The AP reports: It’s rarely this easy for the New Jersey Nets, especially in their own building. Vince Carter had 25 points and a season-high 12 assists, and the Nets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 100-89 on Wednesday night for their third straight home victory. Playing without leading scorer Devin Harris (sore right hamstring), the Nets enjoyed one of the most relaxing nights a team could have… Yi Jianlian added 20 points, and rookie Brook Lopez had 17 for the Nets, who are just 8-12 at the Meadowlands even after their longest home winning streak of the season. They are 10-6 on the road and returned to .500 overall at 18-18. Rookie O.J. Mayo scored 26 points, and Rudy Gay had 23 for the Grizzlies, who lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell to 0-9 this season when playing on the second night of back-to-back games.
Category: Games
Basketball games blog
Celtics fall at home, 89-85 to Rockets
The AP reports: The defending NBA champions dropped their sixth game in eight tries Wednesday night, falling to the Houston Rockets 89-85 on Von Wafer’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 44 seconds left. It was the Celtics’ first loss in Boston since a Nov. 14 defeat to Denver sent them on a 19-game winning streak… Yao Ming had 26 points and eight rebounds, clinching it on a putback with 12.9 seconds left to help the Rockets snap a three-game losing streak and a five-game road skid. “Yao is unstoppable,” said Rockets forward Ron Artest, who scored 17 points playing most of the game in foul trouble… Paul Pierce scored 26 points, and Kevin Garnett had 18 and eight rebounds for the Celtics, who opened the defense of their 17th NBA title with victories in 27 of their first 29 games… Glen Davis scored a season-high 12 for the Celtics.
Bargnani leads 9-man Raptors past Wizards 99-93
The AP reports: Down to nine players, the Raptors still easily beat worst-in-the-East Washington 99-93 on Wednesday night by making 54 percent of their field-goal attempts. Andrea Bargnani had 25 points on 8-for-9 shooting… Bargnani went 4-for-5 on 3s, and 4-for-4 on other field-goal attempts. Chris Bosh scored half his 18 points in the fourth quarter and added eight rebounds and six assists… Antawn Jamison scored a season-high 32 points for Washington, which hasn’t had Gilbert Arenas (left knee) or Brendan Haywood (right wrist) all season, and is without starting shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who has missed a week and is expected to be out at least another 1 1/2 weeks with a bad back.
Orlando builds big lead, holds on to beat Hawks 106-102
The AP reports: Putting on a show for the home folks, Dwight Howard had 23 points and 19 rebounds as Orlando preserved a 106-102 victory Wednesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Southeast Division. Orlando nearly squandered a 21-point advantage, catching a huge break when Mike Bibby missed a breakaway layup that should have made it a two-point game with just under 1 1/2 minutes remaining… Josh Smith led Atlanta with 21 points, but he missed all four of his free-throw attempts—the worst culprit in a 14-of-25 performance at the line that came back to haunt the Hawks at the end… Mike Bibby scored 17 points but was only 6-of-17 from the field. Joe Johnson, the Hawks’ leading scorer, was just 5-of-17 for 13 points—matching his second-lowest output of the season.
LeBron has easy night, Cavaliers rout Bobcats 111-81
The AP reports: LeBron James scored 21 points before grabbing an early seat on the bench, Mo Williams added 15 and Cleveland warmed up for its highly anticipated matchup with Boston by blowing out the Charlotte Bobcats 111-81 on Wednesday night, raising the Cavaliers’ record at home to 18-0… Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak scored 15 apiece and Anderson Varejao 14 as Cleveland shot 60 percent from the floor and improved to 28-6. Raymond Felton led Charlotte with 15 points and Gerald Wallace had 14 for the Bobcats, who went 0-3 against the Cavs this season losing by an average of 22 points per game.
West, Paul lead Hornets past Lakers 116-105
The AP reports: David West scored 15 of his 40 points in the final period to outscore Los Angeles by himself, and New Orleans beat Los Angeles 116-105 to snap the Lakers’ 15-game home winning streak. The Lakers led 92-89 entering the fourth quarter before shooting just 5-of-21, including 3-of-11 from 3-point range while being outscored 27-13… West shot 14-of-23 from the floor and 12-of-13 from the foul line in matching his career high. He also grabbed 11 rebounds as the Hornets (21-10) won for the 16th time in 21 games and avenged two losses to the Lakers in New Orleans earlier this season.
InsideHoops.com notes: Also for the Hornets, Chris Paul shot 11-of-24 for 32 points, 15 assists, no turnovers and 3 steals. Tyson Chandler had 12 points and 8 rebounds. Rasual Butler had 10 points and 6 rebounds. The Hornets shot 50.6%… For the Lakers, Kobe Bryant shot 14-of-22 for 39 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists (4 turnovers). Derek Fisher had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, though he took 18 shots. Lamar Odom came off the bench for a mere 12 points and little else. Pau Gasol shot 3-of-8 for 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. The Lakers shot just 41.9%.
Bulls hang on to beat Kings 99-94
The AP reports: Ben Gordon scored 24 points and the Chicago Bulls beat the Sacramento Kings 99-94 on Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing streak. The Bulls converted 33 of 36 free throws, but the three they missed nearly cost them. After making its first 29, Chicago converted just four of its final seven, allowing Sacramento to stay in the game. Drew Gooden had two of the misses, nearly spoiling a big return in which he had 18 points and 10 rebounds after being sidelined for eight games with a sprained right ankle… Kevin Martin had another strong outing for the Kings after scoring 36 against New Jersey on Monday and 45 against Indiana two days earlier, and Miller finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. But the Bulls prevailed thanks to Gordon, Gooden and solid outings by Rose (16 points and eight assists) and Thomas (14).
Nowtizki leads Mavericks over hurting Clippers
The AP reports: Dirk Nowitzki made the game-saving plays on both ends of the court for the Dallas Mavericks. That was the easy part for the star forward. Just don’t ask the frustrated Nowitzki to explain how the Mavericks even got into the position that his blocked shot and go-ahead jumper were needed in the final minute against the short-handed and hurting Los Angeles Clippers. “Terrible. We had a good lead and we let up,” Nowitzki said. “They got whatever they wanted offensively. We couldn’t get any stops.” Until Nowitzki, who had 34 points, blocked a shot and then scored with 37 seconds remaining in a 107-102 victory Tuesday night… Eric Gordon, who scored 32 points, had a turnover on the next possession when the ball was knocked from his hands by Jason Kidd—though the rookie and his coach both thought there was a foul on the play.
Durant, Green lift Thunder to rare win over Knicks
The AP reports: Wins have been rare this season for the Thunder, so they wanted to celebrate after holding off the New York Knicks 107-99 on Tuesday night—after nearly blowing a 23-point, second-half lead. “We showed a lot of character,” said Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds… Jeff Green added 27 points for Oklahoma City (5-30), which shot 52.7 percent from the field and won for the second time in three games… Al Harrington scored 21 points and Chris Duhon added 18 for the Knicks (13-20), who were coming off a victory over defending NBA champion Boston. New York, which beat the Thunder by 10 points on Nov. 14, shot 39.8 percent. Russell Westbrook added 22 points and nine assists for Oklahoma City. David Lee had 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks, his 20th double-double in the last 22 games and his 23rd of the season.
Foye leads Timberwolves to third straight win
The AP reports: Randy Foye scored 23 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 40 seconds left, and the Timberwolves weathered a late rally to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 94-87 Tuesday night… Al Jefferson added 19 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for Minnesota. Craig Smith had 15 points, Gomes 14 and Sebastian Telfair finished with 10 points and nine assists. Hakim Warrick scored 22 points, and Mayo added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Memphis. Marc Gasol had 13 points and Rudy Gay 12 as Memphis shot 42 percent, including 2-of-13 outside the arc (15 percent).