NBA Teams – Page 1289 – NBA Blog

Hawks hand Cavaliers ninth straight loss

Devin Harris scored a season-high 25 points and Josh Smith nearly added a triple-double Monday night as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94 to improve their chances of securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Smith had 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before a sparse crowd in Philips Arena to help the Hawks (42-33) pull within one game of Brooklyn (42-31) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Reserve Marreese Speights scored 14 of his 22 in the final quarter, but the Cavs (22-51) did not seriously threaten after pulling within 58-56 early in the third period.

Shaun Livingston, starting with Kyrie Irving not playing in the second night of a back-to-back, had 14 points and six assists in Cleveland’s ninth straight loss.

Harris, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over the visiting Magic, picked up where he left off. He scored Atlanta’s first seven points and had 11 in the first quarter as the Hawks built a 25-19 lead…

Al Horford returned to start at center for Atlanta after missing two games with a stomach illness. He had 16 points and six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Matt Winkeljohn of the Associated Press

Greg Monroe scores 24, Pistons beat Raptors 108-98

Greg Monroe scored 24 points, Jose Calderon had 19 points and nine assists against his former team, and the Detroit Pistons snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Raptors 108-98 on Monday night.

Rodney Stuckey scored 18 points, Jonas Jerebko had 10 of his 15 in the fourth quarter and rookie Khris Middleton added 11 as the Pistons won for just the third time in 19 games.

Rudy Gay scored 34 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 17 and DeMar DeRozan 15 as the Raptors lost for the seventh time in eight games. Toronto was outscored 33-19 in the final quarter…

Before the game, the Pistons announced that forward Jason Maxiell will miss the remainder of the season after surgery to repair a detached retina. Maxiell began complaining of blurry vision last week and didn’t travel with the team for Sunday’s loss at Chicago. He stayed in Detroit to visit a specialist, who diagnosed the injury.

Detroit was also without guard Will Bynum, who sat out with a strained right hand.

Raptors swingman Landry Fields was unavailable because of pain in his right elbow. Fields had surgery on the elbow last November, forcing him to miss 22 games. He skipped Monday’s game to travel to Los Angeles for follow-up testing.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Paul Pierce out for personal reasons

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce did not travel with the team for Monday’s game against Minnesota due to what the team called personal reasons.

Coach Doc Rivers says he doesn’t expect Pierce to be out any extended period. It’s just the second game Pierce has missed this season, and his banged-up Celtics could certainly use him. Boston lost six of its previous eight games heading into Minnesota, with the playoffs fast approaching.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Manu Ginobili out 3-4 weeks with strained right hamstring

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that Manu Ginobili is expected to miss three-to-four weeks with a strained right hamstring. The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs vs. L.A. Clippers game on March 29.

The team also announced that Tim Duncan (sore left knee) and Kawhi Leonard (sore left knee) are both out for tonight’s game at Memphis.

Knicks rout Celtics for 8th straight win

Closing in on one goal of ending Boston’s division title reign, the New York Knicks added another.

While they were finishing off their second victory over the Celtics this week, injured forward Rasheed Wallace drew a large ”50” on the board in their locker room, challenging them to strive for a 50-win season.

They’re on pace to get that, too, in what’s shaping up as their best season in two decades.

Carmelo Anthony had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Knicks extended their winning streak to eight games and moved closer to ending Boston’s hold on the Atlantic Division title with a 108-89 victory Sunday night…

Chris Copeland added 22 points and Raymond Felton had 18 for the Knicks, who last won eight in a row from Nov. 28-Dec. 12, 2010. They will try to extend the streak Tuesday at NBA-leading Miami…

J.R. Smith, who had 30 points off the bench in his previous three games, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Jeff Green scored 27 points, and Paul Pierce had 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Celtics had a two-game winning streak snapped.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Chris Bosh 3-pointer lifts short-handed Heat past Spurs

Often the forgotten member of Miami’s ”Big Three,” Chris Bosh stepped up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sitting out to get the Heat a big win and move closer to securing home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.

Bosh scored 23 points, including the winning 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Heat beat San Antonio 88-86 on Sunday night with James, Wade and Mario Chalmers watching from the locker room as they sat out with injuries.

”We are the defending champs no matter who we put out there,” Bosh said. ”We are still the Miami Heat. We believe in ourselves. Each one of these guys is a professional. We played bigger roles in other cities but we came together and accepted lesser roles to win a championship here. We can still tap into that.”

Ray Allen added 14 points, Norris Cole had 13 and Mike Miller 12 for Miami (58-15), which swept the season series with San Antonio (55-18). By earning the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio, the Heat have a four-game cushion with nine remaining for the league’s best record…

Miami beat San Antonio 105-100 on Nov. 29 when the Spurs opted to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green.

All but Ginobili (strained right hamstring) played Sunday.

Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who had a seven-game home winning streak snapped. Green and Parker added 12 points apiece and Stephen Jackson had 11.

— Reported by the Associated Press

As usual, Chicago Bulls beat Detroit Pistons

Even short-handed, the Chicago Bulls’ dominance of the Detroit Pistons continues.

The Bulls continued a five-year winning streak over the Pistons with a 95-94 victory Sunday at United Center, despite playing without three key contributors, including notorious Piston-killer Joakim Noah.

The Pistons (24-50) led most of the game and dominated many of the key statistical categories but untimely turnovers and the Bulls’ big advantage on free throws doomed them.

Charlie Villanueva had a shot in the final seconds to tie, with the score 94-91, but it sailed off line. A Daequan Cook free throw was followed by Rodney Stuckey’s meaningless 3-pointer before the buzzer.

The Bulls have won 18 consecutive games against the Pistons, with their last loss coming on Dec. 23, 2008. They also have won the last 14 meetings at United Center since Feb. 24, 2006.

— Reported by David Mayo of Michigan Live

Bradley Beal returns, scores 24 in Wizards win over Raptors

Bradley Beal scored 24 points in his return to the lineup, leading the Washington Wizards to a 109-92 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.

Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and John Wall added 18 points and 10 assists for Washington. The Wizards, who came in having lost two in a row on the road, won their seventh straight at home and moved into a tie with Toronto for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Raptors, losers of six of their last seven. Toronto leading scorer Rudy Gay scored 11 points – about seven below his average – while being limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble.

Toronto, which has lost six of seven, cut a 20-point third-quarter deficit to six twice in the fourth quarter before Washington pulled away.

After missing five straight games, and 11 of 13, with a sprained left ankle, Beal shot 8 for 14 from the field, including a career-high six 3-pointers – on nine attempts – in 30 minutes…

Gay was held to five points in the half and DeMar DeRozan to four, while Valanciunas scored 16 for Toronto.

— Reported by Harvey Valentine of the Associated Press

Kyrie Irving returns, but Cavs lose to Hornets

Kyrie Irving, the king of the fourth-quarter comeback, was back on Sunday. The fourth-quarter comeback was not.

Even with the All-Star point guard returning from his sprained left shoulder and playing for the first time in three weeks, the Cavaliers ran into their same old problem in the third quarter and lost to the Hornets at New Orleans Arena, 112-92.

Irving missed eight games with the injury suffered on March 10 in Toronto, and he led the Cavs with 31 points in 28:40 on Sunday. But he didn’t have enough help and the Cavs fell to 22-50 as their longest losing streak of the season reached eight games. Greivis Vasques had 25 points and Ryan Anderson added 23 for New Orleans, 26-48.

— Reported by Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Irving was announced as a surprise return less than two hours prior to the game, but he couldn’t help a defense that was beaten badly in transition and around the perimeter. The Hornets made 12 of 21 3-pointers and scored 19 fast break points, a rarity against a Cavs team that typically gives up few points on the break.

— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal

Manu Ginobili out indefinitely with hamstring injury

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich puts Manu Ginobili’s timetable to return from a strained right hamstring at weeks rather than days, a significant setback to the team’s pre-playoff preparation.

“It’s a huge blow for us,” he said, “because he’s the guy that allows our second team to do what they’ve been doing all year long.

“It’s a huge loss for that group, and in game situations it’s a tough one because he’s one of two guys, he and Tony (Parker), are the creators who make things happen for everybody else on the court. It’s an unfortunate loss at this point of the season.”

Popovich said it is unknown if Ginobili’s injury will stretch into the postseason, which begins on April 20. Excluding Sunday’s home game against Miami, the Spurs have nine games remaining in the regular season, with the last coming on April 17 against Minnesota.

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