April 2012 – Page 15 – NBA Blog

NBA approves relocation of Nets to Barclays Center in Brooklyn

The NBA Board of Governors today unanimously approved the relocation of the Nets to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The vote by the NBA teams was held at the NBA Board of Governors meeting in Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Nets will play in the new 18,200-seat Barclays Center on Atlantic and Flatbush avenues at the start of the 2012-13 NBA season.

Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov and Barclays Center developer and majority owner Bruce Ratner issued the following joint statement:

“We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to David Stern and the NBA team owners for their role in making the Nets’ move to Brooklyn a reality. Barclays Center will give the Nets a state-of-the-art new home and, together, we will give Brooklyn the great sports and entertainment experience it so deserves. We are looking forward to the opening of Barclays Center on September 28 and to the start of the next NBA season as the Brooklyn Nets.”

Andrea Bargnani will miss rest of season

The Toronto Raptors announced Friday centre-forward Andrea Bargnani will miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season. He exited Sunday’s game in Oklahoma City at the 4:03 mark of the second quarter with left calf tightness.

Based on tests taken yesterday on his left calf and the reoccurrence of previous symptoms, Bargnani will be sidelined to eliminate any further risk.

Bargnani has averaged a team-high 19.5 points, with 5.5 rebounds and 33.3 minutes in 31 games. He led the team in scoring 13 times and recorded five games of 30 or more points. He missed 26 games with a left calf strain and one with left calf tightness.

Owner of New Orleans Saints will buy Hornets

The NBA’s days as an owner of the New Orleans Hornets are drawing to a close. The league reached a tentative agreement early Friday morning with New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson to buy the team for $338 million, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

The league chose Benson, who will be purchasing the team by himself, over a group of investors including businessman Raj Bhathal and former NBA head coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy, and former minority owner Gary Chouest, who had tried unsuccessfully to buy the team from majority owner George Shinn three years ago. The Bhathal group also included Larry Benson, Tom Benson’s younger brother.

The New Orleans Times Picayune first reported the sale to Tom Benson on its website this morning.

Benson would be allowed under the NFL’s rules to buy the Hornets. That sport prohibits cross ownership, the rule that prompted the Denver Nuggets’ former primary owner, Stan Kroenke, to transfer ownership of the Nuggets to his son, Josh, when Stan Kroenke obtained a majority ownership stake of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.

— Reported by David Aldridge of NBA.com

Duncan scores 28, Spurs cool surging Grizzlies

Not since the old days does Tim Duncan remember having the ball run through him so many times.

But forget the old days. He was just relieved to get the San Antonio Spurs back to how they looked last week.

Making good on a guarantee that the West’s second-winningest team would start playing like it again, Duncan had 28 points and 12 rebounds and the Spurs shook off their funk to top the surging Memphis Grizzlies 107-97 on Thursday night.

Duncan matched his season-high a night after the Kobe Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers humiliated the Spurs on their home court. Lakers center Andrew Bynum made Duncan look particularly outplayed while becoming just the second NBA player in the last dozen years to corral 30 rebounds in a game…

Manu Ginobili added 20 points and Tony Parker scored 13. The Spurs had won 11 in a row before losing their last two—the Big Three didn’t play at all the first one against Utah—and narrowly escaped their first three-game slide this season.

Rudy Gay led Memphis with 19 points. The Grizzlies had their four-game winning streak halted after their rally from a late 14-point deficit fizzled in the final minutes, and fell 1 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 4 playoff seed.

It was only the third loss in 12 games for the Grizzlies since the return of Zach Randolph…

O.J. Mayo scored 16 points and Marreese Speights added 15 for the Grizzlies.

— Reported by Paul J. Weber of the Associated Press

Despite awful D-Rose game, Bulls beat Heat 96-86 in OT

Had he known he was going to play so poorly, Derrick Rose might have sat this one out. Good thing for him, his Chicago teammates picked up the slack.

C.J. Watson scored 16 points, including the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation, and the Chicago Bulls pulled away in overtime to beat the Miami Heat 96-86 on Thursday night.

Carlos Boozer scored 19 points and Kyle Korver added 17 for the Bulls, who outscored Miami 12-2 in overtime to boost their lead in the Eastern Conference to four games…

LeBron James scored 30 points for Miami but missed a free throw that would have made it a two-possession game late in regulation. Dwyane Wade added 21 points, Chris Bosh scored 20, but the Heat lost for the sixth time in 11 games…

Rose hit just 1 of 13 shots and sat out the extra period, a brutal night for the reigning MVP. Then again, he hasn’t played much lately, so this wasn’t a total shocker…

Luol Deng scored 16. Boozer grabbed 11 rebounds and fed Watson for that tying 3. Korver came up big again, hitting 5 of 6 from beyond the arc after scoring 14 on Tuesday.

— Reported by Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press

Kevin Love injury update: Out tonight

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love suffered a mild concussion and neck strain in last night’s game at Denver, and stayed overnight at a hospital for precautionary reasons. After further evaluation today, Love’s diagnosis remains unchanged and he has been cleared to return to Minneapolis. He will not play in tonight’s game vs. the L.A. Clippers. In the upcoming days, Love will be further evaluated by the Timberwolves medical staff, and an update to his status will be provided when warranted. Love suffered the injury at the 3:59 mark of the first quarter when he was struck by a JaVale McGee inadvertent elbow to the head.

In 55 games this season, Love is among the NBA’s league leaders in points (26.0 ppg, fourth), rebounds (13.3 rpg, second), double-doubles (48, first), minutes played (39.0 mpg, second), FTM (379, first) and FTA (460, second). The fourth-year forward has recorded 10 games of 30-points/15-rebounds this season, while the rest of the league has combined for nine such contests. Love made his second consecutive NBA All-Star Game appearance this year and tallied 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while also winning the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest on All-Star Saturday Night.

Carmelo Anthony to appear on Nurse Jackie (Showtime)

Fans of Knicks star Carmelo Anthony will get a chance to see the All-Star do double duty on Sunday. After Anthony and the Knicks continue to try and lock up a playoff spot Sunday with a Garden matinee against the Miami Heat, fans can watch Carmelo the actor Sunday night.

Anthony will make a guest appearance on Showtime’s hit dark comedy ‘Nurse Jackie’ playing a fallen pro hoops player. In the episode, scheduled to air Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, Anthony plays one of an eclectic group of patients who participate in a group therapy session with the show’s title character (played by Edie Falco) at a Manhattan rehab facility.

Falco plays an emergency room nurse at a Big Apple hospital with a weakness for prescription drugs in the Showtime series which is currently in its fourth season.

— Reported by Andy Clayton of the New York Daily News

Manu Ginobili becomes 5th Spur to score 10,000 NBA points

Manu Ginobili made history last night, becoming the fifth player in the Spurs’ NBA franchise history to reach 10,000 points for his career.

Ginobili passed the mark with a layup with 9:01 left in the fourth quarter, finishing his scoring in the disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The defeat to the Spurs’ enduring rivals tempered some of Ginobili’s excitement of reaching the statistical milestone.

— Reported by Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News Blog

Rockets sign forward Diamon Simpson

Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed forward Diamon Simpson for the remainder of the season. Simpson will wear jersey #20 with the Rockets.

Simpson (6-7, 230, Saint Mary’s) joins the Rockets from the Adelaide 36ers of Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL). In 27 matches with the 36ers in 2011-12, Simpson averaged 14.3 points (.592, 155-262 FG), 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. He also posted 12 double-doubles and five 20-point performances this season with Adelaide. Simpson collected 22 points and 10 rebounds in leading Adelaide to a 96-84 win over Perth, capturing the inaugural Paul Rogers medal as the game MVP between the league’s oldest rivals. Prior to the 36ers, the 6-foot-7 forward spent part of the 2010-11 season in the Turkish Basketball League with Türk Telekom. He actually began his international career with the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for their 2010 campaign.

As a collegian at Saint Mary’s (CA), Simpson finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in rebounds (1,130), blocked shots (239), steals (174), free throws made (470) and free throws attempted (777). He helped the Gaels to an 87-41 (.680) mark in a school-record 128 career games over his four years, ranking tied for the most wins in school history for a Saint Mary’s player (87 by Ian O’Leary). Simpson also ranked third all-time in scoring at Saint Mary’s (1,603 points) and was second in the West Coast Conference in career blocks (239).

Following a successful collegiate career, he was invited to training camp in 2009 with the Golden State Warriors before joining the D-League’s L.A. D-Fenders in 2009-10. Simpson averaged 15.5 points, 9.6 rebounds (8th in D-League), 2.2 assists, 1.80 steals and 1.40 blocks in 30 games (30 starts) with the D-Fenders that season. He was also selected to participate in the 2010 NBA D-League Shooting Stars competition.

UConn center Andre Drummond expected to enter 2012 NBA Draft

Andre Drummond will leave UConn after one season and enter the NBA Draft.

The official announcement may come sometime Thursday, or perhaps Friday, but sources at UConn, in the pro basketball industry and close to Drummond’s camp are telling The Courant he will go to the pros.

The Drummond family has been collecting information for the last few weeks and has met with coach Jim Calhoun several times. Two days ago, Drummond told The Courant he was not close to a decision. “Right now, I’m here and that’s all that matters,” he said.

But even by then, industry sources were suggesting he had made his decision. He is likely to be among the top six or seven picks in the draft, which could net him a guaranteed $5-7 million over the next two years.

— Reported by Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant