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Charlotte forward Tyrus Thomas was ejected from the Bobcats’ game with the Wizards for throwing an elbow at Washington’s James Singleton late in the first quarter on Monday night.
Thomas was dribbling and Singleton was defending him when the Charlotte forward elbowed him with 3.6 seconds remaining in the quarter. He was immediately called for a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.
— Reported by the Associated Press
Photo by InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner of the final Nets pregame in the state of New Jersey.
The Miami Heat’s LeBron James and the Utah Jazz’s Al Jefferson today were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, April 16, through Sunday, April 22.
James helped Miami to a 4-1 week, averaging 31.0 points on 58 percent shooting, while grabbing 7.5 rebounds and dishing out 5.5 assists per game. He did not play in Miami’s only loss of the week, an 86-84 defeat against Washington. He scored at least 25 points in all four games he appeared in, including two 30-point performances. On April 16, he scored Miami’s final 17 points in the final 4:47 at New Jersey in a 101-98 win. The 17 consecutive points tied the Miami record for most consecutive points to end a Heat victory.
Jefferson registered three double-doubles to help Utah to a 3-0 week, as the Jazz competes for a playoff spot. He averaged 20.0 points and paced the league in rebounding with 15.3 boards per game. On April 16, he led the Jazz with 28 points and tied a career high with 26 rebounds to elevate the Jazz to 123-121 triple-overtime victory over the Mavericks.
Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Denver’s Ty Lawson, L.A. Clippers’ Chris Paul, New York’s Carmelo Anthony, San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili, and Washington’s Kevin Seraphin and John Wall.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor said the team has already informed or is informing president of basketball operations David Kahn that it has picked up Kahn’s option for next season. That means Kahn will be back for his fourth season with the club. Kahn signed a three-year deal in May 2009 that included two more years of team options, each separate…
Before Sunday’s game with Golden State at Target Center, the Timberwolves announced forward Kevin Love would not play again this season. After the Wolves had blown a 21-point second-quarter lead in a 93-88 loss, Wolves guard J.J. Barea suggested some of his teammates might already have stopped caring.
“We’ve got problems here,” Barea said after his team shot 10-for-40 in the second half and struggled on defense. “We have a lot of guys that don’t care. On a basketball team, when you have a bunch of guys who don’t care, it’s tough to win games. We’re going to keep getting [losses] here until we get players that care about winning, about the team, about the fans.”
The Wolves were without Love, again. He sustained a concussion when Denver’s JaVale McGee elbowed him in the head April 11. Despite being cleared to play, he was shut down for the season. The Wolves cited the time Love has missed and the lack of practice time to get him ready to return. Love is second in the league in rebounding (13.3) and fourth in scoring (26.0).
— Reported by Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune
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The Los Angeles Clippers are tired of seeing Blake Griffin take hard fouls and have vowed to protect their All-Star forward if it continues.
“I feel like people are intentionally trying to hurt him,” Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. “It’ll all come back around.”
Late in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, Suns center Robin Lopez was ejected for a flagrant foul on Griffin. On Sunday, Griffin will see New Orleans Hornets center Jason Smith on the court for the first time since Smith was ejected and suspended two games for a flagrant foul on Griffin in the fourth quarter of their game last month.
The criticism of Griffin and his teammates in the past is they haven’t done enough to retaliate after those hard fouls.
“If Blake gets fouled, I can’t go punch someone in the nose,” Jordan said. “We can’t do that but throughout the course of a game, other fouls happen to other players on the opposite team and if they happen to be hard fouls, they happen to be hard fouls. We’re going to protect our teammates; it doesn’t matter who it is.”
— Reported by Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles
Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez should have been suspended for his flagrant foul on Blake Griffin last Thursday and shouldn’t have been allowed to play until Griffin recovered from the injury he sustained.
“I have an issue that Blake got hit that hard and he is in pain and he is still in pain and the player that did that played yesterday,” Del Negro said. “I have a problem with that. I don’t know how the league wants us to deal with that because then it will get out of hand.”
— Reported by Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles
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As LeBron James was walking to Miami’s home bench for the final time this regular season, he raised his left arm to acknowledge the roars of another sold-out crowd. And when the obligatory ”M-V-P” chants started up, James waved again.
He’ll be back next weekend, with bigger goals in mind.
James finished with 32 points and eight rebounds, Norris Cole added 16 points and the Heat pulled away in the final minutes to beat Houston 97-88 on Sunday night and eliminate the Rockets from postseason contention…
Mike Miller scored 11 for injury-depleted Miami, which still has a mathematical chance of catching Chicago for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Joel Anthony added 11 for the Heat on 5-for-5 shooting…
Chandler Parsons scored a career-high 23 for Houston, which led by as many as 13 in the first half. Parsons tied the game at 83 with a layup late in the fourth, before James’ 3-pointer sparked an 8-0 run that put Miami in control.
Goran Dragic scored 16, while Courtney Lee and Patrick Patterson had 14 apiece for the Rockets. Luis Scola scored 12.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Guard Lou Williams, the 76ers’ leading scorer (14.9 points per game), will opt out of the final year of his contract at the end of this season and become an unrestricted free agent, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation.
If he were not to opt out, Williams would be due $6.4 million from the Sixers.
Said the source: “He’s indicated that he’s not going to pick up his option. All indications are that he’s going to opt out.”
Reached at courtside via phone before the 76ers’ game at Indiana on Saturday, general manager Rod Thorn said he had not spoken with his leading scorer about his contract but acknowledged that Williams can opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.
— Reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News
Utah Jazz point guard Devin Harris was tired of seeing 3-pointers drop for the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.
He made sure one at the end of regulation didn’t have a chance as he stepped up big against Jameer Nelson.
Harris’ block kept Utah alive, and in the end it was the Jazz draining 3s to secure a 117-107 overtime victory over Orlando…
Despite the missing pieces, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy ripped into his team.
“We just cannot guard, we cannot,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t think that our guys are not trying, but we cannot guard anyone. Our defense is disturbing to say the least.”
Van Gundy also had harsh words for backup center Daniel Orton, who contributed only two points off the bench.
“Daniel gave us nothing,” Van Gundy said. “He went for every shot fake, he fouled every time. He didn’t even give us minutes that we needed to give our starters some rest. Our lack of depth was an absolute huge factor. Those guys ran out of gas at the end.”
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Jetlagged or not, the Sacramento Kings were determined not to be the team the Charlotte Bobcats beat to end their long losing streak.
The Kings made the most of a rare late-season cross country trip to the East coast and throttled the hapless Bobcats 114-88 Sunday night behind a dominant effort from DeMarcus Cousins, who had 29 points and 10 rebounds. It was Charlotte’s franchise-record 20th straight loss.
The Kings had lost nine of their previous 10 games, but this one was never in doubt as they scored 78 points inside the paint and led by 35 in the fourth quarter.
Cousins did most of the damage in the lane, but Tyreke Evans was masterful in slicing his way through a non-existent Bobcats defense, hitting 10 of 11 shots from the field – most of them on drives to the lane – and finishing with 22 points.
Jason Thompson flirted with a triple double, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Kings…
If the Bobcats (7-56) lose their final three games, they’ll finish with the worst winning percentage in league history. They travel to face Washington and Orlando before closing the regular season at home Thursday night against New York.
— Reported by the Associated Press