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Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva has been fined $25,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two on Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with four seconds remaining in the second quarter of the Pistons’ 103-97 win over the Kings at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Jan. 1.
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Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao is out for Cleveland’s game against Sacramento because of a bruised right knee.
Varejao, the NBA’s leading rebounder, will miss his seventh straight game. He hasn’t played since Dec. 18 when he injured the knee against Toronto.
Varejao returned to practice in a limited role Monday, but hasn’t gone through contact drills.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew and Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro today were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.
Drew led the Hawks to a 10-5 (.667) month, including a 4-3 record on the road. Atlanta notched victories over the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls during December, a month in which the Hawks shot .456 from the field as a team and .384 from three-point range. For the first time in team history, the Hawks connected on 10-or-more three-pointers in four consecutive games (Dec. 22-29).
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Del Negro led the Clippers to a perfect 16-0 record in December, including wins over the Boston Celtics and three wins over the Utah Jazz. The Clippers’ franchise-best 17-game winning streak, which included the sixteen December wins, ended with their first game in January. The streak stands as the longest in the NBA since the 2008 season when Boston won 19 consecutive games.
Other nominees for Coach of the Month were Golden State’s Mark Jackson, Indiana’s Frank Vogel, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, New York’s Mike Woodson, Oklahoma City’s Scott Brooks and Portland’s Terry Stotts.
Read NBA fan reaction and share your opinion in this basketball forum topic.
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Dwight Howard sat sullenly in front of his locker Tuesday night and tried to explain what is wrong with the Lakers. Like how can they one night can beat a team by 17 points and the next fall to the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-99?
“The games we’ve won, blowing teams out, we’ve played a certain way,” Howard said. “The games we’ve lost, we’ve played a different way, so we need to find a balance.”
Finding that equilibrium, however has been difficult for the Lakers this season. They’re up, they’re down. They’re winning, they’re losing. Mostly, however, they seem to be stuck in neutral and the frustration is mounting.
“It is frustrating,” Steve Nash said. “Obviously we haven’t been able to find that understanding. We’ve had it in moments, but overall we’re still looking for our chemistry.”
Both Howard and Nash said the team — and Lakers fans — needs to be patient.
— Reported by Janis Carr of the Orange County Register
The Golden State Warriors have recalled guard/forward Kent Bazemore and forward/center Jeremy Tyler from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, the team announced today.
Both players were assigned to Golden State’s D-League affiliate on Monday (December 31) and participated in the team’s 109-93 victory over the Sioux Falls Skyforce yesterday in Santa Cruz.
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The Boston Celtics announced today that they have recalled center Fab Melo from their NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws.
Melo, a 7’0” center, has appeared in 12 games for the Red Claws this season averaging 10.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.83 blocks per game which ranks second in the D-League. Melo recorded a triple-double against Erie on December 22 when he recorded 15 points, 16 rebounds and a D-League record 14 blocks. Melo followed that up the next game by recording 32 points, nine rebounds and nine blocks against Idaho on December 26.
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Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed guard/forward James Anderson to a multi-year deal. To make room on the roster, the Rockets have released guard Daequan Cook.
Anderson (6-6, 215, Oklahoma State), who actually began the 2012-13 season with Rio Grande Valley, was re-signed by San Antonio on Nov. 21, 2012. In 10 games this season with the Spurs, Anderson averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.4 minutes per outing. He tallied a season-high nine points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes at Miami (11/29/12). Anderson was waived by the Spurs on Dec. 20, 2012.
Originally selected by San Antonio in the first round (20th overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft, Anderson holds career averages of 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 87 games (four starts) over three seasons with the Spurs. He also appeared in seven career contests with the D-League Austin Toros, averaging 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 25.1 minutes per game in 2010-11.
Anderson spent three seasons at Oklahoma State, finishing with career averages of 17.9 points (second highest in school history), 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He left college ranked fourth in school history with 1,811 career points. He never missed a game during his collegiate career, earning 99 starts in 101 games. As a junior, Anderson was named Big 12 Player of the Year and was an All-Big 12 First Team selection. He was also named to the John Wooden All-American Team and earned AP All-America Second Team honors. A 2007 McDonald’s High School All-American, Anderson also played for Team USA in the 2009 World University Games, averaging 7.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in seven games as the U.S. squad captured the bronze medal.
Cook (6-5, 210, Ohio State) averaged 3.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 16 games (one start) with the Rockets this season.
The 32-year-old son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was found dead Sunday night.
Sheriff’s Homicide Detectives were sent to a home on the 22600 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu around 11:30pm last night, where they found the body of Scott Sterling.
The coroner’s office says he died of a possible drug overdose, but the cause of death will be confirmed by an autopsy.
— Reported by TMZ.com
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Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 103-99 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on New Year’s Day, Kobe Bryant had a simple answer for what has been plaguing the 15-16 Lakers this season: their age.
“‘Cause we’re old as s—,” said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for L.A. all season. “What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don’t have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don’t have those legs or have that energy.”
The Sixers beat the Lakers on Tuesday primarily with the contributions of 22-year-old Jrue Holiday (26 points, 10 rebounds) and 24-year-old Evan Turner (22 points, 13 rebounds).
“You just saw an old damn team,” Bryant continued. “I don’t know how else to put it to you. We’re just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have high level of energy. That’s all that is.”
Bryant, who has managed to lead the league in scoring this season despite being in his 17th year, said every player has to learn to create that energy individually.
— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles
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Milwaukee native and former NBA star Latrell Sprewell was arrested for disorderly conduct Monday afternoon after police received repeated complaints about loud music coming from a house on E. Pleasant St. on Milwaukee’s east side, according to jail records reviewed by the Journal Sentinel Tuesday.
Police would not release details of the incident other than to report that police had received two complaints within one hour Monday afternoon and had received several complaints of loud music from the residence in recent months.
Sprewell, 42 and a graduate of Washington High School, was booked into the jail about 4:15 p.m.
Sprewell’s NBA career spanned 13 years.
— Reported by Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel