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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.
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.
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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
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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
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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Even short-handed, the Chicago Bulls’ dominance of the Detroit Pistons continues.
The Bulls continued a five-year winning streak over the Pistons with a 95-94 victory Sunday at United Center, despite playing without three key contributors, including notorious Piston-killer Joakim Noah.
The Pistons (24-50) led most of the game and dominated many of the key statistical categories but untimely turnovers and the Bulls’ big advantage on free throws doomed them.
Charlie Villanueva had a shot in the final seconds to tie, with the score 94-91, but it sailed off line. A Daequan Cook free throw was followed by Rodney Stuckey’s meaningless 3-pointer before the buzzer.
The Bulls have won 18 consecutive games against the Pistons, with their last loss coming on Dec. 23, 2008. They also have won the last 14 meetings at United Center since Feb. 24, 2006.
— Reported by David Mayo of Michigan Live
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Bradley Beal scored 24 points in his return to the lineup, leading the Washington Wizards to a 109-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and John Wall added 18 points and 10 assists for Washington. The Wizards, who came in having lost two in a row on the road, won their seventh straight at home and moved into a tie with Toronto for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Raptors, losers of six of their last seven. Toronto leading scorer Rudy Gay scored 11 points – about seven below his average – while being limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble.
Toronto, which has lost six of seven, cut a 20-point third-quarter deficit to six twice in the fourth quarter before Washington pulled away.
After missing five straight games, and 11 of 13, with a sprained left ankle, Beal shot 8 for 14 from the field, including a career-high six 3-pointers – on nine attempts – in 30 minutes…
Gay was held to five points in the half and DeMar DeRozan to four, while Valanciunas scored 16 for Toronto.
— Reported by Harvey Valentine of the Associated Press
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Kyrie Irving, the king of the fourth-quarter comeback, was back on Sunday. The fourth-quarter comeback was not.
Even with the All-Star point guard returning from his sprained left shoulder and playing for the first time in three weeks, the Cavaliers ran into their same old problem in the third quarter and lost to the Hornets at New Orleans Arena, 112-92.
Irving missed eight games with the injury suffered on March 10 in Toronto, and he led the Cavs with 31 points in 28:40 on Sunday. But he didn’t have enough help and the Cavs fell to 22-50 as their longest losing streak of the season reached eight games. Greivis Vasques had 25 points and Ryan Anderson added 23 for New Orleans, 26-48.
— Reported by Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer
Irving was announced as a surprise return less than two hours prior to the game, but he couldn’t help a defense that was beaten badly in transition and around the perimeter. The Hornets made 12 of 21 3-pointers and scored 19 fast break points, a rarity against a Cavs team that typically gives up few points on the break.
— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal
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Spurs coach Gregg Popovich puts Manu Ginobili’s timetable to return from a strained right hamstring at weeks rather than days, a significant setback to the team’s pre-playoff preparation.
“It’s a huge blow for us,” he said, “because he’s the guy that allows our second team to do what they’ve been doing all year long.
“It’s a huge loss for that group, and in game situations it’s a tough one because he’s one of two guys, he and Tony (Parker), are the creators who make things happen for everybody else on the court. It’s an unfortunate loss at this point of the season.”
Popovich said it is unknown if Ginobili’s injury will stretch into the postseason, which begins on April 20. Excluding Sunday’s home game against Miami, the Spurs have nine games remaining in the regular season, with the last coming on April 17 against Minnesota.
— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
It’s the thrill of the chase.
Needless to say, the Utah Jazz would rather it wasn’t this way. They’d much prefer to have already locked up a playoff berth and save their fans and management the hand-wringing that will inevitably accompany the remaining eight games of a bizarre, disjointed season.
But, still, in their second annual final-weeks push for the eighth spot, there is a sense of excitement around a team left for dead as recently as a week ago.
“I told the guys the other night man, if you like to compete,” coach Tyrone Corbin said, “you like to be in these kinds of fights. This is where you figure out where you are.”
Entering Monday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Jazz (38-36) are in eighth in the West, holders of a tiebreaker with the Los Angeles Lakers by virtue of a 2-1 win in the season series.
— Reported by Bill Oram of the Salt Lake Tribune