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(By JAIME ARON From the Associated Press) - In his first game since grumbling about his teammates deferring to him too much, Nowitzki scored 20 points over the first three quarters, then watched Jason Terry and Josh Howard carry the Mavericks the rest of the way in a 106-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. Terry scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Howard had eight of his 11, to make sure the Mavericks got a split of their four-game homestand. Their contributions were especially important because Nowitzki failed to score in the final period, missing his only two shots…Dallas actually eased the load on Nowitzki the entire game, putting a total of seven players in double figures. The rest of the key contributors: Erick Dampier with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Kidd with 10 points and 10 assists, J.J. Barea with 11 points and Shawn Marion with 10…Randolph finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds, and Rudy Gay had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Memphis ended a three-game winning streak and Randolph ended a two-game run of scoring in the 30s.
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(By MICHAEL MAROT From the Associated Press) - The Hawks used their strong frontline tandem of Al Horford and Josh Smith to overpower Indiana for a 110-98 victory, a game in which Atlanta never trailed…Horford finished with 25 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, three short of his career high. Smith, who committed to play basketball at Indiana University before skipping college to jump to the pros, finished with 22 points, six rebounds, five blocks and four steals. Joe Johnson added 24 points, including two 3-pointers…Indiana (9-19), which is still missing injured All-Star forward Danny Granger, couldn’t match the Hawks’ inside power. Before the game, coach Jim O’Brien acknowledged the matchup between Roy Hibbert and Horford would be a challenge if Hibbert didn’t move his feet defensively. So after Horford put up 12 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, Hibbert spent all but 39 seconds of the third quarter on the bench.
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( From the Associated Press) - Reserve Carl Landry scored 26 points to lead the Rockets to a 98-93 victory Saturday night over New Jersey, sending the Nets to their ninth straight loss. The win capped a tumultuous day for the Rockets in which McGrady, a two-time NBA scoring champion, left the team to return to Houston. He will not play Sunday when the Rockets travel to Cleveland…Aaron Brooks made a tiebreaking layup with 37 seconds left and scored 17 points, as did Luis Scola. Trevor Ariza added 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Rockets won for the fourth time in five games…Devin Harris led the Nets with 19 points, while Yi Jianlian and Brook Lopez each had 17. “You try to learn a lesson from these close ones,” Harris said. “We’re just a few shots away. It was still a meaningful game with 2 minutes to go. We’ve got to be proud of the way guys keep fighting.”
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( From the Associated Press) - Kevin Durant scored 30 points, Westbrook had 22 and the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Charlotte Bobcats 98-91 on Saturday night. Nenad Krstic added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the surprising Thunder, who improved to 15-14. They didn’t earn their 15th win last season until the 60th game, on March 2…Eric Maynor, recently acquired from Utah, keyed an early flurry and made all three shots in 13 minutes…Stephen Jackson had 24 points for the Bobcats, who dropped to 1-13 on the road. “Score more points than our opponent,” Charlotte coach Larry Brown said when asked what it will take to win on the road. “That is what all my coaches have always told me.”
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(By JON KRAWCZYNSKI From the Associated Press) - Corey Brewer scored 23 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead the Timberwolves to a 101-89 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night, giving the young and rebuilding Wolves back-to-back wins for the first time in what has already been a trying season…Kevin Love added 17 points and 10 rebounds and the Timberwolves overcame 37 percent shooting by pummeling the Wizards 56-45 on the glass and 22-7 in second-chance points…Arenas had 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. But he made just 10 of 28 shots and committed seven turnovers. With rookie point guard Jonny Flynn struggling from the field, Ramon Sessions had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in relief for the Timberwolves, providing a huge lift off the bench for a team that lost 17 of its first 19 games. The Wolves beat New Jersey on Wednesday and now are 4-3 in their last seven games, the first tangible signs of progress this year.
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(From the Associated Press) - Thomas had 21 points on 10 for 17 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in a 96-85 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night. “It felt like the first day of school all day,” said Thomas, who had been out since Nov. 6 with a broken left forearm. “I had a new backpack, supplies, everything. It was great.”… “You have to learn from your mistakes but stay positive,” said Joakim Noah, who had 17 points and 18 rebounds as the Bulls outscored the Hornets 54-16 inside. “It just feels good right now to get a ‘W’—and to win by a big margin, which we hadn’t done in a long time.”… Devin Brown scored all of his 22 points in the first half for New Orleans, which had only nine third-quarter points and fell to 2-12 on the road…Paul, who had averaged 24.3 points and 10.7 assists in seven career games against the Bulls, had 15 points and seven assists Saturday.
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(From the Associated Press) - Tim Duncan scored 26 points and San Antonio’s bench scored 51 points in a 112-97 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night…While Duncan led the team in scoring, Antonio McDyess scored 14 points and Manu Ginobili scored 13 points to pace the reserves, who made 22-of-29 shots…“They caught us on a good night,” Popovich said. “This is one of our better nights of the season. No exaggeration. We played for 48 minutes.” Tony Parker had 16 points and eight assists for San Antonio, which has won four of five…Hakim Warrick scored a season-high 23 points for Milwaukee, which has dropped 13 of 17…Rookie Brandon Jennings, the Bucks’ leading scorer at 19.7 per game, was held to 10 points. Jennings struggled to get Milwaukee’s fast break going, running into countless picks set by Duncan in the first half…Milwaukee’s Michael Redd only scored six points, missing seven of nine shots. He has missed 16 games due to injuries this season, but the Bucks are 3-9 when he plays and 9-7 when he doesn’t.
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(By DOUG ALDEN From the Associated Press) - The Jazz traded scoring runs with Philadelphia for three quarters, then shut down the 76ers in the fourth period Saturday night for a 97-76 victory…Deron Williams had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Jazz and Carlos Boozer added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Mehmet Okur and Wesley Matthews scored 16 apiece for Utah, which held Philadelphia to just three field goals in the fourth quarter…Thaddeus Young scored 20 for the Sixers, who played much of the game without starting center Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert had three fouls midway through the first quarter and played just 16:24, but still managed to pull down nine rebounds. Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday added 10 points apiece for Philadelphia, which was outrebounded 49-39 and had just 11 assists to Utah’s 24…The Sixers, who lost their third straight and were without Allen Iverson for the fourth consecutive game, hung with Utah through the first three quarters, then fell apart in the fourth.
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(From the Associated Press) - Bryant ignored an arm that had no feeling and connected on two huge 3-pointers in the second overtime, finishing with 38 points as the Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from a humbling Christmas Day loss to Cleveland by beating the Sacramento Kings 112-103 on Saturday night…Lamar Odom opened the second overtime with a putback basket that gave the Lakers the lead for good. Then Bryant took control, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Lakers in front 109-103 with 2:37 left. Los Angeles outscored the Kings 11-2 in the second OT…Beno Udrih scored 23 points for the Kings, who held the Lakers scoreless in the final 3:35 of the fourth quarter to force overtime. Tyreke Evans had 18 points, Greene had 16 and Omri Casspi added 15 points and 10 rebounds. It was another frustrating loss for the Kings, who went scoreless in the overtime period in a loss to Cleveland. Against the Lakers, the Kings squandered a seven-point lead in the first overtime and shot just 1-of 8 in the second OT.
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(From the Associated Press) - Corey Maggette scored a season-high 33 points and had eight rebounds, one of six Warriors players in double figures, and Golden State held Phoenix to four points over the final 2:54 to beat the Suns 132-127 on Saturday and end a seven-game skid…Ellis, the workhorse of the Warriors offense, had 33 points and 10 assists while playing more than 45 minutes. It’s the 10th time in 18 games Ellis has topped the 30-point mark…Stephen Curry added 13 points, including two free throws with 3 seconds remaining, as Golden State outlasted Phoenix in a game that featured little defense from either team…Steve Nash had a season-high 36 points and nine assists for Phoenix, but the veteran point guard missed a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds that would have tied the game. The Suns, who have lost seven straight road games, committed 21 turnovers which led to 35 points for the Warriors, not the type of performance Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry was looking for with his team preparing to face the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston in back-to-back games beginning Monday…Anthony Randolph had 17 points, while Morrow and C.J. Watson had 14 points apiece for Golden State, which hadn’t won since beating New Jersey 105-89 on Dec. 9…Phoenix’s Jason Richardson had 22 points against his former team while Amare Stoudemire had just nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
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(By JAIME ARON From the Associated Press) - In his first game since grumbling about his teammates deferring to him too much, Nowitzki scored 20 points over the first three quarters, then watched Jason Terry and Josh Howard carry the Mavericks the rest of the way in a 106-101 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. Terry scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Howard had eight of his 11, to make sure the Mavericks got a split of their four-game homestand. Their contributions were especially important because Nowitzki failed to score in the final period, missing his only two shots…Dallas actually eased the load on Nowitzki the entire game, putting a total of seven players in double figures. The rest of the key contributors: Erick Dampier with 13 points and 10 rebounds, Jason Kidd with 10 points and 10 assists, J.J. Barea with 11 points and Shawn Marion with 10…Randolph finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds, and Rudy Gay had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Memphis ended a three-game winning streak and Randolph ended a two-game run of scoring in the 30s.
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(By MICHAEL MAROT From the Associated Press) - The Hawks used their strong frontline tandem of Al Horford and Josh Smith to overpower Indiana for a 110-98 victory, a game in which Atlanta never trailed…Horford finished with 25 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, three short of his career high. Smith, who committed to play basketball at Indiana University before skipping college to jump to the pros, finished with 22 points, six rebounds, five blocks and four steals. Joe Johnson added 24 points, including two 3-pointers…Indiana (9-19), which is still missing injured All-Star forward Danny Granger, couldn’t match the Hawks’ inside power. Before the game, coach Jim O’Brien acknowledged the matchup between Roy Hibbert and Horford would be a challenge if Hibbert didn’t move his feet defensively. So after Horford put up 12 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, Hibbert spent all but 39 seconds of the third quarter on the bench.
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( From the Associated Press) - Reserve Carl Landry scored 26 points to lead the Rockets to a 98-93 victory Saturday night over New Jersey, sending the Nets to their ninth straight loss. The win capped a tumultuous day for the Rockets in which McGrady, a two-time NBA scoring champion, left the team to return to Houston. He will not play Sunday when the Rockets travel to Cleveland…Aaron Brooks made a tiebreaking layup with 37 seconds left and scored 17 points, as did Luis Scola. Trevor Ariza added 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Rockets won for the fourth time in five games…Devin Harris led the Nets with 19 points, while Yi Jianlian and Brook Lopez each had 17. “You try to learn a lesson from these close ones,” Harris said. “We’re just a few shots away. It was still a meaningful game with 2 minutes to go. We’ve got to be proud of the way guys keep fighting.”
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( From the Associated Press) - Kevin Durant scored 30 points, Westbrook had 22 and the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Charlotte Bobcats 98-91 on Saturday night. Nenad Krstic added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the surprising Thunder, who improved to 15-14. They didn’t earn their 15th win last season until the 60th game, on March 2…Eric Maynor, recently acquired from Utah, keyed an early flurry and made all three shots in 13 minutes…Stephen Jackson had 24 points for the Bobcats, who dropped to 1-13 on the road. “Score more points than our opponent,” Charlotte coach Larry Brown said when asked what it will take to win on the road. “That is what all my coaches have always told me.”
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(By JON KRAWCZYNSKI From the Associated Press) - Corey Brewer scored 23 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead the Timberwolves to a 101-89 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night, giving the young and rebuilding Wolves back-to-back wins for the first time in what has already been a trying season…Kevin Love added 17 points and 10 rebounds and the Timberwolves overcame 37 percent shooting by pummeling the Wizards 56-45 on the glass and 22-7 in second-chance points…Arenas had 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. But he made just 10 of 28 shots and committed seven turnovers. With rookie point guard Jonny Flynn struggling from the field, Ramon Sessions had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in relief for the Timberwolves, providing a huge lift off the bench for a team that lost 17 of its first 19 games. The Wolves beat New Jersey on Wednesday and now are 4-3 in their last seven games, the first tangible signs of progress this year.
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(From the Associated Press) - Thomas had 21 points on 10 for 17 shooting, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in a 96-85 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday night. “It felt like the first day of school all day,” said Thomas, who had been out since Nov. 6 with a broken left forearm. “I had a new backpack, supplies, everything. It was great.”… “You have to learn from your mistakes but stay positive,” said Joakim Noah, who had 17 points and 18 rebounds as the Bulls outscored the Hornets 54-16 inside. “It just feels good right now to get a ‘W’—and to win by a big margin, which we hadn’t done in a long time.”… Devin Brown scored all of his 22 points in the first half for New Orleans, which had only nine third-quarter points and fell to 2-12 on the road…Paul, who had averaged 24.3 points and 10.7 assists in seven career games against the Bulls, had 15 points and seven assists Saturday.
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(From the Associated Press) - Tim Duncan scored 26 points and San Antonio’s bench scored 51 points in a 112-97 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night…While Duncan led the team in scoring, Antonio McDyess scored 14 points and Manu Ginobili scored 13 points to pace the reserves, who made 22-of-29 shots…“They caught us on a good night,” Popovich said. “This is one of our better nights of the season. No exaggeration. We played for 48 minutes.” Tony Parker had 16 points and eight assists for San Antonio, which has won four of five…Hakim Warrick scored a season-high 23 points for Milwaukee, which has dropped 13 of 17…Rookie Brandon Jennings, the Bucks’ leading scorer at 19.7 per game, was held to 10 points. Jennings struggled to get Milwaukee’s fast break going, running into countless picks set by Duncan in the first half…Milwaukee’s Michael Redd only scored six points, missing seven of nine shots. He has missed 16 games due to injuries this season, but the Bucks are 3-9 when he plays and 9-7 when he doesn’t.
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(By DOUG ALDEN From the Associated Press) - The Jazz traded scoring runs with Philadelphia for three quarters, then shut down the 76ers in the fourth period Saturday night for a 97-76 victory…Deron Williams had 27 points and eight assists to lead the Jazz and Carlos Boozer added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Mehmet Okur and Wesley Matthews scored 16 apiece for Utah, which held Philadelphia to just three field goals in the fourth quarter…Thaddeus Young scored 20 for the Sixers, who played much of the game without starting center Samuel Dalembert. Dalembert had three fouls midway through the first quarter and played just 16:24, but still managed to pull down nine rebounds. Elton Brand and Jrue Holiday added 10 points apiece for Philadelphia, which was outrebounded 49-39 and had just 11 assists to Utah’s 24…The Sixers, who lost their third straight and were without Allen Iverson for the fourth consecutive game, hung with Utah through the first three quarters, then fell apart in the fourth.
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(From the Associated Press) - Bryant ignored an arm that had no feeling and connected on two huge 3-pointers in the second overtime, finishing with 38 points as the Los Angeles Lakers bounced back from a humbling Christmas Day loss to Cleveland by beating the Sacramento Kings 112-103 on Saturday night…Lamar Odom opened the second overtime with a putback basket that gave the Lakers the lead for good. Then Bryant took control, connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Lakers in front 109-103 with 2:37 left. Los Angeles outscored the Kings 11-2 in the second OT…Beno Udrih scored 23 points for the Kings, who held the Lakers scoreless in the final 3:35 of the fourth quarter to force overtime. Tyreke Evans had 18 points, Greene had 16 and Omri Casspi added 15 points and 10 rebounds. It was another frustrating loss for the Kings, who went scoreless in the overtime period in a loss to Cleveland. Against the Lakers, the Kings squandered a seven-point lead in the first overtime and shot just 1-of 8 in the second OT.
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(From the Associated Press) - Corey Maggette scored a season-high 33 points and had eight rebounds, one of six Warriors players in double figures, and Golden State held Phoenix to four points over the final 2:54 to beat the Suns 132-127 on Saturday and end a seven-game skid…Ellis, the workhorse of the Warriors offense, had 33 points and 10 assists while playing more than 45 minutes. It’s the 10th time in 18 games Ellis has topped the 30-point mark…Stephen Curry added 13 points, including two free throws with 3 seconds remaining, as Golden State outlasted Phoenix in a game that featured little defense from either team…Steve Nash had a season-high 36 points and nine assists for Phoenix, but the veteran point guard missed a 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds that would have tied the game. The Suns, who have lost seven straight road games, committed 21 turnovers which led to 35 points for the Warriors, not the type of performance Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry was looking for with his team preparing to face the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston in back-to-back games beginning Monday…Anthony Randolph had 17 points, while Morrow and C.J. Watson had 14 points apiece for Golden State, which hadn’t won since beating New Jersey 105-89 on Dec. 9…Phoenix’s Jason Richardson had 22 points against his former team while Amare Stoudemire had just nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
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