NBA Teams – Page 1265 – NBA Blog

Thunder edge Grizzlies 93-91, take Game 1

Kevin Durant scored 35 points and hit a pair of jumpers in the final minute to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 93-91 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Derek Fisher poked the ball away from Mike Conley to spring Durant the other way, and he pulled up to make a shot with 11.1 seconds left that put Oklahoma City up 91-90.

Quincy Pondexter had a chance to send the game to overtime when he was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with Memphis trailing 93-90 and 1.6 seconds remaining. But he missed the first free throw.

On the Grizzlies’ previous possession, Thabo Sefolosha deflected an inbounds pass, and Conley landed out of bounds while diving for the ball. Reggie Jackson then hit two free throws to make the lead three.

But Jackson hacked Pondexter on his right arm before he released a 3-pointer from the left wing in an attempt to tie it. Pondexter, a 72 percent career free-throw shooter, made his second attempt before purposefully missing the third, but Durant swatted the rebound away and Marc Gasol’s attempt at a buzzer-beater was late.

The Grizzlies got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Gasol and 18 points and 10 rebounds from Zach Randolph. Pondexter and Conley scored 13 apiece.

Kevin Martin scored 25 for Oklahoma City, which trailed for much of the game but was able to avoid repeating its Game 1 loss from when these two teams met in the West semifinals two years ago.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

LeBron James wins 2012-13 NBA MVP award

As widely expected, LeBron James of the Miami Heat has won the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2012-13 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced today. James earns the honor for the second consecutive year and the fourth time in five seasons. The only other player to win the award in four of five seasons is Bill Russell (1961, 62, 63, 65), and the only other players to win at least four regular-season MVPs are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Russell (five) and Wilt Chamberlain (four).

James totaled 1,207 points, including 120 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 voters that consisted of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada as well as an NBA.com MVP fan vote. For the fourth consecutive season, the NBA gave fans the opportunity to submit their votes by ranking their top five choices through a dedicated Web page on NBA.com. The fan vote counted as one vote and was compiled with the 120 media votes to determine the winner. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for each third-place vote, three for each fourth-place vote and one for each fifth-place vote received.

Rounding out the top five in voting are Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant (765 points), the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, (475 points, one first-place vote), the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul (289 points), and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (184 points).

James, who led the Heat to a league-best and franchise-record 66-16 mark, was the only player in the NBA to lead his team in scoring (26.8 ppg), rebounding (8.0 rpg) and assists (7.3 apg). He shot a career-high from the field (.565) and from three-point range (.406). He produced a record streak of six straight games with at least 30 points and a .600-or-better field goal percentage (Feb. 3-12). Additionally, James led the NBA score differential (+9.5) and player impact estimate (22.1 percent), according to NBA.com/Stats.

Stoudemire may make Knicks return in Game 3 vs Pacers

Mike Woodson is preparing for Amar’e Stoudemire to make his long-awaited return in Game 3 of the second round against the Pacers on Saturday in Indianapolis.

With the schedule released yesterday giving the Knicks three days off between Games 2 and 3, Woodson plans to give Stoudemire back-to-back scrimmages before Saturday’s third game.

The Knicks coach sat with Stoudemire after yesterday’s practice to tell him the plan. Stoudemire has yet to have a contact scrimmage.

“On Thursday and Friday, we’ll put a group together, we’ll scrimmage and let Amar’e get contact in,’’ Woodson said. “Based on how we feels after Thursday’s work and he’s feeling fine, we’ll have him test it again Friday. If he feels fine after Friday I think he’ll be playing Saturday.’’

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Carmelo Anthony playing with a sore shoulder

Carmelo Anthony, who is battling a sore left shoulder, was asked yesterday yesterday if he will play in Game 1 today against the Pacers.

“I ain’t dead. I’m here,” he said. “I’ll be ready to rock at 3:30.”

Anthony said he can play and denies that his shoulder is coming out of its socket, but the injury remains troubling for the Knicks. In each of the last two games, Anthony has aggravated the shoulder — getting tangled with Kevin Garnett in Game 5 and getting bumped into by Avery Bradley in Game 6.

Coach Mike Woodson said he is a bit worried, but is confident Anthony will play.

“There is some concern there, but if Melo tells me he can play, I’m all for Melo,” Woodson said. “If it’s bothering him, we may have to rest him if that may be the case, but he hasn’t come to me.”

— Reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post

Guarding Stephen Curry is a serious challenge

Besides the volume and accuracy of Curry’s 3-point shooting, the most impressive facet is his versatility. He took at least 100 attempts in four different play types as charted by Synergy Sports — spot ups (53.4 percent), transition (52.3 percent), pick and rolls as the ballhandler (44.3 percent) and coming off screens (37.7).

The latter is his lowest percentage on any play type he had more than 20 attempts, and he was still above league average. As such, wanting to run Curry off the 3-point line and actually doing it are often two very different things.

No wonder former Spurs forward Bruce Bowen — never one to back down from a challenge — all but threw up his hands when recently asked how he’d defend Curry.

“I wouldn’t try to force him to do anything,” he said. “I would play him straight up because he is too good. He is such a smart player and has so much skill, all he does is see what you’re trying to do to him and counter.”

— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)

Brooklyn Nets begin search for new head coach

The Brooklyn Nets will not offer a new contract to interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo, Nets General Manager Billy King announced today. A search for a new head coach will commence immediately.

One obvious candidate for the Nets is Phil Jackson, who may be willing to consider a return to coaching in the league.

“The Brooklyn Nets organization would like to thank P.J. for his efforts with the team in his roles as both head coach and assistant, and for his contributions to the team’s success both on and off the court. We wish P.J. and his family only the best in the years to come.”

Carlesimo was named interim head coach of the Brooklyn Nets on December 27, 2012 and led the Nets to a 35-19 record in the final 54 games of the season. Under Carlesimo, the Nets reached the postseason for the first time since 2007, losing to Chicago (4-3) in the first round. Including his previous stops as a head coach in Portland, Golden State and Seattle/OKC, Carlesimo has a lifetime NBA coaching record of 239-315 in the regular season and 6-13 in the playoffs.

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Metta World Peace promotes mental health with new campaign

Metta World Peace has taken a leadership role in fostering mental health awareness.

Starting Monday, World Peace and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health will partner in May for Mental Health Awareness Month.

World Peace’s “Talk It Out” campaign will be on display on Metropolitan Transportation Authority shelters, depots, buses and trains in both English and Spanish.

“It’s unnecessary stress if you’re holding things in,” World Peace said.

— Reported by Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (Blog)

Larry Drew still coach of Atlanta Hawks, for now

One day after the Atlanta Hawks were bounced from the NBA playoffs, Larry Drew remained their coach.

Whether he sticks around much longer is the most pressing issue for a team that expects a radical transformation this summer.

General manager Danny Ferry, who will get to put his imprint on the franchise heading into his second year, said Saturday it was too soon to make a call on the future of a coach he inherited.

Ferry said the disappointment of a six-game loss to the Indiana Pacers needed to wear off a bit before he decides whether Drew should get another contract.

— Reported by Paul Newberry of the Associated Press

LeBron James set to win another NBA MVP award

LeBron James on Sunday is expected to win his fourth NBA most valuable player award in five years. He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as those who have won the trophy at least four times.

However, none of the members of this distinguished club endured the extreme expectations as James.

“I think I’ve been able to exceed expectations because I didn’t get involved into the expectations that people put on me,” James said. “I knew I was making the jump from high school to the NBA because I knew that I was ready. I knew that I could play at a high level. I didn’t care what everyone was writing on me and saying this is who you have to be.”

James, a celebrity since his days at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, put all the attention in the background. It helped him evolve into one of the best players in league history, a career that began the moment he was placed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2002 as a high school junior.

At that moment, he was labeled “The Chosen One.”

“I really didn’t know how big it was,” James said of the cover. “I got asked about that a lot. I had been on basketball magazines before. I really didn’t know the magnitude of Sports Illustrated when I was a kid. I’m from Akron, Ohio. We don’t really talk about stuff like that too much. I just thought I was on another basketball magazine. My friends were happy about it. It was in the library at our school. That was it. It kind of started something that I really didn’t know if I was ready for. But the best thing about it was I didn’t know how big of a cover that was. It didn’t really mess with me too much.”

James averaged 26.8 points, eight rebounds and 7.3 assists in his 10th season, leading the Heat to the league’s best record. He somehow managed to improve on last year, which many considered his best season as a pro. James ranked in the top 10 in scoring, assists, steals and field-goal percentage and also finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.

— Reported by Shandel Richardson of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Josh Kroenke, Masai Ujiri likely sticking together in Nuggets front-office

When it was over Thursday night in Oakland, Calif., each man in a suit found a nook in the concrete back hallway of Oracle Arena, lost in what-ifs.

Josh Kroenke and Masai Ujiri. The front-office duo that restructured the Nuggets. The team’s biggest fans.

Each man took extremely hard the loss that knocked the Nuggets out of the playoffs. But on Friday, it was back to work. Meetings and media, phone calls and texts. Kroenke and Ujiri are committed to getting the Nuggets deeper in the playoffs, and it appears they are committed to each other as work partners.

Ujiri’s contract as general manager is up at the end of June. Kroenke, the team president, said Friday: “For the fans, they should know that Masai wants to be here, and I think he enjoys working for me. I think we make a pretty good team, along with Pete (D’Alessandro, vice president of basketball operations) and Dan (Tolzman, scouting director) and the rest of our scouting staff. So I wouldn’t anticipate any issues there.”

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post