The Hawks Do Everyone a Favor, Derail King James

Atlanta snaps Cleveland's winning streak, a rare Jerome James sighting, and a debut win for Philly's interim coach.

• Down goes Cleveland.The Atlanta Hawks, led by Mike Bibby's 24 points, defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 97-92 despite 33-9-6 from LeBron James. Atlanta had the benefit of a balanced scoring attack, with all five starters contributing at least 12 points to snap Cleveland's 11 game winning streak. The win provides some great momentum for the Hawks who will play host to their nouveau rivals from Boston, a game that will feature a halftime performance by Ludacris (and hopefully the A-Town Dancers). That might just be enough to guarantee another sellout in A-Town.

• Holy shit, that's Jerome James! Six Knicks finished the night with double figures in the scoring column in a win over the Kings, but none of them were named Jerome James. But hey, the big fella finally saw some court time this season and managed to eek out two points and two rebounds in four glorious minutes. As for the actual contributors, Al Harrington led all scorers with 33 points while David Lee was huge with 17 points and 19 rebounds. John Salmons led Sacto with a paltry 14 in a game that was never close. The Knicks put up a ridiculous 41 point first quarter, and there was no looking back.

• They needed that one. In their first game without Mo Cheeks at the helm the 76ers were able to pick up a rare home victory, albeit over my woeful Wizards. It was the first win for front office employee-turned coach Tony DiLeo thanks in part to Elton Brand's dominating performance. The free agent acquisition scored a season-high 27 points (12-19 from the field) to go along with nine rebounds. Nobody stepped up for the Wizards, although Mike James (16 points) did see his first extended action since he was acquired in last week's three-team trade. Nick Young and Javale McGee combined to play fewer than ten minutes because Ed Tapscott clearly hates me.