Author: Inside Hoops

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Heat, Hawks to replay end of game after NBA approves Miami’s protest

The NBA today granted a game protest filed by the Miami Heat after its 117-111 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on December 19 at Philips Arena, which will result in the replay of the final 51.9 seconds of the game’s overtime period with the Hawks leading 114-111. The replay will occur immediately prior to the next scheduled game between the two teams — on March 8, 2008, also at Philips Arena.

The Heat protested the game because, with 51.9 seconds remaining in overtime, the Hawks’ scoring table personnel incorrectly disqualified the Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal – asserting that a foul committed by O’Neal was his sixth foul of the game, when in fact it was only his fifth.  The error occurred because the Hawks’ Official Scorer mistakenly attributed to O’Neal a foul at 3:24 remaining in the fourth period that was actually called against the Heat’s Udonis Haslem.

NBA Commissioner David Stern found that the Hawks were grossly negligent in committing this scoring error, since they failed to follow league-mandated scoring procedures and failed to respond effectively when the members of the statisticians’ crew noticed the mistake.  Because of this conduct by Atlanta’s personnel, Miami suffered a clear competitive disadvantage, as O’Neal – the Heat’s second leading scorer and rebounder that night – was removed from a one-point game with only 51.9 seconds remaining.  Under this unprecedented set of circumstances, the Commissioner granted the Heat’s protest, and fined the Hawks $50,000 for their violation of league rules.

The protest is the first granted by the NBA since December 14, 1982 when then-NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien upheld a protest by the San Antonio Spurs concerning their 137-132 double overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 30.  The Spurs and Lakers finished the game on April 13 with San Antonio collecting a 117-114 win.

Suns assign Alando Tucker to D-League, recall D.J. Strawberry

The Phoenix Suns have assigned rookie forward Alando Tucker to their NBA Development League affiliate Albuquerque Thunderbirds, President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr announced today. Tucker was previously assigned on Nov. 28 and recalled on Dec. 24.  Tucker’s second assignment is the 30th of the season.

The 29th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft, Tucker has made appearances in five games for Phoenix this season, averaging 2.4 points in 4.5 minutes.  During his first assignment, Tucker played five games for the Thunderbirds, averaging 28.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists.  He earned D-League.com Performer of the Week honors for the week of Dec. 17, 2007.

A product of the University of Wisconsin, Tucker finished his college career as the all-time leading scorer with 2,217 points, averaging 16.5 points, to go along with 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 134 games.  During his senior season he earned Big Ten Player of the Year and was named First-Team All-America by the Associated Press.

Phoenix recalled Strawberry Thursday following his D-League.com Performer of the Week nod after averaging 34.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 24-of-41 (.585) from the field and 8-of-14(.571) from behind the three-point arc.

Cavs assign Shannon Brown to D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have assigned Shannon Brown to their NBA Development League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today. Brown is the 24th NBA assignment to a D-League affiliate this season.

The 6-4, 211-pound guard has appeared in 12 games for the Cavaliers this season, including four starts. Brown is averaging 7.9 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.4 minutes for the Cavaliers this season. This is the second stint in the D-League for the second-year pro. Brown was assigned to the Albuquerque Thunderbirds on March 2, 2006. He played in one game, posting 14 points, four rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes. He was recalled on March 3, 2006.

The Maywood, Ill. native was selected in the first round (25th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He appeared in 23 games (five starts) as a rookie and averaged 3.2 points in 8.8 minutes per game.

A product of Michigan State University, Brown averaged 12.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in three seasons for the Spartans. In his final season at MSU, Brown was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team and the All-Big Ten Defensive Team after averaging 17.2 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Readers pick Suns over Mavs

InsideHoops.com polled our readers, who are a national and worldwide fan base, asking who would win a seven-game playoff series between the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, assuming both teams were healthy and at full strength.

Right now, our readers prefer the Suns, with 63% feeling Phoenix wins it, and 37% liking Dallas.

Breaking it down further, 51% of our readers felt the Suns would win in 6 or 7 games, 13% saying the Suns would win in 4 or 5 games. As for fans who picked the Mavs, 33% said they’d win in 6 or 7 games, 3% picked 4 or 5 games.

Over 400 fans voted in the 36-hour poll.

David Harrison suspended for drugs

David Harrison of the Indiana Pacers has been suspended without pay for five games by the NBA for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program.

Harrison’s suspension will begin with Saturday night’s game when the Pacers visit the Sacramento Kings.

Statement from Pacers’ President of Basketball Operations, Larry Bird, regarding the suspension of David Harrison by the NBA: “We are very disapppointed with the news that David Harrison has been suspended. This is a private matter and we will do what we can to provide David any help going forward.”

Persuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, only the league disciplines for violations of the anti-drug program.

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Cavs recall Cedric Simmons from D-League

The Cleveland Cavaliers have recalled forward Cedric Simmons from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today.

Simmons was assigned to Rio Grande Valley on Jan. 2 and played in three games for the Vipers. He averaged 9.3 points on .450 shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks in 28.7 minutes per game. Against the Austin Toros on Jan. 5, Simmons scored 13 points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a game-high seven shots.

In four games for the Cavaliers this season, he has grabbed 11 rebounds in 43 minutes.

Grizzlies sign Bobby Jones to 10-day contract

The Memphis Grizzlies signed forward Bobby Jones to a 10-day contract, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced today.

The 6-7, 215-pound forward owns career averages of 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.1 minutes in 67 games (five starts) in two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers (2006-07) and Denver Nuggets (2007-08).

Jones became available after the Nuggets waived him on Jan. 7 after averaging 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 23 games (no starts) this season. Jones, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, was acquired by Denver from Philadelphia on September 10, 2007 along with Steven Hunter for Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez. The Nuggets briefly assigned him to the Forth Worth Flyers of the NBA Development League from Nov. 28-Dec. 8, where he averaged 13.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in three contests for the Flyers.

Originally selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round (37th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, Jones was acquired by the 76ers in a draft night trade in exchange for a 2007 second round draft pick and cash considerations. The Compton, California native appeared in 44 games in his rookie season with Philadelphia, and started five of the final six games, where he averaged 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.20 steals on 53.8 percent shooting in 27.2 minutes per game.

The four-year letterman at the University of Washington was the co-winner of the John Meyers Defensive Player Award at the team’s postseason banquet along with teammate and 2006-07 NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy as a senior in 2005-06.

Jones, who will wear jersey No. 6 with the Grizzlies, joined the team this morning for the club’s shootaround in Sacramento. The Sacramento Kings host the Memphis Grizzlies 9 p.m. (Central time) tonight at ARCO Arena.

The roster currently stands at 14 players.

Spurs sign Jeremy Richardson

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have signed guard/forward Jeremy Richardson.  Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

The 6-7, 195-pound Richardson was signed by the Memphis Grizzlies on 12/20.  He did not register a point in three games with Grizzlies and was waived on 1/7.  Prior to joining the Grizzlies, Richardson was with the Fort Wayne Mad Antz in the NBA Development League.  He was averaging a league-high 28.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.63 steals in 41.5 minutes in eight games.  The 23-year-old spent the 2007 preseason with the Miami Heat before being cut on 10/29.

The Delta State alum had two call-ups last season, first with the Atlanta Hawks and then the Portland Trail Blazers, averaging 1.3 points in six games. The 23-year-old spent the majority of the 2006-07 season with the Forth Worth Flyers in the D-League where he earned All-NBA Development League Second Team honors.  Richardson averaged 17.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 34 games with Fort Worth.

Latest All-Star vote results are in

In the fourth and final update before All-Star starters are announced on Jan. 24, Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers remain the leaders in the Eastern Conference, while Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets continue to pace Western Conference players after the fourth returns of 2008 NBA All-Star Balloting program.

Here are the current starters:

East: Kidd, Wade, LeBron, Garnett, D-Howard
West: Kobe, McGrady, Melo, Duncan, Yao

For more info and full vote totals, see the InsideHoops NBA All-Star voting results page.