The AP reports: Isiah Thomas gave new Knicks president Donnie Walsh a few more reasons to fire him. Mike Dunleavy tied a career high with 36 points, and the Indiana Pacers beat New York 132-123 on Wednesday night. The Knicks allowed their highest point total of the season and tied a franchise record with 59 losses… Jamal Crawford, who led New York with 25 points, said the season has been disappointing, but he’s not counting Thomas out yet… Zach Randolph had 23 points and 15 rebounds, while former Pacer Fred Jones added 20 points for the Knicks. Danny Granger scored 26 points, just missing his fourth consecutive 30-point game. Troy Murphy added 19 points and 12 rebounds as Indiana reached a season-high point total. The Pacers swept the Knicks for the first time in franchise history.
Month: April 2008
Apr. 16: Mavs 111, Hornets 98
The AP reports: Jason Kidd had the 100th triple-double of his career and sparked a 30-8 stretch that sent the Dallas Mavericks past the New Orleans Hornets, 111-98 Wednesday night, and set up a first-round showdown between these teams. Kidd had 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first triple-double since rejoining the Mavericks, the team he was with when he broke into the NBA and began piling up the stats… Dirk Nowitzki shot just 4-of-16 and had 12 points. Howard scored 19 and Bass had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Kidd shot 9-of-14, hitting 5-of-8 on 3-pointers. David West scored 26 points and Chris Paul had 20 points and 10 assists. Peja Stojakovic scored 17 and Bonzi Wells had 16 for New Orleans, which ends the season having lost three of four and four of five.
Apr. 16: Magic 103, Wizards 83
The AP reports: The Orlando Magic paid more attention to the guy trying to make a half-court shot for $100,000 than their coach during a third-quarter timeout Wednesday night… J.J. Redick scored a career-high 18 points and Marcin Gortat had a career-high 12 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Magic to a 103-83 victory in a meaningless regular-season finale for two playoff-bound teams. Both teams rested their stars… Andray Blatche led Washington with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Nick Young scored 14. Darius Songaila, Roger Mason and Oleksiy Pecherov each scored 10 points for the Wizards, and Pecherov had a career-high 10 rebounds… Lewis had 15 points in 17 minutes. Redick, a Magic fan favorite who rarely gets off the bench, was 0-for-5 from the field to start, but finished 7-for-14. Turkoglu scored 11 points and Keith Bogans added 10.
Apr. 16: Pistons 84, Cavs 74
The AP reports: With its reserves playing most of the minutes, Detroit closed the regular-season Wednesday night with an 84-74 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that beat the Pistons four straight times last season and denied them a trip to the NBA finals… Rookie Aaron Afflalo scored 15 points, Jason Maxiell had 13 and Rodney Stuckey 12 for the Pistons, who will meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round starting Sunday. Wally Szczerbiak, who has struggled to find his shooting touch since coming to Cleveland in a trade, scored 18 points to pace the Cavaliers. Delonte West, another of the newer Cavaliers, added 11 points and Dwayne Jones had 10 rebounds. Not wanting to risk injury to James or center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cavaliers coach Mike Brown didn’t activate his two best players so they’d be ready for the Wizards.
Cavs sign Billy Thomas for playoffs and next season
The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Billy Thomas for the remainder of the season and playoffs and for the 2008-09 season. He was signed to a 10-day contract on February 22 and to his second 10-day contract on March 3. Thomas has played in six games with the Cavaliers this season.
Thomas is often called a shooting guard due to his height, but he’s got the strength and weight of a small forward. He’s not your average NBA player. Decent addition.
Suns sign Linton Johnson for playoffs
The Phoenix Suns signed forward Linton Johnson for the remainder of the season, the team announced today. Johnson is eligible to be on the Suns’ 2008 NBA Playoff roster.
The 6-8, 205-pound Johnson returns to Phoenix after signing two separate 10-day contracts on Feb. 22 and March 3 earlier this season. Johnson appeared in six games in his first stint with Phoenix, averaging 2.5 points and 2.2 rebounds in 8.8 minutes. The 27-year-old also signed a 10-day contract with the Toronto Raptors on March 27, 2008 and appeared in two games, scoring six total points in 10 minutes.
In 141 career games (27 starts), Johnson owns averages of 4.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.6 minutes. The four-year NBA veteran enjoyed his best career season in 2005-06 with the Hornets, posting averages of 5.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 18.1 minutes in 27 games. Johnson signed his first NBA contract with the Bulls on Sept. 29, 2003.
The Suns roster now stands at 14. An updated roster is attached.
Lakers win top spot in West
The Los Angeles Daily News (Elliot Teaford) reports: Purple-and-gold streamers and confetti fell on a roaring sellout crowd after the Lakers clinched the top spot in the Western Conference and secured home-court advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs with a 124-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings. “Now we’re in the No. 1 spot, but it doesn’t mean anything unless we move forward and take care of business,” guard Derek Fisher said. Added forward Lamar Odom: “It feels great. We’ll get something to eat and talk about it a little bit and then we’ll move on. We really came together at the end of the season, and we found ourselves in first place.”
Only Heat trainer ever is retiring
The Miami Herald (Sarah Rothschild) reports: Ron Culp’s 3,001st game will be his last. The only head trainer the Heat has known in its 20-year history is retiring. Culp, who also serves as travel coordinator, is leaving after Wednesday’s season finale. It will end his run of a record-setting 37 seasons on the job. He started with the 1970-71 Cleveland Cavaliers expansion team and went to Portland in 1974, where he was part of the 1977 championship team, and arrived in Miami for its inaugural season in 1988… Culp is a three-time winner of the NBA trainer of the year award and has two championships on his résumé (including 2006 with the Heat), but his devotion to the players is as much his legacy as his decades of service.
Raptors pimpin dat dancer booty
The Toronto Star (Dave Feschuk) reports: In their insatiable quest to fatten the bottom line, the crude capitalists who run the Raptors hit below the belt this year: specifically, they sold advertising space on the backsides of the resident scantily clad dance troupe. In doing so, they gifted the lecherous among their courtside seatholders a handy excuse. Something like: “But I was looking at her ad, honey.” Branded heinies are but one of the relatively new developments casual observers might have missed in Raptorworld this season.
InsideHoops.com editor says: I support anything that gives me an excuse to look even more closely at the dancers.
Chris Paul making big MVP noise
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Jan Hubbard) reports: Chris Paul has been a nightmare for the entire league, because if opponents try to double-team him to limit his scoring, he is such a great passer that he will find the open man. “He’s really a mature player for his age, and he can do it all, ” Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. “He can shoot the 3, he can penetrate, he gets steals, he’s very, very confident. “He’s very heady, very knowledgeable of the game, can beat you in between, at the basket, he gets to the free-throw line, just causes havoc. And if you have to play against him in a seven-game series, I don’t think the opposing head coach is going to get much sleep.”
The Star-Telegram continues: Much was expected from Paul, who goes by the nickname “CP3,” which is the first letter of his first and last name and his uniform number and has nothing to do with Star Wars. Paul was the fourth player taken in the 2005 draft behind Andrew Bogut, Marvin Williams and Deron Williams. But he has exceeded even high expectations, which is why he is getting considerable support for the Most Valuable Player award this season. Kobe Bryant is the favorite, but Paul has gained momentum. If he doesn’t win it, he’s likely to finish second, ahead of Boston’s Kevin Garnett and Cleveland’s LeBron James.