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(From the Associated Press) - A two-time NBA slam dunk champion, Jason Richardson went up for one of the easiest throwdowns he’ll ever get. Clang! With nothing but the rim between Richardson and a game-tying basket with 41.8 seconds left, he blew a one-handed dunk on a breakaway as the rest of the Phoenix Suns watched in disbelief, while the San Antonio Spurs savored their good luck in a 113-110 win on Sunday...Amare Stoudemire had a season-high 41 points and 12 rebounds, but thanks to Richardson’s gaffe and the Suns letting the final buzzer sound before getting a final shot off, the Spurs ended Phoenix’s five-game winning streak. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili had 21 points apiece, and Richard Jefferson scored 20 points off the bench in his best game since the disappointing addition to the Spurs lineup lost his starting job two weeks ago...Jefferson eclipsed 20 points for the first time since he had 24 in a win over Milwaukee on Dec. 29. He was 7 of 11 from the field and hit two 3-pointers. Jefferson chalked up some of his struggles to playing out of position...Stoudemire had 14 points in the fourth and Richardson half of his 20 points in the quarter, missing only one shot in the fourth—but it was a big one. His blown dunk turned out to be Phoenix’s best chance to tie the game. Steve Nash heaved a long 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left to get Phoenix within one, and the Suns had one more shot left after Ginobili sank two free throws. But needing to go the length of floor with 3.2 seconds left, Nash passed up a 3-pointer and instead passed to Channing Frye as the clock expired. Nash, who had 18 points and 11 assists, said he lost his balance and couldn’t get a shot off...Tony Parker, returning to the San Antonio lineup after missing Friday’s loss at Houston because of an illness, scored 16 points. Reserve DeJuan Blair added 14 points. Frye added 11 for the Suns. Stoudemire was 15 of 28 from the floor and eclipsed 30 points for the fifth time in the past 13 games.
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(From the Associated Press) - So much for all that confidence the Denver Nuggets had built up during their two impressive wins against the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season. The defending NBA champions picked up on the playoff vibe inside Staples Center on Sunday and got things back to normal, despite a poor-shooting effort from Kobe Bryant. Lamar Odom scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping the Lakers overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit and pull out a 95-89 victory against the team they knocked off in last year’s Western Conference finals. Pau Gasol added 15 points and 14 rebounds...Ron Artest added 17 points and tied a season high with six steals for the Lakers, who trail the Cavaliers by one game for the league’s best record. They lead Denver by 5 1/2 games for the Western Conference lead...Bryant was just 3 for 17 from the field, finishing with 14 points and 12 assists. He was 1 for 9 during the first three quarters—the only field goal coming on a layup with 5:37 left in the opening period...Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points for Denver before fouling out for the second time this season with 2:13 to play and the Nuggets down by four. “They did a great job of trying to keep the ball out of my hands and denied me every chance they got,” Anthony said. “They were much more aggressive in the second half and made adjustments to what we were doing.”...Kenyon Martin finished with six points in 36 minutes. He missed Friday night’s 107-102 win over Detroit because of a bruised left knee, the same one that forced him to miss two games earlier this month because of tendinitis...“Toward the end of the season, you need games like this to start firing you up toward a playoff type of consistency,” Karl said. “I think with teams that have won championships and have been there more consistently, there’s more confidence to be able to turn the switch on.”
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(From the Associated Press) - John Salmons had to give Joe Johnson his due. “Yeah, he’s tough,” Salmons said. “He hit some tough shots in overtime.” Johnson scored nine of his 24 points in overtime, Josh Smith had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and the Atlanta Hawks ended the Milwaukee Bucks’ winning streak at six with a 106-102 victory Sunday night. The Bucks lost for the first time since trading for Salmons, who finished with a season-high 32 points, including a straightaway 3-pointer that cut it to 103-102 with 9.7 seconds left in the extra period...Jerry Stackhouse finished with 20 points in a reserve role for the Bucks, who had won six straight overall and six in a row on the road...Al Horford had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who leaned on Johnson to isolate Salmons in overtime for a 3-pointer that forced a 97-all tie with 2:26 left and jumpers from the left and right wings that made it 101-97 at the 1:14 mark. Johnson, who added two free throws with 12.5 remaining to make it 103-99, also beat Salmons on a 16-foot fadeaway from the left side that ended the scoring in regulation with 32.1 seconds remaining...Bucks coach Scott Skiles was disappointed his team lost momentum late in the game. Luke Ridnour’s 19-footer gave Milwaukee a 77-76 lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Bucks didn’t trail again until the 1:50 mark of overtime. “We were up five points (in OT), and that’s where we’ve got to be smarter than that,” Skiles said. “We also crowded Josh Smith on the perimeter, and he drove in and laid the ball in the basket. We made two, three or four mistakes that were really costly right there. We played good enough to win. We had the chances to win. We just didn’t get the win.”
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(From the Associated Press) - Andray Blatche is starting to give Washington Wizards’ fans something to be excited about in a season of turmoil highlighted by the gun-related suspension of Gilbert Arenas and a couple of high-profile trades. The 23-year Blatche continued to thrive being the new leader of the Wizards, scoring a career-high 36 points and adding 15 rebounds in an 89-85 comeback victory over the New Jersey Nets on Sunday night. Newark native Randy Foye provided the winning margin with two jumpers in the final 44 seconds but Blatche, who has averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds over his last seven games, almost single-handedly carried Washington in this one...Blatche has come a long way. He was suspended for a game in January for complaining about his role in the offense. Now everything goes through him...With the game tied at 83, Foye was the one who stepped up. He hit a baseline jumper with 44.6 seconds to play and he added another from the same left side with 13.5 seconds left to extend the lead to four points...Yi Jianlian had 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for New Jersey, but missed two crucial free throws in the final 1:19 and could not get out quick enough to stop Foye on his last two shots. “What happened is what happened,” Yi said. “I missed the free throws and on the last two defenses the guy hit the shot. That’s the game. Learn from it.” Devin Harris had 18 points and 14 assists, however he was just 1 for 8 in the final quarter. “I had a bunch of wide open layups and jump shots, but in the fourth quarter we couldn’t buy a basket,” Harris said. Brook Lopez had 16 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey...Blatche scored 14 points in the third quarter to help Washington turn a six-point deficit into a 69-68 lead. He opened the fourth quarter with a basket in the low post to ignite a 10-3 spurt that had the Wizards ahead 79-72 when Blatche scored on a rebound with 5:21 to play. The Nets shot 68 percent from the field in the first quarter and had Harris, Yi and Lopez provided all the points in an 18-4 spurt that gave them a 29-15 lead. Washington cut the margin to seven points at the end of the quarter and narrowed the margin to six at the half.
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(From the Associated Press) - Despite being one of the youngest teams in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder haven’t let a two-game hiccup disrupt their pursuit of the playoffs. Kevin Durant scored 29 points, Nenad Krstic had a rare 3-pointer and added 16 points and Oklahoma City rolled to its second straight blowout, beating the Toronto Raptors 119-99 on Sunday night...The Raptors have lost three in a row without All-Star Chris Bosh, who didn’t even make the trip with a sprained left ankle. “Without Chris, we just needed to step up,” said Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu, who was held to seven points. “When he comes back, we’re going to be much stronger. His presence will be great throughout the game on both ends of the court. We hope that he comes back soon and puts this team in a better situation.” Jeff Green had 20 points and matched his career high with four steals, Russell Westbrook added 14 points, 10 assists and four steals, and rookie Serge Ibaka had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder. Oklahoma City took control with an early 12-0 run and led by at least nine throughout the second half...Andrea Bargnani and Sonny Weems each had 14 points to lead Toronto, which has lost three or more consecutive games for only the third time this season. Oklahoma City hasn’t had a losing streak longer than three games after finishing 23-59 last season and has now won 11 of 13. “It’s not going to just be going up and winning all of these games,” coach Scott Brooks said. “We’re going to have some stretches where we’re really going to have to buckle down and we’re going to get tested. We’ve got some tough games coming up soon.”...The Thunder—with the league’s stingiest field goal percentage defense— improved to 25-3 when scoring 100 or more this season. Oklahoma City shot 52 percent, held Toronto to 44 percent and scored 29 points off of the Raptors’ 18 turnovers. “You’re not going to get many easy buckets against this team, and they’re going to try to make it a transition game and get up and down,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said. “They did that, and we were not equal to the match tonight.”
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(From the Associated Press) - he Orlando Magic found a way to win without much help from All-Star center Dwight Howard. Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and the Magic pulled together to beat the slumping Miami Heat 96-80 on Sunday night. Vince Carter scored 17 points, and J.J. Redick 15 for the Magic, but the key to the game was that every player in the lineup had at least one field goal and two rebounds. “If everybody plays well, nobody has to play great,” said Magic guard Jameer Nelson, who had 12 points and four assists...Howard, who was on a run of 20 straight games where he had double-figure points and rebounds, scored only seven points on one of seven shooting. He tied a season low with five rebounds and played only 24 minutes...The Heat welcomed back Dwyane Wade, who missed four games with a strained calf muscle, but he ran out of gas in the second half. Wade had 17 of his 21 points in the first half. He hit only one of five shots from the field in the second half. “It felt good to be out there, but I’m not where I want to be,” Wade said. “I was a little rusty, but I was just trying to get back in the swing of things. I did some things that were positive and I’ll move forward from there.” Jermaine O’Neal added 16 points, and Rafer Alston had 15, but no one else from the Heat reached double figures and Miami lost its fourth straight game. “There were some opportunities for us to make a move and we didn’t capitalize,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We were just not poised enough when the game could swing one way or another.” Wade and O’Neal combined to get Howard in foul trouble, but Miami couldn’t do much when the Magic’s All-Star center went to the bench. He went to the bench with his fifth foul with 7:07 left and Orlando ahead 80-70. The Magic quickly built the lead to 85-70 on Redick’s 3-pointer and Jason Williams’ 18-footer. Miami got the deficit under 10 only once the rest of the game—when Rafer Alston hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 88-80 with 2:06 to play. However, Redick responded with another 3-pointer and Lewis followed with his second 3-pointer to put the game away.
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(From the Associated Press) - For one of the rare times this season, the Sacramento Kings were discussing defense and the role it played in their latest victory. Tyreke Evans scored 22 points to help the Kings beat the Clippers 97-92 on Sunday night. The Clippers shot 37 percent and the points allowed was a season low for Sacramento, which entered the game fourth worst in the NBA in points allowed (106.5)...Carl Landry scored 18 points, and Spencer Hawes had 16 points and nine rebounds for Sacramento. Omri Casspi added 12 points for the Kings, who committed just nine turnovers. Chris Kaman had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers. Drew Gooden added 17 points, and Eric Gordon, Rasual Butler and Baron Davis each had 13. “I think we took the first half off. I don’t believe we’re a good enough team to play the first half like that with poor energy,” Clippers coach Kim Hughes said. “I thought we competed in the second half. I was disappointed in our bigs and I thought we turned the ball over way too many times (15). I think we gave up 25 points on turnovers and we got six."...The road continues to be a difficult place for the Clippers. They dropped their fifth straight and ninth in 10 games since Jan. 25. “He (Evans) was tough and he put a lot of pressure on us defensively, attacking the basket” Gooden said. “It was a tough night defending him.” Hawes set the tone early with all 16 of his points coming in the first half. It was another strong game for the Kings center after his criticism of Westphal’s rotation led to him not suiting up Tuesday night. Reconciled after a meeting with Westphal, Hawes was back in the starting lineup Friday night and responded with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a victory over Utah.
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(From the Associated Press) - The way the Dallas Mavericks got started, it seemed like Dirk Nowitzki might get a welcome rest late in the opener of a two-game stretch in less than 24 hours. Except rookie Darren Collison and the New Orleans Hornets turned a lopsided game into a nailbiter before Nowitzki helped bail out the Mavericks. Nowitzki scored 14 of his 36 points while playing all of the fourth quarter, including a 9-foot turnaround jumper after a turnover by Collison in the final minute, and the Mavericks pulled out a 108-100 victory Sunday night to extend their NBA-high winning streak to seven games...The Hornets had cut what had been a 25-point deficit to 101-97 after Collison’s 3-pointer with 2:44 left capped the rookie’s stretch of eight consecutive points. But New Orleans didn’t get any closer and Collison, who had a season-high 35 points, had consecutive turnovers in the final minute that Dallas turned into baskets. Nowitzki’s jumper was the first score for either team since Collison’s 3-pointer. Caron Butler then stole the ball from Collison near midcourt and drove to the basket, missing the layup that Brendan Haywood slammed home...Butler had 19 points in his return to the Mavericks lineup. He played in his sixth game for Dallas since being traded from Washington, but had missed the last two after having a bad reaction to some medication...“You’re going to get sloppy at times. Don’t forget (New Orleans) I think 12 times this year has come back from double digits to win. We knew that,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Those two young kids are energetic. They’ve got a lot of fight in them.” Marcus Thornton, Collison’s fellow rookie, added 21 points for the Hornets. Peja Stojakovic had 16 points and Emeka Okafor had a season-high 17 rebounds. Two nights after scoring 40 points, West was held to 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Jason Kidd had 13 points and passed Maurice Cheeks for fourth on the NBA career list with his 2,311th steal. Kidd had 10 of his points in the first quarter...“We would have loved to have had more rest in the fourth quarter, but we screwed that up,” Nowitzki said. “Back-to-backs are part of the NBA and this is one of the tougher ones for us this season.”
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(From the Associated Press) - A two-time NBA slam dunk champion, Jason Richardson went up for one of the easiest throwdowns he’ll ever get. Clang! With nothing but the rim between Richardson and a game-tying basket with 41.8 seconds left, he blew a one-handed dunk on a breakaway as the rest of the Phoenix Suns watched in disbelief, while the San Antonio Spurs savored their good luck in a 113-110 win on Sunday...Amare Stoudemire had a season-high 41 points and 12 rebounds, but thanks to Richardson’s gaffe and the Suns letting the final buzzer sound before getting a final shot off, the Spurs ended Phoenix’s five-game winning streak. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili had 21 points apiece, and Richard Jefferson scored 20 points off the bench in his best game since the disappointing addition to the Spurs lineup lost his starting job two weeks ago...Jefferson eclipsed 20 points for the first time since he had 24 in a win over Milwaukee on Dec. 29. He was 7 of 11 from the field and hit two 3-pointers. Jefferson chalked up some of his struggles to playing out of position...Stoudemire had 14 points in the fourth and Richardson half of his 20 points in the quarter, missing only one shot in the fourth—but it was a big one. His blown dunk turned out to be Phoenix’s best chance to tie the game. Steve Nash heaved a long 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left to get Phoenix within one, and the Suns had one more shot left after Ginobili sank two free throws. But needing to go the length of floor with 3.2 seconds left, Nash passed up a 3-pointer and instead passed to Channing Frye as the clock expired. Nash, who had 18 points and 11 assists, said he lost his balance and couldn’t get a shot off...Tony Parker, returning to the San Antonio lineup after missing Friday’s loss at Houston because of an illness, scored 16 points. Reserve DeJuan Blair added 14 points. Frye added 11 for the Suns. Stoudemire was 15 of 28 from the floor and eclipsed 30 points for the fifth time in the past 13 games.
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(From the Associated Press) - So much for all that confidence the Denver Nuggets had built up during their two impressive wins against the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season. The defending NBA champions picked up on the playoff vibe inside Staples Center on Sunday and got things back to normal, despite a poor-shooting effort from Kobe Bryant. Lamar Odom scored nine of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds, helping the Lakers overcame an 11-point third-quarter deficit and pull out a 95-89 victory against the team they knocked off in last year’s Western Conference finals. Pau Gasol added 15 points and 14 rebounds...Ron Artest added 17 points and tied a season high with six steals for the Lakers, who trail the Cavaliers by one game for the league’s best record. They lead Denver by 5 1/2 games for the Western Conference lead...Bryant was just 3 for 17 from the field, finishing with 14 points and 12 assists. He was 1 for 9 during the first three quarters—the only field goal coming on a layup with 5:37 left in the opening period...Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points for Denver before fouling out for the second time this season with 2:13 to play and the Nuggets down by four. “They did a great job of trying to keep the ball out of my hands and denied me every chance they got,” Anthony said. “They were much more aggressive in the second half and made adjustments to what we were doing.”...Kenyon Martin finished with six points in 36 minutes. He missed Friday night’s 107-102 win over Detroit because of a bruised left knee, the same one that forced him to miss two games earlier this month because of tendinitis...“Toward the end of the season, you need games like this to start firing you up toward a playoff type of consistency,” Karl said. “I think with teams that have won championships and have been there more consistently, there’s more confidence to be able to turn the switch on.”
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(From the Associated Press) - John Salmons had to give Joe Johnson his due. “Yeah, he’s tough,” Salmons said. “He hit some tough shots in overtime.” Johnson scored nine of his 24 points in overtime, Josh Smith had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and the Atlanta Hawks ended the Milwaukee Bucks’ winning streak at six with a 106-102 victory Sunday night. The Bucks lost for the first time since trading for Salmons, who finished with a season-high 32 points, including a straightaway 3-pointer that cut it to 103-102 with 9.7 seconds left in the extra period...Jerry Stackhouse finished with 20 points in a reserve role for the Bucks, who had won six straight overall and six in a row on the road...Al Horford had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who leaned on Johnson to isolate Salmons in overtime for a 3-pointer that forced a 97-all tie with 2:26 left and jumpers from the left and right wings that made it 101-97 at the 1:14 mark. Johnson, who added two free throws with 12.5 remaining to make it 103-99, also beat Salmons on a 16-foot fadeaway from the left side that ended the scoring in regulation with 32.1 seconds remaining...Bucks coach Scott Skiles was disappointed his team lost momentum late in the game. Luke Ridnour’s 19-footer gave Milwaukee a 77-76 lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Bucks didn’t trail again until the 1:50 mark of overtime. “We were up five points (in OT), and that’s where we’ve got to be smarter than that,” Skiles said. “We also crowded Josh Smith on the perimeter, and he drove in and laid the ball in the basket. We made two, three or four mistakes that were really costly right there. We played good enough to win. We had the chances to win. We just didn’t get the win.”
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(From the Associated Press) - Andray Blatche is starting to give Washington Wizards’ fans something to be excited about in a season of turmoil highlighted by the gun-related suspension of Gilbert Arenas and a couple of high-profile trades. The 23-year Blatche continued to thrive being the new leader of the Wizards, scoring a career-high 36 points and adding 15 rebounds in an 89-85 comeback victory over the New Jersey Nets on Sunday night. Newark native Randy Foye provided the winning margin with two jumpers in the final 44 seconds but Blatche, who has averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds over his last seven games, almost single-handedly carried Washington in this one...Blatche has come a long way. He was suspended for a game in January for complaining about his role in the offense. Now everything goes through him...With the game tied at 83, Foye was the one who stepped up. He hit a baseline jumper with 44.6 seconds to play and he added another from the same left side with 13.5 seconds left to extend the lead to four points...Yi Jianlian had 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for New Jersey, but missed two crucial free throws in the final 1:19 and could not get out quick enough to stop Foye on his last two shots. “What happened is what happened,” Yi said. “I missed the free throws and on the last two defenses the guy hit the shot. That’s the game. Learn from it.” Devin Harris had 18 points and 14 assists, however he was just 1 for 8 in the final quarter. “I had a bunch of wide open layups and jump shots, but in the fourth quarter we couldn’t buy a basket,” Harris said. Brook Lopez had 16 points and 10 rebounds for New Jersey...Blatche scored 14 points in the third quarter to help Washington turn a six-point deficit into a 69-68 lead. He opened the fourth quarter with a basket in the low post to ignite a 10-3 spurt that had the Wizards ahead 79-72 when Blatche scored on a rebound with 5:21 to play. The Nets shot 68 percent from the field in the first quarter and had Harris, Yi and Lopez provided all the points in an 18-4 spurt that gave them a 29-15 lead. Washington cut the margin to seven points at the end of the quarter and narrowed the margin to six at the half.
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(From the Associated Press) - Despite being one of the youngest teams in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder haven’t let a two-game hiccup disrupt their pursuit of the playoffs. Kevin Durant scored 29 points, Nenad Krstic had a rare 3-pointer and added 16 points and Oklahoma City rolled to its second straight blowout, beating the Toronto Raptors 119-99 on Sunday night...The Raptors have lost three in a row without All-Star Chris Bosh, who didn’t even make the trip with a sprained left ankle. “Without Chris, we just needed to step up,” said Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu, who was held to seven points. “When he comes back, we’re going to be much stronger. His presence will be great throughout the game on both ends of the court. We hope that he comes back soon and puts this team in a better situation.” Jeff Green had 20 points and matched his career high with four steals, Russell Westbrook added 14 points, 10 assists and four steals, and rookie Serge Ibaka had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder. Oklahoma City took control with an early 12-0 run and led by at least nine throughout the second half...Andrea Bargnani and Sonny Weems each had 14 points to lead Toronto, which has lost three or more consecutive games for only the third time this season. Oklahoma City hasn’t had a losing streak longer than three games after finishing 23-59 last season and has now won 11 of 13. “It’s not going to just be going up and winning all of these games,” coach Scott Brooks said. “We’re going to have some stretches where we’re really going to have to buckle down and we’re going to get tested. We’ve got some tough games coming up soon.”...The Thunder—with the league’s stingiest field goal percentage defense— improved to 25-3 when scoring 100 or more this season. Oklahoma City shot 52 percent, held Toronto to 44 percent and scored 29 points off of the Raptors’ 18 turnovers. “You’re not going to get many easy buckets against this team, and they’re going to try to make it a transition game and get up and down,” Raptors coach Jay Triano said. “They did that, and we were not equal to the match tonight.”
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(From the Associated Press) - he Orlando Magic found a way to win without much help from All-Star center Dwight Howard. Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and the Magic pulled together to beat the slumping Miami Heat 96-80 on Sunday night. Vince Carter scored 17 points, and J.J. Redick 15 for the Magic, but the key to the game was that every player in the lineup had at least one field goal and two rebounds. “If everybody plays well, nobody has to play great,” said Magic guard Jameer Nelson, who had 12 points and four assists...Howard, who was on a run of 20 straight games where he had double-figure points and rebounds, scored only seven points on one of seven shooting. He tied a season low with five rebounds and played only 24 minutes...The Heat welcomed back Dwyane Wade, who missed four games with a strained calf muscle, but he ran out of gas in the second half. Wade had 17 of his 21 points in the first half. He hit only one of five shots from the field in the second half. “It felt good to be out there, but I’m not where I want to be,” Wade said. “I was a little rusty, but I was just trying to get back in the swing of things. I did some things that were positive and I’ll move forward from there.” Jermaine O’Neal added 16 points, and Rafer Alston had 15, but no one else from the Heat reached double figures and Miami lost its fourth straight game. “There were some opportunities for us to make a move and we didn’t capitalize,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We were just not poised enough when the game could swing one way or another.” Wade and O’Neal combined to get Howard in foul trouble, but Miami couldn’t do much when the Magic’s All-Star center went to the bench. He went to the bench with his fifth foul with 7:07 left and Orlando ahead 80-70. The Magic quickly built the lead to 85-70 on Redick’s 3-pointer and Jason Williams’ 18-footer. Miami got the deficit under 10 only once the rest of the game—when Rafer Alston hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 88-80 with 2:06 to play. However, Redick responded with another 3-pointer and Lewis followed with his second 3-pointer to put the game away.
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(From the Associated Press) - For one of the rare times this season, the Sacramento Kings were discussing defense and the role it played in their latest victory. Tyreke Evans scored 22 points to help the Kings beat the Clippers 97-92 on Sunday night. The Clippers shot 37 percent and the points allowed was a season low for Sacramento, which entered the game fourth worst in the NBA in points allowed (106.5)...Carl Landry scored 18 points, and Spencer Hawes had 16 points and nine rebounds for Sacramento. Omri Casspi added 12 points for the Kings, who committed just nine turnovers. Chris Kaman had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers. Drew Gooden added 17 points, and Eric Gordon, Rasual Butler and Baron Davis each had 13. “I think we took the first half off. I don’t believe we’re a good enough team to play the first half like that with poor energy,” Clippers coach Kim Hughes said. “I thought we competed in the second half. I was disappointed in our bigs and I thought we turned the ball over way too many times (15). I think we gave up 25 points on turnovers and we got six."...The road continues to be a difficult place for the Clippers. They dropped their fifth straight and ninth in 10 games since Jan. 25. “He (Evans) was tough and he put a lot of pressure on us defensively, attacking the basket” Gooden said. “It was a tough night defending him.” Hawes set the tone early with all 16 of his points coming in the first half. It was another strong game for the Kings center after his criticism of Westphal’s rotation led to him not suiting up Tuesday night. Reconciled after a meeting with Westphal, Hawes was back in the starting lineup Friday night and responded with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a victory over Utah.
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(From the Associated Press) - The way the Dallas Mavericks got started, it seemed like Dirk Nowitzki might get a welcome rest late in the opener of a two-game stretch in less than 24 hours. Except rookie Darren Collison and the New Orleans Hornets turned a lopsided game into a nailbiter before Nowitzki helped bail out the Mavericks. Nowitzki scored 14 of his 36 points while playing all of the fourth quarter, including a 9-foot turnaround jumper after a turnover by Collison in the final minute, and the Mavericks pulled out a 108-100 victory Sunday night to extend their NBA-high winning streak to seven games...The Hornets had cut what had been a 25-point deficit to 101-97 after Collison’s 3-pointer with 2:44 left capped the rookie’s stretch of eight consecutive points. But New Orleans didn’t get any closer and Collison, who had a season-high 35 points, had consecutive turnovers in the final minute that Dallas turned into baskets. Nowitzki’s jumper was the first score for either team since Collison’s 3-pointer. Caron Butler then stole the ball from Collison near midcourt and drove to the basket, missing the layup that Brendan Haywood slammed home...Butler had 19 points in his return to the Mavericks lineup. He played in his sixth game for Dallas since being traded from Washington, but had missed the last two after having a bad reaction to some medication...“You’re going to get sloppy at times. Don’t forget (New Orleans) I think 12 times this year has come back from double digits to win. We knew that,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “Those two young kids are energetic. They’ve got a lot of fight in them.” Marcus Thornton, Collison’s fellow rookie, added 21 points for the Hornets. Peja Stojakovic had 16 points and Emeka Okafor had a season-high 17 rebounds. Two nights after scoring 40 points, West was held to 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Jason Kidd had 13 points and passed Maurice Cheeks for fourth on the NBA career list with his 2,311th steal. Kidd had 10 of his points in the first quarter...“We would have loved to have had more rest in the fourth quarter, but we screwed that up,” Nowitzki said. “Back-to-backs are part of the NBA and this is one of the tougher ones for us this season.”
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