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The Atlanta Hawks have signed guard Shelvin Mack to a second 10-day contract, Hawks President of Basketball Operations/General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound point guard has appeared in five games for the Hawks, totaling eight points, four rebounds and three assists in 30 total minutes. In the Hawks’ win against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 13th, Mack scored seven points on 3-5 (.600) shooting and dished out two assists in 14 minutes.
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Embarrassed one game, handing out humiliation the next.
Such is life for the Chicago Bulls right now.
Luol Deng scored 23 points, Carlos Boozer had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the banged-up Bulls bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season to whip the Golden State Warriors 113-95 on Friday night.
”I do know we have pride,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”We’ve taken a hit. We’ve lost some guys along the way. Our guys will battle. We know that we’re short-handed. But if we have the right intensity and we do it collectively, we have a chance. And we’ve shown it throughout the year.”
Maybe this week more than any other.
Two nights after a 121-79 shellacking at Sacramento that renewed calls for Derrick Rose’s return, the Bulls outscored the Warriors 38-17 in the third quarter en route to snapping a season-high, five-game road losing streak. They led by 36 points early in the fourth quarter before both sides cleared the benches.
Nate Robinson added 20 points and seven assists, while Joakim Noah finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, which had lost four of five overall. The Bulls outshot the Warriors 52 to 45 percent and won the rebounding battle 43-34, though the final box score hardly showed how much of a blowout the game really was.
— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press
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The Denver Nuggets plodded along for three quarters before beating Memphis at its own game.
Hardly known as a half-court team, the high-flying Nuggets had to resort to set plays and setting picks to finally break free.
Turns out, they’re pretty good at it, especially when they dump the ball inside to Kosta Koufos.
Koufos scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, helping the Nuggets rally to knock off the Grizzlies 87-80 on Friday night for their 11th straight victory, their longest streak in 30 years…
Then along came Kenneth Faried, providing a much-needed spark with his energetic play. The player known as ”Manimal” was blocking shots, hustling for rebounds and pestering Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies’ force up front who had 18 points and 18 rebounds.
With the Nuggets trailing 66-58 heading into the fourth quarter, Faried helped them go on a 17-4 run and seize back the momentum. That’s exactly why he’s on the court…
The Grizzlies have been on a 15-5 roll since a three-team deal on Jan. 30 that sent Rudy Gay to Toronto and landed Tayshaun Prince in Memphis. … Denver has won 26 of its last 28 home games against Memphis. … The Nuggets are 28-3 when allowing 100 or fewer points.
— Reported by Pat Graham of the Associated Press
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When Kobe Bryant couldn’t be the tough guy on the court Friday night, he resorted to being an MVP coach.
After hobbling around on a severely sprained left ankle for 12 minutes, Bryant retreated to the bench, where he spent the rest of the night contesting calls, waving teammates into the right spots and even drawing something up on a clipboard for Dwight Howard to see.
He wasn’t going to let up – or let his teammates down.
So on a night Bryant was held scoreless for only the 15th time in his 17-year NBA career, Howard finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and delivered a tiebreaking three-point play with 90 seconds left that sent the Los Angeles Lakers past Indiana, 99-93.
”It really just continued to swell and I couldn’t put any weight on it, so I called it a night,” Bryant said after getting more treatment on the sore ankle in the training room. ”I told them before the game, ‘I don’t know how much I have, but whatever I have, I’ll give you.”’ …
Metta World Peace finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, Steve Blake made five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, and Antawn Jamison added 17 points with four 3s…
George Hill scored 27 points, Paul George had 20 points and Lance Stephenson finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. But Indiana shot only 37.4 percent from the field and couldn’t make a serious run at Los Angeles after Howard’s big play, primarily because the defense couldn’t stop the Lakers from outside.
— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press
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Even though playoff contention may be slipping out of reach for the Toronto Raptors, Amir Johnson isn’t about to slow down.
Johnson had 12 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, and Rudy Gay scored 28 points as the Raptors beat the Charlotte Bobcats 92-78 on Friday night.
”That was a heck of an effort by Amir Johnson,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. ”I can’t sing his praises enough.”
Toronto drew to within 7 1/2 games of Milwaukee for the final playoff spot in the East after the Bucks lost at home to Miami, the Heat’s 21st straight win. The Raptors host Miami on Sunday.
Joey Dorsey was the last Toronto player to record 20 rebounds, doing it April 11, 2011, at Milwaukee…
Gerald Henderson, coming off a career-best 35-point performance in the Bobcats’ 100-74 victory over Boston on Tuesday, scored 22 points. Kemba Walker added 20, and Ben Gordon and McRoberts each had 10 for Charlotte, which has won just one of 11 and four of its past 26.
The Bobcats made just one of 13 field goal attempts in the fourth, and were outscored 23-10.
— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press
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The Knicks aren’t that desperate yet, but will be one of the teams monitoring the progress of mercurial point guard Delonte West, expected to make his D-League debut tonight when the Texas Legends host the Santa Cruz Warriors.
West is a super talent and super headache, but, at 29, a relative pup by Knicks standards. He hasn’t played all season but was effective last year with Dallas. The Knicks haven’t been thrilled with their point-guard play since Christmas, with Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd falling back to Earth, Iman Shumpert not being a reliable scorer and playmaking rookie Pablo Prigioni not enough of an offensive threat.
The Knicks don’t have a roster spot and rehabbing Rasheed Wallace is on the West Coast trip for “moral support,’’ coach Mike Woodson said. Woodson acknowledged he will sit down with general manager Glen Grunwald after the trip to explore options. Wallace would have to be cut to open a roster spot.
— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post
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LeBron James and Chris Bosh each scored 28 points, and the Miami Heat made it 21 straight wins, beating the Milwaukee Bucks 107-94 on Friday night.
Only three other teams have won 20 in a row in one season, and the Heat now trail just the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33) and the 2007-08 Houston Rockets (22) after moving ahead of the 1970-71 Bucks.
They withstood an early scare when Dwyane Wade walked to the locker room with a neck strain after crashing to the court. Miami led by as much as 17 in the third quarter, then withstood a push by the Bucks to remain unbeaten since a loss at Indiana on Feb. 1.
Miami next plays Sunday at Toronto, where the winning streak began on Feb. 3.
Bosh hit from all angles and was 12 of 16 in the game, nailing two 3-pointers. He even converted a four-point play that made it 67-53 about five minutes into the third quarter.
James was his usual dominant self, and Wade finished with 20 points as the Heat avenged a loss at Milwaukee in late December.
Ersan Ilyasova led Milwaukee with 26 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. Brandon Jennings scored 21 but was 6 of 15 from the field, and the Bucks shot just over 37 percent. Monta Ellis struggled, finishing with seven points after scoring 26 in the previous game at Washington, and the Bucks dropped their third straight.
— Reported by Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press
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An MRI performed Friday revealed that Shawn Marion has a strained left calf.
The injury will keep the Dallas Mavericks’ small forward on the sidelines indefinitely. And it’s much more serious than the left calf contusion the Mavericks thought Marion had when he suffered the injury March 6 against the Houston Rockets.
“It’s getting better, but being a strain instead of a contusion, those take longer, so it’s going to be a whole lot longer [recovery period],” coach Rick Carlisle said. “We hope not too long, but we’re going to exercise caution, and we’re going to make sure he’s right before he gets back.”
Marion missed all four games on the Mavs’ recent road trip.
— Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Kobe Bryant played 12 minutes Friday at Indiana, missed all four shots and then went to the bench for good.
It was all his severely sprained left ankle could take.
Bryant spent two days trying to fight his way back after landing on the foot of Atlanta’s Dahntay Jones in the waning seconds of Wednesday’s loss at Atlanta.
— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press
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The banged-up New York Knicks need all the healthy bodies they can get. Veteran forward Kenyon Martin qualifies.
Knicks Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations and General Manager Glen Grunwald announced today that the team has signed Martin for the remainder of the season, following two consecutive 10-day contracts originally signed on Feb. 23.
Martin, 6-9, 230-pounds, is averaging 5.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.17 steals over 18.9 minutes in six games.