The San Francisco Chronicle (Janny Hu) reports: Despite the dismal start and consecutives losses to the two worst teams in the NBA this week, Warriors President Robert Rowell reiterated Monday that coach Don Nelson’s job in not in jeopardy. “No, I’ve not given it an ounce of thought,” Rowell said before the game at Utah. “Nellie’s a great coach. I think he’s done his job as a coach. I think Nellie has done everything he’s done his last 30 years in the business. … “Unfortunately, we’ve had Corey (Maggette) out 15 games, we’ve had Monta (Ellis) out, we’re banged up. It’s still not an excuse – it’s the NBA – but we knew when Monta went down that this would be a tough start to the year.”
Month: January 2009
Jason Richardson cited for DUI
The AP reports: Phoenix Suns guard Jason Richardson is facing charges of driving under the influence in an American Indian tribal community in metropolitan Phoenix. Richardson was stopped by a Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community police officer in the early morning of Dec. 21, according to a citation filed in court.
New nickname for Nenad Krstic
The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Nenad Krstic is officially a member of the Thunder after having his work visa approved Monday. And with a new team comes a new nickname. Krstic, the 7-foot center who was signed Dec. 30, is no longer affectionately referred to as “Curly” as he was during his four seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Thunder players have taken to the nickname “Krispy.” While the nickname is more of a play off Krstic’s last name, it could carry a double meaning for how crisp Krstic has been in his first week of practice. “He’s looking good,” Desmond Mason said of Krstic, who could make his Thunder debut tonight against the New York Knicks.
Lone Star teams break women`s scoring record
InsideHoops.com covers the WNBA, but we don’t do a lot of women’s college hoops stuff. Still, all basketball fans should take 20 seconds to skim this, below:
The AP reports: Jamie Meyer scored 49 points to help Abilene Christian overcome a 63-point effort by Renee Renz and beat Texas Woman’s 147-143 in quadruple overtime on Monday night in a record-setting game. The Division II schools combined to break the NCAA record for points in a game of 261 set by St. Joseph’s (Ind.) and Northern Kentucky in 1988. The 143 points by Texas Woman’s broke the NCAA record for most points by the losing team. The 112 points the two teams scored in the overtimes also was an NCAA record as was Abilene Christian’s 58 in overtime… Renz was 22-of-36 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free throw line. She also had 15 rebounds.
Williams helps Jazz hold off Warriors
The AP reports: Paul Millsap scored 19 points and had 14 rebounds to lead the Jazz to a 119-114 victory over the Warriors on Monday night. It was his 18th consecutive double-double in place of Boozer, who has missed 23 straight games since injuring his left knee on Nov. 19. Boozer will have arthroscopic knee surgery Friday… Deron Williams had 25 points and 15 assists, Ronnie Brewer scored seven crucial points down the stretch to help the Jazz hold off the Warriors… Mehmet Okur had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Andrei Kirilenko added 15 for the Jazz… Jamal Crawford scored 28 points and Maggette had 23 points in his return but the Warriors have now lost four of five games and were winless on their three-game road trip… Andris Biedrins had 14 points and 17 rebounds, but no other Warrior grabbed more than five boards.
Nuggets beat Pacers 135-115 but Melo breaks hand
The AP reports: Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and set a season-high with nine assists despite injuring his hand in the third quarter of the Denver Nuggets’ 135-115 win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night… Kenyon Martin finished with 25 points, the fourth time this season he’s led the team in scoring. Danny Granger had 36 points, the most scored against the Nuggets this season. He’s now scored 30 or more points 10 times this season… Troy Murphy added 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Jarrett Jack contributed 17.
Redd, Villanueva lift Bucks over Raptors
The AP reports: Charlie Villanueva thought any win the Milwaukee Bucks could get without Andrew Bogut would be big. This one was Villanueva’s first. Michael Redd scored a season-high 35 points and Villanueva added 13 of his 25 in the fourth quarter Monday night, leading Milwaukee to its first victory without Bogut in 21 months, 107-97 over the Toronto Raptors… The Raptors, playing without center Jermaine O’Neal and guard Jose Calderon on this two-game road trip, turned to Chris Bosh, who had 31 points on 12-of-14 shooting and 11 rebounds to help Toronto hold the lead through most of three quarters. The Raptors shot 54 percent for the night… But neither he, nor Andrea Bargnani, who added 21 points as O’Neal’s replacement, could keep up with the Bucks down the stretch.
Carter has 29, Yi 22 to lead Nets over Kings 98-90
The AP reports: With leading scorer Devin Harris sidelined in the second half, the New Jersey Nets turned to Vince Carter and couple of other things that have not been as reliable—Yi Jianlian and defense. Carter scored 29 points, Yi added 22 points and a season-high 13 rebounds and the Nets limited Sacramento to 36 second-half points in handing the Kings their 11th straight road loss, 98-90 on Monday night… Getting 17 second-half points from Carter was no surprise. Getting 15 points and 10 rebounds from Yi was stunning… Kevin Martin, who scored 45 on Saturday night, had 36 points for the woeful Kings (8-27). The reserve scored 11 in the second half, when he was 3-of-12 from the field.
Balanced Spurs take control early, hold off Heat
The AP reports: Tim Duncan scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Spurs trailed for only one possession in a nip-and-tuck 91-84 win over the Heat on Monday night, San Antonio’s 14th victory in its last 17 games… George Hill scored 15 points on 4-for-4 shooting for the Spurs, who got 11 points from both Roger Mason and Matt Bonner and 10 from Manu Ginobili. Dwyane Wade had 24 points and 12 assists—his eighth double-double of the season—for the Heat, who also got 15 points from Shawn Marion. Michael Beasley had his first double-double, 15 points and 12 rebounds for Miami, which starts a seven-game, 13-day, 7,461-mile road trip in Denver on Wednesday night.
Heat will trade Livingston
UPDATE: They aren’t releasing him. They have traded him to the Grizzlies.
The NBA career of tall, lanky point guard Shaun Livingston began in 2004 with the Los Angeles Clippers. But despite showing flashes of potential over his three seasons in L.A., the 6’7″ 185-pound Illinois native appeared to be backup material rather than worthy of starting.
Still, his future was bright, especially considering he came straight to the league from high school. The kid was only born in 1985.
Then came his nasty injury. You saw it. Proably the worst thing to look at I’ve seen in the NBA.
Now in 2008-09 he’s been riding the bench with the Heat. Playing just four games, and just 10.3 minutes per outing, Livingston has scored 2.3 ppg, not done much else, and not looked too hot in practice.
And now, the Heat are ready to say goodbye. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ira Winderman) reports:
The Shaun Livingston comeback is over. At least for now. At least with the Miami Heat. Livingston was informed of his release after Monday night’s 91-84 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at AmericanAirlines Arena, with the team expected to make a formal announcement later this morning… The contract Livingston signed with the Heat guaranteed only $370,000 for this season, a figure that keeps the team below the punitive dollar-for-dollar luxury tax on excessive payrolls.
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