Vince Carter 3 lifts Mavs over Hornets, 104-100

Dirk Nowitzki knows a vintage Vince Carter performance when he sees it.

So with a subtle nod, Nowitzki gave Carter the green light to take a crucial shot in the final seconds, and could not have been more pleased with the result.

Carter capped a 22-point performance with a 3-pointer that gave Dallas the lead with 6.5 seconds left, and the Mavericks held on for their third straight victory, 104-100 over the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

”I looked at him to see what he wanted,” Carter said of Nowitzki, who was supposed to get the shot with the Mavericks trailing 100-99. ”He gave me the nod to go ahead. Yes sir.” …

Nowitzki, who scored 25 points, said he and Carter noticed New Orleans making a defensive switch in the final few possessions, resulting in 7-foot forward Jason Smith covering Carter. When it happened just inside the final minute, Carter tried to drive on Smith, and found Mike James open in the left corner for a clutch 3 that made it a one-point game…

Elton Brand added 13 points for Dallas (25-29), which is 4 1/2 games out of the last Western Conference playoff spot with 28 games left. Darren Collison scored 11, hitting a pair of free throws with 3 seconds left for the final margin.

Eric Gordon scored 23 for the Hornets, who have lost three straight, but had only three points in the second half and lost the ball out of bounds while being closely guarded by O.J. Mayo with 5.8 seconds left, costing New Orleans a chance to set up a shot to tie or lead.

— Reported by Brett Martel of the Associated Press

Rockets beat Nets for 13th straight time, 106-96

East Rutherford, Newark or Brooklyn. The Houston Rockets win no matter where the nomadic Nets call home.

James Harden and Carlos Delfino each scored 22 points, and the Rockets tied their longest winning streak against any opponent by beating Brooklyn for the 13th straight time, 106-96 on Friday night.

Houston blew most of a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter before Delfino hit a big 3-pointer with 1:54 left. He later made another jumper before Harden followed with a 3-pointer to put it away and remain unbeaten on the road against the Nets for 10 years…

Delfino made six 3-pointers. Harden, coming off a career-high, 46-point game Wednesday against Oklahoma City, made four 3s and finished 7 of 14 from the field.

Brook Lopez scored 27 points for the Nets, who played without starting guard Joe Johnson for the first time this season because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Deron Williams added 15 points and 13 assists, but shot 5 of 17 as Brooklyn had its four-game winning streak snapped…

The Rockets used only nine players. Newcomers Thomas Robinson, the No. 5 pick in last year’s draft, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt weren’t available because Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas and Cole Aldrich, the players traded to Sacramento on Wednesday, hadn’t gotten their physicals done in time. The Rockets hope they will be available Saturday…

Omer Asik had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets. Lin finished with nine points and six assists, the former Knicks star getting a nice ovation before the game.

C.J. Watson scored 17 points in place of Johnson.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Hawks pull away late, beat Kings 122-108

When Josh Smith took the challenge of defending DeMarcus Cousins, the Atlanta Hawks finally took control against the Sacramento Kings.

Smith, who remained in Atlanta after being discussed in talks leading up to Thursday’s trade deadline, came through with his defense one day later.

Al Horford led Atlanta’s balanced scoring with 24 points and the Hawks overcame a slow start to beat Sacramento 122-108 on Friday night.

Jeff Teague had 20 points and 12 assists, Smith added 18 points and DeShawn Stevenson had 17 for Atlanta, which had six players in double figures.

Smith also had six rebounds and four assists, but coach Larry Drew talked the most about the decision made by the 6-foot-9 power forward to defend the 6-foot-11, 270-pound Cousins, the Kings’ high-scoring center…

Smith said Thursday he didn’t sleep well Wednesday night as the trade deadline neared. He said he ”slept too good, actually” on Thursday night and had the energy to hold Cousins, who had 26 points and 13 rebounds, to only four points in the final quarter…

Isaiah Thomas scored 30 points with nine assists to lead the Kings, who have lost four straight and eight of 10.

— Reported by Charles Odum of the Associated Press

Balanced scoring leads Bulls past Bobcats 105-75

Taj Gibson said the Chicago Bulls need to get back to last season’s philosophy of putting tough losses behind them and not dropping back-to-back games.

They did just that on Friday night.

Gibson scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting to lead a balanced scoring attack as the Bulls beat Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats 105-75. The win came after a disappointing 19-point loss at home to the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

”We liked the way were able to bounce back after a bad loss,” Gibson said. ”Last year we wouldn’t allow ourselves to lose two straight games. We need that same mindset.”

Now the tough part will be stringing two wins together.

The Bulls travel to Oklahoma City to play the Thunder on Sunday night in a game that figures to be a good measuring stick for the Chicago, which was has lost five of its last eight…

Carlos Boozer had 10 points and 10 rebounds as eight Bulls finished in double figures.

Luol Deng added 14 points, Nate Robinson, Marco Belinelli and Richard Hamilton all had 12, and Joakim Noah finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Rudy Gay scores 32, Raptors beat Knicks 100-98

Rudy Gay scored a season-high 32 points, DeMar DeRozan had 18 and the Toronto Raptors beat New York 100-98 on Friday night, handing the slumping Knicks their season-worst fourth straight loss.

Kyle Lowry scored 15 points, Amir Johnson 12 and John Lucas 10 as the Raptors won for the sixth time in seven games.

Carmelo Anthony had 32 points and J.R. Smith added 19 for the Knicks, winless since beating Minnesota on Feb. 8.

Amare Stoudemire scored 14 points and Raymond Felton added 10 for New York, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead with 6:11 left.

Trailing 79-70 to begin the fourth, New York scored nine of the next 11 points. Toronto called a timeout after Stoudemire’s dunk cut it to 81-79 with 9:09 left.

Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas had a game-high 10 rebounds. … Raptors rookie and newly crowned slam dunk champion Terrence Ross did not dress because of flulike symptoms. … Ex-Knick Landry Fields started for the Raptors in place of Johnson. … Toronto F Linas Kleiza denied a report from Lithuania that he is set to retire because of lingering right knee pain. Sidelined since Dec. 28, Kleiza said he hopes to return within a week. … The game was briefly halted when a fan ran onto the court in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Ian Harrison of the Associated Press

Wizards step up and beat Nuggets 119-113

The Washington Wizards put on one of their best offensive shows of the season Friday night, putting seven players in double figures while taking down another contending team with a 119-113 win over the Denver Nuggets.

Emeka Okafor had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who never trailed but had an 18-point fourth-quarter lead cut to two in the final minute. Bradley Beal had 17 points and a career-high 12 boards, Trevor Ariza scored 16 points and Martell Webster had 15.

Washington broke a two-game losing streak and added another example to its knack for knocking off top teams while sitting near the bottom of the NBA standings.

Ty Lawson had 27 points and 12 assists, Wilson Chandler had 22 points, and Andre Miller scored a season-high 19 for the Nuggets, who have lost four straight on the road as they jostle for playoff seeding as the fifth-place team in the Western Conference. They also have the dubious distinction of getting swept by the Wizards, having lost at home to Washington 112-108 on Jan. 18.

— Reported by Joseph White of the Associated Press

Surging Pacers destroy Pistons 114-82

David West scored 18 points, George Hill had 15 and the surging Indiana Pacers beat the Detroit Pistons 114-82 on Friday night.

Indiana has won three straight and eight of 10, including a 98-79 victory against Detroit on Jan. 30.

This one was a runaway.

The Pacers grabbed control with a 14-4 run at the start of the second quarter. Orlando Johnson had 11 points in the run, making back-to-back 3-pointers to help Indiana to a 48-23 lead.

Will Bynum scored 17 points for the stumbling Pistons, who have split their last four games.

Indiana picked up right where it left off in Wednesday’s impressive 125-91 victory against the New York Knicks. The Pacers led 74-44 at halftime of that one, and Paul George finished with 27 points.

George was relatively quiet against Detroit, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds. But the Pacers didn’t need another big night from the All-Star.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Catching up with Andrei Kirilenko

Andrei Kirilenko

Caught up with Andrei Kirilenko at this morning’s shootaround in Oklahoma City on a couple notable topics:

The trade deadline passed and Kirilenko is still here – as it everybody else – but that doesn’t mean he’ll be here next season. He has an out-option is his contract this summer and said this morning that he’s keeping all his options open.

He has retired from the Russian national team so he can spend more times in the summer with his family.

As for his future with the Wolves…

That two-year, $20 million contract he signed with the Wolves last summer has a player’s option next season.

Of course, that would mean walking away from $10 million guaranteed in a summer when the NBA is heading into Year 3 of a tightening luxury-tax situation, but…

“I’m going to wait until the offseason, right now there’s no point to make any decision,” he said. “Wait until summer, analyze the season, and see what you want to do next.”

— Reported by Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Blog)

Metta World Peace clears up police-related conflict

ron artest

Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace put on his Cookie Monster pajamas and came to the rescue of his nephew and brother who had been detained by police outside his condo complex earlier this week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Unknown to World Peace, three men working for his Artest Media Group were shooting a scene about life on the streets and were staging a shootout with fake guns when the police showed up.

“I’m in my underwear, and my son says, ‘Hey Dad, there’s police at the door,'” World Peace told the Times on Wednesday. “So I jump out. I’m nervous. I see these police with rifles and scopes. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ I don’t know what’s going on at this point. ‘What happened, what happened?’ And then the police was like, ‘The building is being taken over by guys downstairs.'”

World Peace’s nephew and younger brother Isaiah had already tried to straighten out the situation but weren’t carrying identification, so they were detained by police. The men asked officers to verify their story with World Peace.

— Reported by ESPN Los Angeles

Charlie Villanueva will pick up $8.5-million player option

charlie villanueva

Charlie Villanueva laughed when asked about his future with the Detroit Pistons.

Specifically, he was asked if he was going to pick up the final season of the five-year, $35-million deal he signed in the summer of 2009.

He has the option of declining the $8.5-million player option by June 30 and becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Villanueva, 28, said there’s no decision.

“It’s obvious what I’m going to do,” Villanueva told the Free Press before the Pistons topped the Bobcats on Tuesday night. “Would you let that money go?”

— Reported by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press