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Denver Nuggets forward Nene has a bone bruise on his right knee and won't play in Monday's game against the Boston Celtics.
The tests showed that his knee has no structural damage. He is listed day-to-day.Nene was injured in the final minute of Denver's 120-117 loss at Milwaukee on Sunday when he banged knees with Bucks forward Richard Jefferson.
Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, who has missed the past 1 1/2 games with back spasms is a game-time decision.
Cheikh Samb is almost a Knick
The Knicks appear to be closing in on a deal for D-Leaguer Cheikh Samb, who may be best remembered for being included in the Allen Iverson deal this season or for being posterized by Brandon Roy.
The 7-foot center, originally drafted by the Lakers in the second round, was one of the players that worked out on Monday for the Knicks, who have two available roster spots. Nothing is official just yet but Samb has the inside track on one of the two roster spots. He is the very definition of a project. He’s already been on three team’s rosters - the Pistons, Nuggets and Clippers - the latter of which released him on Feb. 16.
It’s not really accurate to call him a “D-Leaguer” — he’s played more games in the NBA (16) than in the D-League (nine) this year, and hasn’t played a D-League game since Jan. 2. But whatever, I’m glad to see he’s latching on with another team. Not that I think he’ll actually play much for the Knicks, but I think he could be a good fit in Mike D’Antoni’s system — he’s athletic enough to get up and down the court in a hurry, he can initiate fast breaks with a big block and he’s not scared to shoot from beyond the arc.
Barkley pleads guilty in Scottsdale to DUI charges
Charles Barkley has pleaded guilty in a Scottsdale court to charges of driving drunk and will face jail time.
According to Scottsdale court records, the 45-year-old former NBA star pleaded guilty Monday to two misdemeanor charges related to the same drunken driving arrest. The NBA television commentator and basketball Hall of Famer is set to begin a five-day jail sentence on March 21. He must pay more than $2,000 in fines and attend an alcohol treatment program. Under Arizona law, he'll also be forced to install an ignition interlock device on his vehicles.
Barkley was stopped by police Dec. 31 shortly after leaving a Scottsdale nightclub. He was arrested after failing a field sobriety test.
Injured Wizards Arenas, Haywood do some drills
Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas took another step toward a possible return from knee surgery this season by taking part in non-contact drills during practice Monday. Injured center Brendan Haywood, working his way back from a torn wrist ligament, also took part in the drills. "We had two guys that were able to participate that haven't been able to in the past," interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "Both Brendan and Gilbert did some shooting and some running up and down the floor, so it was great to see those guys out there."
Neither has played this season and no timetable has been set for either to play -- or even practice full-contact -- although the Wizards have been expecting both to suit up at some point this season. "I'm getting better and just waiting for my time," Haywood said. "Gradually I've been shooting, and the less and less restriction I feel, the more I shoot. It felt strange at first, but it feels natural now. There's still a little bit of swelling and it doesn't bend as good as I need it to in order to play NBA defense."
Arenas, yet to give the Wizards any return on his new six-year, $111 million contract, did not speak to reporters after practice. "My main thing is getting the guys healthy for next year," team co-captain Antawn Jamison said. "This year is what it is. It would be an added bonus if Gilbert or Brendan can come back this year just to get a few games under their belts, but it's about the future of the organization."
Boozer returns to Jazz starting lineup
Jazz forward Carlos Boozer returned to the lineup for the first time in three months Monday when Utah hosted Atlanta.
Boozer received a loud round of "Booooooooooooz!" cheers when he was introduced with the starting lineup. He missed 44 straight games with an injured left leg. Boozer said after the morning shootaround that his leg felt the best it had since he injured it Nov. 19 during a game against Milwaukee. The two-time All-Star strained a tendon in his lower quadriceps, then had surgery on Jan. 9 to remove loose cartilage in his knee.
Boozer averaged 20.5 points and 11.7 rebounds in the first 12 games, then missed the next 44.
Earl Clark scored 22 points, and No. 6 Louisville overcame 16 turnovers with good defense and solid 3-point shooting Monday night in a 76-58 victory over Georgetown that moved the Cardinals into a tie for first place in the Big East.
Samardo Samuels, Terrence Williams and Preston Knowles added 10 points apiece for the Cardinals (22-5, 13-2), who have won four straight and are tied with Connecticut atop the conference standings. Louisville had a 17-point first-half lead cut to eight in the second half and shot only 15-for-35 after the 9-for-9 start, but the defense forced 14 Georgetown turnovers and held the Hoyas to 31 percent shooting in the second half.
Chris Wright scored 12 points, and Greg Monroe had 10 for the Hoyas (14-12, 5-10), who have lost nine of 11 as they continue their challenging spin through the nation's basketball elite. Georgetown has now played six teams currently ranked in the top 10, and they'll make it seven against No. 10 Villanova on Saturday. The Hoyas are 2-4 in those games.
This week’s freep.com/sports poll question: Which seed will the Pistons have in the playoffs, or will they make it at all?
The way this team is playing, nothing would surprise me. When the obit is written on this era of Pistons basketball, last night could be given as the time of death. We’ll accept a team growing old. We’ll accept a team having less talent than their opponent. I’ll even accept the Chauncey-A.I. trade because it was intended to shake things up and open up cap space. But we won’t accept tank jobs, and that’s what happened last night. The Pistons are just lucky that the game was on the road, on a Sunday night and the Oscars were on. So a lot of people had their attention focused elsewhere. The NBA is chock-full of mail-in games, but those are midweek outings against the Clippers. When you’re on a losing streak, playing on national TV against your No. 1 division rival and the best player in the game, you have to give maximum effort. And the Pistons came out with nothing.
The game’s lowpoints became blurred in their ugliness, so I don’t know if these are in sequential order. But this is what I recall of the third quarter. LeBron hit Ben Wallace with a perfect pass underneath the basket for an easy dunk. The Pistons’ offensive set consisted of four players standing around on one side watching Tayshaun Prince shoot an airball. Then Wally Szczerbiak nailed a wide-open three. It was actually painful to watch. So where will they be seeded in the playoffs? At this point, it doesn’t matter. They’re done in the first round regardless. Heck, the way they’re playing now, I wouldn’t take even money that they even make the postseason.
Lawyers. Arbitrators. League officials. Media. Fans. Jermaine O'Neal had a lot of explaining to do, to all sorts of people, and none of it was pleasant. "But the toughest part for me was to explain it to my daughter," he says. He hadn't brought himself to tell Asjia what had happened on Nov. 19, 2004, or why, in the days that followed, he was home watching games in progress rather than reviewing games on tape. But a sharp 5-year-old doesn't take long to figure it out, especially when her friends are fans of her father, and that father had recently participated in the ugliest brawl in NBA history. "Dad, somebody told me you were suspended for punching somebody."Her information was accurate, and could be easily confirmed by video airing endlessly on every imaginable television network. O'Neal's Indiana Pacers just 45.9 seconds away from a statement victory against the defending champion Detroit Pistons. Pistons center Ben Wallace shoving Ron Artest after a hard foul. A fan tossing a cup of beer on Artest as the Pacers forward lay on the scorers table. Artest, and then teammate Stephen Jackson, storming the stands. Fans throwing chairs, bottles and popcorn buckets.Asjia's father, considered one of the NBA's more thoughtful and philanthrophic players, impulsively sliding across the floor and landing an overhand right to a fan who had raced onto the court. "More than anything, you want to be considered a great father and a role model, especially for your kid," O'Neal says. "So that was hard."
Asjia is 10 now. Her father is 30, and Tuesday night will play his fourth game for his third team, the Heat. He will face the Pistons. Detroit's roster is much different than it was on that night. So is O'Neal. "I told some of the guys in here, that changed my life," O'Neal says. "That was the beginning of some really tough times in Indiana for me. Even though I was still able to make some All-Star teams, mentally I was worn out. And once I wore out mentally, physically I started to wear down. I'm just now starting to get my feet under me." O'Neal's story starts in Columbia, S.C.. Raised primarily by his mother Angela, he developed a love for sports, football above any other. He was a quarterback on the Eau Claire squad, with an arm strong enough that he still likes to show off his spiral. "I just got too tall," he says. He grew five inches to 6 feet 9 in one summer, and he grew mentally and emotionally under the tutelage of his basketball coach, George Glymph, who challenged players and occupied their idle time with cross-country training and extra study halls. When Glymph first met O'Neal, the teenager was withdrawn, ashamed of his financial circumstances. Glymph practiced interviews with him, and by the time O'Neal graduated, he was self-assured enough to accommodate the dozens of fans lining up for his autograph. Against Glymph's advice, he applied for the NBA Draft, just as fellow South Carolina star Kevin Garnett had the year before. Portland drafted him 17th overall and, over the next four seasons, O'Neal received his "College 101" training from Trail Blazer veterans Gary Trent, Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf and Brian Grant. "I can't think of any better way to learn the business than to be involved with it," O'Neal says.
Except that he wasn't that involved on the court, playing sparingly. That changed after his trade to Indiana. He led the league in blocks in 2000-01 and won the NBA's Most Improved Player award in 2002, when he started a run of six straight All-Star selections. He also impressed off the court, winning the Magic Johnson award for cooperation with the media in 2004. His image was pristine. "Obviously, the Detroit situation shocked the whole system," he says. "Obviously you don't condone any type of fighting. But you've got to make the best decision for you and your family at the time, and you don't have a lot of time to think out that process. If someone hits me over the head with a chair and kills me, who is going to tell my wife and my daughter and my son that Daddy's not going to come home?" Instead, Daddy would be spending more time at home. The NBA initially suspended O'Neal for 25 games, longer than anyone but Artest or Jackson. An arbitrator in federal court reduced it to 15 games, ruling that the punch came "in the flow of the game" and O'Neal had a right to protect himself and teammates. Criminal and civil charges were dropped. Still, it took its toll. The Pacers, who lost 10 of 15 games during O'Neal's absence, were never the same on or off the court. "All of a sudden, it became about other issues, not basketball," O'Neal says. "We always talked, me and management, about things we needed to do to make the image look better for our team and our city. Basketball was just secondary, and I never had the opportunity to really address the issues that I was having physically."
Antonio McDyess – If you can ignore his miserable effort against the Cavaliers last night, he had recorded three straight double-doubles before that. The 24 points and 14 rebounds he put down on the Bucks is enough to make him a hot fantasy pickup in all leagues. The Pistons are struggling so it’s possible that changes may occur, but McDyess is well worth an add at this point.
The Pistons can't hit open 3s, and can't stop opponents from hitting them. Somwhere Flip Saunders wonders for the umpteenth time what he did wrong.
Pistons Fall To .500
Delonte West scored 25 points in his first game since mid-January and LeBron James added 20, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 99-78 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. West, sidelined since Jan. 15 with a fractured right wrist, was 8-of-11 from the field and made all five of his 3-point attempts. He scored 13 points in the first quarter when the Cavaliers put the game away against the sluggish Pistons, who have lost six straight for the first time since February 2004, and fell to 27-27. James, who scored 55 points Friday night against Milwaukee, played just 31 minutes, added nine assists and five rebounds. Allen Iverson led the Pistons with 14 points. The Cavaliers, who trailed only at 2-0, had three big runs in the first half, the first two coming less than 15 minutes into the contest. Leading 9-8 early in the first quarter, Cleveland went on a 15-0 run, sparked by two 3-pointers by West and five points by James, pushing the lead to 16.
The Cavaliers added a 12-0 spurt early in the second quarter, building the lead to 43-19. That burst featured two 3-pointers from Mo Williams and six points by Zydrunas Ilgauskas. A 13-0 run later in the period, sparked by seven points by James and five by West, including another 3-pointer, pushed the lead to 63-29 with 1:46 left before halftime. Cleveland built the lead to 36 in the third quarter against a reeling Detroit team. The news doesn't get any better for the Pistons, who have lost 15 of 20. Sunday's game began a five-game trip, which also features stops in Miami, New Orleans, Orlando and Boston. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers, who own the NBA's best home record at 25-1, lead the Pistons by 16 games in the Central Division. Ilgauskas added 16 for Cleveland, while Szczerbiak scored 15. Walter Herrmanm scored 13 for Detroit.
Notes: Detroit G Rodney Stuckey, who totaled five points in the previous two games, scored 10. ... Pistons F Jason Maxiell was given a technical foul in the second quarter. ... The Cavaliers committed three turnovers through the first three quarters. ... Cavaliers radio play-by-play announcer Joe Tait missed the game because of kidney stones.
Curry's not getting fired
You can write all the emails you want. You can start your own Fire Curry website if you want. Michael Curry isn't getting fired. Not this year and probably not next year. Joe Dumars isn't going to do to Curry what Steve Kerr did to Terry Porter in Phoenix. He's not going to scapegoat him. This mess here is as much on the players as it is on Curry and it's going to be cleaned up collectively, or not at all.
Has Dumars been thrilled with everything Curry has done? Absolutely not. The two talk daily and Dumars isn't shy about expressing his concerns. But at the same time, Dumars is keeping a respectful distance. He doesn't want to give the appearance that he is coaching the team -- which he clearly isn't. He didn't interfere with the decision to bring Richard Hamilton off the bench. He let Curry handle that on his own. Dumars didn't speak to the team about the embarrassment in Cleveland Sunday. He's letting Curry handle the fallout from that. Dumars is treating Curry much like Curry is treating Rodney Stuckey -- like throwing a kid in a pool so he can learn how to swim. There are lessons to be learned, hard lessons, and the only way they can be learned is by going through it and taking the lumps.
This became a transition season on Nov. 3, when Dumars sent Chauncey Billups to Denver for Allen Iverson. Dumars isn't going to pull the plug on the coach he hand-picked in the first year of that transition. Especially when a couple of the players -- Iverson and Sheed -- might be gone next season anyway. On top of that, the Pistons are still paying Flip Saunders some $5 million this year in addition to Curry's salary. They aren't going to pay a third coach this year, then still have two more on the books next season. Forget about it.
Coach D'Antoni to miss practice
Nearly three months after the season started, and long after he was told to stay away from the team, Stephon Marbury is about to cause another distraction for the New York Knicks.
Coach Mike D'Antoni said he will miss practice Tuesday, forced to appear at an arbitration hearing to discuss Marbury's grievance against the team.
D'Antoni will tell his side of the story about what happened on Nov. 26 in Detroit, when the Knicks contend Marbury refused the coach's request to play when the team was short-handed. The Knicks suspended him a game and fined him nearly $400,000, claiming it was the second time he declined to play. D'Antoni's first season in New York has occasionally been overshadowed by Marbury, who hasn't appeared in a game -- some by the coach's decisions, some perhaps by Marbury's. "It's not a great situation for anybody. I hate it for Steph, I hate it for the Knicks, I hate it for everybody, but it's just something we're doing and we'll deal with it and get it over with," D'Antoni said Monday before the Knicks hosted Indiana. "There's a lot worse things in the world going on, so we'll just deal with the problem and do the best we can."
Tyshawn Taylor scored a career-high 26 points and Sherron Collins added 22 of his 26 points in the second half as No. 15 Kansas took over first place in the Big 12 with an 87-78 victory Monday night against third-ranked Oklahoma.
Cole Aldrich was able to dominate inside with the Sooners' missing preseason All-American Blake Griffin because of a concussion. He had 15 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as the Jayhawks (23-5, 12-1 Big 12) took control in the race for their fifth straight conference title.
Willie Warren led the way with 23 points for Oklahoma, which has lost two in a row, including a 73-68 defeat at Texas when Griffin was first sidelined.
Michael Curry may not be a good coach, but the man can dress
Pics on MC and different styles of suits in the link above^.We started off excited about Michael Curry. He struggled, but we reluctantly tried to defend him. Now, after watching that disaster in Cleveland last night, we just want to make fun of this clothes. Have you ever met a pinstripe you didn't like, Michael Curry?
Harris hit an unbelievable lunging 47-footer at the horn and the Nets snapped a season-high five-game losing streak with a 98-96 victory over the slumping 76ers on Monday night.
Vince Carter added 10 points, including a driving layup with 13.2 seconds to play that tied the game at 95.
Willie Green and Thaddeus Young had 14 points apiece for Philadelphia. Samuel Dalembert had 13 points and 10 rebounds as the 76ers lost to the Nets for the third time in as many games.
Robinson scored a season-high 41 points, including the tiebreaking layup with 26 seconds left, and the New York Knicks beat the short-handed Indiana Pacers 123-119 Monday night.
Al Harrington added 27 points and David Lee had 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Knicks. helping the Knicks pull out a game against a team that was missing most of its best players.
Jack scored a season-high 33 points and Marquis Daniels matched a season best with 28 for the Pacers, who had won two in a row overall and four in a row at Madison Square Garden. They fell to 4-2 when playing without both All-Star Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy.
They handed the Nuggets one of the worst home losses in their history Monday night, routing Denver 114-76 behind 26 points from Ray Allen and 22 from Paul Pierce. It was Boston's second game since Garnett strained a muscle in his right knee that is expected to sidelined him for at least two weeks.
Rajon Rondo, coming off a career-high 32 points in Boston's 20-point win at Phoenix on Sunday, added 14 points for the Celtics, who raced to a 60-37 halftime lead that rendered the second half a let's-get-it-over-with exercise.
J.R. Smith had 19 points and Carmelo Anthony 18 for the Nuggets, who lost for the third time in four nights and saw their lead over second-place Portland trimmed to a single game in the suddenly up-for-grabs Northwest Division. Third-place Utah has sliced its six-game deficit in half in five nights.
Deron Williams had 15 points and 10 assists and Utah welcomed back Carlos Boozer from a three-month absence with a 108-89 rout of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.
Joe Johnson had 15 points to lead the Hawks, who lost their 15th straight game at Utah.
Kyle Korver snapped out of a shooting slump, going 6-for-9 and scoring 16 for the Jazz. Matt Harpring scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, when he also had to be restrained by his teammates after he was knocked down on a flagrant foul by Josh Smith.
Blakely on The Huge Show: Michael Curry safe as Pistons' coach for this season
Detroit Pistons beat writer A. Sherrod Blakely joined Bill Simonson on "The Huge Show" to talk about Detroit's recent struggles and Michael Curry's future as coach.
"I think he's going to be OK for this year. He's a rookie coach and there's been a lot of changes. Plus, he's one of Joe (Dumars') guys," Blakely said. "All parties agreed that this would be a year of change and they're trying to find the right kind of change and nothing is really working."
Complete interview in the link above^.Listen to the entire interview below: