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Late-game Damian Lillard dunk angers Bulls

In the closing seconds of a game the Trail Blazers were guaranteed to win, a rookie made a rookie mistake by sprinting down the court and dunking instead of cradling the ball and waiting for the final horn to sound.

The Chicago Bulls didn’t like it.

After Damian Lillard iced the Blazers’ 102-94 victory over the Bulls with a dunk with 1.9 seconds left, Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson bee-lined toward the rookie point guard at center court to express their displeasure.

LaMarcus Aldridge and other Blazers prevented a post-game incident by intervening, but Lillard’s late-game display caused quite a commotion Sunday night at the Rose Garden.

“I just told him he can’t do that,” Gibson said.

— Reported by Joe Freeman of the Oregonian

Zach Randolph glad to bounce back after knee injury

Randolph , 31, rightfully points out that he’s just re-establishing his worth as the bang-for-buck big man the league revered before a knee injury cost him most of last season.

“This feels good because I worked hard this summer and when people last year said, ‘Is he going to be the same Zach of old?’ I heard that,” Randolph said. “I just wanted to come out and prove people wrong. I still got it and I’m still in my prime.”

If you didn’t think it was possible for Randolph to be more relentless then consider this: He leads the NBA in rebounding with a career-high 13.9 per game and is second in the league behind Denver’s Kenneth Faried with 5.4 offensive rebounds per game.

“He’s got a strong upper body. He hits you first to get you off balance,” Griz center Marc Gasol said of Randolph. “And then he has great hands.”

— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Dwight Howard looking forward to playing against Nets

Dwight Howard had just come off a 28-point, 13-rebound, three-block detonation against the Rockets Sunday. And he announced that A) he and Kobe Bryant — who had a triple double — still are not on the same page and B) he still is only at 75 to 80 percent health following back surgery.

Good luck, Nets.

“They have a great point guard and a pretty good team, so we just have to play hard,” Howard, leading with Deron Williams, said of the Nets who visit Staples Center here Tuesday night.

And then Howard turned his attention to Brook Lopez.

“He’s tough. He knows how to score,” Howard, who has averaged 17.1 points and 12.9 rebounds in 28 career games against the Nets, said of Lopez. “They look for him a lot in the offense, they have a lot of great plays.”

— Reported by Fred Kerber of the New York Post

Gerald Wallace returns to Nets lineup

The Nets got a much-needed boost when Gerald Wallace finally returned to the lineup in last night’s 99-90 win over the Kings.

Wallace, who finished with four points, a rebound and three assists in 24:30, started and played for the first time since spraining his left ankle in the final minute of the Nets’ season-opening win over the Raptors at Barclays Center on Nov. 3, and made it through the game without incident.

“I’m good,” Wallace said. “I’m ready to go, but whatever he wants me to do, I’m down with it. We’re early in the season, so obviously they want to be cautious with it, so we’ll see how I feel tomorrow from this game and go from there.”

Coach Avery Johnson said the plan going into the game was to get Wallace into the game for four six-minute bursts, to try to get him to about 24 minutes, and Johnson was happy with how things went.

— Reported by Tim Bontemps of the New York Post

More knee surgery for Brandon Roy

The much-anticipated return of Brandon Roy to the Rose Garden will not happen this week after the Minnesota guard and former Trail Blazers legend has scheduled a right knee surgery for this week, The Oregonian has learned.

The arthroscopy will be the seventh of his career, dating back to high school, and the fifth since he has been a professional. It is unknown how long Roy will be sidelined.

A three-time All-Star and former Rookie of the Year for the Blazers, Roy left Portland in December of 2011 when he medically retired because of arthritic and degenerative knees. The Blazers later used the league’s Amnesty Clause to waive Roy, a move that allowed Roy to be paid the remaining $63 million of his contract, while exempting him from their salary cap.

Roy signed a two-year contract with Minnesota in July that pays him $5.4 million this season, with the second year non-guaranteed depending on how many criteria he meets this season, such as games played.

— Reported by Jason Quick of The Oregonian

Lakers beat Rockets for 4th win in 5 games

After just two practices and two games together, Kobe Bryant already can see Mike D’Antoni’s ideas and schemes improving the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although a triple-double isn’t usually part of Bryant’s game plan, he happily picked it up along with another win for a team that has been revitalized before their new coach has even taken the court.

Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his 18th career triple-double, and the Lakers ran past the Houston Rockets 119-108 Sunday night for their fourth victory in five games since firing coach Mike Brown.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol scored his 15,000th career point among his 17 as the Lakers returned to .500 by running away from their second straight opponent since D’Antoni took over their practices. Although D’Antoni and his surgically replaced knee haven’t even appeared on Los Angeles’ bench yet, his new team is already playing with passion and fluidity it hadn’t showed during a miserable start to the season…

Chandler Parsons scored 24 points and James Harden had 20 for the Rockets, who have lost six of eight. Coach Kevin McHale missed his fourth straight game during a leave of absence to deal with a family matter.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

Lakers hire Dan D`Antoni as assistant coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Dan D’Antoni to serve as an assistant coach, it was announced today by Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

The older brother of Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni, Dan joins the team after spending the past four seasons with the New York Knicks, where he served as an assistant coach on his brother’s staff. Hired by New York on June 20, 2008, D’Antoni helped the 2010-11 Knicks to their first winning season since 2000-01. Prior to his time in New York, Dan served as an assistant coach during Mike D’Antoni’s final three seasons with the Phoenix Suns, helping the team to Pacific Division titles in 2006 and 2007.

Before joining the Suns in 2005, D’Antoni spent three decades as head coach of Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, SC, where he compiled over 500 wins. D’Antoni, who led the 1968-69 Marshall team in scoring (17.5 points per game), graduated from Marshall in 1970, served as an assistant coach for Marshall’s varsity team during the 1970-71 season and earned a Master’s degree in Principles of Guidance from Marshall in 1972. D’Antoni was later inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990.

Kevin Durant gets first career triple-double in Thunder win over Warriors

Kevin Durant notched his first career triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 119-109 on Sunday night.

The three-time NBA scoring champion has had growing pains this season as he has tried to improve his floor game, with a bump in his assist number coinciding with an increase in his turnovers, too. He came in averaging four turnovers per game, the fourth-worst in the league…

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 22 points, and David Lee chipped in 19 points and 10 rebounds.

— Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press

InsideHoops.com Notes: Russell Westbrook was a monster today, shooting 12-of-22 for 30 points, seven assists and five steals. The Thunder also got 23 points and five assists from Kevin Martin off the bench. Forward Serge Ibaka added 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks… OKC hit 13-of-20 from three-point range and 22-of-26 from the free throw line… In the loss, the Warriors shot an impressive 52.4 percent.

Toronto Raptors hire Jamaal Magloire as development consultant and community ambassador

The Toronto Raptors announced Sunday that Canadian-born center Jamaal Magloire has joined the organization as a basketball development consultant and community ambassador. Magloire will assist with player development programs, help the coaching staff with individual skill development of players, and appear at organizational events and functions.

Magloire spent last season in a Raptors uniform, becoming the first Canadian to play for the club. He was born in Toronto and attended high school at Eastern School of Commerce.

A veteran of 12 NBA seasons, Magloire owns career averages of 7.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 22.9 minutes in 680 outings. He appeared in 46 postseason contests, averaging 7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 19.8 minutes.

Magloire’s best statistical campaign came in 2003-04 when he averaged 13.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 33.9 minutes in 82 games with the New Orleans Hornets. He was one of only 11 players that season to average a double-double.

Magloire captured Eastern Conference Player of the Month honours in April 2004, averaging 21.7 points and 12.1 rebounds. He was named to the Eastern Conference squad for the 2004 NBA All-Star Game held in Los Angeles, where he totaled 19 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes.

Magloire was selected in the first round (19th overall) by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2000 NBA Draft. He has seen action with the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and the Raptors.

Griffin, Crawford lead Clippers over Bulls

The Chicago Bulls had a difficult time running with the Los Angeles Clippers, who had plenty left in reserve for the fourth quarter – particularly Blake Griffin.

Griffin scored 12 of his 26 points in the final six minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds, helping the Clippers rout the Bulls 101-80 on Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.

”It’s just about getting the ball in the right spot and doing what we work on,” said Griffin, who was 11 for 18 from the field. ”I missed a lot of them, but my teammates gave me the confidence to keep shooting. Thankfully, some of them dropped.”

Reserve Jamal Crawford scored 17 of his 22 points in the second quarter for the Clippers, who lead the Pacific Division with a 7-2 mark. It’s their best record after nine games since 2005-06, when they won nine of their first 11, finished 47-35 and came within one victory of the Western Conference finals.

Five of the Clippers’ six wins have come against teams that were in the playoffs last season, including the Lakers, Spurs and world champion Miami Heat on Wednesday. Both of their losses came against clubs which failed to make the postseason – Golden State and Cleveland.

— Reported by Joe Resnick of the Associated Press