figures. Portland had Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge combine for 70 points and got 36 from everyone else.
The back-and-forth between Lillard and Rose was tremendous.
But another point guard almost stole the show. Chicago backup Aaron Brooks came off the bench for 17 points and four dimes in 17 minutes, hitting 8-of-10 from the floor as he had his deadly floater on speed dial.
The Eastern Conference takes it fair share—and then some—abuse from fans and pundits alike and the simple fact is that a case could be made than of the top 10 teams in the NBA, the vast majority come from the wicked West, where through Friday night, six teams are playing better than .700 ball and a seventh, San Antonio, is at .696.
The East, meanwhile, has five teams with winning records.
The imbalance between the conferences has gone from the sublime to the absurd. The West has gone 87-38 against the Eastern Conference this season—a .713 winning percentage.
Everyone in the Eastern Conference has, in fact, posted at least one win against the West. But for four teams, that “one win” is literal. The Boston Celtics are 1-7, the New York Knicks 1-8, the Philadelphia 76ers 1-9 and the Charlotte Hornets are 1-10.
Portland’s loss to the Bulls was its first to the Eastern Conference in 11 games. Golden State is 8-0 and Houston is 6-0 against the NBA’s own version of the Sisters of the Poor.
But for one night, at least, the Eastern Conference reigned. In six inter-conference matchups Friday night, the East was victorious in four of them.
Besides the wins by the Wizzles and Da Bulls, the Miami Heat got by the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, 100-95, and the Detroit Pistons ended their 13-game losing streak with a 105-103 road win over the Phoenix Suns.
So is this an argument that the imbalance isn’t what it appears to be? That the East is somehow not light years behind the West?
Of course not, because that would be a) completely wrong and b) more than mildly silly.
It was one night in December.
But for that one night, the Eastern Conference could remember what it used to be back during much of the 1980s, when the balance of regular-season power leaned heavily in its direction.