The AP reports: Ray Allen scored 20 points and the Boston Celtics, sparked by an alley-oop dunk from Garnett, pulled away for a 90-77 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. Garnett played 18 minutes, hitting all five field-goal attempts while scoring 12 points. He added two rebounds and two assists in his third game back since missing 13 with a sprained right knee… Zach Randolph led the Clippers with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Baron Davis had 13 points, eight assists and seven boards.
Turkoglu, Magic rally past Knicks, win 106-102
The AP reports: Dwight Howard had 29 points and 14 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu led a fourth-quarter rally, and the Magic tuned up for a showdown with Boston by beating the New York Knicks 106-102 on Monday night. Turkoglu scored 12 of his 16 points in the final period for the Magic, who lowered their magic number to one to clinch their second straight Southeast Division title… Courtney Lee scored 22 points on some clutch free throws shooting for the Magic, who have won three in a row, the last two coming in a sweep of a home-and-home series with the Knicks. Nate Robinson scored 19 on just 6-of-23 shooting for New York, which dropped its fifth straight in a late-season collapse after entertaining hopes of a playoff spot a week ago.
Gordon 21 in 2nd half, Bulls beat Wizards 101-99
The AP reports: Chicago hung on and beat the Washington Wizards 101-99 Monday night to improve to five games under .500, good enough to hold down the eighth and final playoff spot in the generously spread-out Eastern Conference standings. Despite the close call, the Bulls were perfectly content to win for the fourth time in five games and open up a 1 1/2 -game lead over the ninth-place Charlotte Bobcats… Ben Gordon scored all of his 21 points in the second half—including seven in the final 3 1/2 minutes—for the Bulls, who led 88-77 with 6:09 to play. Antawn Jamison scored the game’s next eight points to put the Wizards back in it, and Nick Young made the score 100-99 with a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds play… Jamison finished with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Andray Blatche had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who have lost five straight.
Murray scores 30 as Hawks top Timberwolves
The AP reports: Flip Murray scored a season-best 30 points, and Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson each added 20 as the Atlanta Hawks won their season-high eighth straight home game, beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 109-97 on Monday night. It was Atlanta’s eighth win in nine games and the Hawks are 28-7 at Philips Arena. It was the fifth straight loss for the Timberwolves… Al Horford added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Hawks. Bibby, who hit on nine of his first 10 shots, finished nine-of-13. He also had nine assists. Randy Foye led Minnesota with 19 points, while Kevin Love added 17.
Luol Deng slow to heal
The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Following two weeks of rest and low-impact workouts, Luol Deng’s lower right leg is still bothering him and the forward doesn’t appear any closer to returning than two weeks ago when the rest was prescribed. “It’s a stress fracture,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “Until that heals – it takes time – we’ll try to be smart about it.
Raptors recall Nathan Jawai from D-League
The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have recalled rookie forward-centre Nathan Jawai from the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. Jawai was assigned to the Raptors’ affiliate in the D-League on February 26.
Jawai appeared in 10 games with the Stampede, starting nine. He averaged 12.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 25.0 minutes. He posted two double-doubles, with personal bests of 21 points at Utah on March 16 and 10 rebounds on two occasions (versus Reno on March 21 and March 16 versus Rio Grande Valley).
Per NBA guidelines, Jawai remained on Toronto’s roster while in the NBDL and was put on the inactive list. At the current time, his status with the Raptors is unchanged.
Jawai, 22, has appeared in five games totaling two points and two rebounds in 18 minutes before his assignment to Idaho. He was cleared December 17 to begin physical activity after being sidelined since training camp for precautionary reasons as a result of an abnormality detected during normal procedural pre-season cardiac screening.
The club acquired the draft rights to Jawai from the Indiana Pacers on July 9. He was the 41st overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft. He is the first indigenous player from Australia to be drafted by an NBA team.
The Raptors play host to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday at Air Canada Centre. Tip-off is 7 p.m. (The Score/FAN 590).
Rockets sign James White to multi-year deal
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the team has signed guard/forward James White to a multi-year deal. He was signed to an original 10-day contract by the Rockets on Mar. 3 and inked a second 10-day contract on Mar. 13. White joined Houston from the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA D-League, becoming the 12th Call-Up of the season.
White (6-7, 200, Cincinnati) has appeared in one game with the Rockets since his Call-Up, notching five points (2-2 FG, 1-1 3FG), one assist, one steal and one blocked shot in 3:42 of action vs. Minnesota (3/20/09). He averaged 25.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.18 steals in 34 games (33 starts) for the Arsenal this season. At the time of his Call-Up, White was tied for first in the D-League in points per game and was ranked tied for 12th in the league in field goal percentage. White posted 30 or more points in 12 contests with the Arsenal in 2008-09, including a season-high 47-point performance against Houston’s D-League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers (1/20/09).
Thunder recall D.J. White from D-League
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled forward D.J. White from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.
White was originally assigned to Tulsa on March 18. He appeared in three games for the 66ers averaging 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 assist in 37.7 minutes.
Dwyane Wade done with practices this season
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Michael Cunningham) reports: The Heat isn’t likely to have many more practice sessions with 13 games during the final 22 days of the regular season. When the Heat does practice, don’t expect Dwyane Wade to participate in much more than noncontact work as the Heat tries to keep its star healthy. Wade, nursing a sore hip that forced him to miss Wednesday’s game at Boston, “didn’t feel as bad as we anticipated” after playing Friday at New Jersey, coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We are going to manage his body as best as we can,” Spoelstra said.
Magic re-sign Adonal Foyle
The Orlando Magic have re-signed free agent center Adonal Foyle, General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed.
Foyle played in five games this season with the Magic, averaging 1.2 ppg. and 2.2 rpg. in 5.8 minpg., before being traded to Memphis as part of the three-team deal that sent Rafer Alston to Orlando on Feb. 19. He also played in one game with the Grizzlies and did not score in three minutes. Foyle was waived by Memphis on Mar. 1.
Originally selected by Golden State in the first round (eighth overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft, Foyle (6’10”, 270, 3/9/75) has appeared in 729 regular season games during his 11-year NBA career with Golden State, Orlando and Memphis, averaging 4.1 ppg., 4.7 rpg. and 1.63 blkpg. in 17.9 minpg. Foyle is Golden State’s all-time franchise leader in blocked shots with 1,140.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Foyle is basically good for swinging his arms at the basketball while others attempt to shoot it, and swinging his arms at the basketball after someone misses a shot in the hope of grabbing it, and not a heck of a lot more than that.