NBA News Blog – Page 1488 – NBA Blog

Suns assign Taylor Griffin to Iowa Energy of D-League

The Phoenix Suns have assigned rookie forward Taylor Griffin to the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr.

The 6-7, 238-pound Griffin was selected by the Suns with the 48th overall pick (second round) of the 2009 NBA Draft and has appeared in two games this season for Phoenix. The Oklahoma product is expected to appear in both of the Energy’s home games this Friday, Dec. 11 and Saturday, Dec. 12 against the Dakota Wizards.

The Suns (15-6) return to action Tuesday night, taking on the Dallas Mavericks (14-7) at American Airlines Center at 6:30 p.m. Phoenix time. The game can be seen locally on My45 and heard on Sports 620 KTAR.

Yi Jianlian suffers busted lip, gets 50 stitches

Nets forward Yi Jianlian suffered an upper lip laceration on Saturday, December 5, as a result of an inadvertent elbow while playing 3 on 3 after practice. The laceration required 50 stitches to close. Yi will be re-evaluated on Monday, December 14, at which time a determination will be made on when he can return to action.

Yi has played in four games this season, averaging 9.8 ppg and 7.5 rpg and has missed the past 15 games with a sprained right MCL.

The 1-18 Nets got their first win of the 2009-10 season in their last game, beating the Charlotte Bobcats in New Jersey. On Sunday the team heads to New York for a matchup with the Knicks.

Have Nets opinions? Share them on the InsideHoops New Jersey Nets forum.

Greg Oden injures left knee, needs surgery, likely out for season

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden injured his left knee early in the first quarter Saturday night as his team hosted the visiting Houston Rockets.

Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks, dribbling from the left side of the court, drove at the basket and Oden jumped to contest the shot. The Blazers big-man came down clutching his left knee.

Oden stayed down on the court for quite a while and was eventually wheeled away on a stretcher.

Joe Freeman of the Oregonian reports (via blog):

Trail Blazers center Greg Oden fractured the patella in his left knee Saturday night against the Houston Rockets and will likely miss the rest of the season.

Oden collapsed to the floor and clutched his left knee, grimacing, with 7:45 remaining in the first quarter after he slid over to provide help defense on a drive by Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks. It did not appear that Brooks made contact with Oden’s left knee on the drive, but that Oden’s knee simply gave out as he planted to elevate.

Blazers trainers and doctors sprinted to Oden from the far side of the court and, after he lay for several minutes, brought out a stretcher and carted him away. Several teammates helped Oden onto the stretcher and offered words of encouragement just before Oden exited from a corridor near the Houston bench.

UPDATE: The AP reports:

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden will likely miss the season after fracturing his left patella during a game against Houston on Saturday night.

Oden will undergo surgery, the Trail Blazers said.

UPDATE: The AP reports:

He was almost immediately surrounded by trainers and physicians. The crowd at the Rose Garden stood and chanted “Oden! Oden!”

The game was stopped for some 7 minutes. Finally, Oden was gently moved to a stretcher and wheeled from the court. He underwent an MRI shortly thereafter.

Read fan reaction and share your own opinion in this forum topic.

Nate McMillan injured in practice

Guard Nate McMillan suffered an injury in practice yesterday.

That would be a normal thing to read if McMillan was still playing in the NBA, but he’s the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Jason Quick of the Oregonian reports:

Add coach Nate McMillan to the Trail Blazers’ injury list.

In another twist to an already strange season, McMillan on Friday ruptured his right Achilles tendon while he and assistant coach Monty Williams were filling in as practice players because the team didn’t have enough healthy bodies to play five-on-five.

McMillan will coach tonight’s home game against Houston, but will undergo surgery Monday and miss the Blazers’ four-game trip next week to New York, Indiana, Cleveland and Milwaukee. Lead assistant Dean Demopoulos will coach the team.

McMillan’s injury comes at an especially unsettled time for the Blazers (12-8), who have lost three in a row, all of them decisive defeats. His injury also continues a trend of injuries and sickness that has plagued the Blazers since last summer.

Kidding here: No word if the Blazers will now look to sign guard Clyde Drexler to fill in.

Have Blazers opinions? Share them on the InsideHoops Portland Trail Blazers forum.

Nets get first win of season

Friday night in New Jersey the Nets finally won their first game of the 2009-10 NBA regular season, beating the Charlotte Bobcats 97-91. It was the first game for new Nets interim head coach Kiki Vandeweghe.

The game was fairly close from start to finish, with the Bobcats leading by one point after the first quarter, by four at the half, and by one after three quarters. But the Nets stepped up big in the fourth and now have one win and 18 losses.

Nets center Brook Lopez (12-of-22) scored 31 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Courtney Lee, starting at shooting guard, shot 11-of-16 (3-of-4 three-pointers) for 27 points, four rebounds and three steals. Point guard Devin Harris, still not completely healthy, shot just 2-of-14 but hit 11-of-13 free throws for 16 points and 8 assists.

As a team, New Jersey shot just 39.1%, but they fought hard and had 87 field goal attempts, while the Bobcats only took 73 shots.

Terrence Williams struggled off the New Jersey bench, shooting 2-of-12. But like his teammates, the rookie hustled hard all game.

Charlotte struggled with ball control with 18 turnovers. The Nets had just seven.

For the Bobcats, point guard Raymond Felton shot 11-of-14 (4-of-4 threes) for 28 points, five rebounds and four assists. Shooting guard Stephen Jackson shot 10-of-23 for 28 points. Gerald Wallace had an amazing stat-line: 13 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. And starting center Tyson Chandler added 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

But, no one else on the Bobcats did much of anything. Boris Diaw was an awful 1-of-6 with six assists, and the Bobcats bench combined to shoot 2-of-13 for just five points and one assist between three reserves who got minutes.

The next Nets win may come sooner than it took to get their first. Sunday the team will visit New York to face the beatable Knicks. Tuesday, they head to Chicago where they’ll meet the inconsistent Bulls. On Wednesday, the Nets host the Golden State Warriors. And Friday, they head to Indiana to play the Pacers. It wouldn’t surprise InsideHoops.com to see the Nets win at least one of those games.

Read fan reaction and share your own opinion in this forum topic.

Nets hire Del Harris as assistant coach

The New Jersey Nets have named Del Harris as an assistant coach, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today. Harris joins Tom Barrise, John Loyer, Roy Rogers and Doug Overton as a member of Interim Head Coach Kiki Vandeweghe’s staff.

Harris, 72, joins the Nets following one season as an assistant with the Chicago Bulls were he helped first-year coach Vinny Del Negro reach the playoffs.

Prior to his time in Chicago, Harris was an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks from 2000-08. During that time, Harris worked closely with Vandeweghe and Nets point guard Devin Harris. Harris brings 50+ years of coaching experience to the Nets including 30+ seasons in the NBA. As a head coach, Harris amassed a career record of 556-457 (.549) in parts of 14 seasons with the Lakers, Bucks and Rockets, reaching the playoffs 11 times. Harris received the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in 1995 after guiding his Lakers to a 48-34 (.585) record, finishing third in the Pacific Division.

Harris also has international coaching experience as he coached Nets forward Yi Jianlian and Team China in the 2004 Olympics, where the team finished eighth out of a field of 12. He also coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s National Superior League (1969-75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships (1973-75).

Before entering the NBA ranks, Harris was the head coach of Earlham College from 1965-74 finishing with a 175-70 (.714) record.

The Plainfield, Indiana native attended Milligan College in Tennessee where he played four years of basketball with career averages of 18.0 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Spurs assign Malik Hairston to Austin Toros of D-League

The San Antonio Spurs announced today that they have assigned guard Malik Hairston to the Austin Toros, the NBA Development League team owned and operated by the Spurs.

Hairston has appeared in eight games with San Antonio this season where he averaged 0.8 points in 4.1 minutes.

Last season Hairston split the year between San Antonio and Austin. In 15 games with the Spurs he averaged 3.3 points and 1.9 rebounds. In Austin, he earned All-D-League Honorable Mention after averaging 22.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 30 games.

Hairston was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the 48th overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft and was acquired by San Antonio in exchange for the draft rights to Goran Dragic. He spent the 2008 training camp with San Antonio where he averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in six preseason games before being waived on 10/26.

Bucks coach Scott Skiles suspended

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles has been suspended one game without pay for his actions directed at a game official and for not leaving the court in a timely manner following his ejection, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 29.7 seconds remaining in the first period of the Bucks’ 104-102 loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Bradley Center.

Skiles will serve his suspension tonight when the Bucks visit the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Kevin Love cleared to play

The Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to welcome forward/center Kevin Love back tonight as they visit the New Orleans Hornets.

With a 2-16 record, the Wolves are desperate for any help they can get. Love is key and, in the eyes of InsideHoops.com, the second best player on the team, behind Al Jefferson.

Love was hurt in preseason. This will be his first game of the 2009-10 regular season.

The Wolves this season haven’t looked anything remotely close to competitive. They’re scoring 91.6 points per game while giving up 104.4 ppg.

Love brings rebounding as well as scoring. He’ll help make the team look worthy of being in the NBA.

Read fan reaction and share your own opinion in this forum topic.

Raptors defense is terrible

The 7-13 Toronto Raptors are struggling to play defense in a very big way. Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reports:

Just how terrible has the defence been? Well, for starters, the club is on pace to be the worst defensive team since 1977-78.

A little-known but telling statistic called defensive rating has been kept since that season. The rating measures how many points-per-100 possessions a team gives up and the lowest in history, shared by three teams, is 114.7.

The Raptors, losers of five in a row and 11 of 15 following Wednesday night’s 146-115 slaughter at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, have a defensive rating of 118.3.

Granted, the team has brought that mark of shame down from the 120-plus it sat at early last month and it likely will fall further into the simply horrific column, rather than historically horrific, but something fundamentally is wrong with this team.

The Raptors are scoring 105.3 points per game, but giving up 111.0. And opponents are shooting 48.5% against them.

If this keeps up, we could see a roster shakeup in the not-so-distant future.