NBA Teams – Page 1573 – NBA Blog

Kobe Bryant likely out Wednesday vs Spurs

Kobe Bryant will not play Wednesday night in San Antonio, missing his third consecutive game because of an inflamed tendon sheath in his left shin.

Lakers coach Mike Brown huddled with athletic trainer Gary Vitti after practice in San Antonio about it. Bryant was at practice for medical treatment — and Vitti reported further improvement in Bryant’s condition, which made notable progress through Monday — but declined to comment. Bryant had ice over his shin during practice but left without the protective boot he has been wearing.

Bryant’s track record is that he will play in games if he is physically capable — and he could play now if the situation mandated it — but the issue is that the situation with his shin will likely recur if he does not rest until it is pain free. The Lakers don’t want this to be an issue that crops back up with the playoffs coming up (the Lakers’ first playoff game is expected to be April 29).

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

Spencer Hawes steps up, 76ers beat Nets

Center Spencer Hawes came off the bench for the first time and a scored a season-high 19 points to lead the slumping Philadelphia 76ers to a 107-88 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday night.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak and was only the fifth in 15 games for Philadelphia (30-27), giving it a half-game lead over the Knicks (29-27) for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee (28-29) is 1 1/2 games behind the Knicks.

The loss eliminated the Nets (21-38) from playoff contention for the fifth straight season.

Philadelphia got a big game from its bench, with Lou Williams adding 20 points and Thaddeus Young 19.

Kris Humphries had 20 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey. Deron Williams added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists on a night that he was hounded by Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.

The Nets were without forward Gerald Wallace, who strained his left hamstring, in the win over Cleveland on Sunday night.

— Reported by Tom Canavan of the Associated Press

Celtics rise up to beat Heat in Miami

A week ago, the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat with defense. This time, they did it with offense.

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Kevin Garnett added 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Celtics made their first eight shots of the fourth quarter to hold off the Heat 115-107 on Tuesday night.

Rajon Rondo posted double-digit assists for the 18th straight game, extending the NBA’s longest such streak in 20 years with an 18-point, 15-assist effort. Brandon Bass added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Avery Bradley scored 11 for the Celtics, who shot a season-high 61 percent.

LeBron James finished with 36 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Miami, which got 20 from Dwyane Wade and 18 from Mario Chalmers. Chris Bosh finished with 13 on 5-for-13 shooting.

The Celtics beat Miami 91-72 in Boston on April 1, a game the Heat called “unacceptable” after establishing season-lows in scoring and shooting.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

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Ricky Rubio unsure if he will be healthy by training camp

Ricky Rubio met with media members this afternoon at Target Center for the first time since he suffered that season-ending knee injury on March 9 against the Lakers.

He’s back in Minnesota after spending more than two weeks in Colorado following knee surgery to repair two torn ligaments there.

Here’s some of what he said:

He made no promises when asked about being back in time for the start of training camp: “I don’t if it will be training camp, don’t know when I’ll come back,” he said. “The most important thing is to make sure when I come back it’s 100 percent. I don’t know if it’s training camp, I don’t know if it’s first week, second week (of regular season). I don’t want to put a date. It depends how my knee feels.”

When asked if he’s worried about being the same player when he comes back, he said, “Of course, you always think in my mind what can happen, especially the first couple days after surgery when you can’t move your knee. You just think about it, think about if you can come back. You just have to be strong and do your best to come back even harder. I love basketball. I love playing basketball. I’m going to do my best.

— Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune

LaMarcus Aldridge has lingering issue with hip

Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge continues to have trouble with his ailing right hip, which has been giving him trouble for several weeks.

Today, Aldridge and team trainer Jay Jensen few to Vail, Colo., to have the hip evaluated by specialist Marc Phillipon, the team announced.

Aldridge will not be with the team when practice begins at 11 a.m. today, and his status for Wednesday’s game against Golden State is questionable.

— Reported by Mike Tokito of the Oregonian

Hornets sign Jerome Dyson to 10-day contract

The New Orleans Hornets announced today that they have signed guard Jerome Dyson to a 10-day contract.

Dyson, a University of Connecticut product, has appeared in 44 regular season games (all starts) with the Tulsa 66ers in the NBA Developmental League this season, averaging 17.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 34.0 minutes of play. The 2010 Third Team All-Big East selection was signed to the Hornets training camp roster on December 9th, 2011, appearing in one preseason game with New Orleans (five points and one assist in seven minutes of action). He was the last player waived on December 24th prior to the start of the season.

The 6’3” guard also played 47 games (10 starts) for the 66ers in the 2010-11 season, averaging 15.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists. The 24-year old went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft and played with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2010 preseason.

The Rockville, Maryland native will wear #11 for New Orleans and brings the roster to 15.

Warriors re-assign Chris Wright to D-League

The Golden State Warriors today re-assigned rookie forward Chris Wright to the Dakota Wizards, the Warriors’ NBA D-League affiliate. The assignment marks the 65th time an NBA player has been assigned to his NBA D-League affiliate during the 2011-12 season and is the third and final assignment for Wright this season.

Wright returns to the Wizards, having appeared in nine games for the team during his previous two assignments, averaging 18.2 points, 8.0 rebounds 1.3 blocks and 29.0 minutes.

Wright, who earned a Call-Up to the Warriors from the Maine Red Claws in December 2011, has appeared in 19 games with Golden State this season, averaging 2.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.8 minutes per game. Prior to his Call-Up, Wright played in four games for the Red Claws, averaging 17.0 points and 10.8 rebounds in 31.3 minutes per game.

Golden State fans can stay in step with Wright, who is expected to join the Wizards today and be available when the team begins their 2012 NBA D-League Championship run on Thursday, April 12 in a first-round playoff game against the Bakersfield Jam.

Derrick Rose has a hurt ankle

Derrick Rose’s groin injury and Richard Hamilton’s shoulder soreness appear to be in the past, but that doesn’t mean painful subjects don’t remain for the Bulls.

Rose, for starters, tweaked an ankle at some point in Sunday’s game, which he finished. The extent of the injury is unknown, however sources said Rose wore a walking boot on Monday and his availability for Tuesday’s shot at redemption against the Knicks is a game-time decision.

Beyond that, Rose’s two missed free throws late in regulation raise anew an issue that has clung to him since his lone college season at Memphis. Hamilton, meanwhile, remained rooted to the bench for the final 18 minutes, 14 seconds of the Bulls’ stunning Sunday collapse to lose in overtime.

— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune

Knicks assign Jerome Jordan to D-League

With things going well for the Knicks lately despite injuries to Jeremy Lin and Amar’e Stoudemire, the team will do without the services of center Jerome Jordan for the time being.

New York Knickerbockers Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations and Interim General Manager Glen Grunwald announced today that the team has reassigned Jordan to the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League.

Jordan, 7-0, 240-pounds, has averaged 1.4 and 1.2 rebounds over 4.3 minutes in 19 games with New York this season. He appeared in five games for Erie earlier this season, averaging 18.0 points, on .485 shooting, 8.6 rebounds and 2.80 blocks over 32.6 minutes.

Deng, Gordon, Byron Mullens to play for Britain at London Olympic games

Ben Gordon and Byron Mullens haven’t worn the Great Britain jersey before but both NBA players have been included in the country’s preliminary squad for the London Games.

The London-born and United States-raised Gordon, who plays for the Detroit Pistons, is a former teammate of British superstar Luol Deng in Chicago while Mullens has a United Kingdom passport because his mother hails from England.

In a statement issued by British Basketball, Gordon said: “I am very excited to pull on the GB jersey this summer and play for my country.

“To be invited into camp is the first step in that journey and I am immensely proud to have the opportunity.” …

Mullens revealed on his Twitter account last month that he would be with the Brits and included a photo of recently received UK passport.

He tweeted: “Yessir. I will be in London this summer! 2012 Olympics.”

— Reported by FIBA.com