The AP reports: LeBron James scored 23 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added a season-high 21, and the Cavaliers matched their best home start in franchise history with a 112-97 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night. Cleveland (13-3) has won 12 of 13 and is a league-best 9-0 at home, equaling its top home start, first set in 1976-77 and repeated in 1991-92… He was 9-of-13 from the floor, had seven rebounds and eight assists… Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson each scored 16 points for Cleveland. C.J. Watson led Golden State with 17 points. Jamal Crawford added 15… Forwards Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak both had nine rebounds for Cleveland.
Nov 28: Raptors 93, Hawks 88
The AP reports: Chris Bosh had 30 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Kapono scored a season-high 16 points and the Toronto Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks 93-88. Joey Graham added 11 points and Jamario Moon had 10 for Toronto, with guard Jose Calderon picking up 11 assists. Mike Bibby scored 24 points for Atlanta, Joe Johnson had 18 and reserve Maurice Evans added 17. Al Horford and Marvin Williams each had 10 points for the Hawks, who got 17 rebounds from Zaza Pachulia.
Be honest about ages, says China
The AP reports: China is ordering its basketball players to stop faking their birth dates, local media reported Friday, turning the spotlight back on allegations of systematic altering of athlete’s ages. Sports authorities have sometimes been accused of altering players’ ages to show them as being younger, mainly to qualify them for youth tournaments. Those false ages stay with athletes and can result in embarrassment and regulatory sanctions when athletes move on to greater success. While that practice, known as ‘age shaving,’ is considered widespread in sports such as basketball and football, the opposite was suspected in the controversy surrounding the women’s gymnastics competition at the Beijing Olympics.
Anthony Morrow benched
Golden State Warriors guard Anthony Morrow came out of nowhere and put himself on the map with some big performances recently. Coach Don Nelson, who sometimes appear to flip a coin to decide if he likes a certain player or not anymore, praised him pretty loudly. So what’s up now? The San Francisco Examiner (Matt Steinmetz) reports:
I don’t want to start calling Nelson the “SI Jinx,” but he’s been all over the board with his player assessments during his second stint with the Warriors. And at the very least, words of praise from Nelson don’t seem to carry much weight. Or go very far. In the four games since his sparkling debut against the Clippers, a 15-for-20 shooting night, and impressive follow-up performance against Portland, Morrow has scored 20 total points on 6-for-22 shooting. Morrow’s playing time also has dwindled during that time, going from 34 minutes to 24 minutes to 15 minutes to a DNP-CD vs. the Celtics on Wednesday.
Will Morrow play 37 minutes next game? Or two? Even Don Nelson may not know.
An Andris Biedrins weakness
The Contra Costa Times reports: It has become apparent of late that Andris Biedrins has a weakness in his game other than free throws and post-ups. He struggles against athletic big men. When he is not longer, faster and playing with more energy, he is hardly as effective. It takes a lot of energy out of him to keep up with those types, and he isn’t the type of big man who goes down on the other end and make them pay on offense. Samuel Dalembert, JaVale McGee and Kevin Garnett exposed Biedrins. You don’t realize how much Biedrins got off people overlooking him and not paying attention to him. Wednesday, when a shot went up, Garnett went for Biedrins to block him out. Both Garnett and Dalembert defended Biedrins as if they’d studied his moves, even blocking his little flip shots.
Nov 27: Hornets 105, Nuggets 101
The AP reports: Chris Paul led the Hornets with 22 points and 10 assists but came up six rebounds short of his third straight triple-double. Still, he took the game over late, scoring seven straight points for his team, including a 3-pointer from well behind the arc, with the shot clock running down, to tie it at 92 with 2:07 left… J.R. Smith led the Nuggets with a season-high 32 points. Denver tied it at 98 on Carmelo Anthony’s dunk with 37 seconds left, but the Hornets worked the ball to Posey, who made the 3 from the top right corner to give them the lead for good… Carmelo Anthony had 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting for Denver, showing more signs of coming out of a slump that had him making only 39 percent of his shots so far this season… Rasual Butler made his first seven shots for New Orleans and finished with 19 points. Peja Stojakovic had 17 and David West had 15, including a stick back of Paul’s near air ball that gave the Hornets a 98-94 lead with 52 seconds left.
Nov 27: Magic 105, Wizards 90
The AP reports: The Washington Wizards were helpless against Dwight Howard. The NBA’s leading rebounder, Howard had 26 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks to help the Orlando Magic beat the Wizards 105-90 on Thursday night. Orlando has won eight of its last nine games and six in a row on the road. Howard toyed with four Washington defenders—scoring 14 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the first 8:45 as the Magic took a 25-11 lead… Caron Butler scored 19 of his 25 points in the first half for Washington, and Antawn Jamison had 17 points and 12 rebounds… Hedo Turkoglu added 20 points and had a season-high 10 rebounds… Rashard Lewis, who gave Orlando a victory Wednesday night in Philadelphia with a late 3-pointer, added 17 points, and Mickael Peitrus also had 17. Anthony Johnson had a season-high 12 assists.
Knicks suspend Stephon Marbury
New York Knickerbockers President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh announced today that guard Stephon Marbury has been suspended one game without pay and his salary will be reduced an additional 1/110th for refusing to play when called upon on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Detroit. Marbury will serve his suspension tomorrow when the Knicks host the Golden State Warriors at Madison Square Garden.
“A player’s central obligation is to provide his professional services when called upon,” Walsh said. “Because he refused the Coach’s request to play in the team’s last game, we had no choice but to impose disciplinary action.”
Allen Iverson skips practice
The AP reports: Allen Iverson apparently chose family and food over practice — and he’ll be fined for it. Iverson was the only player who didn’t show up when the Detroit Pistons worked out on Thanksgiving.
InsideHoops.com editor says: I think practice should be optional on the select few major family-oriented holidays each season. But, naturally that’s the decision of the team/coach, not an individual player.
Jarron Collins out 6+ weeks
The following is a medical update on Utah Jazz center Jarron Collins, who has appeared in only two games this season due to right elbow inflammation and triceps tendinitis:
After meeting with Jazz team physician Dr. Lyle Mason, Collins has opted to take a non-surgical approach to the injury. He will allow the elbow to heal for the next six weeks through triceps strengthening, shooting and cardiovascular work.
Collins will be re-evaluated on January 3, at which point a further update will be provided.
Now in his eighth season with the Jazz, Collins has appeared in two games this season (one start), totaling one rebound and one block in 16 scoreless minutes. He was originally selected by the Jazz in the second round (53rd overall pick) of the 2001 NBA Draft and owns career averages of 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 456 games (204 starts).