Inside Hoops – Page 1414 – NBA Blog

Wade, James lead Heat to record 15th straight win

Alonzo Mourning never did it. Shaquille O’Neal didn’t, either. Even Dwyane Wade had never won 15 games in a row as a member of the Miami Heat.

The Heat have had their fair share of stars come through South Beach over the last 25 years, none of them as bright as LeBron James.

Wade had 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, James shrugged off a sore left knee to score 20 points and grab 10 rebounds, and the Heat earned their franchise-record 15th straight victory with a 97-81 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

”Any time you get an opportunity set a record, it’s great for the organization and the guys involved,” James said. ”But we want to keep going. We want to keep winning each game by itself. We don’t talk about the streak, we just go to the next game and play it out. We look forward to the next one.”

Chris Bosh added 11 points and nine rebounds, and James played 35 minutes despite being listed as a game-time decision with a twisted left knee.

Derrick Williams had 25 points and 10 rebounds and Ricky Rubio had 14 points, eight assists, six steals and five rebounds for the Timberwolves. J.J. Barea had four points on 1-for-11 shooting and was ejected in the fourth quarter after getting a Flagrant-2 foul for a hit on Heat guard Ray Allen.

Minnesota was down six points with eight minutes to play when Barea was ejected. The Heat then went on a 17-5 run to put away the game.

— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Afflalo leads Magic past Hornets 105-102

Arron Afflalo bolted through a crowd of Hornets defenders as he angled toward the hoop, switching the ball from his left hand to his right to hit a layup Orlando needed to keep another game from slipping away.

Minutes later, he sank an 11-foot turnaround fade in the lane with Eric Gordon’s hand in his face – yet another clutch play that led the Magic to an unlikely comeback on the road.

Afflalo finished with a game-high 26 points, scoring five in the final 38 seconds, and Orlando snapped a three-game skid by erasing a 17-point, second-half deficit en route to a 105-102 victory over New Orleans on Monday night.

”It was great to see the guys feel it and get rewarded for their effort,” Magic coach Jacques Vaughn said. ”We get down 17 and still plug away and play each possession.”

Jameer Nelson, returning from a left knee injury that sidelined him six games, scored 15 points and Tobias Harris also scored 15 for Orlando, which erased a nine-point deficit during the final 3:15.

Afflalo scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter. His late turnaround over Gordon gave Orlando the lead for good at 101-100 with 38 seconds left.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Knicks rally without Melo, beat Cavaliers 102-97

Carmelo Anthony tripped, stumbled and fell.

The New York Knicks picked themselves up and won without him.

Amare Stoudemire scored 22 points, J.R. Smith added 18 and the Knicks overcame a 22-point deficit and the loss of Anthony, their All-Star forward who went out with a knee injury in the first half, to beat the Cavaliers 102-97 on Monday night and end a 10-game losing streak in Cleveland.

Steve Novak made three of New York’s seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and added 15 points as the Knicks, sparked by their second unit, shook off a tough home loss on Sunday, when they blew a 16-point lead to Miami…

Kyrie Irving scored 22 points in his first game back after missing Cleveland’s past three with a hyperextended right knee. Irving added six assists and five rebounds in 36 minutes…

The Knicks were down by 22 and looking pathetic when Anthony caught a pass from Kidd near midcourt, tripped over his own feet and hit the deck. He stayed on his back for several seconds, got up and without talking to New York’s trainers headed directly to the locker room. Anthony didn’t appear to be injured and seemed to be more embarrassed than anything.

With Anthony out and icing his knee, the Knicks went on a 17-4 run and closed within 61-49 at halftime – not bad, considering how poorly they had played…

Knicks C Marcus Camby played for the first time since Jan. 10. He had been sidelined with plantar fasciitis.

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

New Celtics taking advantage of practice time

The Celtics are coming off a stretch of one game in seven days as they fly to Philadelphia this afternoon for a two game road swing against the 76ers tomorrow and Indiana Wednesday.

The time was important as a break for the veterans and as a mini-camp for newcomers Terrence Williams, Jordan Crawford and 10-day signees D.J. White and Shavlik Randolph.

“I mean, this is huge that we had these few days with these guys,” said Paul Pierce.

“As you see right now,” he added, nodding to the practice court where the four were working, “they have a chance to go over plays and get a better understanding of the system. I mean, it’s definitely not the same as being here from Day 1 of training camp, but coming from where they came from a week ago — not doing any practicing, just kind of getting put out there in the mix — anything is good eight now when we can get time in the gym with them.”

— Reported by Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald

Brook Lopez, Andray Blatche may get more minutes together for Nets

Brooklyn Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo intends to tighten his team’s rotation, but wouldn’t divulge exactly how he’s going to do so.

One thing Carlesimo does want to try to do is play centers Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche together more.

“It’s something that I’d like to look at more, but there’s more teaching. … It’ll probably fall on Dray at the 4 spot,” Carlesimo said of Blatche playing power forward alongside Lopez. “The 4 spot is not that different. It’s not different than the 5 spot in a lot of the things we do. In some things we do it is different, like out of bounds [situations].

“There’s going to be situations that are going to come up that are put Dray in a little bit of a box because he’s not used to playing 4 [for Brooklyn]. So we have to spend some time making sure he knows some or most of those [situations]. … It’s something we definitely want to look into.”

— Reported by Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York

Kobe Bryant discusses eating a proper diet

“Diet is always the hardest thing,” Bryant said. “We’re accustomed to eating what we want to eat whenever we want to eat it. You become comfortable with that. A change in that is a change in your lifestyle. That’s been the most difficult.”

Bryant maintained he never lost focus with his diet, workout regiment or sacrificing time with family for the sake of maximizing his play.

“After so many years, it becomes easy to lose focus,” Bryant said. “Some guys lose focus from game to game. I take it as a challenge to try to be challenged for many many years.”

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Roy Hibbert has found his offensive touch lately

Has Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert finally turned the corner or is he just teasing everybody?

If the past six games are any indication, Hibbert has put his poor offensive start to the season behind him.

The fifth-year big man is playing his best offense of the season, averaging 14.5 points on 57 percent shooting in the past six games.

He’s come a long way from when he was shooting less than 40 percent from the field, which is significant considering he’s 7-2 and takes the majority of his shots near the basket.

— Reported by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star

Clippers need to solidify their rotations

We’re in March and there are still moments when the Clippers will run out a lineup we haven’t seen before. It’s usually a mishmash lineup that will include Chauncey Billups and/or Grant Hill, who has missed most of the season with injuries, or Ryan Hollins, who was the odd man out earlier in the season but now is seeing more time.

The Clippers know Paul, Billups, Caron Butler, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are their starters. They know Jamal Crawford is their sixth man. They know Odom is the first big off the bench, and Matt Barnes and Eric Bledsoe are in that top nine as well.

The question now becomes: How much do you play Bledsoe and Crawford in relation to Billups, who is at the end of his career and coming off a major injury? How much do you play Barnes in relation to Butler when Barnes on some nights is more effective on both ends of the floor? And where do Hill, Ronny Turiaf, Hollins and Willie Green fit in?

— Reported by Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles

Extra rest may help Kevin Garnett

In years past, when Kevin Garnett was given a day off like he was on Feb. 22 against the Suns in Phoenix, he might have hit the roof with Doc Rivers.

Not this year.

The Celtics head coach said Monday he is giving more and more time off to Garnett and he believes it’s paying dividends. Indeed, Rivers may have given the 36-year-old Garnett just one game off but he’s giving the big man much more time off from practice, like this weekend when he told Garnett and Paul Pierce to stay away from the gym on Sunday, when the team had a skeleton practice.

“We’ve given him more time off this year than we ever have for him,” Rivers said. “In the past, we couldn’t even broach that subject with him. This year, he wants the days off. So, I think he’s gotten smarter in that regard and that to me is why he’s been able to play in more games.”

— Reported by Mike Petraglia of WEEI

Will Flip Saunders be next Timberwolves GM?

There are several indications pointing to the likelihood of former Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders replacing David Kahn as president of basketball operations for the team before the 2013-14 season.

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor wasn’t available for comment on the subject Saturday, but he hasn’t kept it a secret that Saunders has served as a consultant for him on the basketball team during this season.

It was interesting to see Taylor’s quote in Thursday’s Star Tribune about his contact with Saunders. Taylor said: “He’s pretty well aware of what is happening with the Timberwolves.”

And then some time ago Taylor talked about how he was in contact with Saunders for information on how to handle the many injuries the Wolves have suffered this season.

— Reported by Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune