The AP reports: LaMarcus Aldridge had 35 points and a career-high 18 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers added to their string of blowouts, routing Oklahoma City 107-72 on Friday night. The Blazers moved into position to clinch a playoff spot with a victory or a Phoenix loss. The Suns beat Sacramento on Friday night… Brandon Roy added 15 points, and Steve Blake had 14 points and 10 assists for Portland. Kevin Durant, another one of Barnes’ former pupils, led the Thunder with 13 points. Jeff Green scored 12 points, and Shaun Livingston made his Oklahoma City debut with 10 points off the bench.
Month: April 2009
Grizzlies beat Mavs for 3rd straight win
The AP reports: Long eliminiated from playoff contention, the Memphis Grizzlies looked a lot more like a postseason team than the Dallas Mavericks. Memphis broke a 97-all tie by outscoring the Mavericks 10-5 in the final 1:42 en route to a 107-102 victory Friday night. Rudy Gay had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Mike Conley added 25 points as Memphis won its third straight game… O.J. Mayo, who put the game out of reach with consecutive baskets, added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol had 13 points and nine rebounds. Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 35 points, 25 of them in the second half. Jason Terry scored 16 points, and Erick Dampier, Brandon Bass and Jose Barea had 10 each… Mavericks F Josh Howard, who returned two games ago after missing 11 with a bum left ankle, did not play. The official reason was the sore ankle, but Howard also aggravated a left wrist injury when he took a charge Wednesday night against Miami.
Magic throttle Cavaliers, James 116-87
The AP reports: Dwight Howard had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Magic rode a strong second-half start to go ahead by 41 points and hand the Cleveland Cavaliers their most lopsided loss of the season with a 116-87 blowout Friday night. “It’s embarrassing,” James said. Rashard Lewis had 22 points and Hedo Turkoglu scored 13 for the Magic, who remained percentage points behind Boston—but tied in the loss column—for the Eastern Conference’s second seed. James finished with 26 points and nine rebounds but never did find his rhythm, shooting 7-for-20 from the floor… A series of alley-oops, dunks and wide-open 3-pointers all seemed to connect for Orlando. And when Courtney Lee finally missed a jumper for the Magic during the spurt, Howard cleaned it up with a monstrous put-back dunk that began the chants of “M-V-P!” every time he shot free throws.
Celtics add to Hawks’ road woes, win 104-92
The AP reports: Pierce scored 21 points and Rondo had 20 for Boston, which has four days off before its next game and has just one, two-game road trip before the end of the season. The Celtics also have just one set of back-to-back games, on the last two days of the regular season. Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis had 19 points in place of Garnett, who missed his fourth straight game and his 17th of 21. Tony Allen played his first game since Feb. 8, but Brian Scalabrine and Leon Powe also remained on the bench with injuries… Flip Murray scored 21 points, Mike Bibby had 20 and Josh Smith had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta, which has lost seven straight regular-season games to the Celtics and nine in a row overall in Boston, including last year’s seven-game, first-round playoff series.
Parker leads Spurs in 126-121 win over Pacers
The AP reports: The San Antonio Spurs played their worst defensive quarter of the season in the final 12 minutes against the Indiana Pacers. Fortunately, for the Spurs, the Pacers played poor defense the entire game. Indiana scored 40 points and shot 70 percent in the fourth quarter, but the Spurs beat the Pacers 126-121 on Friday night. The Spurs were happy to win, but shocked by their late defensive collapse… Tony Parker had 31 points and 10 assists, Duncan had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Michael Finley scored 18 points and Drew Gooden added 17 for the Spurs, who now trail Denver by half a game in the scramble for the No. 2 seed in the West… Danny Granger scored 35 points for the Pacers, his fourth straight game with at least 30 points. Jarrett Jack scored 22 points, and Troy Murphy added 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Pacers, who fell four games behind Chicago for the No. 8 spot in the East.
Wade, Heat beat Bobcats 97-92 to reach playoffs
The AP reports: A year ago, the Miami Heat couldn’t wait to finish a horrendous, injury-plagued season. Now Dwyane Wade and his young teammates plan to be playing deep into the spring thanks to one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history. As usual, Wade led the Heat’s latest milestone, scoring 27 points and dishing out 10 assists on Friday night as Miami clinched a playoff berth with a 97-92 comeback victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. A year after going 15-67, the Heat joined the 1968-69 San Diego Rockets—a team that included Heat president Pat Riley—as the second NBA team to reach the postseason after winning 15 or fewer games the year before. The Rockets also recovered from a 15-67 disaster.
Amateur basketball video: Non-fundamentals
An InsideHoops.com reader named Matt once played high school basketball and was a true master at key fundamentals of the game; namely, jabbing an opponent in the gut with a swift punch, turning the ball over, and then tripping the player who caught the jab. Watch #33 and learn, people.
Now in his 20’s, Matt has gone on to accomplish great things in his short young tech/business-related career, but shockingly has still never been offered an NBA contract.
Here’s the video:
Bucks sign Salim Stoudamire
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed guard Salim (Sah-LEEM) Stoudamire (6-1, 175) to a multi-year contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today.
Stoudamire, 26, has three seasons of NBA experience with the Atlanta Hawks and averaged 8.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 157 games. He is the all-time free throw percentage leader in Hawks history (minimum 200 attempts) connecting at a clip of 88.2 percent.
Originally selected by the Hawks with the 31st overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, Stoudamire was named a Second Team All-America selection by Associated Press and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) as a senior at the University of Arizona. He also earned First Team John R. Wooden Award All-American mention and First Team All-Pac Ten honors in his senior year with the Wildcats. He finished his four-year collegiate career in 9th place in NCAA history in three-point percentage (.458) and tied for 18th in career three-point field goals made (342).
The Bucks roster now stands at 15 players.
Raptors re-assign Nathan Jawai to D-League
The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have reassigned rookie forward-centre Nathan Jawai to the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. Jawai will continue to be included on the Raptors’ roster and will be placed on the team’s inactive list.
Jawai was previously assigned to Idaho on February 26, appearing in 10 games with the Stampede, starting nine. He averaged 12.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 25.0 minutes. He posted two double-doubles, with personal bests of 21 points at Utah on March 16 and 10 rebounds on two occasions (versus Reno on March 21 and March 16 versus Rio Grande Valley). He was recalled by Toronto on March 23.
Jawai, 22, has appeared in six games totaling two points and two rebounds in 19 minutes with Toronto this season. He was cleared December 17 to begin physical activity after being sidelined since training camp for precautionary reasons as a result of an abnormality detected during normal procedural pre-season cardiac screening.
The club acquired the draft rights to Jawai from the Indiana Pacers on July 9. He was the 41st overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft. He is the first indigenous player from Australia to be drafted by an NBA team.
Idaho, who is led by head coach Bryan Gates, has been designated as Toronto’s D-League affiliate for the 2008-09 season. In addition to the Stampede, the 16-team NBA D-League includes the Albuquerque Thunderbirds (N.M.), Anaheim Arsenal (Calif.), Austin Toros (Texas), Bakersfield Jam (Calif.), Colorado 14ers (Broomfield), Dakota Wizards (Bismarck, N.D.), Erie BayHawks (Penn.), Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Ind.), Iowa Energy (Des Moines), Los Angeles D-Fenders, Reno Bighorns (Nev.), Rio Grande Valley Vipers (McAllen, Tex.), Sioux Falls Skyforce (S.D.), Tulsa 66ers (Okla.) and Utah Flash (Provo).
Raptors sign Quincy Douby to second 10-day contract
The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have signed guard Quincy Douby to a second 10-day contract. Douby was originally signed to a 10-day contract on March 24, becoming the 17th Call-Up of the 2008-09 NBA Development League season and the 135th overall since the league began play in 2001.
In one game with Toronto, Douby registered two points and one assist in five minutes. Prior to signing his first 10-day contract with Toronto, Douby, 6-foot-3, 175 pounds, averaged 18.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 28.6 minutes in five games with the D-League’s Erie BayHawks this season. He scored in double figures in all five games, with a high of 23 points at Albuquerque.
Douby, 24, was the 19th selection as an early entry candidate by the Sacramento Kings in the 2006 NBA Draft. He averaged 4.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 10.7 minutes in 116 career games with the Kings. He posted a career-high 32 points at the Los Angeles Lakers on April 15, 2008. He was released by Sacramento on January 21.
Douby averaged 17.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 95 career games at Rutgers University. He finished his career ranked sixth in school history in scoring (1,690) and holds the school record for points scored in a single season (839 in 2005-06). He averaged 25.4 points as a junior, leading the Big East in scoring and finishing sixth nationally. He earned first-team All-Big East honours in his junior season.
The Raptors face the New York Knicks on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is 1p.m. (CBC/FAN 590).