Month: March 2012

Jeremy Lin needs knee surgery, out 6 weeks

The New York Knicks season has been a wild, unpredictable ride filled with surprises, disappointments, and extended winning and losing streaks. But now now one of the bright spots will be out recovering instead of helping the squad play like a functional unit.

Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press reports:

Say so long to Linsanity.

Jeremy Lin will miss the rest of the regular season because he needs knee surgery that will sideline him six weeks and could leave the Knicks without their star point guard in the playoffs—if they make it that far.

Lin had an MRI exam this week that revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear and he has elected to have surgery next week in New York.

With the regular season ending April 26, the biggest story in basketball this season is done unless the Knicks make a deep postseason run.

Speaking slowly during a pregame press conference, Lin was unable to hide his disappointment with the decision that was reached earlier Saturday after a painful workout.

“It (stinks) not being able to be out there with the team,” he said.

Upcoming: Lin-surgery.

Spurs beat Pacers for 7th straight win

The San Antonio Spurs don’t care that you think they are too old to matter anymore. They’ll keep right on winning, whether you like it or not.

The AP reports:

The San Antonio Spurs made it seven straight wins by beating the Indiana Pacers 112-103 in the NBA on Saturday.

Tim Duncan had 23 points and 11 rebounds while Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili added 18 points apiece for the Spurs, who are 8-1 since making a rare plunge into midseason moves by adding forwards Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw .

Despite their hot form, San Antonio has not been able to reduce its 2-1/2 game deficit to first-placed Oklahoma City, which is also on a winning streak.

Paul George and Danny Granger each scored 18 for the Pacers, who are struggling to break out of the jammed East playoff picture and secure some home-court edge.

Kings sign Terrence Williams for rest of season

Terrence Williams

The Sacramento Kings have decided they like guard/forward Terrence Williams enough to keep him around. The team today signed Williams for the remainder of the season, according to Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

Williams, currently in his third NBA season, is averaging 7.5 points (.500 FGs, .286 3FGs, .667 FTs), 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game through four outings with the Kings off the bench. He was originally signed to a 10-day contract with Sacramento on March 21, 2012.

The 18-33 Kings are currently 14th in the Western conference.

Gerald Wallace goes wild, Nets beat Warriors

Gerald Wallace

New Jersey Nets forward Gerald Wallace went crazy Friday night, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 102-11 road win over the Golden State Warriors. Wallace shot 7-of-16 for 24 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and six steals in the win.

Here’s the Associated Press:

Wallace scored 10 points over the final 6 minutes and made a pair of key defensive stops as New Jersey rallied from 19 points down in the second half to beat the Golden State Warriors 102-100 on Friday night.

“The future looks good, if we had everybody healthy,” Wallace said after the Nets opened a four-game West Coast trip with their first win at Oracle Arena in more than six years. “We have an elite point guard, we have one of the up-and-coming centers … so our future looks great.”

Wallace might not have had the same feelings two weeks ago after arriving in a trade from Portland. New Jersey lost its first five games with Wallace to drop 19 games below .500.

The Nets have turned things around lately and have won three of their last four…

Kris Humphries added 20 points and nine rebounds while Deron Williams had nine points and a season-high 20 assists to help New Jersey to its third win in four games.

David Lee had 27 points and six rebounds for Golden State, which led 76-57 midway through the third quarter but couldn’t get much going offensively the rest of the way.

Sixers shoot bricks, lose to Wizards

A team fighting for first place late in the season is routed by a lottery-bound team led by a player on a 10-day contract. And, just for good measure, let’s say the lottery team finishes the game short-handed because two starters come down with the very same injury.

That sounds almost as preposterous as the Washington Wizards losing to the Kentucky Wildcats.

While the world will never know for sure whether the Wizards could handle the Final Four school, they certainly had no problem making the Philadelphia 76ers look a bit amateurish Friday night. Washington took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and never let up in a 97-76 victory…

Philadelphia had only 36 points—including just two fast-break points—at halftime against Washington and were simply outhustled throughout. The Wizards outrebounded the 76ers 52-38 for the game…

Their top scorer was Cartier Martin, who tied a career high with 20 points in his second game under a 10-day contract…

Jordan Crawford scored 17 points for the Wizards. Kevin Seraphin added 14 points, and Wall had nine points, six rebounds and six assists.

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young scored 14 points apiece for the 76ers. Andre Iguodala, returning after missing two games with tendinitis in his left knee, had just seven points in 34 minutes.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Grant Hill to appear on Oprah`s Master Class

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) tells InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner that an all-new episode of “Oprah’s Master Class” will feature Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill. The ep is this Sunday, April 1 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Here’s how they describe the episode: Strong values instilled by his parents and lessons learned on and off the court enabled Grant Hill to become one of the best all-around players in the NBA, which is why when things got tough, he found ways to grow as a person and stay in the game.

Sounds to us like it’ll be worth watching. Grant Hill is one of the smartest and most interesting players in the league. I’ll certainly be checking it out.

Video Preview:

Suns forward Grant Hill has knee surgery

Grant Hill

Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill today underwent a successful procedure on his right knee, the team has announced.  The procedure was performed by team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Thomas Carter and was less than 30 minutes long.

Dr. Carter repaired a medial meniscus tear in Hill’s right knee, which was discovered in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) on Thursday.

If rehab goes as expected, Hill will return before the end of the regular season.

Hill has appeared in 46 games this season for the Suns, averaging 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists.  Since the break, Hill has averaged 12.9 points and is shooting 52.1 percent from the field overall.  The Suns’ best individual defender, Hill has led a Phoenix defense that is allowing just 97.6 points this season, its fewest since 2002-03, and 8.2 points fewer than a season ago.

Jermaine O`Neal undergoes wrist surgery

jermaine o'neal

The Boston Celtics announced today that forward/center Jermaine O’Neal underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left wrist today at New England Baptist Hospital. The surgery was performed by Celtics Team Physician Dr. Brian McKeon and Dr. Drew Terrono.

O’Neal, a 6’11” center/forward, appeared in 25 games for the Celtics this season averaging 5.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 22.8 minutes per game. O’Neal recorded a season-high 19 points against Detroit on December 30. He also recorded a season-high 12 rebounds against Indiana on January 14.

The 28-22 Celtics are currently 7th in the Eastern conference.

Anthony Davis wins Associated Press college basketball Player of Year award

In the storied history of Kentucky basketball, no player had ever been considered the nation’s best in that season.

Until now.

Freshman Anthony Davis continued his run of national player of the year awards by accepting the Associated Press honor on Friday.

He beat Kansas’ Thomas Robinson for the honor. Davis received 43 votes, Robinson 20 and Michigan State’s Draymond Green two. The voting occurred before the NCAA Tournament began.

Davis, whose Wildcats take on Louisville in a national semifinal on Saturday, becomes the second freshman to win the honor. Texas’ Kevin Durant won the 2007 AP award.

Kentucky won seven NCAA championships and produced a slew of excellent players. Some, like Ralph Beard, Alex Groza and Bill Spivey played before national players of the year were identified.

— Reported by Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star