March 2013 – Page 32 – NBA Blog

Rasheed Wallace healing time may exceed 8 weeks

Rasheed Wallace’s surgery in which a screw was inserted into his left foot Thursday at the Hospital for Special Surgery was done with his goal of returning sometime during the playoffs.

Wallace could have just called it a career, placed a cast on the foot for 12 weeks and been done with basketball. According to a source, he contemplated that possibility the last several days.

The Knicks, however, announced an eight-week timetable that could put him back on the court in the middle of the first round. But one leading medical expert said Wallace will not be at 100 percent healed after just eight weeks from surgery to repair a Jones fracture of his fifth metatarsal.

Dr. Anish Kadakia, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern University who specializes in Jones fractures, told The Post Wallace could be running in six weeks. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t be 100 percent for 12 weeks.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Bulls in talks with Louis Amundson

The Chicago Bulls are in talks with Louis Amundson about signing the veteran power forward, according to league sources.

A decision is expected Friday, sources told ESPN.com, with the Bulls and Amundson’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, scheduled to talk about specifics.

The Bulls are looking for an extra big man with Taj Gibson sidelined by a sprained left knee. And Chicago has just enough room under its hard salary cap of $74.307 million to sign Amundson, who is eligible to play for the Bulls in the postseason because he was waived by Minnesota before Friday’s 11:59 p.m. ET deadline.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

Agent says Greg Monroe will wait to do deal

How the Pistons act this summer, with more than $20 million in cap space, will be a great factor in whether their curve for contending speeds up or regresses. Falk, having represented a who’s who of the biggest names (Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning), isn’t sure about the perception about Detroit not being an attractive destination for free agents.

“In my career, when Juwan Howard was a free agent (in 1996), we had serious talks with Detroit. Same with (Dikembe) Mutombo (in 1996),” Falk said. “You go to play, it’s your job. You have a finite amount of time to win. When Detroit was good, it was a very attractive place to play, guys wanted to go there.

“I can’t speak for every player, if they want to be actors and have commercials. Don’t you want to win? Who cares about that other stuff?”

As for Monroe’s future, contract talks with the Pistons could begin after his third year, which would be this summer, but Falk said the sides will put things off until July 2014, when Monroe will become a restricted free agent.

— Reported by Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News

Kobe scores 33, Lakers beat Wolves 116-94

Starting with Kobe Bryant’s soaring dunk over Nikola Pekovic on their second possession, the Los Angeles Lakers jumped to a big lead against a woeful opponent and never fumbled it away while moving to the brink of a .500 record.

After the Lakers’ tumultuous season, such simple achievements qualify as serious progress toward a playoff spot.

Bryant scored 33 points and Antawn Jamison added 17 in the Lakers’ 21st consecutive victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, 116-94 on Thursday night.

The Lakers (29-30) have won 12 of 17 and five of seven while moving within two games of Houston for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with their longest stretch of solid play this year. They’re getting steady leadership from Bryant, who has reasserted himself as a scorer after working as a setup man for several weeks.

”I’ve been in attack mode since the break. It’s go time,” Bryant said. ”We’re getting a little closer, and we’re starting to get in more of a striking distance where you start watching (the playoff race).”

Bryant and Jodie Meeks each hit four of Los Angeles’ 16 3-pointers, and Meeks finished with 16 points. Bryant had 22 points in a strong first half for the Lakers, focused on scoring while the Timberwolves overcompensated defensively for the low-post absence of Andrei Kirilenko, who has a strained right calf, and Pekovic, who left early with an abdominal strain…

J.J. Barea scored 20 points and Luke Ridnour added 19 for the short-handed Timberwolves, who have lost four straight and 20 of 24. Ricky Rubio had 13 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, but thanks to its latest injury woes, Minnesota never threated to get its first road win over the Lakers since Dec. 2, 2005.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

The Lakers moved within two games of Houston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. … Bryant had two steals to become the 15th NBA player with at least 18,000 for his career. … Bryant is 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the last three games after shooting 9-for-49 in his previous 18. … Dante Cunningham started in place of Kirilenko and finished with five points and three rebounds in 33 minutes.

— Reported by NBA.com

Joakim Noah gets triple-double, Bulls beat Sixers 93-82

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau needed just three words to sum up Joakim Noah’s big night on Thursday.

“He was spectacular,” Thibodeau said.

Noah had 23 points, 21 rebounds and a career-high 11 blocks for his third career triple-double and the Chicago Bulls ended a two-game losing streak with a 93-82 victory over Philadelphia.

“His will from the start of the game until the end was just incredible,” Thibodeau said. “He was everywhere – blocked shots, switching, guarding everyone. Big-time multiple efforts.”

Noah also tied the Bulls record for blocks in a regulation game, previously set by Artis Gilmore in 1977.

“He was amazing,” Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said. “(But) we needed everybody to step up and we did. It was impressive.”

Boozer added 21 points and 12 rebounds while Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng had 15 and 12 points, respectively, as the Bulls completed a three-game regular season series sweep.

— Reported by the Associated Press

The Bulls swept the season series against the 76ers 3-0… The Bulls finished the month of February 5-8, the first losing month in the two-plus seasons Tom Thibodeau has been coach… the Bulls are just 16-14 at home this season… Noah’s triple-double was the first with at least 20 in two of the three categories since David Lee of the New York Knicks had 37 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists on April 2, 2010… it was the first triple-double with at least 20 in two categories for the Bulls since the team’s first triple-double by Guy Rodgers on Oct. 18, 1966 when he had 22 points, 21 assists and 10 rebounds.

— Reported by NBA.com