Knicks want 40 wins

The New York Post (Brian Lewis) reports:  The Knicks need to go 16-9 to reach their 40-win goal, but as of yesterday, 14 of their 25 upcoming opponents would be in the playoffs if the season were over. They play six of their last nine and 13 of their last 21 on the road. Most worrisome, they have played poorly since the trades for Larry Hughes and Chris Wilcox. “We’ve got to somehow to get to 40 wins. That’ll give us a good chance to get in the playoffs,” D’Antoni said. “We’ve just got to eke out wins wherever we can. I didn’t sit down and work it out, there was no formula. I just thought 40’s pretty good. The last years have been what, about 35, 36? There’s no reason we can’t win 40. “I told them about 1,000 times, individually, collectively, talked about it with coaches. That’s our goal. I don’t know if we will [get it], but why not shoot for it?”

Bryant’s Lakers beat Shaq’s Suns 132-106

The AP reports: Without Steve Nash, nobody got the ball inside to Shaquille O’Neal, and that made the Phoenix Suns a pushover. The Los Angeles Lakers scored 70 points in the first half and rolled past the Nash-less Suns 132-106 Thursday night for their sixth consecutive victory. Kobe Bryant had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, while O’Neal had 12 points while taking just seven shots, and grabbed seven rebounds for the Suns in the former teammates’ first meeting since sharing MVP honors at the All-Star game… Lamar Odom had a team-high 23 points and Pau Gasol added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who own the NBA’s best record at 48-10 and lead the Pacific Division by 15 games over the Suns… Leandro Barbosa scored 18 points and Alando Tucker added 16 starting in place of Nash. Jason Richardson added 13.

Ben Wallace hurt, Rockets beat Cavs 93-74

The AP reports: LeBron James missed shots, complained to the refs and went an entire game without an assist for the first time in his career. The Houston Rockets, meanwhile, showed they just might be contenders in the Western Conference with a 93-74 win over James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night. Yao Ming scored 28 points and Ron Artest added 15 while harassing James on defense most of the night, leading the Rockets to their six consecutive win and ninth straight at home. “It is a big win,” said Yao, who hit 13 of 15 shots, despite Cleveland’s constant double-teams… James scored 21 points, but went 7-for-21 from the field with three turnovers… To make matters worse, forward Ben Wallace broke his right leg in the second quarter and will miss 4-6 weeks, the team said.

InsideHoops.com notes: For the Rockets, Yao had 28 points and 8 rebounds but 0 assists and 5 turnovers. Von Wafer shot 5-of-10, including 4-of-6 three-pointers, for 19 points off the bench. Ron Artest had 15 but needed 15 shots to get it. Luis Scola shot 5-of-7 for 14 points and 9 rebounds. The Cavs, however, only shot 33.8%. They were a force on the offensive boards thanks to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds, but shot badly. Mo Williams shot 8-of-18 for 21 points.

Johnny ‘Red’ Kerr dies

The AP reports: Johnny “Red” Kerr, the former Chicago Bulls coach who spent more than three decades as a broadcaster for the team, died Thursday. He was 76. Kerr died at his home after a battle with prostate cancer, Bulls spokesman Tim Hallam said. “His name was synonymous with basketball, both here in Chicago, and throughout the entire NBA,” Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. “Those that were fortunate enough to have known Johnny were touched by both his tremendous compassion for people, and his lifelong passion for the game of basketball. We will miss him greatly.”

Ben Wallace has broken right leg

Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Ben Wallace broke his right leg in today’s game against the Houston Rockets.

The AP reports: Wallace, guarding Yao Ming much of the game, left in the third quarter. He was playing his fourth game since missing Cleveland’s Feb. 18 win over Toronto with a right arm laceration that required 14 stitches.

TNT is reporting that the Cavs athletic trainer expects Wallace to miss 8-10 weeks.

We’ll update this blog entry when more is known. Probably again later tonight, with an official report from the Cavs sometime Friday.

Read basketball fan opinion and post your own comments in this forum topic.

Antawn Jamison likes Dominic McGuire

Here’s what Washington Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said about teammate Dominic McGuire: “He’s awesome.  He’s one of the young guys that you trust night-in and night-out.  He’s going to bring it.  He’s going to give you 100 percent and he’s going to play with the energy and effort that you need.  That’s why I like him.  I like a young guy that’s going to come out there and just play and not make any excuses.  He accepts criticism.  He wants to do well and he wants to win.  He’s not worried about numbers or anything like that.  He’s just going out there and keep playing basketball the way it should be played.”

Raptors assign Nathan Jawai to D-League

The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have assigned rookie forward-centre Nathan Jawai to the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. Jawai will continue to be included on the Raptors’ roster and will be placed on the team’s inactive list.

Jawai, 22, has appeared in five games totaling two points and two rebounds in 18 minutes. 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.

Jawai is the third Raptor to be assigned to the D-League. P.J. Tucker was assigned twice to Colorado during the 2006-07 season and Pape Sow was assigned to the Arkansas Rimrockers in the 2005-06 campaign.

Idaho, who is led by head coach Bryan Gates, has been designated as Toronto’s D-League affiliate for the 2008-09 season. In addition to the Stampede, the 16-team NBA D-League includes the Albuquerque Thunderbirds (N.M.), Anaheim Arsenal (Calif.), Austin Toros (Texas), Bakersfield Jam (Calif.), Colorado 14ers (Broomfield), Dakota Wizards (Bismarck, N.D.), Erie BayHawks (Penn.), Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Ind.), Iowa Energy (Des Moines), Los Angeles D-Fenders, Reno Bighorns (Nev.),

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (McAllen, Tex.), Sioux Falls Skyforce (S.D.), Tulsa 66ers (Okla.) and Utah Flash (Provo).

Rocky Mountain News to close

The Denver Nuggets are covered by two main newspapers, the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. The latter, which features fantastic writer Chris Tomasson, is closing in a mere 24 hours. This news obviously stretches way beyond basketball, but in terms of Nuggets coverage this is awful. The Rocky Mountain News reports the following, on themselves:

The Rocky Mountain News publishes its last paper tomorrow. Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Scripps, broke the news to the Rocky staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper’s future. He called the paper a victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry. “Denver can’t support two newspapers any longer,” Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news. “It’s certainly not good news for you, and it’s certainly not good news for Denver.” On Dec. 4, Boehne announced that Scripps was looking for a buyer for the Rocky and its 50 percent interest in the Denver Newspaper Agency, the company that handles business matters for the papers, because of financial losses in Denver. Scripps said the Rocky lost $16 million in 2008.

Print media continues to lose readers and business to the internet (where you can also find the print product available free of charge). The current very bad economy is affecting businesses around the country and world. These factors and more spell gloomy days for the newspaper business for months and possibly years to come.

–Jeff