NBA News Blog – Page 1076 – NBA Blog

Celtics defense shuts Pacers down

The Indiana Pacers beat Oklahoma City on Friday night, proving that they indeed are one of the league’s up-and-coming teams.

A day later, the Boston Celtics showed the Pacers what the next level looks like. Paul Pierce scored 24 points to help the Celtics beat Indiana 86-72 on Saturday night.

The veteran-laden Celtics did what winning playoff teams do. They controlled the tempo, played stifling defense and made timely shots all night. Indiana matched its lowest point total of the season…

Ray Allen added 19 points, Kevin Garnett scored 15 and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists for the Celtics.

Allen came off the bench for just the second time this season. He made 5 of 11 3-pointers, including 3 of 5 in the second half. He had missed six games with an ankle injury and has been back for just three games…

Danny Granger scored 20 points, David West had 16 and Hibbert added nine points and 17 rebounds for Indiana. The Pacers had won four in a row and had scored more than 100 points in five consecutive games. Indiana shot 35 percent from the field, made just 5 of 22 3-pointers and committed 19 turnovers.

— Reported by Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press

Kobe Bryant sits out Suns game with injured left shin

Kobe Bryant sat out the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night with an injured left shin.

Lakers longtime trainer Gary Vitti says he decided to put Bryant’s left foot in a protective boot to rest the injury. Vitti says the All-Star guard has been playing through the very painful injury, an inflammation surrounding a tendon, but it hasn’t gotten any better.

He says the only way it will improve is with rest.

— Reported by Bob Baum of the Associated Press

Bobcats forward Eduardo Najera out for season after surgery

Charlotte Bobcats forward Eduardo Najera underwent successful surgery this afternoon to repair the fractured frontal bone in his forehead he suffered last night from an inadvertent elbow during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The surgery was performed at Presbyterian Hospital by Dr. Daniel Spagnoli, who specializes in maxillofacial surgery.

The injury occurred at the 11:07 mark of the second quarter and Najera was immediately taken to Froedtert Hospital, where a CT scan showed no brain trauma but confirmed the fracture. He was later released and flew back to Charlotte with the team.

He is expected to miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season.

Nets GM Billy King says Nets are headed in right direction

The Nets general manager has been all in from the beginning, trying all season long to leverage Dwight Howard’s obvious desire to play for the Nets into convincing the Orlando Magic to trade the six-time All Star to New Jersey. And when that fell apart, well, then, King went all in on trying to convince Deron Williams that even if the team doesn’t still end up trading for Dwight Howard, it will still be worth the All-Star point guard’s while to re-sign with the Nets and move to Brooklyn with the team next season.

Getting Gerald Wallace — and potentially giving up this year’s first round pick in order to make that happen — was part of that, as King told reporters Friday, after he broke the news that Brook Lopez is done for the season.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction, and if you look at our team this year, being as banged up (as it was), to beat Chicago in Chicago, Philly in Philly, New York in New York… we won some games in tough places,” King said. “And you see things getting in the right direction. Winning is important. And that’s what I told Deron: ‘We’re not rebuilding this year. We’re going to build this team to win next year.’”

— Reported by Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger

Grizzlies snap Heat 17-game home streak

Dwyane Wade knew during pregame warmups that the Miami Heat were going to have a long night. By the end of the first quarter, the Memphis Grizzlies let everyone else know that Wade was right.

Rudy Gay scored 17 points, Zach Randolph had 14 points and 14 rebounds off the bench, and the Grizzlies put seven players in double figures to snap Miami’s 17-game home winning streak by beating the Heat 97-82 on Friday night.

Memphis led wire-to-wire, the first team to do that on Miami’s home floor since Boston on Nov. 11, 2010…

Mike Conley and Marreese Speights each scored 15, and Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo added 10 apiece for the Grizzlies, who have won six of eight.

LeBron James finished with 21 points, six assists and six rebounds for the Heat, who failed in a bid to match the franchise’s longest home win streak, set in the 2004-05 season. Miami committed 11 turnovers in the first quarter—its most in any period since Feb. 14, 2006—and never recovered…

Wade scored 20 points, Chris Bosh added 19 and Terrel Harris scored 10 for Miami, which last lost at home on Jan. 22 to Milwaukee.

— Reported by the Associated Press

FIU has fired coach Isiah Thomas

FIU Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia announced today that Isiah Thomas has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the FIU men’s basketball program.

“We want to thank Isiah Thomas for his three years here at FIU,” Garcia said. “However, we have decided to take the program in a different direction.”

A national search for the Panthers’ next head basketball coach will begin immediately.

According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, “Thomas signed a five-year deal with FIU, taking nothing in base salary for his first season and agreeing to a deal where he would receive nearly half of any gross revenues from ticket sales, commissions collected on food and beverage concessions and sponsorships. But FIU never generated the buzz it and Thomas envisioned. The Panthers averaged 1,071 fans at home this season, nearly four times that many on the road. “We just needed a break here or a break there, and it’s not happening for us,” Thomas said last month, shortly after FIU’s 8-21 season ended with a loss to eventual Sun Belt tournament champion Western Kentucky. “I know we’re getting there. We’ve had so many close games. If we keep working, good things will happen.”

Cavs guard Anthony Parker out at least a few games

Cavaliers guard Anthony Parker experienced a bruised sternum during the Cavaliers game in Milwaukee Wednesday night against the Bucks. An examination yesterday at the Cleveland Clinic Canada in Toronto confirmed the injury.

Parker is listed as Out for the Cavaliers games against the Raptors tonight and in New Jersey against the Nets on Sunday. His status will be updated early next week prior to the Cavaliers home game on Tuesday against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Derrick Rose hopes to return Sunday

The Derrick Rose injury watch is nearing its conclusion.

Barring an unexpected setback, Rose said he will return Sunday against the Knicks from the groin injury that sidelined him for the 12th straight time Thursday night.

“I’m dying to play, but we’re being smart,” Rose said. “I guess a couple of more days rest will be good for me.”

Rose again participated fully in Thursday’s morning shootaround and worked out before Thursday’s game. He admitted to still feeling a little discomfort, saying he’s “not able to run at full speed.” When he does return, that will change.

“I’m not going to hold back at all,” Rose said. “My game is to be aggressive and try to get people going.”

— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune

Utah Jazz CEO Greg Miller and Karl Malone resolve dispute

Jazz CEO Greg Miller and Hall of Fame power forward Karl Malone are back on good terms, after all. They both attended Wednesday’s Jazz-Suns game and shared a moment of laughter together in the arena prior to tipoff.

“Yeah, Karl and I, we got it worked out,” Miller told the Associated Press. “Everything’s good.”

Malone, who had many run-ins with the late Larry H. Miller, railed on Jazz management on a local sports radio show co-hosted by Deseret News columnist Brad Rock. Malone was upset about how he deemed Jerry Sloan was treated and claimed he was forced to buy his own tickets to attend the first game after Sloan’s resignation in 2011.

— Reported by Jody Genessy of the Deseret News

Raptors sign Justin Dentmon to 10-day contract

The Toronto Raptors announced Friday they have signed guard Justin Dentmon to a 10-day contract. He is the 49th “Call-Up” of the 2011-12 NBA D-League season.

Dentmon has averaged 22.8 points, 5.5 assists and 37.2 minutes in 40 games, all starts, with the NBA D-League’s Austin (Texas) Toros. He ranks fourth in the league in scoring, seventh in assists and fourth in minutes. He is shooting .429 from three-point range (5th in NBADL) and .870 from the charity stripe (11th).

In two NBA D-League campaigns, Dentmon has appeared in 90 games, with 75 starts, averaging 20.7 points, 4.7 assists and 36.0 minutes. He spent the 2010-11 season with the Texas Legends, where he contributed 19.1 points and 4.0 assists in 50 outings. In two playoff contests with the Legends, he averaged 10.0 points and 4.0 assists.

A D-League All-Star, Dentmon has scored in double figures in 39 of 40 games, including 30 games with 20 or more and six games with 30 or more points.

Dentmon signed a 10-day contract with San Antonio on March 24. He appeared in two games with the Spurs, totaling four points, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes.

The 6-foot, 185 pounder was undrafted in 2009 out of the University of Washington, where he was a first-team All-Pac-10 performer as a senior. He spent the 2009-10 season playing in Israel, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

The roster stands at 15 players heading into tonight’s game vs. Cleveland (TSN / Sportsnet 590 The FAN).