April 2013 – Page 25 – NBA Blog

Mike Conley layup helps Grizzlies beat banged-up Spurs

Mike Conley drove for a layup with 0.6 seconds left, and the Memphis Grizzlies rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs 92-90 Monday night for their third straight victory.

The Grizzlies matched their franchise record with their 50th win this season, and they won their 12th straight at home. They pulled out a win in a game where Conley’s bucket gave them their first lead since 18-16 late in the first quarter.

Conley scored the final five points and finished with 23. Jerryd Bayless had 17 points, Marc Gasol 16, Zach Randolph 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Tayshaun Prince had 11 points.

Tony Parker had 25 points for the Spurs. Parker tried to beat the buzzer with a jumper that was too late.

Tiago Splitter added 13 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio, who was not at full strength playing its second game in two nights. The Spurs left Kawhi Leonard at home with a sore left knee. Manu Ginobili is out at least three weeks with a strained right hamstring, and Tim Duncan also did not play after playing 35 minutes in Sunday night’s 88-86 loss to Miami.

— Reported by Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press

Hawks hand Cavaliers ninth straight loss

Devin Harris scored a season-high 25 points and Josh Smith nearly added a triple-double Monday night as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94 to improve their chances of securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Smith had 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before a sparse crowd in Philips Arena to help the Hawks (42-33) pull within one game of Brooklyn (42-31) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Reserve Marreese Speights scored 14 of his 22 in the final quarter, but the Cavs (22-51) did not seriously threaten after pulling within 58-56 early in the third period.

Shaun Livingston, starting with Kyrie Irving not playing in the second night of a back-to-back, had 14 points and six assists in Cleveland’s ninth straight loss.

Harris, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over the visiting Magic, picked up where he left off. He scored Atlanta’s first seven points and had 11 in the first quarter as the Hawks built a 25-19 lead…

Al Horford returned to start at center for Atlanta after missing two games with a stomach illness. He had 16 points and six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Matt Winkeljohn of the Associated Press

Greg Monroe scores 24, Pistons beat Raptors 108-98

Greg Monroe scored 24 points, Jose Calderon had 19 points and nine assists against his former team, and the Detroit Pistons snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Raptors 108-98 on Monday night.

Rodney Stuckey scored 18 points, Jonas Jerebko had 10 of his 15 in the fourth quarter and rookie Khris Middleton added 11 as the Pistons won for just the third time in 19 games.

Rudy Gay scored 34 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 17 and DeMar DeRozan 15 as the Raptors lost for the seventh time in eight games. Toronto was outscored 33-19 in the final quarter…

Before the game, the Pistons announced that forward Jason Maxiell will miss the remainder of the season after surgery to repair a detached retina. Maxiell began complaining of blurry vision last week and didn’t travel with the team for Sunday’s loss at Chicago. He stayed in Detroit to visit a specialist, who diagnosed the injury.

Detroit was also without guard Will Bynum, who sat out with a strained right hand.

Raptors swingman Landry Fields was unavailable because of pain in his right elbow. Fields had surgery on the elbow last November, forcing him to miss 22 games. He skipped Monday’s game to travel to Los Angeles for follow-up testing.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Paul Pierce out for personal reasons

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce did not travel with the team for Monday’s game against Minnesota due to what the team called personal reasons.

Coach Doc Rivers says he doesn’t expect Pierce to be out any extended period. It’s just the second game Pierce has missed this season, and his banged-up Celtics could certainly use him. Boston lost six of its previous eight games heading into Minnesota, with the playoffs fast approaching.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Andrew Goudelock named D-League Performer of Week through March 31

Andrew Goudelock of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played March 25-31. This is the second consecutive week Goudelock has received Performer of the Week honors. He shared the award last week with Fort Wayne’s Tony Mitchell.

Goudelock (6-3, 200, College of Charleston) led the Vipers to a 4-0 week, extending their winning streak to eight games, while averaging 29.5 points on 53 percent shooting from the field to go with 6.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals. He scored a season-high 42 points and connected on 8-of-13 attempts from behind the arc in a 118-105 win over the Tulsa 66ers on March 27. In 35 games for Rio Grande Valley this season, he is averaging 21.8 points, 5.9 assists 4.2 rebounds and 37.3 minutes.

Other top performers considered include Austin’s Lester Hudson, Bakersfield’s Damion James, Canton’s Antonie Agudio, Erie’s Cory Higgins, Fort Wayne’s Tony Mitchell, Idaho’s Justin Holiday, Iowa’s Paul Harris, Los Angeles’ Gary Flowers, Maine’s Jermaine Taylor, Reno’s Samardo Samuels, Santa Cruz’s Jeremy Tyler, Springfield’s Dominique Sutton, Sioux Falls’ Jarvis Varnado, Texas’ Fred House and Tulsa’s DeAndre Liggins, on assignment from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Manu Ginobili out 3-4 weeks with strained right hamstring

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that Manu Ginobili is expected to miss three-to-four weeks with a strained right hamstring. The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs vs. L.A. Clippers game on March 29.

The team also announced that Tim Duncan (sore left knee) and Kawhi Leonard (sore left knee) are both out for tonight’s game at Memphis.

Sixers sign Justin Holiday, waive Jeremy Pargo

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have signed guard Justin Holiday. Holiday is the 31st “Call-Up” of the 2012-13 NBA Development League season. He will wear #14. In order to make room on the roster for Holiday, the Sixers waived guard Jeremy Pargo.

Holiday (6-6, 180) appeared in 47 games with 42 starts for the Idaho Stampede in the D-League this season, averaging 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.43 steals and 1.17 blocks in 34.7 minutes per game while shooting 42.1% from the floor, 41.2% from 3-point range and 81.6% from the line.

At the time of his call-up, Holiday ranked tied for 14th in the D-League in scoring and first in steals. In 15 games played in March, he averaged 23.3 points along with 2.5 3-pointers made on 46.3% shooting from behind-the-arc.

In 14 games played for the Sixers, Pargo averaged 4.9 points, 2.0 assists and 1.2 rebounds in 14.9 minutes per game.

Holiday was not selected in the 2011 NBA Draft following his collegiate career at Washington. He spent the 2011-12 season playing overseas for Generali Okapi Aalstar in the Belgian League.

This past July, Holiday played for the Sixers in the AirTran Orlando Pro Summer League and was second on the team in scoring with 11.8 points per game. He also played for Cleveland in the 2012 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Holiday signed with the Cavaliers on Oct. 1 and took part in their training camp while appearing in one preseason game before being waived on Oct. 10. He signed with Portland on Oct. 12 and played in two preseason games before being waived prior to the start of the regular season on Oct. 26.

Justin is the older brother of Sixers All-Star guard Jrue Holiday. Justin was born on April 5, 1989 while Jrue was born on June 12, 1990. The brothers played basketball together at Campbell Hall, a private school in North Hollywood, Calif. In Justin’s senior season, which was Jrue’s junior season, Campbell went 33-1 and won the California Division IV state title.

Knicks rout Celtics for 8th straight win

Closing in on one goal of ending Boston’s division title reign, the New York Knicks added another.

While they were finishing off their second victory over the Celtics this week, injured forward Rasheed Wallace drew a large ”50” on the board in their locker room, challenging them to strive for a 50-win season.

They’re on pace to get that, too, in what’s shaping up as their best season in two decades.

Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Knicks extended their winning streak to eight games and moved closer to ending Boston’s hold on the Atlantic Division title with a 108-89 victory Sunday night…

Chris Copeland added 22 points and Raymond Felton had 18 for the Knicks, who last won eight in a row from Nov. 28-Dec. 12, 2010. They will try to extend the streak Tuesday at NBA-leading Miami…

J.R. Smith, who had 30 points off the bench in his previous three games, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Jeff Green scored 27 points, and Paul Pierce had 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Celtics had a two-game winning streak snapped.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Chris Bosh 3-pointer lifts short-handed Heat past Spurs

Often the forgotten member of Miami’s ”Big Three,” Chris Bosh stepped up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sitting out to get the Heat a big win and move closer to securing home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.

Bosh scored 23 points, including the winning 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Heat beat San Antonio 88-86 on Sunday night with James, Wade and Mario Chalmers watching from the locker room as they sat out with injuries.

”We are the defending champs no matter who we put out there,” Bosh said. ”We are still the Miami Heat. We believe in ourselves. Each one of these guys is a professional. We played bigger roles in other cities but we came together and accepted lesser roles to win a championship here. We can still tap into that.”

Ray Allen added 14 points, Norris Cole had 13 and Mike Miller 12 for Miami (58-15), which swept the season series with San Antonio (55-18). By earning the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio, the Heat have a four-game cushion with nine remaining for the league’s best record…

Miami beat San Antonio 105-100 on Nov. 29 when the Spurs opted to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green.

All but Ginobili (strained right hamstring) played Sunday.

Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who had a seven-game home winning streak snapped. Green and Parker added 12 points apiece and Stephen Jackson had 11.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Louisville guard Kevin Ware has surgery to repair broken leg

University of Louisville guard Kevin Ware underwent successful surgery at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis on Sunday night to repair a broken bone in his right leg.

Ware had the bone re-set, the wound from the injury closed and a rod inserted in his right tibia during approximately two hours of surgery. He suffered the injury with 6:33 remaining in the first half of the Cardinals’ 85-63 Midwest Regional Championship victory over Duke.

Ware will remain in Indianapolis until at least Tuesday, when he is hopeful to return to Louisville and then join the Cardinals as they advance to the NCAA Final Four in Atlanta. A timetable has not been set for a return to basketball competition.

Ware was a key backcourt reserve for the Cardinals, particularly during the last third of the season. He scored a career-high 11 points against Oregon on Friday in the regional semifinals and handed out a career-best five assists against Colorado State in the third round of the tournament. He has averaged 4.5 points and over 16 minutes a game for the 33-5 Cardinals.

— From University of Louisville

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