Warriors.com reports: Warriors.com has just learned from our contacts with the Warriors PR staff that Monta Ellis’ long road back from his offseason ankle injury will soon be complete, as the fourth-year guard will make his 2008-09 season debut tomorrow night when the Warriors host the Cavaliers at ORACLE Arena. The decision to have Ellis return to the court was made after Thursday’s practice. Following practice, Ellis expressed his excitement about returning to the floor.
Category: NBA News Blog
NBA news blog
Official 2009 All-Star starters
Here are the official starters for the 2009 NBA All-Star game:
East: Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard
West: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming.
Read basketball fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
Nets recall Sean Williams from D-League
The New Jersey Nets have recalled second year center Sean Williams from the team’s D-League affiliate, the Colorado 14ers, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.
Williams was assigned to Colorado on Dec. 29, 2008. He appeared in eight games, including six starts, and posted averages of 9.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.88 blocks in 25.9 minutes per game. He tallied 27 points on 12-of-14 shooting and 16 rebounds in 37 minutes at Rio Grande on 1/14 and recorded 16 points and 16 boards to go with six blocks in 38 minutes at Austin on 1/10.
Prior to his assignment, Williams had appeared in 16 games for the Nets this season, averaging 1.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Share your Nets opinions on the Nets message board.
Girls hoops team apologizes for 100-0 rout
The AP reports: Covenant defeated The Dallas Academy 100-0 on Jan. 13. Covenant led 59-0 at halftime. The Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and just 20 girls in the school. The academy specializes in teaching students with what it calls “learning differences,” such as short attention spans or difficulty in concentrating.
Andrew Bynum scores 42 points
The Los Angeles Times (Lisa Dillman) reports: One absent Marcus Camby meant two eye-opening words for the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum. Career night. Or if you want to continue the political theme: Running unopposed. Bynum had 42 points and 15 rebounds in the Lakers’ 108-97 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night at Staples Center in front of a sellout crowd. Bynum’s previous high was 28 points, and he eclipsed that mark early in the third quarter, pounding home a one-handed dunk. Speaking of pounding . . . were those tire tracks on the backs of poor Brian Skinner and DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers? It was the Lakers’ seventh straight victory over the Clippers to put the Lakers (33-8) in a tie with Orlando for the league’s best record. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson was asked if this was a breakthrough for Bynum. “Offensively, yeah,” he said. “But there’s two ends to the game still. Don’t forget that, right? That was his career high too.” He was speaking about the 23 points by Clippers rookie Jordan.
Alonzo Mourning retires
The Palm Beach Post (Chris Perkins) reports: Alonzo Mourning, perhaps the greatest player in Heat history, announced his retirement Thursday afternoon in a news conference at AmericanAirlines Arena. Mourning, 38, is a likely Hall of Fame selection who spent the majority of his career – roughly 11 full years of his 15 seasons – with Miami. The 6-foot-10 center teamed with guard Tim Hardaway and coach Pat Riley to form the basis of Miami’s success of the late 1990s and early this decade. Mourning, who returned to the NBA after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2003, was a key contributor to the Heat’s only championship season in 2006. Mourning, who will be 39 on Feb. 8, sustained a devastating knee injury on Dec. 19, 2007 in Atlanta, tearing his patella tendon and quadriceps muscle in his right leg. “I spent the past year rehabbing and thinking about my basketball future. after 16 years I truly feel it’s best i retire from the game of basketball,” Mourning said Thursday. “If you’ve got something you love and you’re passionate about it’s hard to let that go.”
Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion in this forum topic.
Phil Jackson to coach West All-Stars
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson will coach the Western Conference All-Stars for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, to be played on Sunday, Feb. 15, at US Airways Center in Phoenix.
With the Lakers’ 108-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers tonight, Jackson and the Lakers (33-8, .805) have at least tied for the best winning percentage in the conference through Feb. 1. In the event that the Spurs and the Lakers have the same winning percentage through Feb. 1, Jackson would earn the spot to coach the West All-Stars since Gregg Popovich has coached an All-Star team most recently (2005). This marks the fourth time Jackson will serve as an All-Star head coach (1992, 1996, 2000).
Head coaches for the East and West All-Star teams are based on teams with the best winning percentage in each conference. Last year’s coaches – Boston’s Doc Rivers and New Orleans’ Byron Scott – are not eligible to coach in the 2009 All-Star Game.
This season marks Jackson’s ninth year at the helm of the Lakers and his 18th season as a head coach. Jackson’s 1,009-426 (.703) record gives him the best winning percentage in NBA history, with his win total ranking him sixth all-time. Jackson became the first coach in NBA history to lead a team to three consecutive championships three different times (Chicago, 1991-93 and 1996-98; Los Angeles, 2000-02), while his 193 postseason wins are the most by any head coach in league history. A member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, Jackson has led the Lakers to three NBA Championships and five Western Conference Championships. The Lakers’ 15-1 (.938) run in the 2001 NBA Playoffs marked the highest winning percentage by any team in a single postseason. From 1996 to 2003, Jackson led his teams (Chicago and Los Angeles) to an NBA-best 25 consecutive postseason series wins. With nine NBA championships over the last 18 years, Jackson is tied with Red Auerbach (Boston) for most NBA Championships in league history.
Kris Humphries breaks right leg
The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday that x-rays taken prior to today’s game in Detroit revealed Kris Humphries has a fractured right fibula.
Humphries was kicked in the leg during Sunday’s game against Phoenix and sat out Monday’s contest in Atlanta.
No timetable has been set for his return.
Hornets sign Anthony Tolliver to 10-day contract
The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed free agent Anthony Tolliver from the D-League’s Iowa Energy to a 10-day contract.
Tolliver (6-8, 240) played nine games in the D-League with the Energy and Austin Toros, averaging 15.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 37.1 minutes. He appeared in 19 games for the San Antonio Spurs this season where he averaged 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.9 minutes. He was cut by the Spurs on Jan. 7.
Tolliver appeared in 25 games with the Energy during the 2007-08 season, averaging 11.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in 27.4 minutes. He spent the 2007 preseason with the Cleveland Cavaliers appearing in three games with averages of 2.0 points in 6.7 minutes.
Tolliver is a native of Springfield, Mo., and was undrafted by an NBA franchise in the 2007 NBA Draft out of Creighton University.
Andrei Kirilenko day-to-day
Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, who left last night’s win over Minnesota with an inflamed right ankle, is doubtful for tonight’s game at Houston. Kirilenko left last night’s 112-107 win over the Timberwolves with 6:43 remaining in the second quarter and did not return. He received a cortisone injection in the ankle following the game and is day-to-day.