January 2013 – Page 25 – NBA Blog

Reggie Evans grabs 23 rebounds in Nets win over 76ers

P.J. Carlesimo had little patience for questions about Andray Blatche before the Brooklyn Nets routed the Philadelphia 76ers.

”He’s been playing well and I expect him to play well today,” he said.

Blatche did play well, scoring 20 points hours after he was questioned by Philadelphia police as part of a sexual assault investigation at an upscale hotel. He helped the Nets improve to 6-1 under Carlesimo with a 109-89 win over the 76ers on Tuesday night…

Reggie Evans grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds, and Williams scored 22 points for the Nets.

Evans dominated on the glass, outrebounding the undersized Sixers 23-22 through three quarters. Evans had 22 rebounds against Seattle in 2006.

Up by one at halftime, the Nets routed the Sixers in the third. Joe Johnson, who scored 15 points, and Gerald Wallace each hit 3-pointers during a game-changing 16-2 run to open the quarter. The Nets made 14 of 19 shots in the third to stretch the lead to 23 points…

Evans had 16 rebounds (12 defensive) by halftime, three fewer than Philadelphia’s total. He had 20 rebounds with 6:54 left in the third, one more than the Sixers. He finished with 17 defensive rebounds, but scored only two points..

”It don’t matter to me about scoring,” Evans said. ”We’ve got guys in here that can go out and score 100 points every night. When I score, it’s a bonus. I just want to go out, do what I do, and get wins.”

Jrue Holiday scored 19 points and Spencer Hawes had 14 for the Sixers, who stumbled home from a 2-6 trip and on a three-game losing streak.

— Reported by Dan Gelston of the Associated Press

Rockets beat banged-up Lakers 125-112 for 5th straight win

James Harden scored 31 points and Chandler Parsons added 20 to help the Houston Rockets pick up their fifth straight win with a 125-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

Houston trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but used a pair of runs in the third quarter to go on top and build a big lead.

World Peace had a season-high 24 points for the Lakers, who were playing without their top three big men: Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Jordan Hill – who are all out with injuries.

Bryant added 20 points for the Lakers and Nash had 16 points and 10 assists to become only the fifth player to surpass 10,000 career assists, joining John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson and Magic Johnson…

The Rockets have rallied from double-digit deficits for their last three wins. As usual, they did it on Tuesday night behind the strong play of Harden, who has scored at least 25 points in 13 straight games…

Howard has a torn labrum in his right shoulder, Gasol has a concussion and Hill a right hip injury. All three are out indefinitely. Seven-foot rookie center Robert Sacre made his first career start due to the injuries, and finished with 10 points, four blocked shots and three rebounds…

Jeremy Lin chipped in 19 points with six rebounds and five assists for Houston, and Carlos Delfino also scored 19.

— Reported by Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press

Nikola Pekovic powers Timberwolves over slumping Hawks

Nikola Pekovic is bulldozing the paint and Ricky Rubio is ready to start ramping up his minutes, giving the Minnesota Timberwolves hope that they can withstand another long stretch without All-Star forward Kevin Love.

Larry Drew’s Atlanta Hawks have hit the skids after a superb start to the season, prompting the coach to label them ”soft,” which never sits very well with professional athletes.

Pekovic had 25 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, Andrei Kirilenko added 21 points and the Timberwolves beat the Hawks 108-103 on Tuesday night.

Derrick Williams scored 17 points and Alexey Shved had 15 for the Timberwolves, who were missing coach Rick Adelman due to personal reasons and will be without Love for the foreseeable future while he deals with a broken right hand for the second time this season. Terry Porter filled in as coach and led the Wolves to their first victory over Atlanta since 2006, snapping an 11-game skid…

Josh Smith had 21 points and 13 rebounds and Al Horford had 19 points and 11 boards for the Hawks, who have lost three straight and four of their last five. They lost for the first time this year when Smith and Horford each get a double-double…

Rubio had eight assists, four steals and four points in 18 minutes in his first game back after missing the previous four with back spasms…

Lou Williams finished with 21 points and eight assists for the Hawks, who trailed by 14 to start the fourth but had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds.

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Bucks beat Suns in first game under coach Jim Boylan

Brandon Jennings glanced over and expected to see coach Scott Skiles on the end of the Milwaukee Bucks’ bench. Instead, he saw Jim Boylan sitting in Skiles’ old spot.

Jennings scored 29 points and the Bucks gave Boylan a win in his first game as coach with a 108-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night…

The Bucks parted ways with Skiles on Monday in what was called a mutual decision, and the Bucks tapped Skiles’ top assistant Boylan as a replacement…

Jennings, who before the game said he was frustrated that he learned of the coaching change from Skiles himself instead of someone from the Bucks organization, made 9 of 15 shots and had nine assists…

Goran Dragic scored 21 points and Jared Dudley added 18 for Phoenix.

Larry Sanders had 10 points, eight rebounds, six blocks and three steals for Milwaukee. The Suns scored only 10 points in the paint in the second half as Sanders dominated defensively…

The Bucks won despite an off-night from leading scorer Monta Ellis, who missed 14 of 19 shots and committed five turnovers. Ellis finished with 13 points after coming in with a 19.4 average.

Boylan made a couple of significant changes in his first game at the helm, inserting forward Ersan Ilyasova into the starting lineup and giving more minutes to rookie forward John Henson, the team’s first-round draft pick.

Ilyasova had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes. Henson had 12 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Paul George scores 29, Pacers beat Heat 87-77

Paul George had 29 points and 11 rebounds, and the Indiana Pacers held Miami to a season-low point total in an 87-77 win over the Heat on Tuesday night.

George made four 3-pointers to get the best of his matchup with LeBron James. David West added 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Lance Stephenson chipped in with 13 points for the Pacers (21-14), who have won 11 of their last 13 games.

Dwyane Wade scored 30 points and James had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Miami (23-10), which still has the best record in the Eastern Conference.

It was the first time the teams had met since Miami beat the Pacers in six games in the conference semifinals last year.

The Pacers outrebounded the Heat 55-36 to help make up for 36 percent shooting.

George had gone 8 for 29 in his previous two games, but he broke out of his slump by making 12 of 27 shots against Miami.

Miami entered the game leading the NBA in field goal percentage, while Indiana led the league in field goal percentage defense. The matchup resulted in the Heat scoring only 35 points in the second half, their lowest-scoring half of the season.

— Reported by Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press

Utah Jazz recall Kevin Murphy from D-League

Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey announced today that the team has recalled rookie Kevin Murphy from the Reno Bighorns, Utah’s NBA Development League (D-League) affiliate. Murphy is expected to be in uniform when the Jazz visits the Charlotte Bobcats tomorrow, January 9, at 5 p.m. MT.

In 14 games (12 starts) with the Bighorns, Murphy averaged 13.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 28.6 minutes. He began his assignment with Reno on November 26.

Selected by the Jazz in the second round (47th overall selection) of the 2012 NBA Draft, the 6-6, 185-pound Murphy played four seasons at Tennessee Tech, where he averaged 15.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Murphy averaged 20.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists as a senior and finished his career as the Golden Eagles’ second all-time leading scorer (2,019 points).

Murphy became the sixth player in Jazz history to be assigned to the D-League, and the first since current Jazz teammate Jeremy Evans was in March 2011.

76ers sign guard Maalik Wayns to 10-day contract

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have brought back free agent guard Maalik Wayns and signed him to a 10-day contract.

Wayns (6-1, 195) was not selected in the 2012 NBA Draft following his junior season with Villanova. He originally signed as a free agent with the Sixers on July 31 and was waived on January 6.

In 20 games for the Sixers this season, Wayns is averaging 2.5 points and 1.0 assists in 7.8 minutes per game.

Timberwolves sign forward Lazar Hayward to 10-day contract

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed forward Lazar Hayward to a 10-day contract. Hayward was previously signed by the Wolves on Dec. 31, 2012 and waived on Jan. 6, 2013. The 6-6 forward appeared in two games for Minnesota and totaled 2 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound in 12 minutes.

Hayward, drafted by the Washington Wizards in the first round (30th overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft, was originally acquired by Minnesota in a draft night trade on June 24, 2010. In 2010-11, he appeared in 42 games as a rookie with the Wolves and finished with averages of 3.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg and 10.9 mpg. The 6-6 forward was traded to Oklahoma City on Dec. 13, 2011 for two future second-round draft picks. After spending one season with the Thunder, Hayward was traded to Houston on Oct. 27, 2012 and was released by the Rockets prior to the start of the 2012-13 NBA season. Hayward has appeared in 69 NBA regular-season games with Minnesota (2010-11) and Oklahoma City (2011-12), posting averages of 2.9 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.2 minutes per game.

Hayward played collegiately at Marquette University where he started 118 of 138 games, and averaged 13.5 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from behind the arc. The second all-time leading scorer in Marquette history with 1,859 career points, Hayward played in a school-record 138 games and earned Second Team All-Big East and Honorable Mention AP All-American honors as a senior.

Melo says situation with Kevin Garnett has been handled

Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday he lost his cool after Kevin Garnett said things to him that he feels shouldn’t be said to ”another man.”

Anthony said he sought out Garnett after the Knicks’ loss to Boston on Monday night so they could discuss it. He would not elaborate on what was said.

Anthony went toward the Celtics’ locker room and waited for Garnett outside the team bus. He said they have spoken and sorted out the matter.

”There’s certain things that you just don’t say to men, another man,” Anthony said. ”I felt like we crossed a line, but like I said, we both had an understanding right now, we handled it the way we handled it. Nobody needs to know what was said behind closed doors, so that situation was handled.”

The All-Star forwards exchanged words during the game and Anthony clearly was affected. He shot 6 of 26, seeming at times in the second half to be most concerned with pushing and shoving Garnett, and acknowledged Tuesday that he ”allowed some negativity to come into my circle.”

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Dallas Mavericks sign guard Mike James to 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Mike James to a 10-day contract.

James (6-2, 188) is a 10-year veteran and has played in 539 games (263 starts) with Miami, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Houston, Toronto, Minnesota, New Orleans, Washington and Chicago. He holds career averages of 10.4 points, 3.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 24.9 minutes per game.

James spent his most successful season as a professional with the Toronto Raptors where, in 2005-06, he averaged 20.3 points and 5.8 assists while starting 79 games. In 2011-12, James played in 11 games for the Chicago Bulls. He averaged 4.8 points, 2.6 assists and 10.9 minutes while helping to carry the load at point guard for an injured Derrick Rose.

Most recently, James played in two games with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League. He averaged 18.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals in 34.0 minutes per contest.

The Copiague, N.Y., native played collegiately at Duquesne where he was All-Atlantic 10 as a senior before going undrafted in the 1998 NBA Draft.

The Mavericks roster now stands at 15.