The AP reports: Gerald Green scored 29 points and Josh Howard had 25 to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 124-109 preseason victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night. Dirk Nowitzki added 21 points and Brandon Bass had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Mavericks (4-2). Green went 10-for-12 from the field, 4-for-5 from 3-point range, in only 20 minutes. Kevin Martin led the Kings (1-5) with 26 points.
Oct 18: Spurs 106, Pacers 98
The AP reports: Tony Parker had 19 points and eight assists in 23 minutes, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers 106-98 in a preseason game Saturday night. Matt Bonner, starting in place of the resting Tim Duncan, scored 15 points and Michael Finley added 13 on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point territory for the Spurs (3-2). Marquis Daniels led Indiana (3-3) with 18 points, going 4-of-6 from behind the arc… Troy Murphy, playing for the first time this preseason after missing the first five games with a sore left foot, scored 12 points in 19 minutes while shooting 5-of-7.
Oct 18: Jazz 88, Bulls 80
The AP reports: Carlos Boozer had 17 points and 15 rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the Chicago Bulls 88-80 in a preseason game on Saturday night despite losing Deron Williams to injury in the first quarter. Williams left the game after falling awkwardly and spraining his left ankle. Williams had X-rays, which were negative, but he didn’t return to the game… Derrick Rose, the No. 1 overall pick, started and scored 11 points in 40 minutes. Tyrus Thomas, who fouled out in the fourth quarter, led the Bulls (1-4) with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Larry Hughes scored 10 points.
Oct 18: Cavs 100, Sixers 93
The AP reports: Delonte West scored six of his team-high 17 points down the stretch as the Cavaliers, trailing 91-80 with 4:14 left, finished the game on a 20-2 run. Daniel Gibson made the go-ahead basket with 1:22 left… Andre Iguodala scored 17 points for Philadelphia and Donyell Marshall added 15 on 5-of-6 3-pointers. Lou Williams also scored 15. LeBron James scored 16 points in 26 minutes… Cleveland center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who had 17 points, was given a technical in the third quarter.
Oct 18: Raptors 93, Clippers 89
The AP reports: Chris Bosh scored 26 points, Jermaine O’Neal added 20, and the Toronto Raptors capitalized on the absence of three injured Clippers regulars to beat Los Angeles 93-89 on Saturday. O’Neal, preparing for his first season with the Raptors after eight years with Indiana and four with Portland, finished 7-for-15 from the field in 33 minutes and grabbed nine rebounds. Bosh had 11 boards. Reserve Ricky Davis led the Clippers (3-1) with 14 points. First-round draft pick Eric Gordon, the third player off the bench, had 10 points in 18 minutes after scoring 33 points in Wednesday’s victory over Sacramento.
Oct 18: Magic 100, Heat 92
The AP reports: Dwight Howard scored 26 points, and the Orlando Magic used a second-quarter run to build a big lead Saturday night before holding off the Miami Heat, 100-92 for their fourth consecutive preseason victory. Howard also had 16 rebounds but was just 6-of-13 from the free throw line… Dwyane Wade, who finished with 29 points, had back-to-back baskets off steals midway through the third period, cutting it to 65-56.
Oct 18: Hawks 102, Bobcats 96
The AP reports: Joe Johnson scored 22 points and Mike Bibby added nine of his 14 points in the final 3 minutes—long after May was disqualified—as the Hawks beat Charlotte for the second time this week… Flip Murray came off the bench to score 18 for Atlanta (4-2), which overcame spotty shooting, plenty of foul trouble and growing pains with its new, bigger lineup… Emeka Okafor had 18 points and 11 rebounds, but got little help up for the frontcourt-deficient Bobcats (0-5), whose disjointed offense produced 20 turnovers.
Mavs notes
The Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings 124-109 on Saturday. Here are Mavs team notes:
Gerald Green nearly matched his preseason-high (was 18 @ CHI on 10/9) in the 2nd quarter. In 12 minutes, he scored 16 points (5-6 FGs, 1-1 3FGs, 5-5 FTs) to go with 3 rebounds and 3 steals. He went on to finish the game with a game-high 29 points (10-12 FGs, 4-5 3FGs, 5-5 FTs) in 20 minutes.
Jason Kidd attempted his 1st free throws (2-2 FTs) of the season in the 2nd quarter of tonight’s game.
Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki each scored season-highs. Howard finished with 25 points (8-16 FGs, 9-11 FTs) in 28 minutes. Nowitzki contributed 21 points (7-12 FGs, 1-2 3FGs, 6-7 FTs in a season-high 28 minutes.
The Mavericks scored a preseason-high for the 1st half with 63 points (previous high was 62 @ CHI on 10/9) and a preseason-high for the 2nd half with 61 points (previous high was 58 @ MIL on 10/10). They finished the game with a season-high 124 points (was 110 @ CHI on 10/9).
Kevin Martin scored 20 1st half points (8-14 FGs, 2-4 3FGs, 2-2 FTs). Into tonight, no other opponent had scored more than 18 points in a game this preseason (Andray Blatche vs. WAS on 10/7 and Danny Granger @ IND 10/15).
Tonight’s attendance was 20,429 fans (19,200 capacity). The Mavs have sold out 276 consecutive regular season games at AAC and 333 games including the pre and postseasons (18 consecutive preseason sellouts). Dallas currently owns the longest running sellout streak in the NBA. The Sacramento Kings previously held the streak.
Tonight’s Key Run: Dallas led 89-86 with 1:00 to go in the 3rd quarter. Through the 8:54 mark of the 4th quarter, the Mavericks went on an 11-2 run to take a 100-88 lead.
Deron Williams sprains ankle
The Deseret News (Tim Buckley) reports: Jazz point guard Deron Williams sprained his left ankle in the opening quarter of Utah’s preseason game tonight at Chicago. Williams was coming down after taking a 3-pointer with five minutes and 39 seconds to go in the period when he appeared to land on the foot of Bulls rookie point Derrick Rose. He sustained an inversion sprain, but X-rays on the ankle — which appeared to bend quite awkwardly — were negative.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Damn. Well, at least x-rays were negative. Hope he’s OK soon. While D-Will is out, Ronnie Price, Brevin Knight and Gerry McNamara (signed to a nonguaranteed contract) will get additional minutes. Knight is an old veteran and everyone knows what he does, but Price is still improving, while McNamara is trying to claw his way into the league.
Darnell Jackson breaks wrist
The AP reports: Cleveland Cavaliers rookie forward Darnell Jackson is out indefinitely with a fractured left wrist. Jackson, who played in Cleveland’s first four exhibition games, first told the team on Tuesday the wrist was bothering him. He played 11 minutes in Thursday night’s game against San Antonio, and an examination on Friday revealed the fracture. Jackson said the wrist will be in a cast for about 10 days.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer (Brian Windhorst) reports: The rookie forward is probably going to need some more suits now that he’s facing being on the sidelines for 5-6 weeks after X-rays revealed he’d suffered a fractured left wrist. Jackson said he wasn’t sure when the injury occurred, since the first week of training camp he’d been bothered by soreness and was getting the wrist tapped. But it didn’t get better and became more bothersome.