NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Will Bynum of the Detroit Pistons has been suspended one game without pay for striking Tyler Hansbrough of the Indiana Pacers in the stomach, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with 8:39 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Pistons’ 90-72 loss to the Pacers on Feb. 23 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Bynum will serve his suspension on Monday, Feb. 25 when the Pistons host the Atlanta Hawks.
Jarrett Jack has been a rock-steady pro for eight years now, the kind of reliable performer contending teams crave.
Even though he is still coming off the bench for Golden State, he’s found himself in more of a starring role lately, and he showed the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday that he is equally comfortable as the leader of a playoff-caliber unit.
Jack had 23 points and eight assists to rally the Warriors to a 100-99 victory over the Timberwolves.
David Lee had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who trailed by 16 in the first quarter before Jack jumpstarted the offense as he has all season. Reserve Carl Landry added 19 points and nine rebounds for Golden State, which has won three in a row following a six-game losing streak…
Derrick Williams had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who had a chance to win it in the final seconds. But Luke Ridnour’s mad dash down the court ended with a floater that was off the mark, and the Warriors escaped.
Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and eight rebounds, and Ricky Rubio had 16 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and six steals for Minnesota, which scored just 18 points in the fourth.
— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press
The trade of J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayón and Ish Smith has had a cascade effect on the entire Orlando Magic roster, but perhaps it has impacted Maurice Harkless most of all.
Redick’s absence means Arron Afflalo will spend more time at shooting guard instead of shifting out of position to small forward.
And with Afflalo playing at small forward less often, that almost certainly will result in more minutes for Harkless, especially down the stretches of games.
“J.J. played a major role, and a lot of his minutes will probably come my way now,” Harkless said. “I just have to just take advantage of that and step up.”
From the beginning of this season, even when the team started with a 12-13 record, the Magic have tried to accelerate the development of the team’s youngest players — players such as Harkless and his fellow rookies, power forward Andrew Nicholson, center/power forward Kyle O’Quinn and wing DeQuan Jones.
— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel
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Quite obviously, things are getting ugly at the Air Canada Centre as it relates to Andrea Bargnani. The longest-serving Raptor is being booed every time he takes a shot now, with things getting particularly gruesome on Friday night against New York.
But, here is a question worth asking: Can the Raptors do anything to help Bargnani get out of his funk? The team has changed a lot since his December injury, with the pick and roll, where Bargnani has thrived before, rarely used since the arrival of Rudy Gay and departure of Jose Calderon. Bargnani has taken just six shots in 34 minutes in the last two games. For his career, Bargnani averages 15.2 field-goal attempts per 36 minutes.
The Raptors are barely looking his way. Given his defensive and rebounding deficiencies, there is little point using him at all if the Raptors are not going to use him on offence.
“We have some sets in that feature Andrea,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We haven’t run them as much since he [has come back from injury], but we’re starting to run them more now. And [when] we run those for him, they’re basically his plays. Kyle [Lowry] is an effective pick-and-roll player, a different type of pick-and-roll player than Jose is, but there’s some things we can do in our pick and rolls with Andrea involved that can make sure we’re taking advantage of his skill set.”
— Reported by Eric Koreen of the National Post
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Kobe Bryant had 38 points to win a scoring duel with Dirk Nowitzki, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 103-99 Sunday in a matchup of teams fighting to get in the playoff race.
With chants of MVP from a strong contingent of Lakers fans, Bryant scored 14 in the fourth, including seven in the final 3 minutes to hold off a spirited Dallas effort.
Nowitzki finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds for the Mavericks, who had a chance to pull virtually even with the Lakers for ninth place in the Western Conference. Houston is in eighth, with a cushion of several games.
Bryant, who also had 12 rebounds and seven assists, was playing in Mark Cuban’s building two days after the outspoken Dallas owner suggested in a radio interview that the Lakers might have to consider dumping the five-time NBA champion through the amnesty clause.
Steve Nash had 13 of his 20 in the second half against his former team in a game that neither team led by more than six.
— Reported by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press
Former Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley is hospitalized in a Chicago-area hospital after recently suffering a stroke.
Heisley was stricken last weekend soon after returning home from Houston, where he attended the NBA All-Star game.
“The family appreciates all the thoughts and prayers,” Heisley’s wife, Agnes, said Saturday in a statement that requested respect for the family’s privacy.
Heisley, whose 76th birthday is March 13, has privately dealt with a few medical issues over the past several years. He underwent a heart procedure within the past two years. Even so, Heisley shed 80 pounds last summer and began a workout regimen that included three-mile walks.
— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal
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Warriors center Andrew Bogut didn’t fly with the team from Oakland as it started its final extended road trip of the season Saturday because of a disc protrusion that is causing back spasms, according to team officials.
The 7-foot, 260-pounder played only 12 of the team’s first 54 games because of left ankle surgery and missed Friday’s overtime win against NBA-leading San Antonio after his back started acting up. He missed 43 games with a stress fracture in his lower back in 2008-09, a game in 2009-10 with a mid-back strain and five games in 2010-11 with a sore back.
The Warriors say there is no real timetable for Bogut’s return, but they’re holding out hope that he can join the team at some point during their five-game trip.
— Reported by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (Blog)
The Wizards don’t have a proven superstar or an established go-to guy who they can get the ball to in the final seconds, get out of the way and let him operate.
The clutch-by-committee philosophy certainly served as a disadvantage early on, as they racked up close defeats. And that certainly isn’t the preferred situation for contending teams that can simply draw something up for LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony or even Joe Johnson and live with the results.
But Coach Randy Wittman doesn’t go into late-game possessions determined to set up one individual, relying mostly on his gut while seeking to exploit mismatches on the floor. The hero emerges within the flow of the game, rather than from reputation.
Wittman has managed to make it work in recent weeks, with the team winning 13 of 22 and calling on everyone from Bradley Beal, to Nene, to John Wall, to even the recently-dealt Jordan Crawford, to make a play with the game on the line.
— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)
Before he took a seat on the bench, LeBron James made sure to grab one more rebound.
James had 16 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for his 35th career triple-double and the Miami Heat cruised to their 10th straight win, 114-90 over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night.
The three-time NBA MVP knew he was one board away from a special night so he went after it hard early in the fourth quarter. After Chris Anderson blocked Evan Turner’s shot, James hauled it in, drove up court and banked a shot in for good measure.
”I was going to stay out there until I got it,” James said. ”I wasn’t going to let this one slip away. I’ve had too many games where I was one assist, one rebound away. I wasn’t coming out.”
Dwyane Wade had 33 points, Mario Chalmers scored 14 and Chris Bosh added 13 to help the defending NBA champions improve to 39-14. The Heat have a comfortable 5 1/2-game lead over Indiana in the Eastern Conference.
They’ve won four in a row on the road, including impressive wins over Oklahoma City before the All-Star break and Chicago on Thursday.
”It was a professional win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ”LeBron started it with his unselfishness, finding the open guy, making it contagious. Then it was an efficient shooting night.”
Jrue Holiday scored 21 points and Nick Young had 19 for Philadelphia, which continues to fall further behind in the playoff chase. The Sixers entered 3 1/2 games behind Milwaukee for the No. 8 spot in the East.
— Reported by Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press
Ty Lawson has set a goal for the Denver Nuggets as they close the regular season: eighteen wins.
Denver took a step in the right direction Saturday night, pulling away from the Charlotte Bobcats in the fourth quarter for a 113-99 win that snapped a four-game road losing streak.
Lawson had a team-high 20 points, marking the 13th time in 19 games he’s reached the 20-point plateau, and JaVale McGee had 17 points, including seven of his team’s 14 dunks.
”If we get to 53 or 54 (wins) I think that we’ll get that fourth seed” in the playoffs, Lawson said. ”But we know it’s going to be a grind for the next couple weeks, couple months.”
Perhaps not – if Lawson keeps playing the way he has.
Nuggets coach George Karl said Lawson has developed a better understanding of the rhythm of the game and is becoming more assertive in running the offense. He also said Lawson is gaining confidence with his jumper – something he didn’t have earlier this season.
The rest, Karl said, might be out of his hands.
— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press