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The Boston Celtics announced today that they have reassigned rookie guard J.R. Giddens to their NBA Development League affiliate Utah Flash. This is the third time this season that Giddens has been assigned to Utah.
Giddens has appeared six games this season for the Celtics scoring four points in eight total minutes. Giddens has averaged 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.27 steals and 1.40 blocks per game in 15 games for the Flash this season.
Morgan State basketball player Ameer Ali grabbed Oklahoma star Blake Griffin’s arm, pulled him and completely flipped him onto his back. It was a disgusting, cheap play from a player who scores under 3 points per game and is lucky to even be near a talent like Griffin. Here’s the video:
The Washington Post (Michael Lee) reports: Oklahoma Coach Jeff Capel was a bit fired up after Morgan State’s Ameer Ali flipped Griffin with 7 minutes 41 seconds to play on Thursday. Griffin popped up and refused to retaliate. Ali was ejected. “I couldn’t do it,” Capel said after the game. “When I was his age, no way I was able to handle that. It shows how smart he is. He understands why people are doing these things. I don’t think it was intentional, but it was something bad that happened. “Those kinds of things upset me. I know [Morgan State] coach Todd Bozeman doesn’t teach his kids to do that. I hope it was inadvertent. It upsets me. He gets hit like that all time, and it’s not called. I know he is a difficult guy to officiate. You have to be physical with him because he’s so physical. It’s borderline ridiculous. For me it’s scary and [ticks] me off, to be honest with you.”
The AP reports: After giving up leads of 15 points and 14 points in their previous two games, the Los Angeles Lakers came within a 3-point miss by Kelenna Azubuike of squandering an 18-point advantage to the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers held on for a 114-106 victory Thursday night as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol each scored 21 points to help complete Los Angeles’ third four-game season sweep of the Warriors in four years… Thursday’s victory was the Lakers’ 31st at home, eclipsing last season’s total, and kept them a full game behind Cleveland for the NBA’s best record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs with 14 games remaining. Monta Ellis scored 27 points and Azubuike added 25 for the Warriors, who have lost 19 of their last 22 meetings with the Lakers and are 2-18 at Staples Center since the arena opened in 1999.
The AP reports: Despite getting his 24th career triple-double, LeBron James was more impressed by the Cleveland Cavaliers tying the NBA record for fewest turnovers. James had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Cavaliers to a 97-92 overtime victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night. Cleveland committed only two turnovers, setting a franchise record and matching the mark set by Milwaukee against Indiana on April 1, 2006… Ilgauskas finished with 21 points… James scored twice late in regulation to give Cleveland an 86-82 lead, but Brandon Roy, who led Portland with 24 points, hit four free throws in the final 34 seconds—the last two coming with 3.4 seconds left—to tie the game.
The AP reports: Joe Johnson scored 24 points, and reserve Flip Murray had 19 in the Atlanta Hawks’ seventh straight victory, 95-87 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night… Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and 12 rebounds, but he and Terry combined to go just 2-for-10 in the fourth quarter. The Mavs finished 6-for-31 on 3-point attempts, including a combined 0-for-8 in the final period from Terry and Jason Kidd… Dallas was without two starters, swingman Josh Howard, who has a sore left ankle, and forward Erick Dampier, who has a swollen left knee and missed his first game of the season.
The Los Angeles Lakers have assigned guard Sun Yue to the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League for the second time this season, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Sun, who became the 25th NBA player assigned to a D-League affiliate this season on March 6, played 4 games (4 starts), averaging 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.25 blocks in 36.0 minutes in his first stint with the D-Fenders.
Originally selected by the Lakers in the second round (40th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Sun signed with the Lakers the following summer (August 25, 2008) shortly after representing China as a member of the Men’s Olympic Basketball Team in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Making his NBA debut on December 7 versus Milwaukee with four points on 2-of-3 shooting in five minutes, Sun has appeared in 10 games with the Lakers this season, totaling six points, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot in 28 minutes.
The AP reports: Chris Kaman is heavy and out of shape. His post presence is providing some much needed relief for the Los Angeles Clippers, though, albeit late in the season with no postseason to look forward to. Eric Gordon scored 15 of his 26 points in the third quarter, Baron Davis tied a career high with 20 assists, and the Clippers rallied to beat the lowly Washington Wizards 123-108 on Wednesday night. Kaman, sidelined for most of the season by a left foot injury, added 19 points in 21 1/2 minutes in his fifth game back for the Clippers… “Novak is like a video game. His shot is a beautiful thing to watch, and I am definitely surprised he is left open and unguarded so much,” said the Clippers’ Al Thornton, who finished with 22 points… Antawn Jamison led Washington with 24 points and brought the Wizards within two with 6:01 remaining. But that’s the closest they would get as Gordon slammed an alley-oop dunk, and Davis hit a jumper with 2 seconds remaining.
The AP reports: Jason Richardson scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half, and Shaquille O’Neal had 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Suns to their third straight victory, 126-116 over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Steve Nash added 24 points and 10 assists to help the Suns move within four games of idle Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The loss ended the 76ers’ winning streak at four games… Grant Hill added 21 points for the Suns, giving them four 20-point scorers for the second consecutive game… Andre Miller topped Philadelphia with 23 points and eight assists, and Thaddeus Young also had 23 points. Lou Williams had 19 points, Willie Green and Donyell Marshall 12 each, and Andre Iguodala 11.
The AP reports: The Houston Rockets turned to Yao Ming and finally pulled away from the undermanned Detroit Pistons. Yao scored 31 points—eight in the extra periods—and Ron Artest added 26 to lead the Rockets to a 106-101 double-overtime victory Wednesday night against the Pistons, who played without injured stars Richard Hamilton (groin), Allen Iverson (back) and Rasheed Wallace (calf). Aaron Brooks scored seven of his 14 points in the second extra period, helping the Rockets stay in third place in the Western Conference standings… Arron Afflalo scored 24 points, Rodney Stuckey added 21 points with 10 assists and Antonio McDyess grabbed 20 rebounds for the Pistons, who’ve lost three in a row.
The AP reports: Derrick Rose didn’t know what he had to do, but his team needed him to do something. A perfect second half took care of what was ailing the Chicago Bulls. Rose scored 20 of his 25 points and didn’t miss a shot in the second half and the Bulls snapped a seven-game road losing streak by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-96 on Wednesday night… Russell Westbrook, the fourth overall pick in the draft, had 15 points and pulled the Thunder within 99-96 by driving past Rose for a layup in the final minute before Oklahoma City’s rally fell short. John Salmons added 20 points and Ben Gordon scored 18 for the Bulls. Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 28 points and Jeff Green had 18.