November 19, 2012 – Page 2 – NBA Blog

Gerald Wallace returns to Nets lineup

The Nets got a much-needed boost when Gerald Wallace finally returned to the lineup in last night’s 99-90 win over the Kings.

Wallace, who finished with four points, a rebound and three assists in 24:30, started and played for the first time since spraining his left ankle in the final minute of the Nets’ season-opening win over the Raptors at Barclays Center on Nov. 3, and made it through the game without incident.

“I’m good,” Wallace said. “I’m ready to go, but whatever he wants me to do, I’m down with it. We’re early in the season, so obviously they want to be cautious with it, so we’ll see how I feel tomorrow from this game and go from there.”

Coach Avery Johnson said the plan going into the game was to get Wallace into the game for four six-minute bursts, to try to get him to about 24 minutes, and Johnson was happy with how things went.

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

More knee surgery for Brandon Roy

The much-anticipated return of Brandon Roy to the Rose Garden will not happen this week after the Minnesota guard and former Trail Blazers legend has scheduled a right knee surgery for this week, The Oregonian has learned.

The arthroscopy will be the seventh of his career, dating back to high school, and the fifth since he has been a professional. It is unknown how long Roy will be sidelined.

A three-time All-Star and former Rookie of the Year for the Blazers, Roy left Portland in December of 2011 when he medically retired because of arthritic and degenerative knees. The Blazers later used the league’s Amnesty Clause to waive Roy, a move that allowed Roy to be paid the remaining $63 million of his contract, while exempting him from their salary cap.

Roy signed a two-year contract with Minnesota in July that pays him $5.4 million this season, with the second year non-guaranteed depending on how many criteria he meets this season, such as games played.

— Reported by Jason Quick of The Oregonian

Lakers beat Rockets for 4th win in 5 games

After just two practices and two games together, Kobe Bryant already can see Mike D’Antoni’s ideas and schemes improving the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although a triple-double isn’t usually part of Bryant’s game plan, he happily picked it up along with another win for a team that has been revitalized before their new coach has even taken the court.

Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his 18th career triple-double, and the Lakers ran past the Houston Rockets 119-108 Sunday night for their fourth victory in five games since firing coach Mike Brown.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol scored his 15,000th career point among his 17 as the Lakers returned to .500 by running away from their second straight opponent since D’Antoni took over their practices. Although D’Antoni and his surgically replaced knee haven’t even appeared on Los Angeles’ bench yet, his new team is already playing with passion and fluidity it hadn’t showed during a miserable start to the season…

Chandler Parsons scored 24 points and James Harden had 20 for the Rockets, who have lost six of eight. Coach Kevin McHale missed his fourth straight game during a leave of absence to deal with a family matter.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press