Monta Ellis scores 46 in loss to Mavericks

Marcus Thompson II of the Oakland Tribune reports:

Lately, Warriors games have been like that song on the radio that you get tired of hearing.

Monta Ellis scores 46 in loss to Mavericks

Guard Monta Ellis goes out and dominates. The rest of his teammates struggle to score and, eventually, the opponent double-teams Ellis. Warriors wind up losing.

It happened again in Wednesday’s 110-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Ellis had his best scoring night as a pro, totaling a career-high 46 points on 17-for-23 shooting. He would’ve topped 50 had he not missed five free throws.

“A remarkable performance by Monta,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “Didn’t have a great supporting cast, but he fought and kept us in the game, gave us a chance to win.” …

“It doesn’t mean anything to me, this being my career game,” said Ellis, who had 37 points and eight assists his last trip to American Airlines Center. “I just want to win. We’ve lost seven straight now, so I’m not looking at the career high. I look at that we’ve got to find a way to turn it around.”

Women enter Trail Blazers huddle, hug Rudy Fernandez

Jason Quick of The Oregonian reports (via blog):

With the NBA’s All-Star Weekend headed to Dallas on Feb.12-14, let’s hope the Mavericks and the NBA have a better handle on security than they did Saturday when the Trail Blazers were in town.

Women enter Trail Blazers huddle, hug Rudy Fernandez

During a timeout with 41 seconds left in regulation, two women walked onto the court and into the Trail Blazers huddle. One woman wrapped her arms around the waist of Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez from behind. Fernandez, who was not in the game but focused on the plays being diagrammed by coach Nate McMillan, was stunned.

“I was surprised,’’ Fernandez said. “I was listening to the coach on the bench and behind me, she touches me and says, ‘Rudy, I love you. Nice to meet you. Good game.’’ …

The women were ushered away from the huddle, and amazingly allowed to return to their courtside seats under the basket and watch the remainder of the game, which went to overtime.

Andre Miller scores 52 in Blazers win over Mavericks

The AP reports:

Andre Miller scores 52 in Blazers win over Mavericks

Andre Miller missed badly on his first shot of the game. That was about the only thing that went wrong for Portland’s point guard.

Miller scored a career-high 52 points, including 25 in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Juwan Howard hit a jumper with 44.8 seconds left to lift the Trail Blazers past the Dallas Mavericks 114-112 Saturday night.

On Portland’s second possession of the game, Miller’s 15-foot jumper missed the rim the completely and hit the backboard. That was one of his few misfires as Miller finished 22 of 31 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the foul line.

InsideHoops.com reports:

Miller shot 22-of-31, 1-of-1 from three-point range, and 7-of-8 free throws. He also had five rebounds, just two assists (and two turnovers), and two steals.

Also for the Blazers, LaMarcus Aldridge shot 10-of-20 for 21 points and just four rebounds. And with Brandon Roy out, Jerryd Bayless started alongside Miller and shot 7-of-11 for 17 points.

For the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki shot 9-of-19 for 28 points and nine rebounds.

Fan discussion of Andre Miller’s big night is in this forum topic.

NBA fines Rasheed Wallace $35,000 for criticizing refs

Boston Celtics forward Rasheed Wallace has been fined  $35,000  for  publicly criticizing game officials, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

Wallace  was  fined for his comments made following the Celtics’ 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, Jan. 18.

Shawne Williams indicted, arrested on drug charges

Hank Dudding of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports:

Shawne Williams indicted, arrested on drug charges

Former Memphis Tigers basketball player Shawne Williams, who was waived by the NBA’s New Jersey Nets today, was indicted by a Shelby County Grand Jury on Tuesday on eight drug charges.

According to the Shelby County District Attorney’s office, Williams was indicted on four counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture/deliver/sell, and four counts of conspiracy to manufacture/deliver/sell a controlled substance, a codeine-based syrup. Both are considered Class E felonies and carry standard sentences of 1-2 years, if convicted.

Williams turned himself into authorities and was booked today into the Shelby County Jail. His bond has been set at $16,000. He is one of 24 defendants indicted following the Memphis Police Department’s “Operation: Lockdown” investigation.

Nets waive Shawne Williams

Nets waive Shawne Williams

The New Jersey Nets have requested waivers on forward Shawne Williams, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.

Williams was acquired on January 11 via trade from Dallas along with Kris Humphris in exchange for Eduardo Najera.  Currently in his fourth NBA season, Williams has career averages of 5.2 ppg and 2.4 rpg in 126 games with Indiana and Dallas.  The former first round draft pick (17th overall) of the Pacers in 2006 has not played in a game this season.

Nets trade Eduardo Najera to Mavs for Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams

Nets trade Eduardo Najera to Mavs

The New Jersey Nets have acquired forwards Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams from the from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Eduardo Najera, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.

Humphries, currently in his sixth NBA season, holds career averages of 4.3 ppg and 3.1 rpg in 313 games with Utah, Toronto and Dallas.  The 6’9” forward out of the University of Minnesota was the first round pick (14th overall) of the Utah Jazz in the 2004 NBA Draft.  After two seasons with the Jazz, Humphries was traded on 6/8/06 to the Toronto Raptors.  Following three seasons in Toronto, Humphries was traded to Dallas this past offseason (7/9/09).  This season, Humphries has played in 25 games for the Mavericks, averaging 5.6 ppg and 3.8 rpg in 12.6 mpg.  He has season highs of 15 points on 11/20 vs. Sacramento and 11 rebounds on 11/27 at Indiana.

Williams, currently in his fourth NBA season has career averages of 7.6 ppg and 3.7 rpg in 15 games with Indiana and Dallas.  The former first round draft pick (17th overall) of the Pacers in 2006 has been on the Mavericks inactive list every game this season.

Najera (6-8, 235) will be returning to Dallas after playing his first four professional seasons for the Mavericks. Dallas originally acquired the rights to Najera in a draft night trade with Houston on June 28, 2000. He played in 208 games (34 starts) as a Maverick averaging 4.9 points and 3.9 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per contest. Najera also played in 39 postseason games with Dallas, including 19 games (5 starts) in 2003 when the Mavericks advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

Eduardo Najera traded back to Mavericks

Nets will trade Eduardo Najera to Mavericks for Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams

Several media outlets Friday night reported that the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks are close to agreeing on a trade that will send forward Eduardo Najera back to Dallas, and forward/center Kris Humphiries and forward Shawne Williams to New Jersey.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo and Marc Stein of ESPN are reporting that the deal, if it happens, will likely becoming official Monday.

Wojnarowski also reports something that InsideHoops.com has heard was in consideration for a long time now: The Nets are expected to waive forward Sean Williams.

Najera started his NBA career with the Mavericks in 2000-01, playing in Dallas for four years before bouncing around until he landed with the Nets in 2008. But he was injured last season and very ineffective in the 13 games he’s played this season.

Humphries averages 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game.

Williams is an outcast from Dallas. The team separated itself from the player and has not used him at all this season.

NBA denies Mavericks protest of loss to Rockets

The National Basketball Association announced today that Commissioner David Stern has denied the Dallas Mavericks’ protest of their 116-108 loss to the Houston Rockets on December 18.

In the protest, the Mavericks argued that the referees, following an instant replay review, improperly called a technical foul on Erick Dampier with 1:01 remaining in overtime, which – as his second technical foul – resulted in his ejection from the game.

Commissioner Stern determined that the referees’ decision to assess a technical foul on Dampier was a judgment call, and not a misapplication of the playing rules, which cannot successfully be protested under NBA rules.

Nowitzki, Landry hurt in under-rim collision

The AP reports:

Houston’s Carl Landry was taken to a hospital after breaking teeth in a collision with Dirk Nowitzki during the second quarter of Friday night’s game between the Rockets and Mavericks.

Nowitzki drove into the lane and missed a short jumper with 9:28 left in the second quarter. He was fouled by Landry, who was hit in the mouth on Nowitzki’s follow-through.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

The Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki and the Rockets’ Carl Landry were lost early in the second quarter when Landry cut off Nowitzki on a drive, catching Nowitzki’s right elbow in the mouth, dislodging or breaking parts of five of Landry’s teeth.

Landry was taken to the emergency room and will see an oral surgeon today to determine the extent of the damage. Nowitzki needed 30 minutes for pieces of Landry’s teeth to be removed from his elbow.

After they left, the Rockets answered the Dallas runs as they could not in the previous two meetings this season, won by the Mavericks by an average of 24.5 points after the Rockets had taken early leads. The Mavericks seemed to lose their poise, drawing six technical fouls, some at the worst possible times.