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Pacers beat red-hot Bulls

The AP reports:

Tyler Hansbrough

tyler hansbrough

Not lousy

Tyler Hansbrough had 29 points and 12 rebounds to help the Indiana Pacers beat Chicago 115-108 in overtime on Friday night, snapping the Bulls’ eight-game winning streak.

Danny Granger scored 19 points and Darren Collison added 17 for the Pacers, who have won three of four.

Derrick Rose tied a career high with 42 points for the Bulls. He scored 19 in the fourth quarter and made three free throws with 1.2 seconds left to force overtime. Luol Deng added 21 points for the Bulls.

Chicago entered the game with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and could have been the first team in the East to win 50 games.

Chicago forward Carlos Boozer missed his fifth straight game with an injured left ankle.

Kings guard Marcus Thornton drops 42 on Warriors

The AP reports:

Marcus Thornton and Samuel Dalembert had career scoring nights with 42 and 27 points and the Kings beat the Golden State Warriors 129-119 Monday night in what might have been the final meeting ever in Sacramento between the Northern California rivals.

Al Thornton scored 23 points and Stephen Curry added 19 to lead the Warriors, who were never in this game a night after beating Minnesota 100-77 in their most lopsided win of the season.

Nets top Celtics for 5th straight win

The AP reports:

Brook Lopez scored 20 points, Deron Williams added 16 and made the clinching 3-pointer, and the Nets extended their longest winning streak in three years to five games with an 88-79 victory Monday night.

Kris Humphries had 16 points and 15 rebounds, following his strong performance against Blake Griffin by turning in one against Kevin Garnett to help the Nets snap a nine-game home losing streak against the Celtics…

Ray Allen scored 19 points and Garnett had 18 for the Celtics, who couldn’t overcome horrible shooting nights from All-Stars Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo and fell back into a tie with Chicago for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Heat destroy NBA-best Spurs by 30

The AP reports:

For the Miami Heat, there was symmetry in the turnabout.

Lose by 30 in San Antonio, win by 30 in Miami.

Chris Bosh scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 29 and the Miami Heat avenged their worst loss of the season by rolling past the NBA-leading Spurs 110-80 on Monday night…

LeBron James finished with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Heat, who have won three straight and moved within two games of Eastern Conference front-runners Boston and Chicago.

Tony Parker scored 18 points and Tim Duncan added 14 for the Spurs, who had won 15 of their last 18 against Miami. Before Monday, San Antonio’s worst loss of the season had been a 96-72 defeat in New Orleans.

In London NBA game, Nets beat Raptors in 3OT

The AP reports:

Travis Outlaw and the New Jersey Nets were up to the challenge of providing excitement for the NBA’s European fans.

The Toronto Raptors more than did their part, too.

Outlaw scored the final eight points for New Jersey in a 137-136 triple overtime win Saturday night that gave the Nets a sweep of their two games in London.

The game featured four missed buzzer-beaters and provided exactly the kind of thrilling finish league officials were looking for when they decided to bring regular-season games to Europe for the first time… Brook Lopez had 34 points and 14 rebounds for the Nets but fouled out in the second overtime.

Deron Williams added 21 points and 18 assists for his fifth straight double-double since joining the Nets from Utah last week.

Sasha Vujacic had 25 points—including six 3-pointers—and Kris Humphries added 20 points and 17 rebounds for New Jersey. Outlaw finished with 14 points.

DeMar DeRozan finished with 30 points for Toronto (17-46) for the second straight night.

In first NBA regular season game in Europe, Nets beat Raptors

The AP reports:

The New Jersey Nets are still far away from their Russian owner’s goal of making the team a global brand and NBA champion. But for now, at least, they’re the league’s most successful team in games played in Europe.

Brook Lopez scored 25 points and New Jersey ended a six-game losing streak with a 116-103 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday in the first regular-season game on the continent.

Kris Humphries had 18 points and 17 rebounds and Deron Williams earned his first win since being acquired from the Utah Jazz last week, adding 16 points and 11 assists…

The Nets and Raptors will face each other again at the O2 on Saturday, as the NBA decided to bring regular-season games to Europe for the first time as part of its push to increase its fan base on the continent. The O2 has hosted preseason games for the last four years.

The attendance for Friday’s game was an announced sellout of 18,689, but there were some empty seats.

“I loved the crowd,” said Bargnani, who was the highest-scoring European player on the night. “I really felt the excitement. I was nervous in the first half. I think it’s going to be better tomorrow.”

The unusual venue meant the public announcer had to do some extra work, explaining some of the basic rules every now and then to the British crowd— like pointing out that a player fouled while shooting gets two free throws.

And with crowd support split between the two teams—despite the Nets being listed as the home team—players had the rare experience of being booed by rival fans before every free throw, and then cheered by their own supporters if the shot was good.

Grizzlies beat Spurs 109-93

The AP reports:

Darrell Arthur and Zach Randolph scored 21 points each and the Memphis Grizzlies took advantage of poor ball handling by San Antonio to defeat the Spurs 109-93 on Tuesday night.

Tony Allen added 20 points, missing only one of his nine shots, and Mike Conley had 18 points and nine assists as Memphis won its season-best fifth straight home game.

Gary Neal was the only Spur to finish in double figures with 14 points. Starters Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and DeJuan Blair had nine points apiece, as they sat out the fourth quarter.

The Spurs (49-11) were playing their first game without starting point guard Tony Parker, who is expected to miss two to four weeks after suffering a strained left calf when the Spurs beat Memphis 95-88 on Saturday night.

San Antonio committed 22 turnovers in the game, one short of its season high.

Cavaliers upset Lakers, 104-99

Before tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers have shown life about twice over the past couple of months. It’s been a tough ride fo the Cavs and anytime they kept a game even remotely close, it’s been something of a moral victory.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the league’s best teams, but lately they’ve struggled and have dropped some games they shouldn’t have lost. Still, you’d think the Cavs would be no match for the defending champs.

Apparently not! With Cavs reseve guard Ramon Sessions coming off the bench to shoot 9-of-16 for 32 points, eight assists and three steals, the underdogs won, toppling the Lakers 104-99 even with starting point guard Mo Williams only playing a bit more than three minutes.

The Cavs got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Antawn Jamison, 18 points and nine assists from Anthony Parker, and 13 points with 15 rebounds from center J.J. Hickson. As a team they shot 47.1 percent.

The Lakers as a team shot just 42.5% and committed 19 turnovers. Kobe Bryant was the main problem here, shooting just 8-of-24 for 17 points and 12 rebounds, but just two assists with seven turnovers. The team did get 30 points and 20 rebounds from Pau Gasol. Derek Fisher stepped up to score 19 on just 12 shots. But no one else was particularly good.

Count this as a high point in an incredibly tough Cavaliers season.

Bobcats continue mastery of Lakers, 109-89

The AP reports:

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson was so upset he spoke to reporters for 5 seconds and then walked away. Kobe Bryant sneaked out of the locker room before addressing the press at all.

A once promising road trip has quickly turned sour for the two-time defending champions, although they probably should have seen their most lopsided loss of the season coming.

The Charlotte Bobcats somehow own them.

Gerald Wallace had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Gerald Henderson added 18 points and helped slow Bryant, and the Bobcats cruised to a 109-89 victory on Monday night to extend one of the more unusual one-sided matchups in the NBA.

The Bobcats have won eight of the past 10 meetings. The Lakers, 5-8 all-time against the NBA’s newest team, hold a losing record against only one other club — the Boston Celtics.

This latest loss, full of missed shots and poor defense and coming on the heels of an ugly defeat in Orlando, left Jackson steamed.

“I’m embarrassed about what we did and that’s it,” Jackson said as he began to stroll away. “Thank you.”

Wizards win first road game of season

Getting to play the Cavaliers tends to cure whatever ills an NBA team tends to have.

After breaking their 26-game losing streak to beat the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cavs immediately returned to their losing ways and got dropped in dramatic fashion by the Wizards Sunday.

The Wizards were 0-25 on the road coming into this game.

The AP reports:

Nick Young scored 31 points, John Wall had 19 points and 14 assists and Washington snapped its 25-game road winless streak with a 115-100 win Sunday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who reverted to their losing ways one game after ending their record skid.

The Wizards opened a 25-point lead in the third quarter, survived a Cleveland comeback and got their first road win since April 9 at Boston.

Antawn Jamison scored 21 and J.J. Hickson added 16 and 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who stopped their losing streak at 26 on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers but failed to post back-to-back wins for the second time this season.

Washington finished four losses shy of matching the league’s longest losing streak to start a season, 29 in a row by the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks.

Blown out and embarrassed in a 118-94 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, the Wizards came out focused on getting a win outside D.C.’s city limits. They started 9 of 11 from the field and opened a 17-point lead in the first quarter on Young’s second straight three-point play.

The Cavs were down 68-46 at the half, showed some life in the third quarter but never seriously threatened the Wizards.

Point guard Mo Williams, who recently returned for Cleveland, struggled tonight, but should be worth watching over the next few games as he regains form.