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The AP reports:
A Chicago man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to robbing former NBA star Antoine Walker at gunpoint at his home in 2007.
Demorris Hill was tried late last year for the robbery, but the jury wasn’t able to reach a unanimous verdict…
Two other men also have been convicted in the robbery, and a third is awaiting trial.
Hill is also charged in a similar robbery at the suburban Chicago home of New York Knicks Center Eddy Curry.
The AP reports:
Jason Kidd says the Nets will have to finish building their arena in Brooklyn, N.Y. before free agents consider joining them there in 2012.
Kidd, who led the Nets to consecutive NBA finals in 2002 and ’03, says not having a building causes players to wonder whether it will ever be completed.
Kidd made his comments before his Dallas Mavericks played the Nets on Saturday night.
InsideHoops.com editor says: At the very least, free agents would probably want to be one hundred percent convinced that the building will be completed on time and the Brooklyn move is happening as scheduled. So far everything seems to be a go.
Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed guard Mustafa Shakur from the NBA Development League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers to a 10-day contract
Shakur (6-4, 195) has averaged 16.7 points, 5.0 assists and 4.7 rebounds this season through 23 games with Rio Grande Valley. He spent time in training camp with the New Orleans Hornets earlier this season and has previously had stints with Oklahoma City, Sacramento and the D-League’s Tulsa Thunder (where he averaged 19.3 points, 6.9 assists and 4.5 rebounds during the 2009-10 season).
Sometimes, a team is at its worst and puts up a really awful performance. And then you can be even more terrible and play like the Atlanta Hawks yesterday.
The AP reports:
Josh Smith slumped in front of his locker, trying to figure out how a team that played so hard in an overtime win at Miami could return home and get blown out by 41 points.
That’s just what happened Friday night. Coming off a victory over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the mighty Heat, the Hawks were held to the lowest-scoring game in Atlanta history by Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets, who took control late in the first half and cruised to a 100-59 rout…
The Hawks have never had an offensive performance like this, at least since moving to Atlanta in 1968. Previously, their lowest-scoring game was a 73-63 loss to Cleveland in 1996.
Only Jordan Crawford’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining kept Hawks from their worst offensive effort ever—a 57-point game in 1955 when the team was in St. Louis…
Paul scored 16 points and dished out eight assists in leading the Hornets to their seventh straight win against a team that shot 29 percent…
David West and Marco Belinelli both scored 15 points and Emeka Okafor pulled down 12 rebounds. The Hornets dominated on the boards, 55-32.
Jamal Crawford led the Hawks with 14 points, and Smith was the only player in double figures with 13. Johnson was 4 of 12 for nine points, less than half his 19.6 average.
Both the Hawks and Hornets are currently the 5th seed in their respective conferences.
The Orlando Magic are better than the Toronto Raptors, but in case there was any confusion on the matter, Dwight Howard left no room for discussion.
The AP reports:
Dwight Howard kept getting easy baskets, so the Orlando Magic kept feeding him the ball.
It was just that simple against the lowly Toronto Raptors.
Howard had 31 points and 19 rebounds, helping the Magic rout the reeling Raptors 112-72 on Friday night…
Howard went 12 for 21 from the field and had nine offensive rebounds, almost as many as Toronto had as a team (14). He outrebounded the Raptors’ starting five (19-18) and dunked almost at will, scoring off what seemed like an endless stream of lobs from the Magic guards…
Ryan Anderson added 21 points for Orlando, which avenged a four-point home loss to the Raptors in November. J.J. Redick scored 12 points and Brandon Bass finished with 10.
DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 16 points. Andrea Bargnani scored all 11 of his points in the first half as Toronto picked up its sixth consecutive loss.
The Magic are now 28-15, the Raptors 13-30.