NBA Daily Results

vs(From the Associated Press) - No one passes out trophies for winning 36 games in an NBA season, even if it is a franchise record, and there’s definitely not much pride in beating the Washington Wizards these days, especially if the game goes to overtime. The Charlotte Bobcats have a more significant goal, a playoff berth for the first time in the team’s six-year history. To do that, they need to beat teams like the Wizards, and Tuesday night’s 95-86 effort in overtime was just enough to advance another step in the right direction. “Those are always the teams that always give us problems,” said Gerald Wallace, who had 17 points, 19 rebounds and got two Wizards to foul out in overtime. “The teams that really aren’t fighting for anything usually give us a better fight than the teams that are. We have to come out and take them just like they are a team that’s in the playoffs with us. That’s the thing that we have to do every night.”...“The race is so close, and we don’t want to get left out,” said Stephen Jackson, who scored 16 points but revealed after the game that he is hampered by a bruised ligament in his left hand. “We’ve just got to find ways to play better.” The loss moved the Wizards closer to their own dubious place in history. Washington has dropped 12 straight and will tie the franchise mark for longest losing streak if it fails to win at Indiana on Wednesday. The Wizards haven’t won since defeating lowly New Jersey 89-85 on Feb. 28. And just when it appeared it couldn’t get any worse for the Wizards, it did. Andray Blatche, who became Washington’s top scoring threat over the last month after the team’s top stars were traded, didn’t play after the first 7 1/2 minutes after a spat with coach Flip Saunders. Saunders said he tried to talk to Blatche about playing better defense when Blatche became defiant...Asked if Blatche will play in Wednesday night’s game at Indiana, Saunders said: “I would doubt it. I don’t know, but I would doubt it.” Blatche’s absence became acute when Wallace drew an offensive foul on Al Thornton and drew contact from JaVale McGee on a drive to the basket in the first two minutes of overtime. Those were the sixth fouls on both players, and the Bobcats went on to outscore the Wizards 13-4 in the extra period...Boris Diaw also scored 17 points as all five Bobcats finished in double figures. Mike Miller scored 15 points for the Wizards. McGee had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Thornton had 10 points.

vs(From the Associated Press) -
Danilo Gallinari messed with ‘Melo—and the New York Knicks emerged as the winners. Gallinari scored 17 of his 28 points during a spirited duel with Carmelo Anthony in the third quarter, and the Knicks beat the Denver Nuggets 109-104 on Tuesday night. “He was taking the challenge. I took the challenge. We played a great game and he played a great game, and we won,” Gallinari said. The second-year forward from Italy matched shots—and words—with one of the NBA’s biggest stars. “Actually it was kind of fun for me to see him hold his ground and not back down,” Anthony said. “He was kind of talking back to me out there, too, which I was kind of surprised.” Al Harrington added 23 points for the Knicks, who climbed out of an early 12-point hole and took control late in the third period. David Lee finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Anthony scored 36 points and Chauncey Billups had 25 for the Nuggets, who lost their second straight and fell into a tie with Dallas for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Their magic number for clinching a postseason spot remained at three...Anthony wouldn’t divulge what Gallinari said to him, but it was enough to get the officials to order the talking to stop. “That’s the challenge. That’s basketball,” Gallinari said. “Talking is a great part of basketball. If you don’t talk in basketball, you cannot play basketball. You’ve got to talk.”...Denver let one get away at the start of a difficult trip that includes stops at Boston, Orlando and Dallas. “I think this is probably our most disappointing loss this season because it just means so much,” said Billups, acknowledging the Nuggets had to win this one because of the difficulty of the remaining games on trip.



vs(From the Associated Press) -
The Detroit Pistons were eliminated from playoff contention, almost fittingly, by a team that came into the game on a nine-game losing streak. Danny Granger had 32 points to lead the Indiana Pacers to a season sweep of the Pistons with a 98-83 win on Tuesday night. The Pacers are 20-46 against the rest of the NBA but beat Detroit in all four meetings this season—the first time the Pacers swept a season series with the Pistons...Kuester, normally one of the league’s calmer coaches, was ejected for rushing the court after an offensive foul was called on Ben Gordon in the third quarter. “I was trying to fight for our team,” he said. “The foul differential was 26-14 tonight, and that isn’t even giving us a chance to win.” Brandon Rush scored 20 points for Indiana, while Troy Murphy added 10 points and 12 rebounds. Earl Watson had 13 assists...Tayshaun Prince had 14 points for the Pistons, who lost starting point guard Will Bynum in the first half with a back bruise. Indiana led by double figures in the first quarter, but only held a 52-49 advantage at the half. The Pacers regained the momentum in the third, moving the margin to 13 in the aftermath of Kuester’s ejection. “We got a little sluggish, but I thought we came out really well and played good second half of basketball, especially defensively,” Indiana coach Jim O’Brien said. The Pacers led by 11 going into the fourth and were never seriously threatened down the stretch. “We’re not going to stop playing, and we’re not going to stop working,” Kuester said. “I told the guys that we have 11 games and a lot of practices left, and we’re going to approach every one of them like we are going to the playoffs. That’s what Indiana is doing, and look what they did to us tonight.”

vs(From the Associated Press) -
Dirk Nowitzki was ejected. A 16-point lead had dissolved into a four-point deficit. And that recent 13-game winning streak was looking like something that happened a long, long time ago. But the Dallas Mavericks still had one thing going for them. It was Jason Kidd’s 37th birthday, and he wasn’t about to let the Los Angeles Clippers ruin it. Kidd scored a season-high 26 points, most of it coming during a game-breaking spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that sent the Mavericks to a 106-96 victory over the Clippers on Tuesday night. “Since Dirk was gone, I thought I would play Dirk today,” said Kidd, who made 10 of 21 shots, going 6 of 11 on 3-pointers. “I had some great looks early on that went in and out. Earlier in my career, I would’ve stopped shooting because I missed a couple. But I thought the team needed some scoring so I stepped up.”...Since their long winning streak, the Mavs had lost three of the last four games. They were coming off two straight losses, including a spanking in New Orleans the night before. They came out strong, scoring 62 points in the first half and were comfortably ahead when Nowitzki didn’t like a foul call against him with 9:16 left in the third quarter. Nowitzki told official Bill Kennedy what he thought of the call. Kennedy responded by calling a technical foul, screaming, “Bam! Right there!” and pointing at Nowitzki. Nowitzki apparently said something else because he got hit with another technical foul and an automatic ejection...The Clippers lost for the 10th time in 11 games, and for the 11 straight time on the road. Drew Gooden, who started the season with Dallas and was traded to Washington in February, had a season highs of 26 points and 20 rebounds for Los Angeles. “I still feel like they’re family,” Gooden said. “This game meant a lot to me.” Chris Kaman added 22 points and nine rebounds. Rasual Butler and Eric Gordon each scored 16 points, and Davis 11, but the Clippers got only five points from their bench. Four reserves went a combined 2 of 10...Jason Terry scored 14 points for Dallas, Haywood and Shawn Marion had 12 and Beaubois had 10.