InsideHoops.com photo from court level prior to start of Friday night’s Charlotte Bobcats at Brooklyn Nets game.
Month: December 2012
Tulsa 66ers (D-League) acquire Chris Quinn
The Tulsa 66ers, proud affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder, announced Friday that they have acquired guard Chris Quinn.
Quinn, 6-2/174, brings five seasons of NBA experience to Tulsa. After four years at the University of Notre Dame, Quinn was signed as an undrafted free agent to the Miami Heat. Quinn spent three seasons (2006-2009) with Miami, averaging 5.6 points, 2.2 assists 1.3 rebounds in 168 games (26 starts).
The guard spent the next two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets, bringing his NBA average to 4.6 points, 1.9 assists and 1.1 rebounds.
The 29 year-old played overseas in 2011-12 with Khimki Moscow in Russia, averaging 7.6 points, 1.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 21 league games.
Quinn’s most recent NBA experience came as part of the Utah Jazz 2012-13 training camp and preseason roster. Following Utah’s training camp, Quinn signed with Valenica in Spain, averaging 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in four league games.
He is expected to be in uniform when Tulsa takes on the Canton Charge on Friday night at 6:30 in Canton.
Nik Caner-Medley, playing in Israel, will miss one month
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv power forward Nik Caner-Medley will be sidelined for one month due to a leg injury, the club announced Thursday. Caner-Medley got injured in Maccabi’s final regular season game against Alba Berlin. Further research confirm that he had a hamstring tear which will keep him sidelined for one month. Caner-Medley has averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10 Turkish Airlines Euroleague games this season.
— Reported by Euroleague.net
Nets may want Phil Jackson as next head coach
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Undaunted by Phil Jackson’s reported reluctance to coach their team, Brooklyn Nets officials have established Jackson as their top target in the wake of Avery Johnson’s dismissal, according to NBA coaching sources.
Sources told ESPN.com on Thursday the Nets have Jackson atop their list of potential replacements for Johnson and will make a hard push for the 67-year-old, who appeared close to returning for a third stint with the Los Angeles Lakers in November before L.A. unexpectedly gave the job to Mike D’Antoni.
Jackson’s longtime representative, Todd Musburger, told TNT’s David Aldridge on Thursday that his client has “no interest in the Nets’ job at this time.” But a source told ESPN that Jackson would indeed entertain an approach from Brooklyn and that his flirtation with the Lakers after Mike Brown’s dismissal five games into the season got him “thinking about coaching again.”
— Reported by Marc Stein and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com
Clippers beat Celtics by 29 for 15th straight win
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Matt Barnes tied his season high with 21 points off the bench, Chris Paul had 11 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated Boston 106-77 on Thursday night, becoming the first team to win 15 consecutive games since the Celtics four years ago.
Fellow reserve Jamal Crawford added 17 points, Blake Griffin had 15 points and Caron Butler 14 to help the Clippers improve the NBA’s best record to 23-6.
Kevin Garnett scored 16 points for Boston, which never led in dropping to .500 at 14-14 with its fifth loss in seven games. Paul Pierce and Jeff Green added 12 points each to go with 10 apiece from Jason Terry and Rajon Rondo…
Barnes had the Clippers’ first five points in a 9-0 run that opened the fourth quarter and boosted their lead to 90-67. Willie Green briefly played; otherwise the Clippers’ other starters rested to close out the game.
The Celtics were held to 10 points in the final 12 minutes…
The game got chippy at times. In the third, Jared Sullinger was called for a flagrant-1 foul for grabbing the front of Griffin on his way up to dunk. Then Butler and Pierce emerged from a big mass both holding onto the ball, leading to a jump ball. In the first, Rondo was lying on the ball and Paul tried to take it out from under him on the sideline, leading to a testy moment…
Justin Bieber (who had Paul’s young son sitting on his lap), Billy Crystal and Olympic 200 sprint champion Allyson Felix were among the Clippers’ 67th consecutive sellout crowd.
— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press
Kevin Durant scores 40, Thunder beat Mavericks in overtime
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Kevin Durant scored 40 points while Russell Westbrook added eight of his 16 points in overtime to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat Dallas 111-105 on Thursday night for their 11th straight win at home.
Serge Ibaka added 19 points and matched his season high with 17 rebounds as Oklahoma City charged back from 10 points down in the final 7:17 of regulation and found a way to win after losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Darren Collison scored a season-best 32 points for Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki scored nine points in his second game back after offseason knee surgery, showing some rust down the stretch.
Westbrook turned the game around with six straight points after the Mavs had gone up 104-101 on Chris Kaman’s bucket inside midway through overtime. Westbrook had a layup, hit a jumper over Nowitzki and then made a leaping steal of an O.J. Mayo pass that led to a fast-break layup. The sequence left Mavericks owner Mark Cuban shaking his head in his seat near the team’s bench…
Kaman ended up with 17 poitns and Marion chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks, who were swept on a treacherous three-game road trip that featured stops at West contenders Memphis, San Antonio and Oklahoma City despite getting Nowitzki back. Dallas has lost seven of eight…
Beaubois, a reserve guard for the Mavericks, did not play because of an illness. Carlisle said he hoped to have Beaubois back for Friday’s home game against Denver. … Reggie Jackson took Eric Maynor’s minutes as Westbrook’s backup at point guard for the second straight game.
— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press
Dwyane Wade suspended one game for kicking Ramon Sessions
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Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has been suspended one game without pay for flailing his leg and making contact with the groin of the Charlotte Bobcats’ Ramon Sessions, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with 8:12 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Heat’s 105-92 win over the Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena on December 26.
Wade will serve his suspension when the Heat play the Detroit Pistons on December 28 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
To view the play click on this link.
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NBA fines Dwight Howard for flagrant foul on Kenneth Faried
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Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has been fined $35,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two against Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident, in which Howard made excessive contact with Faried above the shoulders, occurred with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter of the Lakers’ 126-114 loss to the Nuggets at Pepsi Center on December 26.
Deron Williams surprised by Avery Johnson firing
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Deron Williams’ reaction to Avery Johnson being fired
Deron Williams was in the practice facility when he heard that his coach was about to get canned, and one of his immediate thoughts flashed back to Utah: “Here we go again.”
Just like in Utah two years ago, where coach Jerry Sloan retired following a reported rift with his point guard, Williams was blamed for the departure of Avery Johnson, who was abruptly fired Thursday morning by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
“I was surprised,” Williams said in a telephone interview with Daily News. “I never had any conversation with (GM) Billy King about not liking coach, nothing about coach Johnson. Avery was a big reason I came back, because him and Billy. So I was surprised.
“We’ve never had an argument, we’ve never had a fight, any disagreements, anything. So, I think it was more kind of what happened in Utah, people still saying I got coach Sloan fired even though he resigned and that’s going to stick with me for a while.”
— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News
Pacers re-assign Orlando Johnson to D-League
The Indiana Pacers today re-assigned rookie guard Orlando Johnson to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA Development League affiliate. The assignment is the record 81st of the 2012-13 NBA and NBA D-League seasons, and is the second for Johnson this year. He is one of 43 NBA players who’ve been assigned to the NBA D-League this season.
Johnson (6-5, 220, UC-Santa Barbara) has played nine minutes in three games for Indiana this season. In his previous two-game assignment with Fort Wayne, Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals.
Selected in the second round (36th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings, Johnson was acquired by the Pacers via trade on June 28, 2012. In just three seasons at UC-Santa Barbara, Johnson became the Gauchos all-time leading scorer (1,825 points), and is the only player in school history to have scored 500 or more points in a season three times. His 674 points as a junior and 39 points in a game vs. Cal-Davis are also school records
Johnson is expected to join the Mad Ants today and be available when the team hosts the Texas Legends on Friday, Dec. 28.