Inside Hoops – Page 1689 – NBA Blog

No Jeremy Lin for Knicks in Game 4

Linsanity may not be seen again until next season unless the Knicks can extend the series.

Jeremy Lin all but ruled out making his return Sunday in Game 4 against the Heat, feeling he is still too sore and not in good enough condition.

Lin went through his first contact scrimmage Wednesday and didn’t come out of it that smoothly. Lin said next Wednesday’s Game 5 — if necessary — still is a possibility, but he will have to show marked progress, he said.

Lin, who underwent knee surgery 4 ½ weeks ago, didn’t take the court during Thursday morning’s shootaround because he was too sore. He huddled with coach Mike Woodson afterward to discuss his playing future.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Thunder beat Mavs to take 3-0 lead

Dirk Nowitzki leaned back in the chair at the podium, trying to explain what went wrong for the Dallas Mavericks once they got home for the playoffs.

There was really only one way to put it after they trailed throughout in a 95-79 loss Thursday night that gave the Oklahoma City Thunder a commanding 3-0 series lead.

”We picked a bad time to put a stinker out there,” Nowitzki said.

After losing the first two games on the road by a combined four points, the defending NBA champions were Thunderstruck by Kevin Durant and young Oklahoma City.

Durant finally found his postseason shooting touch, scoring 15 of his 31 points in the first quarter.

After shooting a combined 15 for 44 in the first two games, though he did have the game-winning jumper with 1.5 seconds left in the series opener, the three-time NBA scoring champ made 11 of 15 shots in Game 3. Even when he missed the game’s first shot, Serge Ibaka converted a putback to put Oklahoma City ahead to stay…

Nowitzki had 17 points and Jason Kidd 12 for Dallas, which shot only 34 percent (26 of 76).

Russell Westbrook added 20 points for Oklahoma City while Ibaka had 10 points and 11 rebounds. James Harden and Derek Fisher both had 10 points.

Oklahoma City led 16-7 less than 5 minutes into Game 3 after Durant’s alley-oop pass to Ibaka for a layup. The Thunder pushed further ahead with 16-5 runs in both the second and third quarters, the later spurt clinching the game.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Heat beat Knicks to take 3-0 lead

LeBron James scored 32 points, including eight straight to start the fourth quarter and break open the game, and the Heat took a 3-0 series lead, sending the New York Knicks to an NBA postseason-record 13th straight loss, 87-70 on Thursday night.

James had 17 points in the final period for the Heat, who held the short-handed Knicks to eight field goals in the second half and will go for the sweep Sunday at Madison Square Garden…

Wade added 20 points for the Heat and Mario Chalmers had 19, hitting consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter when the Heat finally brought some beauty to what had been an ugly game.

Wade was forced to go the whole third quarter while James was limited to just 4 1/2 minutes by fouls. Wade had 12 points in the period, knowing the two-time MVP would be coming back with fresh legs…

Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points but shot 7 of 23 for the Knicks, who are playing without Amare Stoudemire, Jeremy Lin and Iman Shumpert and needed a super effort from Anthony that he didn’t come close to providing.

”When you can’t score the basketball, that makes the game extremely hard, no matter how much defense we go down there and play,” Anthony said.

The Knicks broke the record set by Memphis from 2004-06. They haven’t won a playoff game since April 29, 2001, Game 3 of a best-of-five series against Toronto…

Chris Bosh had nine points and 10 rebounds hours after the birth of the couple’s first child. He flew to New York with the Heat on Wednesday, then quickly hopped on a flight back to Miami after learning his wife was in labor. He returned Thursday afternoon following the birth of his son, arriving at the arena about 30 minutes before the game.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Banged-up Clippers return from wild Memphis split

Just two games into their first playoff run together, the Los Angeles Clippers are already hurting and hobbling.

That’s what happens to opponents of the bruising Memphis Grizzlies, but the Clippers are hoping a return home will get everybody healthy in a hurry.

With a third of their roster nursing injuries, the Clippers took the day off Thursday after a highly eventful two-game opening set in Memphis. Los Angeles left with a split and seized home-court advantage in the series despite following up one of the biggest comebacks in playoff history with a 105-98 loss Wednesday night.

While they prepare for their first playoff game in six years in front of their long-suffering Staples Center fans in Game 3 on Saturday, the Clippers must figure out where to find the postseason will already possessed by the Grizzlies, who rebounded from their stunning series-opening collapse with a gritty, grinding equalizer.

”We played better, but it’s no moral victories around here,” said Chris Paul, who had 29 points, six assists and five turnovers in Game 2. ”At the end of the day, it’s 1-1. We did what we were supposed to do, yeah, win one game. But I feel like we could have got two. Now we’ve got to take care of two.”

The Grizzlies boarded a plane with similar resolve Thursday.

”We do have to win on the road, just like the Clippers had to win,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. ”It’s an evenly contested playoff series. Nobody is safe wherever.”

— Reported by the Associated Press

Orlando Magic looking for energy boost

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy walked into the Magic’s practice session Thursday toting an armload of statistics to illustrate why they’ve lost two straight games and fallen into a 2-1 series hole against Indiana.

But Van Gundy knows simply harping on numbers the next two days won’t be enough to pull his team out of its funk in time for Game 4.

”Our point today wasn’t really on adjustments or anything…I wanted them to see it,” he said. ”I mean the numbers say one thing, but to watch it on film and to see what we’re talking about, because the mindsets gotta change, the disposition’s gotta change, the energy’s got to change.

”And then from there you can make adjustments.”

After squandering a late-game lead in Game 1, the Pacers have won two straight by owning the first and third quarters of play.

On Wednesday night in a 97-74 win, they outscored the Magic 32-17 in the third quarter, running their edge in that period for the series to 81-43. In the first quarter that advantage is 69-56.

— Reported by the Associated Press

James Harden, Anthony Davis added to roster of Team USA finalists

Anthony Davis,who led the University of Kentucky Wildcats to this year’s NCAA championship,and Oklahoma City Thunder standout guard James Harden have been added to the list of finalists for the 2012 USA Basketball National Team, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced today. The official 12-man U.S. Olympic team roster will be announced later this year.

“After a lot of deliberations, after reviewing our roster, we think these two additions strengthen our National Team program immeasurably. James Harden probably is the sixth man of the year in the NBA, and Anthony Davis brings a dimension to our pool we don’t have. He’s young, but it’s exciting to think about the possibilities,” said Colangelo.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be this young and have a chance to represent my country. This is a great opportunity and I’m excited to be a part of something like this,” said Davis.

Davis played and started in all 40 UK games and as a freshman led the Wildcats to a 38-2 record, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season title and the NCAA championship. The 6-10 forward averaged team highs of 14.2 ppg.,10.4 rpg. and 4.7 bpg., while adding 1.3 apg. and 1.4 spg. He shot 62.3 percent from the floor and 70.9 percent from the foul line.

Jeremy Lin health update: Still out healing

Jeremy Lin has all but ruled himself out of Game 4 of the Heat-Knicks series.

Earlier this week, Lin had held out hope of returning in time for Game 4, scheduled for Sunday afternoon. But Lin’s surgically repaired left knee likely hasn’t healed quickly enough for him to return to the court in four days.

“I haven’t been able to load it or jump or explode or drive by somebody the way i want to, so it’s going to be longer than that,” the second-year guard said.

Lin experienced soreness in his left knee on Thursday, a day after scrimmaging for the first time since his April 2 surgery to repair a small meniscus tear in his knee.

— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

Bucks guard Carlos Delfino undergoes surgery

Milwaukee Bucks guard Carlos Delfino (6-6, 230) underwent successful surgery this morning to repair a sports hernia related to his right groin injury, General Manager John Hammond announced today.

The procedure was performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia. Delfino is expected to return to on-court basketball activities in 6-to-8 weeks.

Delfino, 29, missed 10 games this season with a right groin injury, including the last four of the regular season. In 54 games (53 starts) this season, the seven-year NBA veteran averaged 9.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Amare Stoudemire explains the fire extinguisher hand injury incident

“Fans actually think I had a closed fist and punched through a glass door,’’ Stoudemire said. “They have wrong perception of what actually happened. I walked by and swung my arm backwards. It hit the fire extinguisher door and I slashed my hand a little bit by accident. I understand their frustrations right now. I’m frustrated with myself as well.’’

Asked what triggered the incident, Stoudemire said, “We’re down 0-2 and I knew how important it was to get a win in Miami. We played somewhat well enough to win Game 2. I was more frustrated we were down 0-2. It wasn’t as if I was trying to take out the fire extinguisher door. I wanted to make noise and let out some frustration.’’

Stoudemire said many players let out their frustrations in similar ways. “It happens all the time,’’ Stoudemire said. “Some players kick over ice coolers. Some players tip over a table. Some players even hit a chair. My thing was to hit a wall and I sliced my hand.’’ …

“I just walked by the door and it’s made of 85 percent metal and two percent glass, a strip of glass,’’ Stoudemire said. “I didn’t try to hit the glass at all. I just walked by and I didn’t see the strip of glass.’’

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Jason Kidd wins 2011-12 NBA Sportsmanship Award

Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks is the recipient of the Joe Dumars Trophy presented to the 2011-12 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner, the NBA announced today.

Kidd (Southwest) was one of six divisional winners, which included Cleveland’s Antawn Jamison (Central), the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul (Pacific), Miami’s Shane Battier (Southeast), Minnesota’s Luke Ridnour (Northwest), and New York’s Jeremy Lin (Atlantic).

Kidd received 93 first-place votes (2,501 total points) of a possible 334. The NBA will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Kidd to The Jason Kidd Foundation, which is dedicated to improving education among the youth, by ensuring that kids of all ages have the tools needed through mentoring, tutoring and technology programs to succeed in life.

For the eighth consecutive year, NBA players voted on this award, with eleven points given for each first-place vote, nine points for each second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth-place vote received. Each team nominated one of its players for the award. Former NBA players Greg Anthony, John Crotty, Antonio Davis, Eddie Johnson and Kenny Smith selected the six divisional winners from a pool of 30 team nominees.

The NBA will make a $5,000 donation to each of the divisional winner’s charities of choice: the Battier Take Charge Foundation on behalf of Battier; KaBOOM! on behalf of Jamison; the Jeremy Lin Foundation on behalf of Lin; the CP3 Foundation on behalf of Paul; and the Blaine (Wash.) Boys and Girls Club on behalf of Ridnour.

The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship — ethical behavior, fair play and integrity — in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the league’s NBA Cares program efforts. The trophy is named for former Detroit Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, the award’s first recipient.