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Pau Gasol has been playing with strained foot

The Los Angeles Lakers face a difficult season, and Pau Gasol not being fully healthy makes it even more of a challenge. Here’s ESPN Los Angeles:

Pau Gasol underwent an MRI last week that showed a muscle strain in his left foot, the Los Angeles Lakers forward revealed to reporters after his team’s 116-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.

“I had a strained muscle there,” Gasol said. “It’s feeling better now. It’s feeling a little better.”

Gasol missed 20 games last season after suffering a plantar fascia tear in his right foot, and he said the two injuries could be linked.

“Now it’s the left foot, maybe compensating,” Gasol said. “Things like that happen. … Hopefully we can keep it under control.”

Said Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni before the game Tuesday: “He’s a big guy that takes a pounding, but he knows how to deal with it.”

Lou Williams set to return for Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks are off to a solid 4-3 start to the new season. And the team should get even better with the return of scoring guard Lou Williams. Here’s the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Lou Williams has been cleared for full-contact practice and his return to the Hawks lineup could come soon.

A day after Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer acknowledged that Williams has participated in full-contact drills, he said Williams has been medically cleared and is now getting in game shape. The veteran guard is rehabbing from a torn right ACL suffered in January.

“He is basically competing full-go now,” Budenholzer said Wednesday morning before the Hawks took on the Knicks.

Knicks, Nuggets reportedly discuss an Iman Shumpert, Kenneth Faried trade

The New York Knicks may need a shakeup, and talented young guard Iman Shumpert is one of their most tradeable assets. But will the team really move him? Here’s the New York Daily News:

Talks between the Knicks and Nuggets centered around a deal that would send Iman Shumpert to Denver for forward Kenneth Faried have intensified in recent days, the Daily News has learned.

According to a league source, no deal is imminent, although the struggling Knicks feel they need to make a move to bolster their banged-up front court.

Tyson Chandler is out at least one month after breaking his leg last week while both Amar’e Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin have been placed on a minutes restriction because if their health.

Houston Rockets to try a smaller lineup

Here’s the Houston Chronicle on the Rockets shaking up their lineup:

The Rockets’ great two-centers experiment could be over.

If not over, it will likely be put on hiatus. With matchups against the smaller lineups of the 76ers tonight and Knicks on Thursday ahead, Rockets coach Kevin McHale apparently decided it is too big to succeed, at least for now.

McHale would not specify the lineup change he had in mind, but said there would be a change to go smaller than the combination of Dwight Howard and Omer Asik that has started every game this season. Second-year forward Terrence Jones started the second half on Monday and played 32 minutes, 15 more than he had played in the season’s first seven games combined. Omri Casspi has received the bulk of the minutes at power forward off the bench.

“We’re going to try something different here these next couple games with the big lineup,” McHale said. “I looked at that. Mixed results on the whole thing. With matchups, guys are a little smaller, so we’re going to go a little smaller.”

Lakers home sellout streak ends at 270 games

The struggle is real. At least, that’s what the cool kids like to say these days. Anyway, here’s the Los Angeles Times Blog:

The Lakers suddenly have some catching up to do with the Clippers, and not just in the Pacific Division standings.

The Lakers’ home sellout streak ended at 270 games Tuesday night when the team drew 18,426, just short of the capacity of 18,997, during a 116-95 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Staples Center. The Lakers had sold out 320 straight games including the playoffs.

The last non-sellout for the Lakers at Staples Center came Dec. 6, 2006, against New Orleans/Oklahoma City, when they drew 18,535.

Michael Carter-Williams gets a day off

Even young NBA rookies need the occasional day off. Here’s the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Michael Carter-Williams has been arguably the NBA’s best rookie over the first two weeks of the season. But after Monday’s 109-85 loss to the Spurs, the 76ers point guard is looking to bounce back from the worst night of his eight-game career.

To accomplish that, Carter-Williams is trying to get back into top shape, which is why he was given Tuesday’s practice off.

Carter-Williams went through the film work but didn’t do anything on the court. Coach Brett Brown said it was a precautionary day off.

“He has soreness in his left foot and we’re trying to be smart,” Brown said after Tuesday’s practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We have a bunch of games in a short period of time.”

Warriors guard Toney Douglas out at least two weeks

Golden State Warriors guard Toney Douglas was examined by team doctors today, who diagnosed him with a stress reaction in his left tibia.

Douglas is expected to miss a minimum of two weeks to rest the injury, after which he will be re-evaluated.

In seven games this season, Douglas is averaging 6.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 16.0 minutes per contest. He is a backup, and comes off the bench.

DeJuan Blair playing well for Mavericks

Here’s the Fort Worth Star-Telegram blog on the fine addition rugged frontcourt man DeJuan Blair has been to Dallas:

DeJuan Blair calls this his new lease on life.

Saddled at the end of the San Antonio Spurs’ bench last season, Blair has been a key contributor for Dallas after signing a one-year, $884,293 free agent contract with the Mavericks in August. The five-year veteran backup center is averaging 8.7 points and 7.4 rebounds, and is fifth in the NBA in steals with 2.43 per game.

In describing his displeasure at being mired in Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s doghouse to where he is now, Blair said it’s like going from the outhouse to the penthouse.

“Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Blair said after Tuesday’s shoot around at American Airlines Center.

Utah Jazz waive Jamaal Tinsley

The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has waived guard Jamaal Tinsley. Following the move, Utah’s roster now stands at 14 players.

Tinsley (6-3, 188, Iowa State) appeared in eight games this season for Utah, averaging 1.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 13.8 minutes per game.

Tinsley was signed as a free agent on October 26.

This could be one of Tinsley’s final stops in the NBA. We won’t be surprised if another team picks him up, though. But this certainly feels close to the end of the road for the crafty point guard.

Kings have no more excuses, says DeMarcus Cousins

Here’s the Sacramento Bee on the Kings transitioning away from their recent losing culture:

More than once last season, the Kings were booed at home for lackluster efforts.

And it hasn’t taken long for fans to become fed up with the same kind of Kings they’ve seen too much of in recent seasons, and the boo-birds have returned to Sleep Train Arena.

Changing ownership, the front office and coaches hasn’t immediately translated to a change in the losing culture. The team is on a five-game losing streak, thanks largely to old habits haunting them.

“We’ve been a team full of excuses,” said center DeMarcus Cousins. “And in the past, we really had an excuse. Now we don’t – it’s on us. Everything is set up for us now. It’s nothing we can complain about from the top to the coaches. Everything is set for us now. We just have to go out there and play. There’s no more excuses.”