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The Golden State Warriors have recalled forward/center Jeremy Tyler from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, the team announced today. He will rejoin the NBA club in time for tonight’s home game versus the Orlando Magic.
Tyler was assigned to Golden State’s D-League affiliate yesterday and registered five points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal in 29 minutes of the team’s 95-79 victory at Reno yesterday afternoon.
The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have re-called guard Nando De Colo to the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League.
De Colo was assigned to the Toros on Dec. 2 and finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in Austin’s 97-82 victory over Idaho.
He has appeared in 13 games this season for San Antonio, averaging 2.5 points, 1.4 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 10.4 minutes.
The French native is currently in his first season playing for the Silver and Black. He was selected by the Spurs with the 53rd pick in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft and spent the past three seasons playing for Valencia of the Spanish ACB League.
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The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned forward Perry Jones to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
This season, Jones has appeared in 10 games for the Thunder averaging 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game.
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Through 17 games, Duncan leads the Spurs in scoring (18.9 points per game), rebounding (10.1) and blocks (2.4), numbers he hasn’t approached since 2008-09.
By modern statistical measures, he is in the nascent throes of the top age-36 season in NBA history, his 27.6 player-efficiency rating challenged only by the 27.1 Karl Malone rang up with Utah in 1999-2000.
Fresh and healthy, Duncan has so resembled his 20-something self that coach Gregg Popovich has had to fight the temptation to give him a 20-something’s workload.
“His condition and age doesn’t change,” Popovich said, offering reasons for keeping Duncan’s minutes managed. “It seems like it has for some magical reason, like there’s some elixir he and Kevin Garnett have found and nobody else.”
— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
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Sunday was a welcome off day for Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who had few words for reporters Saturday night after receiving news of the death of his former coach and close friend Rick Majerus. It wasn’t lost on Rivers that he was in Milwaukee, where his retired number and photo hang from the rafters of the Bradley Center after three successful seasons at Marquette University.
Rivers has a special bond to Milwaukee, and it was also where he became close to Majerus, who was an assistant to head coach Hank Raymonds at Marquette.
Rivers knew before tipoff Saturday night against the Bucks that Majerus was near death and he appeared emotional at tipoff when stories began surfacing that Majerus had died. In Milwaukee, obviously, this story carried special meaning. Majerus was beloved for his years at Marquette and there isn’t a time here when Rivers isn’t asked about the state of Marquette basketball during a pregame interview.
— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe
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The Orlando Magic caught fire in the fourth quarter to stun the Los Angeles Lakers 113-103 and get the better of former player Dwight Howard on Sunday.
In their first meeting since trading Howard to Los Angeles in the off-season, the struggling Magic surprised the Lakers by scoring 40 fourth-quarter points to snatch the road victory.
Arron Afflalo led the way with 30 points while Glen Davis added 23 and 12 rebounds to help Orlando (6-10) snap a three-game losing streak and win the battle against Howard.
“It means a lot to me,” Magic guard Jameer Nelson told reporters of the win. “We can all say it was just a basketball game, but we know (it wasn’t).”
Kobe Bryant tallied a game-high 34 points and Howard finished with 21 and 15 rebounds against his old team, but it was not enough to help the Lakers (8-9) under new coach Mike D’Antoni.
— Reported by Reuters
Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds against his former team, but the rebuilding Magic rallied impressively with a 40-point fourth quarter for just their fourth win in 14 games, snapping a three-game skid. Orlando pulled the upset partly by intentionally fouling Howard, who went 9 for 21 at the line – including 7 for 14 in the fourth quarter.
The Magic made their decisive 12-2 run while Howard wasn’t helping the Lakers at the line in the final minutes, with Nelson and J.J. Redick hitting 3-pointers along the way…
Howard left the court after the game without shaking hands with the Magic – not that he has many close friends left in blue pinstripes anyway. Orlando has new coach Jacque Vaughn, a new front-office staff and just five players who played with Howard.
”Let Dwight be Dwight. If he wants to walk off the court, it’s cool,” said Davis, who overlapped with Howard only last season in Orlando. ”No hard feelings. He lost. I’d feel bad, too. I wouldn’t want to shake nobody’s hand. We weren’t even really thinking about him. We just wanted to get this win. I didn’t talk to him. I’m here to play basketball. I’m not here to be buddies.”
Kobe Bryant scored 34 points for the Lakers, who dropped to 3-4 under new coach Mike D’Antoni with another inconsistent performance featuring deficient defense. Metta World Peace scored 15 points and Pau Gasol added 11 for the Lakers, who went back to poor form just two nights after a 122-point effort in a blowout win over Denver.
— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press
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The NBA will release its monthly individual honors today and Lillard, the Blazers’ electric, do-it-all rookie point guard, almost certainly will win the league’s Rookie of the Month award. After 16 games — which factored into the league’s decision — Lillard led all rookies in scoring (18.4 points per game), assists (5.9), steals (1.38), field goals (102) and minutes played (36.8), while ranking 11th in rebounding (3.1) and fourth in free-throw shooting percentage (83.9).
His first month in the NBA was so dynamic, so polished, Lillard’s lofty statistical accomplishments regularly drew comparisons to some of the best players in NBA history. Players like Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, Allen Iverson. It started on opening night, when Lillard had 23 points and 11 assists in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming just the third player in NBA history to record at least 20 points and 10 assists in a debut. Robertson and Thomas are the others.
One accomplishment after another followed in the next 15 games. After three games, Lillard became just the second player, along with Robertson, to record at least 20 points and seven assists. He’s the second player in franchise history to score at least 20 points in his first three NBA games, joining Geoff Petrie. And Lillard became the first player since Allen Iverson in 1996 to register at least 295 points and 94 assists over his first 16 games.
— Reported by Joe Freeman of the Oregonian
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The Bulls announced that Richard Hamilton’s MRI exam on Sunday revealed he tore the plantar fascia in his left foot. The release said the veteran shooting guard will return to play when his symptoms permit.
When James Johnson suffered a partially torn plantar fascia as a Bull in 2010, he missed one game. Tearing the plantar fascia actually is better than suffering from plantar fasciitis. One treatment option for the painful latter condition actually is tearing the plantar fascia to begin healing.
Either Marco Belinelli or Jimmy Butler will start at shooting guard. Hamilton could be out a week or more. The Bulls have one roster spot open, but if they sign somebody that player wouldn’t crack the rotation ahead of Belinelli or Butler.
— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune
Trevor Booker is no longer going to be listed as day-to-day with a strained right knee.
Booker has missed the past five games since getting injured in a loss against Indiana nearly two weeks ago, but Coach Randy Wittman said on Sunday there is still “soreness and swelling” in Booker’s knee and that the energetic forward wouldn’t return for “probably another couple of weeks.”
While traveling with the team to New York last week, Booker visited with a doctor who informed him that he needed to rest for a while longer before coming back.
“They said I shouldn’t play until don’t have any pain,” Booker said. “I’ll wait for that to clear up, but I’m feeling better each day.”
— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post
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“The ball seems to be dropping,” Patterson said. “I’m capitalizing on my opportunities, taking shots, got a couple offensive rebounds for putbacks. My teammates are looking for me a lot more than prior to the season and my shots have been falling.”
His offensive surge is not quite that simple, though it has been indisputable. Patterson has scored at least 20 points in the Rockets’ past three games (and four of five games) after never reaching 20 in consecutive games before. He had a career-high 27 Tuesday against Toronto despite sitting out the bulk of the first quarter with foul trouble and most of the fourth as the Rockets closed out the rout.
This does not seem to be an aberration. In the past 10 games since a slow start while adjusting to the retooled offense and his role as a first-time starter, Patterson has made 55 percent of his shots overall, 42.9 percent from beyond the arc while averaging 17 points per game.
After attempting just five 3-pointers in his first two seasons, most to beat the shot clock and all missed, he has made 12 of 32 3-pointers this season, 6 of 12 last week.
— Reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Blog)