The AP reports: The Houston Rockets acquired Ron Artest to win games like this. Artest scored 10 of his 28 points in the second overtime and the Rockets recovered from blowing a 16-point lead in the second half to beat the Utah Jazz 120-115 on Saturday night. Yao Ming had 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who led 59-43 early in the third quarter, then went 3-for-18 from the field in the fourth to fuel Utah’s comeback… Ronnie Brewer scored 23 and Deron Williams had 14 points and 11 assists for the Jazz, who played without their top three scorers and rebounders—Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Paul Millsap—for the second straight game… “We came back in the second half, but couldn’t finish the game,” said Andrei Kirilenko, who scored 20.
Category: NBA Teams
NBA teams blog
Dec 27: Magic 118, Wolves 94
The AP reports: Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu made sure there would be no letdown for the Orlando Magic. Turkoglu scored 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Nelson returned with an injured toe to score 12 in the final frame, and the Magic slowly pulled away to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 118-94 on Saturday night. Rashard Lewis added 24 points, Nelson 20 and Dwight Howard 17 for the Magic, who won their seventh straight and 11th in 12 games—all against the Western Conference. The last time Orlando won seven straight was March 31-April 15, 2006, when the team won eight in a row… Rashad McCants scored 21 points for Minnesota, which ended a 13-game losing streak Friday in New York. Al Jefferson had 16 points and Ryan Gomes 14 for the Timberwolves, who have lost nine straight at home.
Dec 27: Hawks 129, Bulls 117
The AP reports: After holding 14 of their last 15 opponents under 100 points, the Atlanta Hawks expected a low-scoring game against Chicago. When that plan failed, the Hawks seemed to enjoy a rare opportunity to change their style. Joe Johnson scored a season-high 41 points, Josh Smith also set a season high with 24, and the Hawks withstood Ben Gordon’s 3-point barrage to beat the Bulls 129-117 on Saturday night. The Bulls lost despite shooting 54.4 percent from the field and matching their scoring high for the season only one night after a 90-77 loss at Miami… Ben Gordon scored 33 points and was 6-of-8 behind the arc to pass Scottie Pippen and become the Bulls’ career leader in 3-pointers. Rookie Derrick Rose added a career-high 27 points.
Dec 27: Wizards 104, Thunder 95
The AP reports: The Washington Wizards didn’t care that they beat a team with only three wins. They were just happy they won at all. The Wizards beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-95 on Saturday night in a matchup of teams with the two worst records in the NBA. They broke an eight-game losing streak, their longest since 2001, with just their fifth win against 23 losses. Oklahoma City fell to 3-28… Antawn Jamison tied his season high with 29 points. Andray Blatche had 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds… Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Jeff Green had 23 points.
Dec 27: Nets 114, Bobcats 103, OT
The AP reports: The New Jersey Nets are at their best on the road. Vince Carter scored 28 points and the Nets got support from their bench in overtime to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 114-103 on Saturday night. Devin Harris added 26 points, and reserves Jarvis Hayes and Josh Boone added 14 and 12 points, respectively, for New Jersey, which improved to 10-4 in road games this season… Gerald Wallace scored 32 points. Raja Bell added 18, Emeka Okafor had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Raymond Felton scored 13 points for Charlotte, which had defeated New Jersey 95-87 in East Rutherford, N.J., just 24 hours earlier.
Wally Szczerbiak out one week
Cavaliers forward Wally Szczerbiak has experienced right knee contusions during the last several Cavalier games. He had an MRI at The Cleveland Clinic Friday, December 26th, which confirmed the contusions. He is expected to be out for approximately one week.
For the season, Szczerbiak is playing 19.4 minutes a game and averaging 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, on subpar 41.8% shooting.
Dec 26: Warriors 99, Celtics 89
The AP reports: Stephen Jackson returned to the lineup and scored eight straight points during the decisive fourth-quarter stretch to finish with 28, and the Golden State Warriors sent Boston to back-to-back losses for the first time this season by rallying past the Celtics 99-89 on Friday night. Paul Pierce had 21 points and five assists and Kevin Garnett scored 14, but the Celtics couldn’t hold a 14-point lead a day after their franchise-record 19-game winning streak ended with a nine-point loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Christmas… Jackson—who had missed the past four games with a sprained left hand— scored 15 points in the final period and Marco Belinelli totaled 22 for the Warriors, who have won five straight and 12 of 15 against the Celtics at home. Golden State lost 119-111 in Boston on Nov. 26 in the teams’ first meeting.
Dec 26: Raptors 107, Kings 101
The AP reports: Jermaine O’Neal scored 36 points in his highest-scoring game in two seasons and the Toronto Raptors ended a 10-game losing streak in Sacramento with a 107-101 victory over the Kings on Friday night… With Chris Bosh limited to just 13 points because of foul trouble, O’Neal took over the game for the Raptors. He hit a pair of difficult drives midway through the fourth quarter after the Kings had tied the game at 95 with just under 5 minutes to play… Jose Calderon added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Andrea Bargnani also had 14. Brad Miller and John Salmons scored 20 points each to lead the Kings. Bobby Jackson added 17 points off the bench.
Dec 26: Nuggets 105, Sixers 101
The AP reports: The Denver Nuggets played most of the game disinterested in anyone or anything that wasn’t standing within a step of the 3-point line. Odd, then, that they won it with a backboard-shaking dunk from a big guy, Kenyon Martin, who spent most of Friday night acting as though he was one of Denver’s many shooting guards. Martin took a bounce pass from Chauncey Billups and drove for the go-ahead dunk with 9 seconds left to lift the Nuggets to a 105-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers… J.R. Smith made seven 3s for the Nuggets and finished with a team-high 27 points. Billups had 26 points and 10 assists… Andre Miller, used as trade fodder two seasons ago when the Nuggets dealt for Allen Iverson, had 19 points and eight assists for the Sixers… Louis Williams finished with 16 points, and his nice alley-oop to Marreese Speights gave Philly a 101-100 lead with 17.7 seconds to set the stage for Martin.
Dec 26: Jazz 97, Mavs 88
The AP reports: Running out of forwards and centers, the Utah Jazz turned to rookie Kosta Koufos and seldom-used Kyrylo Fesenko. Both came through with career high scoring nights and anchored a patchwork lineup as Utah beat the weary Dallas Mavericks 97-88 on Friday night. Koufos scored 18 points and Fesenko added eight points as the short-handed Jazz pulled ahead early and never gave up the lead, ending Dallas’ three-game winning streak… With Utah missing its top three scorers and rebounders in Carlos Boozer (quad), Paul Millsap (knee) and Mehmet Okur (back), Koufos made his sixth career start and had his best game since leaving Ohio State after his freshman year… Koufos was 8-for-11 and also had eight rebounds and the Jazz outscored the Mavericks 52-34 in the paint and topped his previous career high of 12 points… Reserve Jason Terry led Dallas with 26 points. Nowitzki had 17 points and eight rebounds before he was tossed for backhanding Matt Harpring with 9:48 left in the game after Fesenko scored on an offensive rebound.