NBA Teams – Page 1360 – NBA Blog

Luke Harangody named D-League Performer of Week

Luke Harangody of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games Played Jan. 7-13.

A 6-8, 240-pound forward out of Notre Dame, Harangody led the Mad Ants to a 3-0 week, including two wins at the 2013 NBA D-League Showcase in Reno, Nev. He averaged 21.3 points on 43 percent shooting to go with 16.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He scored a season-high 27 points in a 116-97 win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Jan. 9 and posted a season-high 21 rebounds in a 112-84 road win over the Erie BayHawks on Jan. 12.

Other top performers considered include Austin’s Cory Joseph, on assignment from the San Antonio Spurs; Bakersfield’s Damion James; Canton’s Micheal Eric; Erie’s D.J. Kennedy; Idaho’s Nolan Smith, on assignment from the Portland Trail Blazers; Iowa’s Morris Almond; Los Angeles’ Courtney Fortson; Maine’s Shelvin Mack; Rio Grande Valley’s Andrew Goudelock; Reno’s Jerome Jordan; Santa Cruz’s Taylor Griffin; Springfield’s James Mays; Sioux Falls’ Demetris Nichols; Texas’ Chris Roberts and Tulsa’s Jeremy Lamb on assignment from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Lakers end 6-game losing streak with win over Cavaliers

Dwight Howard arrived at Staples Center expecting to sit out another game to rest his injured shoulder. He ended up helping the Los Angeles Lakers out of their longest losing streak in nearly six years, which made that shoulder feel a whole lot better.

Howard had 22 points and 14 rebounds in his return from a three-game absence, and the Lakers snapped their six-game losing streak with a 113-93 victory over the

Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.

”When we play like this, we win, and we win big,” Howard said. ”We’ve just got to continue to learn from games like that, and hopefully we can just string together some wins.”

Kobe Bryant scored 23 points for the Lakers, who finally earned their first victory of 2013 while ending their longest skid since February 2007. Howard went 9 for 11 despite his torn labrum while leading Los Angeles to a comfortable victory over the lowly Cavaliers, who beat the Lakers last month.

Steve Nash said the win was ”mandatory” for the Lakers, and they played with an appropriate effort. Nash had 10 points and nine assists for the Lakers, whose skid has been severe enough to cause fans to worry about this star-packed roster’s playoff chances even in mid-January…

Irving and Dion Waiters scored 15 points apiece for Cleveland, which has lost seven of nine. Alonzo Gee added 14 points for the Cavaliers, who fell behind by 19 points in the first quarter of their second stop on a five-game West Coast road trip…

Nash hit three free throws, improving to 18 for 18 this season and increasing his minuscule lead on Mark Price for the best free throw percentage in NBA history. … Cleveland continues its road trip in Sacramento on Monday night against the Kings, who have lost four straight. … The Lakers won despite 22 turnovers, including 18 by their starting lineup.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

Nuggets rally past Warriors for 5th straight win

Danilo Gallinari scored 21 points, Ty Lawson had 20, and the Denver Nuggets rallied to beat the Golden State Warriors 116-105 on Sunday night for their season-high fifth straight win.

Wilson Chandler scored 14 points in his first game in two months for Denver after being sidelined since early November because of pain in his left hip, which was surgically repaired last spring.

Stephen Curry scored 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead Golden State. David Lee added 23 points and 13 rebounds and Harrison Barnes had 21 points.

Down by eight going into the fourth quarter, Denver opened the period with a 19-2 flurry to go up 98-89. Andre Miller and Corey Brewer each scored six points, running the floor and scoring primarily on layups. Kenneth Faried converted a three-point play when he muscled in a dunk and was fouled by Lee.

Lee broke up the flurry with a dunk and Curry conected on successive 3-pointers to pull the Warriors to within 100-97 with 6:10 remaining.

Brewer, who finished with 13 points, and Gallinari hit 3-pointers around a dunk by Gallinari to rebuild the Nuggets’ lead to 108-97. Barnes’ 3-pointer with 4:00 left cut the Warriors’ deficit to nine points but Faried shook loose for a breakaway dunk and the Warriors didn’t threaten again.

— Reported by Dennis Georgatos of the Associated Press

Tony Parker leads Spurs past Timberwolves, 106-88

Tony Parker scored 20 points to lead the San Antonio in a 106-88 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night, extending the Spurs’ home winning streak to 12 games.

Gary Neal was 3 for 3 on 3-pointers in scoring 15 points for San Antonio, which beat Minnesota at home for the 16th straight time. Tim Duncan added 14 points and nine rebounds and Tiago Splitter had 10 points. Manu Ginobili scored 12 points in the first half before leaving with a strained left hamstring.

J.J. Barea scored 15 points, Nikola Pekovic had 14 and Luke Ridnour 13 for the Timberwolves.

San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich was ejected with 7:22 remaining in the game following a double technical for arguing a foul called against Splitter on Barea. The ejection sparked an 11-0 run for the Spurs, including a dunk and two reverse layups by Splitter.

The Spurs started 3 for 9 from the field with two turnovers in falling behind 16-7. Following a timeout, San Antonio went on a 13-1 run as Minnesota missed 11 shots in a 5-minute drought…

Minnesota F Kevin Love (fractured hand), G Brandon Roy (knee), G Chase Budinger (knee) and Malcolm Lee (knee) did not play. … San Antonio has had 12 different starters this season, the most of any NBA team.

— Reported by Raul Dominguez of the Associated Press

Thunder recall Perry Jones and Daniel Orton from D-League

The Oklahoma City Thunder has recalled forward Perry Jones and center Daniel Orton from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

Including his 13 point and 18 rebound effort this past Friday against the Santa Cruz Warriors, Jones has appeared in 11 games (all starts) with the 66ers this season and recorded averages of 14.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 33.0 minutes.

Orton has seen action in 16 games with the 66ers this season (all starts) and posted averages of 11.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.81 blocks in 29.1 minutes.

Both players are expected to join the Thunder in Portland today prior to this evening’s contest against the Trail Blazers.

Nets beat Pacers, now 8-1 under coach P.J. Carlesimo

Brook Lopez rebounded from an awful start to score nine points in a crucial 17-0, fourth-quarter run, leading the Brooklyn Nets to a come-from-behind, 97-86 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night at the Barclays Center.

Brooklyn (22-15) earned its sixth consecutive win, improving to 8-1 under interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo. The Pacers (23-15) saw their four-game winning streak end. Indiana had won 18 of 20 this season when taking a lead into the fourth quarter.

The Pacers led 75-69 going into the final period, and they pushed the lead to eight on a power move from Ian Mahinmi with 10:56 remaining.

The Nets scored the game’s next 17 points run over a span of 4:14, with Lopez leading the way. He entered the fourth quarter shooting 1-for-8 from the floor, but he hit two big corner jumpers and had two big dunks in the late surge. Lopez finished the night with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Brooklyn point guard Deron Williams, who suffered a thigh contusion in Friday’s win over the Phoenix Suns, scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the first quarter. Williams also had nine assists. Joe Johnson added 20 points for the winners.

Indiana’s David West scored a game-high 27 points. Paul George added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and former Net Gerald Green had 15 off the bench for the Pacers.

— Reported by Jim Hague of the Sports Xchange

Bucks rally to beat Raptors 107-96

Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders has made a name for himself as a shot blocker this season. Few have been as pivotal as the one he pulled off against Toronto on Sunday.

Brandon Jennings had 19 points and 10 assists, rookie John Henson scored 19 and the Bucks rallied from a 20-point first quarter deficit to beat Toronto 107-96, their eighth straight victory over the Raptors.

Sanders extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one block to 23 with a pair of rejected shots. His biggest, however, was a block on DeMar DeRozan’s layup attempt with 3:09 to play and the Bucks clinging to a 92-91 lead.

”He’s a flier,” Sanders said of DeRozan. ”I just had to try and get the timing right.” …

Sanders finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks, who won for the 12th time in 15 meetings with the Raptors.

Monta Ellis scored 17 points and Dunleavy had 15 as the Bucks improved to 3-1 under new coach Jim Boylan…

Amir Johnson had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Ed David had 20 and 12 for the Raptors, who led 32-12 early but lost their fifth straight home meeting with the Bucks.

DeRozan scored 23 points and Jose Calderon scored 15 of his 21 in Toronto’s big first quarter, but the Raptors couldn’t hold on, losing for the first time in three games.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Big Melo second quarter helps Knicks beat Hornets

Carmelo Anthony was hungry, and not just to end the Knicks’ losing streak.

He wanted something to eat.

Anthony, struggling to keep his energy up while fasting for two weeks, snapped out of a slow start by scoring 18 of his 27 points in the second quarter, and New York ended its season-high, three-game skid with a 100-87 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday.

Anthony missed seven of eight shots and scored two points in the first quarter of the noon start he dislikes, then outscored the Hornets by himself in the second period as the Knicks took the lead for good.

”I’m kind of going through something right now with my own self, trying to find some energy and things like that. But we’ll be fine,” Anthony said. ”We bounced back pretty well, I bounced back pretty well, stuck with it and won the game.”

Anthony has scored 20 or more in a career-best 24 straight games, but it’s been a struggle for him lately.

The All-Star forward said he hadn’t had any meats or carbs in 15 days, and that his body just felt ”depleted out there.” Perhaps that explains his 6-for-26 shooting night in a loss to Boston on Monday, or the consecutive 1-for-8 first quarters in the last two games…

Chris Copeland added 22 points for the Knicks, who had seen their Atlantic Division lead trimmed to two games by Brooklyn while losing five of their previous seven games. Battling injuries, they play only once in the next week, facing the Detroit Pistons on Thursday in London…

Eric Gordon scored 22 points as the Hornets had their four-game winning streak snapped. Coach Monty Williams said the Hornets didn’t bring the competitive edge they’d had lately.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Mavs step up and beat Grizzlies 104-83

Dirk Nowitzki is coming along gradually. Maybe the Dallas Mavericks are, too.

Nowitzki scored 17 points and was one of three Dallas starters who didn’t miss from 3-point range, and Shawn Marion had a season-high 20 to lead the Mavericks to consecutive wins for the first time in a month with a 104-83 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.

The Mavericks, three days removed from dropping 10 games under .500 for the first time in 13 years, beat a team with a winning record for just the fourth time this season. They did it soundly, too, taking their first 30-point lead of the season and coasting through the fourth quarter.

”It’s the kind of game we need,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. ”We need more of these, but they’re hard to come by.”

The Grizzlies were ragged a night after a big overtime win against Southwest Division-leading San Antonio. Memphis shot 38 percent and Rudy Gay was the only starter in double figures, in part because all five of them sat out the entire fourth quarter. Gay led the Grizzlies with 12 points…

All five starters scored in double figures for Dallas, with Chris Kaman stringing together eight straight in the third quarter and finishing with 14. O.J. Mayo had 11 and Darren Collison 10.

The Mavericks were 11 of 17 from 3-point range, and the starters made eight of nine. Nowitzki hit three, Mayo two and Collison had one. Marion was the only starter to miss, going 2 of 3…

Randolph, who entered the game leading the NBA with 24 double-doubles, had six points and four rebounds.

— Reported by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press

Mario Chalmers hits 10 three-pointers in Heat win over Kings

Often overlooked on the star-laden Miami Heat, Mario Chalmers came up big against the Sacramento Kings.

Chalmers had career highs with 10 3-pointers and 34 points to lead the Heat to a 128-99 victory over the Kings on Saturday night. Chalmers’ 3s tied Brian Shaw’s franchise record and set the new mark at Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena as he finished 10 of 13 from 3-point territory.

”He had it going and we kept finding him. Mario was awesome,” LeBron James said. ”He was knocking down shots all game.”

And that included the fourth quarter, when the Heat led by more than 30 points and the only suspense was whether Chalmers would exceed his career-high for points and break the Heat 3-point record.

Chalmers came back in the game midway through the fourth quarter and made two more 3s to tie Shaw’s mark. But he never got off another 3 and left the game after playing just under three minutes in the quarter.

”I asked him (Heat coach Erik Spoelstra) to put me back in. I knew what the record was,” Chalmers said. ”I wanted to get one more to beat it.”

It was a nice bounce-back game for the Heat, who had dropped two straight and five of eight since Dec. 26. They led by 22 points at the half and outscored the Kings 37-29 in the third quarter in cruising to the lopsided victory.

James had 20 points, seven assists, five steals and two blocks for the Heat, who had a season-high point total. Miami hadn’t topped 100 points in its previous four games.

— Reported by Jeff Weidel of the Associated Press