Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Dwight Howard misses Nuggets game with back spasms

Dwight Howard

The Orlando Magic didn’t have their best player on the floor when they hosted the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.

Dwight Howard suffered from back spasms, was a late scratch and sat out a regular-season game for only the eighth time in his eight-year pro career.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has alleged that Howard was punched in his lower back by Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood during Friday night’s loss to the Mavericks.

Haywood said he did nothing wrong.

“Man, I don’t know what’s wrong with Stan,” Haywood said Sunday, according to ESPNDallas.com. “Stan’s going to say what Stan wants to say. We don’t gotta play them no more. The game’s over with.

“I think Dwight caught me with more shots than I caught him. He’s the most physical player in the league. So it is what it is. Stan made his comment. I haven’t got a call from anybody [in the league office], so I guess nobody’s listening.”

— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel

Andrew Bynum suffers left ankle sprain

Andrew Bynum

The Lakers had avoided any substantial injury scares with Andrew Bynum’s fragile lower body in this breakout season for him, but he left late in the first quarter Sunday night with a moderate sprain of his left ankle.

Bynum appeared to turn the ankle when landing on teammate Josh McRoberts’ foot. He limped off the court with 1:49 left in the first quarter with the Lakers ahead by one point and went for X-rays, which showed no fracture. He will be re-evaluated Monday, when the Lakers have the day off before back-to-back games vs. New Jersey on Tuesday and the Clippers on Wednesday.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

Terrence Ross declares for 2012 NBA Draft

Guard Terrence Ross has decided to enter his name into the 2012 NBA Draft and will forgo his final two years of eligibility at the University of Washington.

“I discussed the pros and the cons with my family and I just think this is a great step for me and it’s time for me to take my game to the next level,” Ross said about his decision.

“Being at Washington and playing for Coach (Lorenzo) Romar has been a blessing,” Ross continued. “On the court, off the court, with school and in life…it’s just been a real blessing to consider myself a Husky and get to where I am right now.”

Ross (Portland, Ore./Jefferson HS) helped the Huskies to a 24-11 record, NIT semifinal appearance and Pac-12 regular season championship in 2012. As a freshman in 2011, he was part of a Husky team that went 24-11, won the Pac-10 Tournament championship and advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

In 2012, Ross established himself as not only one of the Pac-12’s most complete players, but one of the nation’s top athletes. He ranked among conference leaders in eight categories: points (16.4, 4th), rebounds (6.4, 6th), offensive rebounds (5.1, 3rd), free throw percentage (.766, 11th), steals (1.3, 12th), 3-PT FG makes (2.1, 8th), 3-PT% (.371, 14th) and blocks (0.9, 13th).

He earned first team All-Pac-12 honors in 2012 and led Washington in scoring, tallying 574 total points – tied for 9th most in UW single-season history.

He also was second on the team in minutes, rebounds, steals, 3-point makes, 3-point field goal percentage and blocks.

Ross was the only Husky to reach 30 points this season, doing so twice. He was second with 9 games of 20-plus points.

Ross flourished in Washington’s run to the NIT semifinals in New York. He averaged 25.0 points in four games. He was a perfect 15-of-15 from the free throw line and led UW shooters from three point range, making 15-of-37 attempts (.405).

“We wish Terrence the best,” Husky Coach Lorenzo Romar said from New Orleans, where he is taking part in Final Four festivities. “He was refreshing to coach because of his humility and team-first attitude. We wish him well and anticipate that he will have an excellent NBA career.”

Warriors sign center Mickell Gladness for rest of season

The Golden State Warriors have signed center Mickell Gladness for the remainder of the season, the team announced today.

Gladness, 25, has appeared in six games with Golden State since signing a 10-day contract on March 22, averaging 2.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.0 block in 7.3 minutes per contest.  He has scored a career-high six points on two occasions during his six games with the Warriors, including Saturday night vs. New Jersey when he finished with six points and three rebounds in a career-high 12 minutes.  He has also blocked a career-high two shots on three different occasions while with Golden State.

The 6’11” center made his NBA debut earlier this season as a member of the Miami Heat, appearing in eight games over two different stints with the club.  Prior to joining the Heat for their 2011-12 training camp, Gladness appeared in four games for the Dakota Wizards, the Warriors’ NBA Development League team, averaging 7.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.75 blocks in 20.8 minutes per contest.  Overall, he has appeared in 81 D-League games over three seasons, averaging 4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.41 blocks combined with Dakota and Rio Grande Valley.  A product of Alabama A&M, Gladness went undrafted in the 2008 NBA Draft and played one season professionally overseas before joining the D-League for the 2009-10 campaign.

Michael Jordan says he has no plans to sell the Charlotte Bobcats

Bobcats Sports & Entertainment Chairman Michael Jordan today released the following statement:

“I was disturbed to hear the false report that I intend to sell my majority interest in the Charlotte Bobcats.  I am 100% committed to building the Bobcats into a contender and have no plans to sell the team.”

Bobcats Sports & Entertainment owns the Charlotte Bobcats and operates Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena.

105-year-old fan Allene Wynn meets Lakers

I don’t know about you people, but when I turn 105 years old I’m probably going to start slowing down a bit, and might consider taking it easy. Sure, I’ll still be doing backflips, going hiking, playing basketball and doing other stuff like that, but will I also have time to keep attending NBA games? I sure hope so. Anyway, check out this story:

Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles reports:

The Los Angeles Lakers might have parted ways with their oldest player when they traded Derek Fisher, but they still have the support of one of their oldest fans.

Allene Wynn of Pacoima, Calif., turned 105 years old this week and celebrated her birthday at the Lakers game against the New Orleans Hornets as a guest of the team.

Wynn was visited by several members of the team outside the locker room before the Lakers’ 88-85 win, including Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

“It just made me feel good all over to meet him in person. I’ve been wanting to meet him for years,” Wynn told ESPNLosAngeles.com about her interaction with Bryant. “I got to touch him. I shook hands with him and hugged him. I said, ‘Wait, let me hug you, baby.'”

Bryant seemed mutually appreciative of meeting Wynn.

“That’s unbelievable, 105 years old,” Bryant said with a smile. “I don’t think this game did anything to relax her.”

Kings sign Terrence Williams for rest of season

Terrence Williams

The Sacramento Kings have decided they like guard/forward Terrence Williams enough to keep him around. The team today signed Williams for the remainder of the season, according to Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

Williams, currently in his third NBA season, is averaging 7.5 points (.500 FGs, .286 3FGs, .667 FTs), 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game through four outings with the Kings off the bench. He was originally signed to a 10-day contract with Sacramento on March 21, 2012.

The 18-33 Kings are currently 14th in the Western conference.

Gerald Wallace goes wild, Nets beat Warriors

Gerald Wallace

New Jersey Nets forward Gerald Wallace went crazy Friday night, leading the New Jersey Nets to a 102-11 road win over the Golden State Warriors. Wallace shot 7-of-16 for 24 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and six steals in the win.

Here’s the Associated Press:

Wallace scored 10 points over the final 6 minutes and made a pair of key defensive stops as New Jersey rallied from 19 points down in the second half to beat the Golden State Warriors 102-100 on Friday night.

“The future looks good, if we had everybody healthy,” Wallace said after the Nets opened a four-game West Coast trip with their first win at Oracle Arena in more than six years. “We have an elite point guard, we have one of the up-and-coming centers … so our future looks great.”

Wallace might not have had the same feelings two weeks ago after arriving in a trade from Portland. New Jersey lost its first five games with Wallace to drop 19 games below .500.

The Nets have turned things around lately and have won three of their last four…

Kris Humphries added 20 points and nine rebounds while Deron Williams had nine points and a season-high 20 assists to help New Jersey to its third win in four games.

David Lee had 27 points and six rebounds for Golden State, which led 76-57 midway through the third quarter but couldn’t get much going offensively the rest of the way.

Sixers shoot bricks, lose to Wizards

A team fighting for first place late in the season is routed by a lottery-bound team led by a player on a 10-day contract. And, just for good measure, let’s say the lottery team finishes the game short-handed because two starters come down with the very same injury.

That sounds almost as preposterous as the Washington Wizards losing to the Kentucky Wildcats.

While the world will never know for sure whether the Wizards could handle the Final Four school, they certainly had no problem making the Philadelphia 76ers look a bit amateurish Friday night. Washington took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and never let up in a 97-76 victory…

Philadelphia had only 36 points—including just two fast-break points—at halftime against Washington and were simply outhustled throughout. The Wizards outrebounded the 76ers 52-38 for the game…

Their top scorer was Cartier Martin, who tied a career high with 20 points in his second game under a 10-day contract…

Jordan Crawford scored 17 points for the Wizards. Kevin Seraphin added 14 points, and Wall had nine points, six rebounds and six assists.

Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young scored 14 points apiece for the 76ers. Andre Iguodala, returning after missing two games with tendinitis in his left knee, had just seven points in 34 minutes.

— Reported by the Associated Press