Cavs extend Mike Brown’s contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers today extended Head Coach Mike Brown’s contract. The announcement was made today by Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry. The Associated Press reports that the deal is a two-year contract extension lasting through the 2010-11 season.

Brown is the winningest head coach in Cavaliers history with a .592 winning percentage (119-82). Brown has also won more playoff games (19) than any coach in Cavaliers history. The Cavaliers won their first Eastern Conference Championship last season and became one of only five teams to win at least 50 games in the last two seasons (Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix, and San Antonio).

“Mike Brown brings his high character, work ethic and talent as a coach with him to work every single day. He has been, and will continue to be, important to our continued growth as a basketball team as we work towards a championship,” said Ferry.

Brown became the 17th Cavaliers Head Coach on June 2, 2005 and became the first Cavaliers head coach to win a playoff series in their first season. Brown came to the Cavaliers after serving as the associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers for two seasons and as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs for three seasons, including the Spurs 2003 World Championship season.

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Andrew Bynum hurt

Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum hurt his left knee (not his ankle) Sunday night in the third quarter of a game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Bynum had gone up for a rebound, and there was some sort of contact with Lamar Odom. Bynum’s left knee turned in awkward fashion. Teammates had to help him reach the locker room.

It isn’t known how seriously Bynum is hurt. Let’s hope he turns out OK. He’s been a terrific story this season and a key to Lakers success.

11:33 p.m. ET update: Unofficial, unconfirmed word is that an X-ray was negative, meaning there’s no broken bone, but his MRI will be tomorrow. When there’s an official word we’ll update this blog entry.

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Antawn Jamison cleaning the glass

With 33 rebounds over Washington’s last two games, Antawn Jamison has boosted his rebounding average to a career-high 10.9 rebounds per game. Also averaging 21.3 points per game, Jamison joins Orlando’s Dwight Howard as the only two players in the Eastern Conference that average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Additionally, with 23 double-doubles to date this season, Jamison has more double-doubles than any other forward in the Eastern Conference, and ranks 6th overall in the NBA.

Caron Butler rocking the charity stripe

Caron Butler enters play having connected on his last 33 free throw attempts. Butler last missed a free throw on December 28th in New Jersey. In that game, Butler missed his first free throw — a technical — but connected on his final three foul shot attempts in that game. He has since made 30 more consecutive free throws over the last seven games, brining his streak to 33 consecutive free throws made. On the season, Butler is 136-of-152 from the charity stripe; a career-high .895 clip.

Joakim Noah benched by teammates

The AP reports: Chicago Bulls rookie Joakim Noah was benched for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks — by his teammates. They delivered a unanimous vote after the rookie from Florida was involved in a confrontation with assistant coach Ron Adams in practice before Friday’s game at Philadelphia. Noah was inactive for the Philadelphia game for internal disciplinary reasons, but the players told interim coach Jim Boylan one game was not enough.

McGrady out 3+ more games

The AP reports: Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady is expected to miss three more games as he recovers from a left knee injury. McGrady, averaging 23 points and five assists per game, has sat out the last eight games with strained tendons, tendinitis and a bone bruise in the knee. The Rockets are 6-2 in the stretch without him heading into Friday night’s game against Minnesota.

Judge dismisses petiton against future Brooklyn arena

The AP reports: A judge threw out a petition by neighbourhood groups to stop the US$4 billion redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, where construction of an arena for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets is planned. U.S. State Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden ruled Friday that developers of the 22-acre site did enough studies on the impact of traffic, crowds, potential terrorism and other environmental factors on the area to satisfy legal requirements. The petitioners, a coalition of 26 neighbourhood groups, had claimed they would be “directly affected” and “harmed by the substantial adverse environmental impacts of a project of such enormous scale.”

Troy Hudson out 3-4 months after hip surgery

Golden State Warriors guard Troy Hudson underwent successful surgery on his left hip on Thursday, January 10, the team announced today. The surgery was performed by Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for SpecialSurgery in New York and involved the repair of a torn labrum.
 
 Hudson, 31, will commence basic rehabilitation immediately and advance as his progress allows. He is expected to be sidelined for 3-4 months.
 
 In nine games this season, Hudson has averaged 3.1 points and 1.0 assists in 10.4 minutes per contest. Originally signed as a free agent by the Warriors on September 24, 2007, Hudson last appeared in a game on December 12 at Portland, where he tallied a season-high 10 points in 17 minutes of action.