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Dwight Howard has plenty on his mind beyond his pending free agency.
He also plans to see a doctor Wednesday to check up on the torn labrum in his right shoulder.
“Hopefully I don’t have to have surgery,” Howard said. “But whatever the case may be, I’m going to do whatever I can to get myself right this offseason.”
Howard didn’t have such a luxury last year. He remained sidelined last summer after having back surgery in April.
— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News Blog
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Carmelo Anthony believes his Game 4 shooting struggles were an isolated incident.
In the Knicks’ 97-90 overtime loss to the Celtics on Sunday, Anthony’s shot was as erratic as J.R. Smith’s behavior. The superstar forward suffered through a miserable 10-for-35 afternoon, clanging all seven of his 3-point attempts. In the final three-plus minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime, Anthony went 1-for-9 from the field and just 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.
“I had one of those days,” he said yesterday, insisting his shot still feels perfectly fine. “I haven’t missed 25 shots in a long, long time. I don’t think I’ll have another day like that.”
Other than Sunday, Anthony hasn’t missed 25 shots in a game in his entire 10-year NBA career. Not in the regular season and not in the playoffs.
— Reported by Mark Hale of the New York Post
Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari is recovering from arthroscopic surgery to repair meniscus damage in his left knee.
The procedure was performed Monday at the Steadman Clinic in Vail.
After a short-term rehabilitation, a date will be scheduled for Gallinari to undergo surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Gallinari suffered the injury on April 4. He averaged 16.2 points and 5.2 rebounds – both career-highs – and made a team-leading 135 3-pointers in 71 games this season.
The Charlotte Bobcats asked for and received permission to interview Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Nate Tibbetts for their head coaching job, the Cavs confirmed Tuesday.
Tibbetts, 35, was retained by the Cavaliers after they fired head coach Byron Scott and replaced him with Mike Brown last week. Tibbetts also interviewed with the Bobcats last spring before they hired Mike Dunlap.
Dunlap lasted a single 21-61 season in Charlotte before the Bobcats fired him last week.
Before joining Scott’s staff, Tibbetts was a successful development-league coach.
— Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer (Blog)
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Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison underwent successful surgery on his right wrist Tuesday morning.
“(The surgery) went well,” a source close to the 15-year veteran told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “No complications.”
Jamison suffered a slight tear in his right wrist during the Lakers’ 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards on March 23.
Jamison played with the injury for the remainder of the season, appearing in the Lakers’ final 12 regular-season games and four playoff contests.
— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles
Celtics players and coach Doc Rivers spoke in support of Jason Collins Tuesday after Collins revealed in Sports Illustrated on Monday that he was gay. Rivers said Collins called him a few days ago to share the news with his former coach.
“We had talked about it recently,” said Rivers. “When he called me to tell me, you could tell he wanted to tell me. I told him before he said it, ‘Jason I could care less about what you’re about to tell me.’ And that’s how I feel. I honestly feel that way.
“It’s a non-factor to me, and I know it is a factor to a lot of people. I’ve never understood why anyone cares what someone else does. And I told Jason that it will be a non-issue eventually, but it will not be right now.”
— Reported by Gary Dzen of Boston.com
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Mike Dunleavy has served as a valuable sixth man for the Bucks during the past two seasons.
And the 32-year-old guard-forward said Monday he would be open to returning.
Dunleavy scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in Milwaukee’s 88-77 loss to Miami in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference playoffs Sunday as the Heat completed a four-game sweep.
“My contract’s up so I’m just going to have to figure out where that leaves me,” Dunleavy said. “Honestly I haven’t given a lot of thought to it.
“I like being here; I grew up here. I signed as a free agent here. I’m willing to come back. I’ve got to talk to the team and see what they want to do and go from there.”
Dunleavy signed a two-year, $7 million deal with Milwaukee in the summer of 2011. He averaged 12.3 points and provided a spark off the bench in 55 games during the lockout-shortened season, then averaged 10.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 75 games during the past season.
— Reported by Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
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The Toronto Raptors, emboldened by the news that the Sacramento Kings apparently won’t be moving to Seattle, have ramped up their pursuit of Phil Jackson to be their new team president, according to sources close to the situation.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Raptors — now being run by former Los Angeles-based sports mogul Tim Leiweke — regarded the Seattle group that was trying to buy the Kings as the biggest threat to preventing Jackson from seriously considering their pitch.
But now that the Kings appear poised to stay in Sacramento instead of being sold to the consortium led by Jackson fan Chris Hansen, sources say that the Raptors will be pursuing Jackson aggressively this week, believing that they rank as Jackson’s most attractive current option for a new career in management now that he can reunite with Leiweke.
One source close to the situation told ESPN.com that Hansen and Jackson have “hit it off,” sparking league-wide speculation that Jackson would be offered the chance to run the new Sonics in Seattle in the Pat Riley-style role he craves. But with a 12-owner committee recommending Monday that the Kings’ move to Seattle be blocked, Toronto’s seemingly long-shot odds of winning the Jackson sweepstakes would figure to have received a boost.
— Reported by Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com
Jimmy Wergeles, the Knicks’ first and longtime public relations boss, MSG Network’s first p.r. director and a Marine veteran of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, died, Friday, at 90.
Wergeles began with the Knicks on day one, in 1946, and retired from the Garden in 1985. He became particularly close with Willis Reed, who yesterday called Wergeles, “My go-to man, and one of my best friends.”
— Reported by Phil Mushnick of the New York Post
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The Houston Rockets finally found a way to close out a game in their playoff series with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And it allowed them to escape playoff elimination with a 105-103 win over the Thunder on Monday night.
Chandler Parsons scored 27 points and Patrick Beverley added 16 points with point guard Jeremy Lin out with a bruised chest muscle. Houston avoided a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven series.
The Rockets led in the fourth quarter of each of the last two games only to end up losing.
”We felt the pain and frustration from the last two losses … and we didn’t want that to happen for the third straight time,” Parsons said.
It almost did.
Kevin Durant scored five quick points to cut the Rockets’ lead to two. James Harden missed two shots for Houston after that and the Thunder had a last chance.
Reggie Jackson missed a jump shot and Serge Ibaka grabbed the rebound, but missed a layup at the buzzer…
Durant scored 38 points in Oklahoma City’s second game without injured All-Star guard Russell Westbrook…
Harden scored 15 points, but also had 10 turnovers. He had two chances to extend Houston’s lead with less than a minute left, but missed both of them, including shooting an air ball…
Jackson finished with 18 points in his second start in place of Westbrook, and Kevin Martin added 16.
Houston got 17 points from Omer Asik and 13 from Carlos Delfino.
— Reported by Kristie Rieken of the Associated Press