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

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/teams/Rankings.asp

1: Cleveland Cavaliers
2: Orlando Magic
3: Los Angeles Lakers
4: Dallas Mavericks
5: Denver Nuggets
6: Phoenix Suns
7: Utah Jazz
8: Atlanta Hawks
9: Boston Celtics
10: Milwaukee Bucks
25: Detroit Pistons

[nasty daddy]

http://www.hoopsworld.com/teams/Rankings.asp

25 (23) Detroit Pistons 23 - 47 : Which cap room team this summer will come out like the Pistons did last year - with players like Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and deep lottery position?

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322025

George Hill scored a career-high 27 points, and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Kevin Durant's 45 points to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 99-96 on Monday night and forge a tie between the teams for sixth place in the Western Conference standings.

Ginobili added 21 points, Duncan scored 14 and reserve Roger Mason Jr. had 13 points.

Jeff Green had 16 points, Westbrook 12 and Ibaka 10 for Oklahoma City.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322020

Rashard Lewis scored 24 points, Dwight Howard added 23 points and 15 rebounds, and the Magic notched their third straight 50-win season with a 109-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

Carter contributed 17 points and Matt Barnes had 14 for the Southeast Division-leading Magic (50-21), who won 50 games in three straight seasons for the first time since 1993-96. The Magic have won three straight and 10 of 11. Mickael Pietrus and Jason Williams had 10 apiece.

Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand led the Sixers with 23 points apiece, while Samuel Dalembert had 16 points and 14 rebounds. The Sixers have dropped three in a row and fell to 11-24 at home. They own the third-fewest home wins in the league behind only Minnesota (nine) and New Jersey (three).

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322003

Chris Paul played for the first time in 25 games, and Marcus Thornton scored 28 points to help the Hornets to a 115-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.

David West had 25 points and 10 assists, Morris Peterson had a season-high 20 points and Collison scored 16 for the Hornets.

Jason Terry scored 24 for Dallas, which squandered a 16-point first-quarter lead.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322004

Derrick Rose had 27 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 98-88 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.

Flip Murray added 18 points and Kirk Hinrich scored 17 for the Bulls, who won back-to-back games after losing a season-high 10 in a row.

The Rockets lost for just the second time in seven games. Luis Scola led Houston with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Kevin Martin added 19 points.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322015

Salmons scored 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and made the tiebreaking free throws with 21.8 seconds remaining, leading the Bucks to a come-from-behind 98-95 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night in a matchup of possible first-round opponents.

Carlos Delfino scored 23 points for the Bucks.

Johnson scored 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Hawks. Jamal Crawford had 21.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322016

Chris Bosh had 21 points and 10 rebounds to help the sluggish Raptors hand the Timberwolves their 13th straight loss, 106-100 on Monday night.

Andrea Bargnani had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Raptors, who beat the Timberwolves for the 12th consecutive time to move into a tie with Charlotte for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Al Jefferson had 22 points and seven rebounds for the Timberwolves, who have lost 19 of their last 20 games. They trailed 94-92 with 3:29 to play, but couldn't come up with any key stops down the stretch to end their skid.

[nasty daddy]

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

Will Pistons wave the white flag in final stretch, or finish with a fight?
A Detroit Pistons fan who wants the best for the present and the future should hope for two things during the season’s final 12 games:
A. The Pistons give 100 percent all the time. (Effort is important, and tanking is unacceptable.)
B. The Pistons lose all the time. (Losses lead to better draft picks.)
If the past two games are any indication, the latter is more likely. The worst thing about the team’s recent road losses to Indiana and Cleveland is that many of the guys on the court did not seem overly concerned. “The second half of the Indiana game, we played well,” Pistons coach John Kuester said Monday after practice. Most would argue that the Pistons played one good quarter against the Pacers: the fourth, when they rallied from what had been a 24-point deficit to take a one-point lead late in the game, only to lose by four. But that leaves six quarters we can all pretty much agree upon. “Anytime you get beat the way we did, it’s disappointing,” Kuester said, “but we’ve got to continue to just keep plugging away and make sure we finish this thing as strong as we possibly can.”

Will they finish strong? That depends a lot on Richard Hamilton. Ben Wallace usually sets the pace when it comes to effort, but he is hurt and likely will miss a few more games. And it doesn’t matter how much energy Jonas Jerebko or Jason Maxiell show, or how consistently optimistic Kuester is, Hamilton is the pace setter. On Friday, Hamilton went scoreless for the first time since the 2000-01 season and played a season-low 19 minutes. In Sunday's game, he did not score after the first quarter and finished with just six points in 19 minutes. Think about that. The Pistons’ leading scorer and biggest name -- the guy who gets introduced last at home games -- went scoreless in seven of eight quarters. Pistons fans will learn a lot Tuesday night about how Hamilton and the Pistons will finish the season. One day after Cleveland completed its first season sweep of Detroit in 30 years, Indiana rolls into The Palace of Auburn Hills looking to finish a 4-0 sweep of its own. But the Pacers are not anything like the Cavaliers. The Pacers are a lot like, well, the Pistons. Except when they play the Pistons. Then, they look a lot like, well, the Cavaliers.

It’s not just that the Pacers built huge leads in all three games against the Pistons or beat them all three times. The reason the Pistons should be so embarrassed by their losses to Indiana is that the Pacers have shown them nothing but disrespect. The Pacers have dunked on, celebrated in front of and downright taunted Detroit at times and, for the most part, the Pistons have not fought back. Seriously, it’s one thing when the Cavaliers are celebrating a 3-pointer with that stupid hand signal they do by their right eyes. They’re the best team in the league. But when Roy Hibbert is laughing in your face, well, you should be able to find some fight. If the Pistons cannot muster enough energy and effort to beat the Pacers, it means they have waved the white flag. If they come out of the locker room fired up and refuse to lose, it won’t change anything concrete. They still will be bound for the lottery. But it would show that they still care, that they have pride. And if you compare that to what you saw out of the Pistons over the weekend, that would be a welcome change.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322026

Mehmet Okur scored all of his 14 points in the second half and pulled down 15 rebounds, Deron Williams added 22 points and 11 assists, and the Utah Jazz ended the Boston Celtics' four-game winning streak with a 110-97 victory Monday night.

C.J. Miles added 23 points and Carlos Boozer overcame early foul trouble to finish with 19 points -- all but one in the second half -- nine rebounds and two blocks. Okur added three blocks for the Jazz, who controlled the lane and outscored the Celtics 50-36 inside.

Ray Allen had 15 points for the Celtics.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/the-humbl ... llace.html

The Humble Beginnings of Ben Wallace
Ben Wallace, the kid from rural Alabama, went from being roadside barber to make money, to counting his NBA defensive player of the year awards and polishing his Championship ring. Before Wallace returned to Detroit, plenty of Pistons fans had the debate on whether his Jersey would be up in the Palace rafters one day. I was always hoping that one day it would, but thought it would be a long time coming.

He did leave to play for the enemy and the organization was quick to hand his number over to Rodney Stuckey and transform the new number three into the face of the franchise. Now that he’s returned….to glory, for less than a price of a Bean Burrito, I have no doubt that one day the #3 will be hanging in the rafters at the Palace.

Here is a little video special on the man before the Fro, well and a little after, just check out the teal and maroon.

Video in the link above^.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322023

Zach Randolph had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies used the streaky shooting of O.J. Mayo in the fourth quarter to beat the Sacramento Kings 102-85 on Monday night.

Mayo had 20 points and Rudy Gay 17. Mike Conley scored 12 points and Hasheem Thabeet added 10 for the Grizzlies, who outscored the Kings 51-33 in the second half.

Carl Landry scored 23 for the Kings, who have lost three of four. Beno Udrih had 18 points and 10 assists, and Spencer Hawes added 13 points.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/

Will the Pistons Wave the White Flag or Finish With a Fight?
I think most fans know the answer they'd prefer to hear to this question posed by Chris Iott at MLIVE.

It appears the worst five teams in the NBA have the same idea. Add in the Pistons current five game losing streak and those bottom tiered teams have lost a combined 39 games in a row.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

Not so fast: Hawks celebrate a bit too soon
The Hawks' countdown to clinching a playoff spot is back on -- at least for one more night.

The Hawks believed they clinched a playoff spot with their 119-114 overtime victory over the Spurs on Sunday night -- but mathematically, that wasn't the case.

That said, the Hawks needs just one more win in its final 13 games -- or a Bulls loss -- to clinch. The Bulls beat the Rockets on Monday, and the Hawks lost to the Bucks. Atlanta hosts Orlando on Wednesday.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

Slam dunks
Rockets F Shane Battier (Country Day) is expected out at least 10 days because of a sprained left knee.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

Zydrunas Ilgauskas 's agent said a deal was close for the center to return to the Cavaliers, and he's likely to sign today.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

Nets interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe missed Monday's game because of an illness in the family.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

Heat C Jermaine O'Neal (sprained ankle) returned.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... t-too-soon

The Magic reached 50 wins for the third straight year.

[nasty daddy]

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300322009

Amare Stoudemire scored 37 points, Jason Richardson had a season-high 34, and the Phoenix Suns held off the Golden State Warriors 133-131 on Monday night for their fifth straight victory.

Reggie Williams, an NBA Development League product who was signed for the remainder of the season on Monday, scored a career-high 29 points for Golden State. Monta Ellis led the Warriors with 30, and Anthony Tolliver added 25 points and 12 rebounds.

The Suns remained in fifth place in the Western Conference playoff race, one game behind Utah.