There are two ways to win a basketball game – score a bunch of points or prevent the other guy from scoring a bunch of points.   Besides winning the prize for the most patently obvious statement of 2010, that describes the MVPs of the Saturday’s Pac-10 wins by Stanford and Cal – Cardinal guard Jeremy Green (the scorer) and Bears guard Nikola Knecevic (the score preventer).

Cal's Nikola Knezevic turned the game around by stopping USC's Dwight Lewis -- Photo by Victor Deccolongon/Getty Images

Stanford’s Green is hurting – bad wrist, bad back, bad ankle.   He can’t remember the last time he was completely healthy, and Johnny Dawkins can’t remember the last time he participated in a full week of practice.  And he had that preseason brush with the law when he was suspended from the team for being arrested on suspicion of domestic violence.  (Charges were never filed and Green rejoined the team before the opener.)

The ankle has been a problem since preseason, his right (shooting) wrist has been wrapped up ever since he sustained a bone bruise against Northwestern on Dec. 19, and he messed up his back against USC on Wednesday.

So he simply went out and scored 30 points in the 70-59 victory over UCLA on Saturday, the first Cardinal player to break the 30-point barrier since Brook Lopez did it against Marquette in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.    Green has led the Cardinal in scoring in all three Pac-10 games, and he carried the Cardinal on Saturday, hitting 11 of 18 shots including 5 of 8 three-pointers.

A number of his shot attempts would get other players yanked from the game.    He hoists them up from the 28-foot range, and even the home crowd groans when he lets fly.   For Green, they are high-percentage shots.   Even when Green is stepping back to get the shot off.  Even with a defender in his face. 

“I’m beginning to think he doesn’t need to practice,” Dawkins said.

It’s counter-intuitive that Green is shooting better now that his entire body is aching and he seldom practices.   It’s also counter-intuitive that Stanford’s two best wins – against USC and UCLA – came when Landry Fields had two of his worst offensive games.   He had a season-low 14 points in the win over USC, and had just 16 points against UCLA, including a 2-for-10, four-point first half.

It was also illogical that Knecevic would be the star of Cal’s 67-59 victory over USC.   He didn’t start.  He played only 14 minutes.  He missed both his three-point attempts, scored only two points and had no assists.

 But he turned the game around.

USC guard Dwight Lewis was absolutely killing Cal.   He hit two outside shots in the first three minutes of the first half to give him 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including 2-for-3 on three-pointers.    When Knezevic entered the game with 9:54 left, USC led by five and increased the margin to seven a few seconds later on a Alex Stepheson basket.   

From that point on, Knezevic simply refused to let Lewis score or even get a decent look at the basket.    Unconcerned with offering any defensive help, Knezevic focused entirely on Lewis and keeping the ball out of his hands.

Lewis became a non-factor and without their prime offensive weapon, USC’s attack died, scoring just one point in a 6 ½-minute stretch.   And when USC doesn’t score, it can’t set up its stifling halfcourt defense.

“The key to the thing was Nikola,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.  “He took Lewis out of the game.”

Lewis’ next basket did not come until just 3:21 remained in the game, at which point Cal had taken an eight-point lead.  That basket, as well as Lewis’ final bucket with 33 seconds left, both came after a defensive switch left another Cal defender on Lewis.

In the closing minutes, even Lewis had to marvel at Knezevic’s defense.

“He said, ‘Man, you have to give me a little bit of room,’” Knezevic said.

Knezevic would not have had the opportunity to be the game’s star if Jorge Gutierrez had played.   But with Gutierrez out with a knee injury, Knezevic assumed Gutierrez’s  role of sixth man and defensive stopper.     

And because Knezevic slammed the door on Lewis (who finished with 20 points) Cal avoided being swept at home.   With Gutierrez expected to be out for this week’s road games against Washington and Washington State, Knezevic may be asked to do it again.