March 2013 – Page 9 – NBA Blog

Bobcats center Brendan Haywood injures foot, done for season

The Charlotte Bobcats announced today that center Brendan Haywood will miss the remainder of the season after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left foot.

Haywood missed three of the team’s last four games due to left ankle soreness. He had an MRI yesterday, and a CT scan ordered by foot specialist Dr. Bob Anderson confirmed the stress reaction.

Haywood, who will be in a walking boot for the next four weeks, has appeared in 61 games for the Bobcats this season, with averages of 3.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 19.0 minutes.

Per the Charlotte Observer, “Haywood came to the Bobcats in July, after the Dallas Mavericks waived him under the amnesty clause. He is under contract to the Bobcats the next two seasons.”

Duncan leads Spurs past Warriors 104-93

The San Antonio Spurs just keep winning, especially when they face the Golden State Warriors at home.

Tim Duncan had 25 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, and San Antonio beat Golden State 104-93 on Wednesday night for its 29th straight home win against the Warriors.

Golden State has not won in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997, the season before Duncan was selected No. 1 overall by the Spurs.

”He’s a Hall of Fame player, an all-time great,” Warriors coach Marc Jackson said. ”He certainly had a big game tonight.”

Tiago Splitter added 17 points and Manu Ginobili had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (52-16), which has won three straight and seven of nine overall. Nando De Colo had 10 points.

The Spurs are right behind Miami (53-14) for the league’s best record.

Stephen Curry had 24 points for Golden State (39-31), which remains sixth in the West. Jarrett Jack had 14 points, and David Lee added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Golden State closed to 92-88 when Curry went 1 for 2 at the line, but Duncan threw in a running hook and a 16-foot jumper to give San Antonio an eight-point lead with 2:37 remaining.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Lopez, D-Will lead Nets past Mavericks 113-96

Brook Lopez is just like Deron Williams. He enjoys visiting Dallas, too.

Lopez scored 38 points and Williams had 31 in his first visit since spurning his hometown team in free agency, leading the Brooklyn Nets past the Mavericks 113-96 on Wednesday night.

Williams scored 26 in the second half, repeatedly hitting shots and occasionally assisting on baskets by Lopez to prevent a Dallas rally in the fourth quarter.

Lopez matched the 38 points he scored in one of the five games he played last season, when the Nets snapped a 12-game losing streak in Dallas. Both times, he finished one point shy of his career high from two years ago against Detroit.

”The team played well in both games,” Lopez said with a laugh. ”I think that’s the correlation. It just depends on who’s hot. We have so many options on this team.” …

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 16 points and had a team-high six rebounds compared to 22 boards for Reggie Evans of the Nets, who outrebounded the Mavericks 45-34.

— Reported by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press

Tip-in from Marc Gasol lifts Grizzlies over Thunder in OT

Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies finally put away Oklahoma City with their final shot.

In a matchup of Western Conference contenders that had a playoff feel to it, Gasol tipped in Zach Randolph’s miss with less than a second left in overtime Wednesday night to give Memphis a 90-89 win over the Thunder.

Gasol was so excited about the winning basket that he dropped a not-suitable-for-television expletive in the live postgame interview.

”I saw Zach going baseline and just went for the rebound and got lucky with the tip,” Gasol said. ”It’s an emotional game. It’s a team that we like playing against, and a team that knows us very well. It was a gritty game.” …

”We win in a variety of ways. It’s never pretty,” said Mike Conley, who led the Grizzlies with a season-high 24 points. ”That’s that grit-and-grind motto right there. We just find a way to win however it is. (This) was one of those wins.”

Randolph added 15 points and 18 rebounds, giving him 7,001 career rebounds, while Gasol had 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 32 points, including 15 in the third quarter to help Oklahoma City take its first lead. Westbrook scored 20 on 7-of-25 shooting from the field. Kevin Martin added 17 points, but no other Thunder player had more than seven.

— Reported by Clay Bailey of the Associated Press

Byron Mullens lifts Bobcats over Raptors 107-101

Gerald Henderson is enjoying the best streak of his four-year NBA career, and the Charlotte Bobcats are playing better, too.

Henderson turned in another solid all-around game, Byron Mullens scored 25 points and the Bobcats beat the Toronto Raptors 107-101 on Wednesday night to win consecutive games for the first time since mid-November.

Henderson scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added seven rebounds and five assists. The soon-to-be restricted free agent is averaging 22.7 points on 50 percent shooting in his last seven games, including a 35-point performance in a win over Boston on March 12.

But he’s more willing to talk about the team’s recent improvement than his own personal accomplishments.

”I think it’s just us maturing,” Henderson said. ”I think that’s a big deal. We’ve been in a lot of situations where we haven’t gotten it done in the fourth quarter but we have recently, so that’s good.”

With the Raptors keying on him in the final period, Henderson played the role of distributor and the Bobcats leaned heavily on Mullens and Ben Gordon down the stretch.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Heat barely survive Cavs, get 24th win in a row

Miami’s winning streak was in danger of disappearing – in Cleveland, of all places.

But LeBron James wouldn’t give up.

”That guy right there doesn’t want to lose in this building,” teammate Dwayne Wade said, nodding toward James, who left many angry Cavaliers fans behind when he bolted for Miami as a free agent three years ago. ”Not tonight.”

James scored 25 points as the Heat overcame a 27-point deficit in the third quarter and won their 24th straight game, 98-95 over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night to extend the second-longest winning streak in NBA history.

The Heat are within nine games of matching the record of 33 consecutive wins held by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Once believed to be untouchable, the mark is now within reach.

James and his teammates have insisted the record isn’t one of their goals, and for more than 30 minutes the defending champions seemed disinterested and on the verge of losing for the first time since Feb. 1. Miami trailed 67-40 with 7:44 left in the third quarter.

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Unclear when Danny Granger will be healthy for Pacers

The $13-million question surrounding the Indiana Pacers and Danny Granger is: when will he overcome his patellar tendinosis and get back on the court to help the team?

There’s no definite answer for that, according to Dr. Christopher Kaeding, orthopedic surgeon at Ohio State University Sports Medicine.

Granger has been sidelined for all but five games this season because of the injury to his left knee. The Pacers will not comment on the injury due to HIPPA laws. Granger has declined interview requests since the team announced he was going to be shutdown again March 6.

Patellar tendinosis, often referred to as “jumper’s knee,” is when the tendon is overloaded and becomes inflamed.

— Reported by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star

Derrick Rose return date for Bulls still remains uncertain

Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau Wednesday said he doesn’t believe even Derrick Rose knows when the former MVP will return to the court following knee surgery.

“I think (Rose is) being very truthful in what he said,” Thibodeau said. “I don’t think he knows (if he’ll return this year). The way he’s approached (rehab) and this is from the moment he had the surgery, the next day, he puts everything he has into whatever he’s being asked to do. He says he’ll know when it’s time. And we have to trust him. And as I said before, I trust him implicitly.

“He’ll tell all of us (when he’s ready). Trust me, he understands what’s going on here. We just have to work through it.”

Rose said March 12 that he can do everything in practice but he still needs to get his confidence back, and he didn’t rule out sitting the entire season.

— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago

Coach Thibodeau would like expansion of NBA in-game video replays

After a controversial loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday, Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he would like to see video replay expanded so referees could review more calls late in games.

Thibodeau angrily barked at referees late in Monday’s game after a Kosta Koufos tip-in in the final minute wasn’t reviewed but a Joakim Noah tip-in with 1.7 seconds left in overtime was checked. The explanation given to Thibodeau at the time was that the Koufos play couldn’t be reviewed because it was not called at the time on the floor. The Noah play was called, according to the officials — despite Thibodeau’s appeal — and the ruling was upheld.

Thibodeau would like to see the technology used more in the future.

— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago

Former NFL player suing Mavericks great Rolando Blackman

A former NFL player and Dallas Cowboy has filed a lawsuit in a Dallas County court against former Dallas Maverick and All-Star Rolando Blackman, who he says convinced the cornerback to invest in a faulty African gold venture.

The former NFL player, Nathaniel Jones, met Blackman and fellow defendant David Mureeba, chief executive of a tech company, through “friends and contacts,” according to the lawsuit filed this week.

Last spring, the two defendants in the suit presented Jones with an opportunity to invest in exploration and refinement of gold through another of Mureeba’s businesses, East Africa Power & Energy. They told him his investment of $150,000 would be used to airlift precious metals from East Africa to Belgium, where the gold would be sold to a refinery, according to the lawsuit.

Mureeba and Blackman guaranteed Jones a 4 percent return on his investment. Mureeba encouraged the former football player to invest more.

— Reported by Christina Rosales of the Dallas Morning News