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The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday that following further evaluation and testing by team medical personnel, centre Rasho Nestervoic is expected to be sidelined for one to two weeks with a Grade 2 sprain of his right ankle.
Nesterovic sustained the injury at the six minute mark of the third quarter of Wednesday’s game versus Utah. He will not join the team on its upcoming road trip to Dallas (Tuesday) and Memphis (Wednesday).
The Golden State Warriors, who with a 1-6 record have been one of the league’s worst teams in the still-young season, have signed free agent center DJ Mbenga to a contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Chris Mullin. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.
Mbenga (Ben-ga), 27, was not drafted by an NBA team, but was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Mavericks prior to the 2004-05 season. He played three seasons with the Mavericks (2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07) prior to being waived before the start of this season (October 30). A native of the Congo, Mbenga has averaged 1.3 points and 0.9 rebounds in 79 career regular season games. He appeared in a career-high 43 games with the Mavericks during the 2005-06 campaign and logged a career-best 237 minutes overall.
Mbenga will join the Warriors in New York on Monday and will wear uniform #28.
The Golden State Warriors have waived forward Stephane Lasme, it was announced today by Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Chris Mullin.
Lasme, 24, was selected by the Warriors in the second round of the 2007 NBA Draft (46th overall). He appeared in one regular season game (11/8 vs. Dallas) and did not register a stat line. The 6’8″ native of Gabon, Africa appeared in four preseason games with Golden State, averaging 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.25 blocked shots in 16.3 minutes.
The Los Angeles Lakers only have 328,238,101,204,104,111,428 games on national television this season. It isn’t enough.
I propose that every single Lakers game be televised not just on both ESPN and TNT but also on CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC and whatever the WB is called these days, as well as on HBO, Cartoon Network, Lifetime, MTV, VH1 and every other main station. All at the same time.
/end sarcasm
It appears GP may be calling it a career.
Speaking to ESPN.com, Payton, the scoring point guard with such impressive defensive abilities he was nicknamed The Glove, will probably hang up his sneakers. Quotes from GP coming late Friday night.
Denver Nuggets C Steven Hunter underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee this morning.
The surgery was performed by Nuggets team physician Dr. Steve Traina.
Hunter is expected to be out for six weeks.
Hunter has averaged 1.3 rpg in four games for the Nuggets this season.
The New Jersey Nets have signed free agent guard Eddie Gill, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.
Gill, a member of the Nets’ 2007 training camp roster, appeared in four games during the preseason, including two starts, and averaged 4.3 points, 3.8 assists and 2.5 rebounds. He was waived by the Nets on October 25, 2007 and was then selected Number One overall in the 2007 NBA Development League Draft by the Colorado 14ers.
A five-year NBA veteran, Gill began his career by appearing in eight games for the Nets during the 2000-01 season before making stops in Memphis, Portland and Indiana. The 6’0” guard has averaged 3.1 points and 1.1 assists in 167 career games. While playing for the Nets in 2001, he was credited with scoring the eight millionth point in NBA history during a game against the Boston Celtics on 4/15/01.
At 7-0, and with four of the seven wins coming by 20 points or more, the Celtics are off to their best start since the 1972-73 season when they opened 10-0. The franchise’s best start of all time came in 1957-58 when Boston reeled off 14 straight victories to open the season.
Paul Pierce is leading the team in scoring at 23.4 points plus 5.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game. But Kevin Garnett is truly dominating and has averaged 21.0 points, 14.0 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.9 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. And Ray Allen is putting up 20.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Allen and Pierce are shooting 49.0% or better, and KG is hitting 54.6% of his shots.
Eddie House, Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and James Posey add scoring. Perkins is averaging just 5.1 rebounds per game in 26 minutes. He needs to raise that number.
The Celtics as a team are shooting a fantastic 50.1% from the field.
The Dallas Mavericks won their first Southwest Division title last season, unseating the two-time defending Southwest champion San Antonio Spurs. It didn’t stop the Spurs from earning a fourth NBA title. The Texas powerhouses meet for the first time this season tonight (8 p.m. ET, TNT) when the Spurs visit Dallas in search of their fifth straight victory.
Dallas won three of four meetings last season en route to a league-best 67-15 record, ending the Spurs’ reign in the Southwest. The Mavericks, however, were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Golden State. San Antonio, eliminated from the playoffs two seasons ago by Dallas, took advantage and won another NBA title.
Both teams have gotten off to strong starts this season, with the Spurs (7-1) holding the best record in the Western Conference. They made a season-high 13 three-pointers on 27 attempts to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-92 on Tuesday for their fifth victory by at least 10 points.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks (5-2) have averaged 106.2 points in winning four of their last five contests. Jason Terry had 25 points – including 12 in the third quarter – as Dallas beat Philadelphia 99-84 on Tuesday. Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki averaged 27.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 51.7 percent from the field against the Spurs last season. Duncan averaged 19.0 points and 7.5 boards while shooting 51.9 percent against the Mavericks.
– NBA News
The Chicago Bulls announced today the team has assigned rookie guard JamesOn Curry to the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League.
Curry (6-3, 190) appeared in all seven of Chicago’s 2007-08 preseason games and averaged 4.0 ppg, 2.1 apg and 1.9 rpg in 17.3 mpg. He joined the Bulls as their third draft selection in NBA Draft 2007 when they chose him 51st overall.
Through Chicago’s first six regular season games, Curry was placed on the inactive list. While with the Energy, he will remain on Chicago’s 15-man roster.