Son of Larry Bird arrested at Indiana University

The son of basketball legend Larry Bird was arrested Sunday at Indiana University, said Chief Keith Cash of the Indiana University Police Department.

Connor Bird, 21, allegedly tried to hit his ex-girlfriend with a car. Bird faces multiple charges, Cash said, including battery with injury, criminal mischief, intimidation with a deadly weapon and possession of marijuana.

Trouble began, police said, after Bird and the ex-girlfriend got into a dispute Sunday at Bird’s Bloomington apartment. Bird threw a cell phone at the female, police said.

— Reported by Bill McCleery of the Indianapolis Star

Paul, Griffin help Clippers cruise past 76ers

chris paul

Some of the Los Angeles Clippers’ players were practicing a variety of high-flying dunks during pregame warm-ups. The fun continued when the real game tipped off.

Chris Paul had 21 points and 11 assists, Blake Griffin scored 20 points and the Clippers dunked their way to a 107-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

Jamal Crawford also scored 20 points and Matt Barnes had 11 for the Pacific Division-leading Clippers. Eric Bledsoe scored 10 points while DeAndre Jordan grabbed 10 rebounds.

”We were out there having fun,” said Jordan, who watched some of those highlight-reel dunks on an iPad in the locker room. ”When we’re active and moving the ball, good things happen. I think dunks and layups come when we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing on offense.” …

Los Angeles won the finale with ease without guard Chauncey Billups and forward Caron Butler. Both players were nursing sore lower backs and were replaced in the starting lineup by Matt Barnes and Willie Green…

Nick Young led the Sixers with 29 points while Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Jeremy Pargo had 10 each. Spencer Hawes had 10 rebounds…

Lavoy Allen struggled against the Clippers, two nights after the best performance in his career. Allen had 14 points and a career-best 22 rebounds in an 87-76 win over Charlotte last Saturday. Against the much more athletic Clippers, Allen managed just four points and two rebounds in 28 minutes.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Nets rally late, beat Pacers 89-84 in OT

brook lopez

Brooklyn figured out how to win without its most versatile offensive player Monday night.

Feed Brook Lopez early and often, keep Reggie Evans active on the glass and put the ball in Joe Johnson’s hands with the game on the line.

It may need to keep that formula a while longer.

Lopez scored 25 points, Evans grabbed 22 rebounds and Johnson tied the score with a 10-foot bank shot to force overtime before closing it out with four straight free throws to give the Nets an 89-84 victory—their first in six tries at Bankers Life Fieldhouse…

Brooklyn (30-22) needed every one of those plays to turn things around.

They came into Monday night with three losses in four games, including a 111-86 shellacking at home Sunday. They had lost five straight in Indianapolis, one of the best home teams in the league this season, and had been struggling badly to score, too. Plus, they were missing guard Deron Williams who was diagnosed with synovitis, an inflammation of the ankle joint linings. He received platelet rich plasma treatment on both ankles and isn’t expected to return to the floor until after the All-Star break.

But without Williams, the Nets stayed focused.

They had only 11 turnovers, forced the normally proficient Pacers to shoot just 34.4 percent, limited All-Star forward Paul George to five points on 1-of-10 shooting, and rallied late in regulation in a game that looked all but lost. Then, in overtime, the Nets refused to let this one slip away…

David West Indiana’s other big scorer, got poked in the eye by Lopez 60 seconds into the game. When he returned to start the second half, he didn’t look like himself. He was just 2 of 11 from the field with seven points and six rebounds and missed three straight midrange shots at the end of regulation, the last a 14-footer that bounced off the front of the rim as time expired…

George Hill led the Pacers with 22 points and six assists while Lance Stephenson and Jeff Pendergraph each had 14. It was a season-high for Pendergraph, whose previous best was six.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Ridnour, Timberwolves end road skid, beat Cavs

luke ridnour

All the losses and injuries had been piling up for weeks on the Timberwolves. They were shaken, unsure, almost helpless to stop them.

They were desperate for a break. And finally, they got one.

Luke Ridnour scored 21 points, Ricky Rubio added 13 and 10 assists and Minnesota snapped an eight-game road losing streak, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-92 on Monday night.

”We needed that bad, man,” Ridnour said.

He made a critical 3-pointer with 1:43 left and scored 13 points in the fourth quarter for the banged-up Timberwolves, who hadn’t won on the road since Jan. 3 – star center Kevin Love’s last game before he was lost indefinitely with a broken hand.

Nikola Pekovic added 16 points and 10 rebounds as Minnesota ended a four-game losing streak and improved to just 4-16 since losing Love…

Kyrie Irving scored 20 points and Tristan Thompson had 16 for the Cavs, who were within 82-81 in the fourth before Ridnour sparked a 10-2 run by the Timberwolves. Minnesota shot 75 percent (12 of 16) in the fourth quarter, leaving Cleveland swingman C.J. Miles to call out his teammates…

Derrick Williams had 13 points and Mickael Gelabale and Alexey Shved added 11 apiece for the Timberwolves…

Wolves G J.J. Barea played 15 minutes after missing Sunday’s game with a sprained left foot. Minnesota was also without Andrei Kirilenko (strained quad), F Chase Budinger (knee surgery), G Brandon Roy (knee) and G Malcolm Lee (knee, hip surgery).

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Byron Mullens, Bobcats end Celtics win streak 94-91

All in all, Monday proved to be a painful night for the Boston Celtics.

Not only did the Celtics have their seven-game losing streak snapped at the hands of the NBA’s worst team, but they might have suffered yet another costly injury in their 94-91 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

Backup guard Leandro Barbosa, who has seen increased playing time since the season-ending injury to Rajon Rondo, injured his left knee late in the third quarter and had to be carried to the locker room by a trainer and teammate.

Coach Doc Rivers said Barbosa will have an MRI on Tuesday.

”It doesn’t look great but we’ll see,” Rivers said…

This night belonged to Charlotte’s unheralded big man, Byron Mullens…

The 7-foot Mullens hit 10 of 16 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Ramon Sessions had 19 points for the Bobcats, including the go-ahead jumper from 18 feet with 25.7 seconds left. Kemba Walker had 18 points, six assists and six rebounds, and Gerald Henderson chipped in with 16 points…

Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics, but missed a key 18-footer that would have given Boston the lead late in the game. Paul Pierce and Avery Bradley had chances to send the game into overtime in the final seconds, but missed open 3-pointers.

Jeff Green had 18 points for the Celtics and Pierce finished with 13 points, eight assists and eight rebounds…

Bobcats center Bismack Biyombo was a force inside on the defensive end blocking four shots and grabbing seven defensive rebounds.

— Reported by Steve Reed of the Associated Press

Andrew Bynum continues to experience knee pain

Philadelphia 76ers center Andrew Bynum, who has yet to play this season because of bone bruises to both knees, might have his possible return pushed back.

However, in a bit of semantic obfuscation, he insisted it wasn’t a setback.

Before the 76ers lost 107-90 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, Bynum said he experienced a lot of pain in his left knee after working out two consecutive days on the court. He said he is uncertain when he will be able to return, after saying last week that he hoped to be back by the end of the month.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Celtics guard Leandro Barbosa hurts knee

Already without Rajon Rondo and Jared Sullinger, the Boston Celtics suffered what could be another serious injury when guard Leandro Barbosa sustained a knee injury in Monday’s game against Charlotte.

The extent of the injury will not be known until an MRI is performed on Tuesday, but it did not look good.

Barbosa had to be helped off the floor by a teammate and a trainer.

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Danny Granger returning soon for Pacers

Danny Granger’s impending return has the Indiana Pacers thinking hard about how to work him back into the rotation.

He could jump right into the starting lineup and play limited minutes or he could come off the bench for a few games to get back in rhythm. He could come back as soon as Wednesday or he could wait until after the All-Star break. Whatever the decision is, the Pacers believe teaming one All-Star forward with another during the second half of the season will make them a better team come playoff time.

”Our best lineup last year was when Paul (George) and Danny were wings together,” coach Frank Vogel said before Monday night’s game against Brooklyn. ”There’s merit to having either one of those guys coming off the bench, but putting their length and wing span together makes us better.”

Even without Granger, the Pacers have been pretty darn good.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Dwight Howard thinks opponents are targeting his shoulder

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard told Yahoo! Sports that opposing teams are trying to injure his sore shoulder.

He made the comments after the Lakers’ 107-97 loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Howard said Heat players grabbed at his injured right arm on his first trip down the court.

“They got me early,” he said. “They would yank it back.”

He also said the Charlotte Bobcats did the same thing during Friday night’s game.

“It’s like a jolt,” he said. “Then it hurts the rest of the night.”

— Reported by the Sports Xchange

Wizards continue to struggle on the road

The Wizards (14-35) are averaging a measly 86.2 points on the road, reaching triple digits just four times. They are also shooting just 40.6 percent and connecting on 33.7 percent from long distance. Opponents are outscoring them by an average of 9.1 points away from Verizon Center. Washington has suffered seven of its 10 double-digit losses on the road, including a 100-68 loss to the Pistons.

Even the return of John Wall hasn’t been a remedy for the Wizards’ road woes, with the team going 2-6 away from home.

“You’ve got to play better on the road. That’s the bottom line in this league,” [Coach] Wittman said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to play better on the road and do it consistently. And it starts defensively, getting it going. That’s our next step. Take it on the road. I feel good about going into these next two games because of what we’ve done [at home]. We went through a tough stretch of games here. A lot of good games.”

— Reported by Michael Lee of the Washington Post (Blog)