'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 68

[nasty daddy]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... rdsinsider

Gee to get second 10-day contract
After Gee recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and adding two steals in 26 minutes off the bench, Coach Flip Saunders said that the team intends on signing him to a second 10-day contract.

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

Pistons' Jason Maxiell isn't letting opponents' height advantage stop him from scoring
Jason Maxiell might be a bit small when it comes to playing center in the NBA, but he has up some big numbers lately. Maxiell has reached double figures in points and rebounds in each of his past five games and is averaging a double-double -- 10.9 points and 11.2 rebounds -- in the eight games since starting center Ben Wallace went down with a knee injury. "He has been pretty consistent in giving me high energy," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It is refreshing because he competes every time he is out there. He has some Ben Wallace qualities out there."

The Pistons have won just two of their past 12 games, but they would have been hard pressed to pick up even one win during that span without Maxiell playing a key role. He had 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots Friday in a 101-87 win against Washington after grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds March 7 in a 110-107 overtime upset of the Houston Rockets.

Kuester was impressed with Maxiell's play against Wizards center JaVale McGee, a 7-footer who has a 5-inch height advantage on Maxiell. "McGee has a chance to be very, very special because he's so athletic and so long," Kuester said. "Here you have Max, who is 6-7 and just uses his strength, footwork and ability to get around him. He did a wonderful job of getting him off the block."

[nasty daddy]

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

BY THE NUMBERS
Maxiell's averages for the season compared with the past eight games:
Season/Past eight games
• Points -- 6.5/10.9
• Rebounds -- 5.2/11.2
• Minutes -- 19.9/32.3

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

Bad on back-to-back games
After their 113-101 loss Tuesday to Cleveland, the Pistons are 12-28 when playing back-to-back games this season. They are 8-12 in the first game of back-to-backs but just 4-16 in the second game.

The Pistons have three sets of back-to-back games left this season, all in April.

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http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300317012

Chris Kaman had 20 points and seven rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers snapped an eight-game losing streak, recovering after squandering a big second-half lead to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 101-93 on Wednesday night.

Drew Gooden added 16 points and 11 rebounds, Baron Davis had 14 points and seven assists, and Eric Gordon had 14 points for the Clippers, 5-15 since Kim Hughes took over as interim head coach.

Brandon Jennings had 21 points to lead Milwaukee, which had won six straight games and 12 of its previous 13. John Salmons added 20 points, and Andrew Bogut had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... n-outright

Cavaliers clinch Central Division outright
The Cavaliers clinched their second straight outright Central Division championship Wednesday night -- and Mo Williams went home disappointed. LeBron James had 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Cleveland's 99-94 victory over the Indiana Pacers. With the win, Cleveland (54-15) became the first team this season to clinch a division title.

Troy Murphy had 19 points and 15 rebounds -- but just four points and five rebounds in the second half for the last-place Pacers, who were trying to win consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 2-5. Roy Hibbert added 20 points for Indiana, which was without leading scorer Danny Granger.

Granger, averaging 23.1 points a game, did not make the trip after spending the night in an Indianapolis hospital Tuesday. He took an inadvertent elbow to his upper right cheek in the final minute Tuesday night against Charlotte. CT scans on his head and neck found no problems.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Celtics garner respect but fall short of earning it
It's not fun getting old. Just ask the Celtics. In a matter of weeks, they went from the kings of the East to a team that could lose in the first round of the playoffs. Remember how good they looked on opening night when they dismantled the Cavaliers on the road?Now, as the fourth seed in the East, they might just be one-and-done in the postseason. Attribute the fall to several issues: • Kevin Garnett labors on the court with a bad knee;
• Rasheed Wallace plays a lazy offensive game, where he refuses to create off the block;
• Ray Allen is losing more playing time by the day;
• Paul Pierce fights constant injuries; and
• Guard Rajon Rondo often has that get me out of herelook. "I don't really try to read 'em," Rondo told cbssportsline.com about his teammates' body language. "I just play with 'em."

The new big three in the East consists of Orlando, Cleveland and Atlanta. Boston is 2-8 against those teams and has not beaten one since topping Orlando on Christmas Day. Boston is 19-18 since then. "I'm not a believer that you can just turn it on for the playoffs," Pierce told the Boston media. "You get a team that wins, seven, eight, nine games in a row, you feel like you're unstoppable and you see a winning streak go off. That's what we're trying to build here."

But in the eyes of an opponent, the Celtics are still a team to worry about. "To me, the Celtics look bored with the regular season," Cavaliers guard LeBron James told the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. "I'm not saying they've tanked the regular season, I'm just saying an experienced team like Boston has so much talent, they know how to win in the playoffs. Just looking at them, they look like they're ready for a new challenge."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

McGrady comeback a pain
Pain remains a daily companion for Knicks G Tracy McGrady 13 months after microfracture surgery on his knee.

"I'm just sitting there saying, 'Damn,' and shaking my head," McGrady told the New York Daily News. "It is eating me up."

In his comeback bid, he has lost his lift.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Clippers dreaming
Bless their hearts.

The Clippers are expected to give James a call this offseason to see if they can lure the free agent to sunny Los Angeles.

If James heads West, he'll be playing for the Lakers, not the second-fiddle Clippers.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Bryant shrugs off criticism
Lakers C Pau Gasol has created a stir by complaining G Kobe Bryant is taking too many shots.

Bryant went down that road before with Shaquille O'Neal , and the subsequent bloodletting resulted in a breakup of two of the most dominant players.

Now, a more mature Bryant takes the high road. "It's all about our team success," Gasol told the Orange County Register. "Nothing personal like that. That's why I think he understands."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

By the numbers
20 -- Points scored by Jerry Stackhouse last weekend in a Bucks victory over the Pacers
30.7 -- Heat G Dwyane Wade's scoring average in March
500 -- Guns Wizards G Gilbert Arenas claimed he owned

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Top and bottom
The best and worst NBA logos:
The best
• Bulls: Benny the bull is red and looks mean.
• Celtics: How can you not like this dude spinning a basketball and winking like he stole something while smoking a pipe?
• Lakers: The tradition of this franchise makes this logo cool.
• Heat: The flaming basketball is hot.
• Trail Blazers: Don't know what it is, but it makes the list.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

The worst
• Clippers: Not enough definition. It's stale, like the team.
• Wizards: Who came up with this design?
• Rockets: It lacks firepower.
• Warriors: The Warrior looks more like a cat burglar.
• Bucks: Why does a buck cross his legs?

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Terry's top five
• 1. Cleveland (1): How will the team react when O'Neal returns?
• 2. L.A. Lakers (2): They make winning miserable.
• 3. Orlando (4): Lewis can't shoot, coach not liked; but they win.
• 4. Denver (5): Billups claims he needed a fresh start.
• 5. Dallas (3): Another top-tier team experiencing a late-season slump.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Terry's bottom five
• 26. Sacramento (26): Small forward by committee not working.
• 27. Indiana (27): Only three victories since the break.
• 28. Golden State (28): It appears the end is near for coach Nelson.
• 29. Minnesota (29): Haven't won since mid-February (10 consecutive).
• 30. New Jersey (30): Blew 18-point lead vs. Mavericks.
Last week's rankings in parentheses

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Calling it a season
A look at five teams that are tanking as the season draws to a close:
Team Record Comment
Washington 21-45 Torn apart because of gun play
Chicago 31-35 Injuries, complacency gutted its run
Detroit 23-45 Did you see the game at Boston? Enough said
L.A. Clippers 25-43 Calling Larry Brown? LeBron James?
Minnesota 14-54 Look at players; they just don't care

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... earning-it

Quotable
“Miami is a great city. It just wasn’t a great city for our marriage. I know they say L.A. has its groupies, but Miami has a different mentality. ... Apparently we didn’t have a strong enough foundation for Shaq to withstand that type of temptation.”

-- Shaunie O’Neal, in Essence Magazine, on her impending divorce from Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal

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http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300317009

Monta Ellis had 28 points and tied his career high with 13 assists, Anthony Tolliver had a career-high 30 points and the Golden State Warriors overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Hornets 131-121 on Wednesday night.

Reggie Williams added 22 points for the Warriors, 18 when Golden State tied a team record with nine 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Williams had four of them, and Devean George added two to help the Warriors win for the second time in three games following a six-game losing streak.

David West had 36 points and 15 rebounds for New Orleans, which lost for the eighth time in its last nine road games. The Hornets have lost 10 of 13 overall to drop eight games behind Portland for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... ish-strong

Pistons' Charlie Villanueva looks to finish strong
This hasn't been the type of season Charlie Villanueva envisioned when he signed with the Pistons last summer. Villanueva talked often about the joy of being with a championship contender, an organization that makes the playoffs, and being around a winning atmosphere. The Pistons aren't mathematically out of the playoffs, but they're getting to that point.

And that winning atmosphere has been lost in the frustration of countless injuries to key players. For Villanueva, personally, it's been a struggle, too. He was expected to be a subpar defensive player, and he's largely been that. But he also has struggled offensively, averaging 12.1 points and shooting 43.6 percent in 24 minutes. "Fourteen games left (in the season), just go out there and play as hard as I can and just go all out," Villanueva said of his goals for the rest of the season.

When Villanueva has prospered in recent weeks, it's been because he has stayed within the offense and not rushed shots. That was the case against the Cavaliers on Tuesday. "I was just being patient," said Villanueva, who had 16 points. "My teammates were finding me and I was in a pretty good flow."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... ish-strong

Stuckey update
The Pistons had the day off Wednesday, but resume practice today, possibly with Rodney Stuckey on the court.

Stuckey has missed the last six games since collapsing in a game March 5 in Cleveland.

He has passed all medical tests and been cleared to exercise. Practice is the next step. Coach John Kuester didn't dismiss the possibility Stuckey could play Friday in Indiana.