'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 26

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http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=3410

Tracy McGrady health update: More exams needed
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test conducted today on Houston Rockets guard/forward Tracy McGrady at the Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute revealed no change in his left knee from prior diagnosis. McGrady is expected to seek additional medical opinions in the coming days. He is not expected to play tonight for precautionary reasons. McGrady’s status will be re-evaluated when the team returns from the 2009 NBA All-Star Break.

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http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=3409

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Mo Williams has been selected to replace injured Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson (torn right labrum ) in the 2009 Playstation® Skills Challenge to be held on Saturday, Feb. 14 at US Airways Center in Phoenix.

The PlayStation® Skills Challenge will be televised live nationally as part of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night, which will also feature the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout, Sprite Slam Dunk and Haier Shooting Stars. TNT and ESPN Radio’s national coverage will begin at 8 p.m. EST from US Airways Center. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 15, will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in more than 215 countries and territories in 44 languages.

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http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... sible.html

The Detroit Pistons wanted to have some momentum going into the All-Star break, but this is not what they had in mind. Atlanta's 99-95 win over the Pistons was Detroit's third consecutive loss. "It's tough," Detroit coach Michael Curry said. "You definitely don't get to enjoy your break because of that. But guys look physically tired; they look mentally drained, so hopefully this can re-energize them." The factors contributing to Wednesday's loss weren't all that different than what has plagued the Pistons through what has been a season filled with one disappointing performance after another.When it came time to grab a big rebound, the Pistons failed. When it came time to knock down a shot, open or contested, the Pistons failed. And when it came time to make a defensive stop, the Pistons failed.

So as they head into the All-Star break, the Pistons (27-24) continue their search for answers to the numerous problems that have left them just three games over .500. And the problems Detroit has experienced seem to be even more troublesome at The Palace of Auburn Hills. With Wednesday's loss, Detroit now has lost six of its past seven at home. "We haven't played well at home all season," Detroit's Tayshaun Prince said. "It's kind of the same way. We play good at one point in the game, but for the most part, we're not putting together a 48-minute game." Prince recalled similar struggles during Larry Brown's first season as the Pistons' head coach, although those struggles didn't last this long."Eventually, we started playing some great basketball," Prince said of the 2003-2004 NBA champion Pistons team. "Hopefully, we can end up playing good basketball like we did that year."Playing good basketball has not been a problem for Detroit most of this season. Sustaining that play has been the real issue. Detroit had some good stretches of play in the first quarter against Atlanta, but ex-Piston Flip Murray finished the quarter with a 17-foot jumper that tied the score at 24. The second quarter was just as tight as the first, and it was Murray once again delivering a last-second shot off the Hawks bench.

His floating jumper over Rasheed Wallace with 0.2 seconds to play in the second gave Atlanta a 48-46 halftime lead. Murray finished with 23 points on 10-for-18 shooting. "I just came out and tried to be aggressive, try to give us a spark off the bench," Murray said.Leading the way for the Pistons was Allen Iverson, whose status was up in the air until shortly before tipoff. Iverson did not play in Tuesday's loss at Chicago due to flu-like symptoms. Iverson, who had a game-high 28 points, wasn't feeling all that much better against the Hawks even if his scoring numbers might suggest otherwise. "I actually threw up at a timeout, so I was struggling," he said. "I was really weak." The same could be said about the Pistons record, which is well below what this group is accustomed to having heading into the All-Star break. Players are disappointed, but no one appears ready to panic. "The whole thing is to stay positive, stay with each other and not point fingers or play the blame game," Iverson said. "And be real men about the situation. We win together, we lose together. It's important for us to stay together. You don't win a championship at the All-Star break."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=3405

Robert Horry is tall, old, good at three-point shooting and making clutch shots, and if you only see him from the neck on up you can pretend you’re talking to Will Smith, which would be neat and stuff. The Sacramento Bee (Scott Howard-Cooper) reports (via blog):

Robert Horry wants to play again this season. That much is obvious after talking with him in advance of the Kings arriving in his adopted hometown of Houston and in the aftermath of the Sam Amick report that the Spurs weighed a bid for Brad Miller or John Salmons and could use Horry in a sign-and-trade for salary-cap purposes. The important league-wide development is that Horry rates the Spurs and Celtics as his most-likely landing spots. Both understandable. San Antonio is a contender and familiar from the past five seasons there and close to Houston, an important consideration to stay near his family. Boston is the defending champion and has kept him on the radar all along as a potential stretch-drive signing.

I’m not sure how much game he has left. At this point Horry should probably only be considered useful as a bench contributor to come in, play five minutes per half, fire three three-pointers, hit one or two of them, and sit down.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD969PTMG0

Ray Allen, who hyperextended his right thumb in the first half.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290211012

Eric Gordon scored 30 points and the Los Angeles Clippers rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then beat the New York Knicks 128-124 Wednesday night.

Steve Novak added a career-high 23 points, Zach Randolph had 22 points and 15 rebounds, Al Thornton had 20 points and Baron Davis 13 points and a career-high 20 assists for the Clippers.

Nate Robinson had 33 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds, and Wilson Chandler added 27 points for the Knicks, who lost their sixth in a row overall and their 10th consecutive against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ugh_f.html

It wasn't known until shortly before tipoff that Allen Iverson was going to play Wednesday night. Not only did he play, but Iverson turned in one of his better scoring performances with the Pistons.Iverson's team-high 28 points wasn't enough as the Atlanta Hawks held on for a 99-95 win.

Iverson returned to the lineup after missing Tuesday night's loss at Chicago due to flu-like symptoms. "I'm still real light-headed," Iverson said. "That was my problem the other night. I just was dizzy at times."

Pistons coach Michael Curry was among those impressed with Iverson's play despite still being under the weather. "He came out and was aggressive," Curry said. "Fought his way through the game, continued to help us get to the paint." And that still wasn't enough to win in this season of frustration for the Pistons (27-24), who are three games over .500 heading into the All-Star break. "It's not a good feeling," Iverson said. "But in life you have to deal with adversity. It's something that we're going to have to deal with right now."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ugh_f.html

Horford stands out : The Atlanta Hawks have been trying to build a playoff team for the past few years. But it wasn't until Al Horford arrived a year ago that their playoff drought ended.

Horford, who played at Grand Ledge High School before going on to play for Florida, had a solid performance Wednesday with 15 points and seven rebounds.

"He's been great for them," Curry said. "He's brought an edge with them. He's going to be a really good power forward in this league for a long time."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ugh_f.html

Stuckey deals with pain : Guard Rodney Stuckey suffered a right ankle sprain near the end of Tuesday's loss at Chicago. He played 31 minutes against Atlanta, but wasn't able to explode to the basket off the dribble as often as he would have liked.

"It's still pretty sore," he said. "But I'm good."

Despite the ankle injury, Stuckey said he will still participate in the rookie-sophomore challenge during All-Star weekend in Phoenix.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ugh_f.html

Wallace's minutes reduced : Rasheed Wallace has been playing a lot more minutes recently. It appears the extra court time finally caught up with him.

Wallace was limited to just under 25 minutes against Atlanta after asking Curry to take him out in the third quarter. "He said he was fatigued, and the tendinitis in his knee was bothering him," Curry said. "We asked a couple times if he thought he could go back. He didn't think he could go back."

Wallace came into Wednesday's game averaging 38.2 minutes in Detroit's past five games.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

Lakers' Bryant is youngest to reach milestone: Kobe Bryant bounced back from the flu and became the youngest player in NBA history to reach the 23,000-point plateau with 34 in the Los Angeles Lakers' 105-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder late Tuesday.

Bryant -- 30 years, 171 days old -- made a free throw in the second quarter to join 20 others who've reached that lofty mark.

Wilt Chamberlain -- 30 years, 176 days -- still ranks as the fastest, reaching it in 606 games. Bryant did it in his 917th.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

Former Clippers GM Baylor sues team, NBA : Elgin Baylor , the former Los Angeles Clippers general manager who was dismissed last fall after 22 years, has sued the team, the NBA and team owner Donald Sterling, alleging employment discrimination.

Baylor's attorney, Carl Douglas , said the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles.

The lawsuit maintains that Baylor was "discriminated against and unceremoniously released from his position with the team on account of his age and his race" and that he was "grossly underpaid during his tenure with the Clippers, never earning more than $350,000 per year, when compared with the compensation scheme for general managers employed by every other team in the NBA."

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

A day after finally making the Eastern Conference All-Star team as an injury replacement, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams was picked to appear in the skills challenge, replacing Orlando's Jameer Nelson.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

Ray Allen , the Boston Celtics' second-leading scorer, hyperextended his right thumb during the first half of Boston's game against the New Orleans Hornets and did not return.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash sat out Wednesday's game against the Cavaliers for some much-needed rest.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20415/1127

Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon missed against the Spurs (right hamstring).

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20407/1127

Pistons catch timely break: The All-Star break, which began for the Pistons after Wednesday's 99-95 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, comes at a good time. With injuries and illness working through the lineup, a busy schedule of late, and a difficult stretch in the schedule upcoming, coach Michael Curry feels the time is right for a few days off.

The lone Pistons representative for Sunday's All-Star Game in Phoenix is Allen Iverson, who has been bothered with flu-like symptoms. "Watching some of the last couple of games, physically some guys need a break," Curry said. The Pistons could use a mental break, too. "It's been as challenging mentally as they've had since they've been here," Curry said of the veterans who've been through the string of Eastern Conference finals appearances. "It's definitely a good time for it," Tayshaun Prince said after Wednesday's loss, the Pistons' third straight and 12th in their last 17. "We definitely need this, especially the way we're playing right now. Hopefully the guys that are injured can get back healthy but, more importantly, we definitely do need this time."

For a player like Prince, who's been through all the recent success with the Pistons, this first half of the season has been an adjustment. "Definitely tough, definitely tough. I've never been in this situation," Prince said.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20407/1127

The Chicago Bulls have asked the league to review a screen by Antonio McDyess in Tuesday's game that resulted in Bulls guard Derrick Rose getting hurt.

Rose tried to get around McDyess with 10.6 seconds left in the game, ran into a McDyess screen and complained about head and neck pain.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 20407/1127

Former Piston Flip Murray scored 23 off the bench.

"I just came out and tried to be aggressive, tried to give us a spark off the bench," Murray said. "There were a lot of mismatches, a lot of switching, and I had a lot of big guys on me."

Hawks coach Mike Woodson , on the Pistons: "This team pushes you to play hard and if you don't meet that intensity, they can embarrass you."

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http://www.hoopsworld.com/Blogs/Courtsi ... E_CODE=NBA

Chris Duhon has an ankle injury. From what I can tell, it hasn't been fully diagnosed yet (MRI pending). There was mention of a stress fracture as a possibility - but admittedly this is sketchy.