NBA Triple Threat: Your (almost) daily roundup of last night's action in the Association:

Celtics finally lose out West Kevin Garnett returned for Boston, but he wasn't much of a factor (2-7 shooting in 21 minutes) as the Celtics lost 124-118 to Denver, their first loss against a West team this season. The Nuggets led much of the second half, but Boston got to within one with 3:35 left. Denver, who shot 51.3% from the field, would score the next six points though, and the Celtics failed to threaten afterwards.

Bizzaro World in Detroit Orlando visited Detroit Tuesday night. The Pistons were on a ten game winning streak. Dwight Howard scored 8 points, and Hedo Turkoglu shot 4-13 from the field. Naturally, the final score was Orlando 103, Detroit 85. Three point shooting was the biggest different in this one. The Magic shot 13-20 from downtown; the Pistons 2-14.

Utah 119, Golden State 109 The Jazz continue to play well in the endless jockeying for position in the West, beating Golden State for their 13th straight win at home. Utah scored 77 points, six off the franchise record, in the first half, ending it with a 10-0 run to give the Jazz a 13 point lead they would not relinquish. The Warriors are currently in the dreaded 9th spot in the West, a full game back of Denver and Houston.

Best Lines

• Allen Iverson, Den: 28 pts, 7 rebs, 9 ast
• Lamar Odom, LAL: 17 pts, 7-9 FG, 15 rebs, 2 ast, 1 stl...Lakers beat down the Hawks 122-93. Bibby only played 16 minutes in his Atlanta debut, scoring 5 points on 1-5 shooting, 0-4 from dowtown.
• LeBron James, Cle: 26 pts, 13 rebs, 11 ast, 2 stl...Nice triple-double, but the Rockets won the game.

Rumors du Jour

• Birdman tries to comeback - Here is my idea for a reality show. One of the crappy teams (say the Wolves, Bucks, or Grizzlies) signs both the Birdman and Paul Shirley. Then film every conversation and interaction they have with each other and other players. Who wouldn't watch that?
• Kobe not worried about finger - Isn't basketball a game where fingers get abused? Back when I played (before I hit double digits and my lack of talent was too much to overcome), I jammed plenty of fingers.
• Gordon on the block? The key here is Sefolosha is making Gordon expendable. Sefolosha's "emergence" is still pretty short-lived, but with a team going nowhere, packaging Gordon with Ben Wallace could work (if anyone wants it).

Now it's your turn: share your thoughts on the on and off court action Tuesday in the NBA.