NBA Teams – Page 1336 – NBA Blog

Timberwolves sign Mickael Gelabale and center Chris Johnson for rest of season

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed forward Mickael Gelabale and center Chris Johnson for the remainder of the 2012-13 NBA season. The Timberwolves also announced the team has waived forward/center Lou Amundson.

Gelabale, 6-7, has played in 10 games for the Wolves this season, registering averages of 6.5 points, on .543 shooting, and 3.0 rebounds in 20.6 minutes per contest. Gelabale, 29, was signed to a second 10-day contract on January 29 after originally joining the Wolves on a 10-day contract on January 19 after splitting his time playing in Croatia and Spain earlier this season. In 119 career games with Minnesota and Seattle, Gelabale owns averages of 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest.

Johnson, 6-11, has appeared in six games for the Wolves this season, averaging 9.3 points, on .733 (22-for-30) shooting, and 4.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game. Johnson, 27, was signed to a second 10-day contract on January 29 after originally joining the Wolves on a 10-day contract on January 19 from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Developmental League. Johnson was a free agent invitee at the Wolves training camp this past fall before being waived on Oct. 27, 2012. In 47 career NBA games, Johnson has averaged 3.1 points and 2.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes per game with Minnesota, New Orleans, Portland and Boston.

Amundson, who the Wolves originally signed as a free agent on September 25, saw action in 20 games this season, totaling averages of 1.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 8.1 minutes per game. Amundson has put up career averages of 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 308 NBA games with Minnesota, Indiana, Golden State, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Utah.

With today’s transactions the Wolves roster stands at 15 players.

Kenneth Faried shoots 9-of-10, Nuggets beat Bulls 128-96

Kenneth Faried didn’t wait for the All-Star dunk contest to put on a big show.

The Denver Nuggets’ second-year star celebrated his invitation to the league’s annual slam dunk contest with a series of rim-rattling, crowd-pleasing jams that set the tone for the Nuggets’ eighth straight win, a 128-96 rout of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night.

Faried finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes as the Nuggets won for the 15th time in 18 games since Jan. 1, playing from the opening tip with an intensity that seemed to take the Bulls by surprise.

He had 17 points and eight boards on the break and was on the bench by the fourth quarter along with the rest of Denver’s starters as they relished what had become a laugher.

Wilson Chandler added a season-high 24 points, sinking all five of his 3-pointers, as the Nuggets made quick work of a stingy Bulls team that came in yielding just 91 points a game but watched Denver pour in 100 by the time the third quarter was over…

JaVale McGee put on his own slam-and-jam show, adding 10 points for the Nuggets, who haven’t lost since Jan. 18 and led this one by as many as 35 points…

Carlos Boozer led Chicago’s starters with 18 points. The Bulls again were without starting guards Derrick Rose (left knee) and Kirk Hinrich (right elbow). Center Joakim Noah (right foot) returned to the lineup, but was held to just one bucket and five rebounds. Reserve Daequan Cook led the Bulls with 19 points…

Lawson finished with 16 points and 12 assists and the Nuggets were an astonishing plus-40 when he was on the court.

— Reported by Arnie Melendrez Stapleton of the Associated Press

Celtics beat Lakers 116-95 for 6th straight win

Paul Pierce scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge as the Boston Celtics routed the Los Angeles Lakers 116-95 on Thursday night, improving to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a torn knee ligament.

The Lakers had cut a 58-44 halftime deficit to 72-61 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Then the Celtics went on a 23-8 run and led 95-69 going into the fourth. Pierce started the surge with a three-point play and ended it with a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving him 12 points in the period.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who suffered their worst loss of the season despite the return of Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder.

The win was Boston’s biggest of the season.

The Lakers had won six of their previous seven games, including all three without Howard, and had moved three games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West…

Kevin Garnett had 15 points and became the 16th player in NBA history to score 25,000 when he hit an 11-foot turnaround jumper that gave him six for the game and put the Celtics ahead 39-29 with 8:08 left in the half. Jeff Green had 19 points and Jason Terry added 15.

— Reported by Howard Ulman of the Associated Press

Pau Gasol inured, out at least 6-8 weeks

Los Angeles Lakers forward/center Pau Gasol, who injured his right foot in Tuesday’s game against the Nets in Brooklyn, returned to Los Angeles from Boston this morning where he was examined by foot specialist Dr. Kenneth Jung.

Jung’s diagnosis confirmed that Gasol has a tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot. Gasol is expected to be out a minimum of 6-8 weeks.

Kevin Love hopes to return in mid or late March for Timberwolves

He still hopes to return in mid to late March. But he’s not going to rush himself. Love was asked, again, if he came back too soon from his broken hand the first time. And while he said no, he at least suggested that maybe the breaks didn’t heal properly the first time. “Because, at the time I broke it, I was 10 weeks out (from the initial fractures),” Love said. “So I gave it enough time to heal. … But now that it’s fixed it feels great, and I can continue to progress.”

Love said the season has been frustrating, given his high expectations coming off the Olympics and the team’s high hopes entering the season. When asked what there was left in the season to salvage, here’s what he said: “I think coach (Rick Adelman) mentioned it today,” he said. “That we can’t look at making the playoffs right now. We can just look at our next game and our next practice and what we can do to get better every single day. Even though myself, and Chase (Budinger) and Brandon (Roy) and (Andrei Kirilenko) are out right now, we can still look at getting back on the court and getting better.”

— Reported by Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Blog)

Pacers home game attendance is terrible

The slogan goes, “In 49 states, it’s just basketball. But this is Indiana.” That must be a reference to the Indiana Hoosiers rather than the Pacers, who continue to be among the NBA bottom feeders in attendance. They are currently 26th in the NBA, averaging 14,592 fans in a building that seats 18,165.

The Pacers have had just four sellouts this season; opening night, both Miami games and against Chicago earlier this week.

While they have increased attendance by 1,320 fans a game from last season, that’s still not enough.

“It’s very disappointing,” Pacers guard and Indianapolis-native George Hill said. “The fans show up when we play the marquee teams, but they show up wearing the marquee team’s clothes. We feed off them. As much as we can get people there, the better off we’re going to be.”

— Reported by Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star

Joakim Noah returns tonight for Bulls

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah said he will play Thursday against the Denver Nuggets after missing the past three games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

A first-time All-Star, Noah dealt went through all of the Bulls’ practice on Wednesday.

“I felt pretty good,” he said before Thursday morning’s shootaround. “I’ll be all right.”

— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago

Kobe Bryant denies pushing Dwight Howard to play with injury

The newest Lakers firestorm arrived Thursday after Kobe Bryant apparently told ESPN.com the night before that Dwight Howard needed to come back from his injured shoulder. Quickly.

But Bryant said Thursday he wasn’t prodding Howard to return.

“Not even a little bit,” Bryant said in a quiet moment after the team’s morning shoot-around, adding that he was surprised at the tone of the ESPN story. “In this case, it’s not legitimate. I was shocked.”

Bryant has a high threshold for pain, as evidenced plenty of times in the past. Howard has missed six games and left two others because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Bryant understood that his own pain tolerance was through the charts.

“I’m crazy, though, so I don’t put that on other people,” he said.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan and T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times

Danny Green, streak shooter extraordinaire

Danny Green entered his second season as a Spurs starter with the goal of establishing more consistency in his shooting stroke. But even now, well past the halfway mark, Green still has no idea what to expect on a nightly basis.

Such was the case Wednesday in frigid Minneapolis, when he torched the Target Center nets for a career-high eight 3-pointers on 12 attempts en route to 28 points.

“It came out of nowhere,” Green told the Express-News’ Jeff McDonald. “Sometimes it happens that way.”

And sometimes it doesn’t. For just as often as Green will have stretches where he seemingly can’t miss, he’ll struggle through slumps where even the most wide-open of looks carom off the rim.

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

Sixers sign Jeremy Pargo to 10-day contract; Shelvin Mack gone

The Philadelphia 76ers announced today that they have signed guard Jeremy Pargo to a 10-day contract. Additionally, the second 10-day contract guard Shelvin Mack signed on January 28 has expired. Pargo will wear #0.

Pargo (6-2, 219) was not selected in the 2009 NBA Draft and played overseas until signing as a free agent with Memphis prior to the start of last season. He appeared in 44 games with five starts for the Grizzlies in 2011-12 and was traded to Cleveland on July 25, 2012.

The Gonzaga product saw action in 25 games with 11 starts for Cleveland this season, averaging 7.8 points, 2.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 17.9 minutes per game. He was waived by the Cavaliers on January 22 in conjunction with Cleveland’s trade with Memphis.

Pargo took advantage of an injury to Cleveland’s All-Star guard Kyrie Irving earlier this season and averaged 14.5 points and 4.4 assists over an 11-game span from November 21 through December 8. Pargo scored 20-plus points three times during that stretch, including a career-high 28 points against Philadelphia on November 21.

In 69 career games with 16 starts, Pargo is averaging 4.7 points, 1.7 assists and 1.0 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game. His older brother, Jannero, is currently playing for the Atlanta Hawks.