NBA fines Shawn Marion for public criticism of officiating

Dallas Mavericks forward Shawn Marion has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of officiating, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.

Marion’s comments were made after Dallas’ 117-114 overtime loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 18 at American Airlines Center.

More info will be added to this page this evening.

Lou Williams suffers torn ACL in right knee, out for season

Lou Williams out for season with torn ACL in right knee

The Atlanta Hawks just received some most unfortunate news.

Hawks guard Lou Williams experienced a right knee sprain during Atlanta’s game last night at Brooklyn. X-rays taken during the game at the Barclays Center were negative. An MRI and examination today by Dr. Michael Bernot at Peachtree Orthopedics in Atlanta revealed a tear to his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

“We are extremely disappointed for Lou and our thoughts and support will be with him during his recovery,” said President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Danny Ferry. “He has been a complete professional in every sense of the word and know that approach, along with his work ethic, will serve him well in his rehabilitation.”

Williams will now undergo a period of rest before having surgery to repair the injury at a date to be determined. He will miss the remainder of the season and a timetable for his recovery will be announced following surgery.

The 6-foot-1 guard from Snellville ranks third on the team in scoring (14.1), assists (3.6) and steals (1.1). He is shooting .422 from the field, including career-bests of .367 from three-point range and .868 from the free throw line, in 28.7 minutes per game in 39 games (nine starts).

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Avery Bradley gets more X-rays on ribs

Avery Bradley

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley underwent another set of X-rays Saturday on his injured rib, coach Doc Rivers said.

Bradley was injured Wednesday against the New Orleans Hornets and missed Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls.

A team spokesman later noted the X-rays came back negative. Rivers previously stressed that Bradley’s condition hasn’t worsened at all, but that the lack of improvement prompted another test.

— Reported by Greg Payne, special to ESPN Boston

Warriors continue to lose when playing in San Antonio

tim duncan

It’s been 16 years since the Warriors won in San Antonio. That means Tim Duncan has been a winner in every home game he’s ever played against Golden State, and he wasn’t about to let that change Friday night.

Duncan had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Spurs held off Golden State 95-88 on Friday night to extend their home winning streak to 14 games.

The Warriors have lost 28 straight games in San Antonio, the longest current road drought for one NBA team against another.

”Don’t say that. Why do you say that?” Spurs guard Tony Parker said, joking about jinxing the streak. ”We don’t really pay attention to those stats because every year is different, every team is different. Golden State is for real. They are a really, really good team. It’s going to be tough against them.”

The last time the Warriors won in San Antonio was 108-94 on Feb. 14, 1997. Four months later, the Spurs selected Duncan with the top pick in the NBA draft.

Parker added 25 points and eight assists for San Antonio (31-11), an NBA-best 18-2 at home. Tiago Splitter added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Danny Green scored 13.

”It was another tough game with playoff intensity,” Parker said. ”It was very physical and they are a very good team. They are playing very well and they played very hard tonight.”

David Lee had 22 points, Klay Thompson added 21 and Jarrett Jack 20 for Golden State (23-15).

— Reported by the Associated Press

Grizzlies beat Kings to end 3-game losing streak

After a trio of blowout losses, the Memphis Grizzlies got back in rhythm for their own double-digit victory.

Mike Conley scored 19 points, Marc Gasol added 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Grizzlies snapped a three-game losing streak Friday night with an 85-69 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

The Grizzlies lost 103-82 San Antonio, 99-73 against the Los Angeles Clippers and 104-83 to Dallas in their last three games.

”It was a must-win game,” said forward Marreese Speights, who had 10 points and nine rebounds filling in for the injured Zach Randolph. ”We knew that before the game. We knew that (Thursday) when we had a team meeting. We knew we couldn’t lose at home and get blown out like we did the last three games.”

All five Memphis starters were in double figures as Tony Allen had 14 points and nine rebounds, plus six assists. Allen also had three blocks, while Rudy Gay scored 15 points.

The tailspin, amid trade talks involving Gay and other distractions, such as Gasol and Conley being the only players invited to a dinner with new owner Robert Pera, led to worries from fans and the team meeting Speights mentioned…

DeMarcus Cousins was the only Sacramento player in double figures with 22 points, plus 12 rebounds as the Kings saw their two-game winning streak end. Isaiah Thomas had nine points and five assists as the Kings recorded a season-low nine assists in the game.

— Reported by Clay Bailey of the Associated Press

Nets beat Hawks 94-89 for home-and-home split

deron williams

The Brooklyn Nets paid back the Hawks and now want to get even with the Knicks.

Deron Williams scored 24 points, making four free throws in the final 43.4 seconds, and Brooklyn beat Atlanta 94-89 on Friday night to earn a split of a home-and-home series.

Brook Lopez added 20 points for the Nets, who bounced back from a 109-95 loss in Atlanta on Wednesday that snapped their seven-game winning streak.

The Nets pulled within two games of the first-place Knicks ahead of Monday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden, their final meeting of the season. New York has won the last two after Brooklyn took the first game as city rivals.

”We’ve got to go in there with the mind-frame that we understand it’s going to be a hostile environment and some way, somehow we’ve got to come out of there on top,” Nets guard Joe Johnson said. ”They beat us the last two times and we owe them.”

Johnson, a perennial All-Star in Atlanta before the Hawks dealt him to the Nets last summer, finished with 18 points. Reggie Evans grabbed 20 rebounds as the Nets beat the Hawks for the first time in seven meetings…

Jeff Teague had 21 points and 10 assists for the Hawks, who played without Horford, their starting center, and lost key reserve Lou Williams to a serious-looking right knee injury. Former Nets guard Devin Harris scored 17 and Josh Smith had 12 points and nine rebounds in his return from a one-game team suspension, but shot just 5 of 15.

The Hawks were only 5 of 22 from the field in the fourth quarter and lost for the seventh time in nine games…

Drew said Horford had a sore hamstring and calf. He was in uniform but didn’t start for just the second time in Hawks’ 39 games, and Drew decided not to use him at all.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Paul George leads Pacers past Rockets 105-95

paul george

Paul George made everything look easy Friday night.

Scoring, rebound, playing defense, even winning seems second-nature to the Pacers’ budding star these days.

George finished with 31 points, and David West added 20 points and 11 rebounds, helping Central Division-leading Indiana pull away from struggling Houston 105-95.

”My guys found me, so I just had to knock shots down,” George said. ”It felt good, it’s easy to start in a flow when you get some good looks early on and that was the case tonight.”

George has been the key figure in Indiana’s incredible turnaround. The Pacers (25-16) have rebounded from a sluggish start by going 15-5 over the last 20 games, pulling even in the win column with the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference and winning 11 straight at home – their longest since winning 14 in a row in 2002-03.

Plus, George continued to make his case for being on the East’s All-Star roster by going 8-of-11 from the field and knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half, and then playing a second half in which he looked content to make all the right moves regardless of his scoring chances.

The result: George finished 11 of 19 from the field, 7 of 10 from 3-point range, had six rebounds, five steals, three assists and one block in a game the Pacers dictated almost from start to finish. It was George’s third 30-point game of the season…

While Omer Asik scored a career-high 22 points and finished with 11 rebounds, the Pacers held James Harden to 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting. Harden, who was defended most of the night by George, had a career-best streak of 22 straight games with 20 or more points end on the same night the NBA’s second-best scoring team finished 10 points below it average and shot just 41.0 percent from the field.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Timberwolves sign center Chris Johnson to 10-day contract

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed center Chris Johnson to a 10-day contract. The Timberwolves were granted an NBA hardship exception for a 16th roster spot due to having four players out for a minimum of two weeks due to injury.

Johnson was playing with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA D-League where he was averaging 10.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 25.6 minutes in 14 games. He is the 16th Call-Up from the NBA D-League to the NBA this season.

Johnson, 27, was a free agent invitee at the Wolves training camp this past fall. He appeared in three preseason games for Minnesota, and averaged 2.0 points and 1.0 rebounds in 5.0 minutes per game. Johnson was waived on Oct. 27, 2012.

The 6-11 center has played parts of two NBA seasons with Boston, Portland and New Orleans. He started the 2011-12 season with Portland, averaging 1.6 points and 0.9 rebounds in 20 contests. Johnson finished the 2011-12 season in New Orleans where he averaged 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in seven contests. In 41 career games, he holds averages of 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds.

Johnson averaged 16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks during the 2010-11 season for the Dakota Wizards and was named the 2011 NBA D-League Defensive Player of the Year. Spent his collegiate years at Louisiana State University and went undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft.

Bobcats beat Magic to end 5-game losing streak

A little rest turned out to be the perfect slump-buster for the Charlotte Bobcats.

A jolt from their speedy backcourt didn’t hurt, either.

Three days after getting flicked aside in a 27-point loss against Indiana, the Bobcats got 25 points from Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson added 17 as they broke out of a five-game losing streak with a 106-100 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.

”It was very important to us,” Henderson said. ”A lot of games recently we put ourselves in the hole to start the game and kind of have to climb uphill to try to get a win. It’s a tough thing.” …

Charlotte started fast and shot the ball well throughout, with its field goal percentage hovering above 50 percent for most of the night. The Bobcats also shot 17 more free throws than Orlando, including some crucial ones in the final minute to secure the victory.

Their guard play off the bench was also big, with Ramon Sessions leading all reserves with 15 points and seven assists. The Bobcats also finished with just 11 turnovers…

Arron Afflalo led Orlando with 23 points, followed by Jameer Nelson with 22…

Charlotte earned its first road win since Jan. 6, improving to 5-14 on the season. … Vucevic finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, ending his string of eight straight double-doubles.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Jrue Holiday scores 33 in Sixers OT win over Raptors

Jrue Holiday scores 33 in Sixers OT win over Raptors

After sending the game to overtime, Jrue Holiday single-handedly took over during the extra session.

In the process, the fourth-year point guard continued to make a strong case for his first career All-Star berth next month in Houston. The reserves will be announced on Thursday night.

Holiday had a career-high tying 33 points and 14 assists, including all 12 of Philadelphia’s points in overtime as the 76ers overcame a 19-point second half deficit to defeat the Toronto Raptors 108-101 on Friday.

”I really don’t know,” Holiday said about whether he deserves to play in the All-Star game. ”Obviously, that’s a goal I’d like to have under my belt. If I have to do this every game for us for our team to win, so be it.”

Thaddeus Young added 27 points and 14 rebounds while Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen had 12 apiece for the Sixers, who improved to 17-23…

Ed Davis had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors. Terrence Ross and Alan Anderson each scored 18.

Jose Calderon chipped in 13 points and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and 11 assists before fouling out for Toronto, which fell to 4-17 on the road. The Raptors lost their fourth in a row.

— Reported by the Associated Press