Spurs hand reeling Knicks another loss
Associated Press
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SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili and Carmelo Anthony both missed two weeks. Cruising to wins like this is what the San Antonio Spurs pictured when their scoring star came back.
The sinking New York Knicks, meanwhile, are in a nightmare since theirs returned.
Tony Parker scored 32 points and the Spurs dealt New York a third consecutive loss, 118-105 on Wednesday night, that only exacerbated the mounting frustrations of the Knicks. Fading rapidly is the feel-good glow of Linsanity: New York has lost six of nine and has only stumbled since Jeremy Lin and Anthony were reunited just before the All-Star game.
Like the Knicks, the Spurs are finally back at full strength with Ginobili, who played his second game after missing two weeks with a strained stomach muscle. Ginobili and Tim Duncan scored 17 points apiece, while San Antonio is doing a far better job than New York of blending its pieces back together.
“We were more into this game. We knew that we needed it,” Ginobili said. “We lost two out of three at home, and this game was an important one. We didn’t want to let it get away.”
Anthony led New York with 27 points. He was sharper than a listless, six-point game in Dallas a night earlier but had no answers afterward on what’s not working.
“I don’t know. I really can’t answer that,” Anthony said. “I really can’t put a finger on it.”
Amare Stoudemire, who had 18 points and 11 rebounds, took a different view after a game in which New York trailed by as much as 24 in the second half.
“(The Spurs) don’t have nearly enough talent to compete with us,” Stoudemire said. “Our personnel, our talent is off the charts.”
It hardly looks that way lately. The Knicks are three games below .500 and bear little resemblance to their Lin-inspired resurgence before the All-Star break, and booting Landry Fields from the starting lineup before the game didn’t help much.
New York played without center Tyson Chandler, who sat out with a strained hamstring.
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said relegating Fields to the bench wasn’t a demotion but simply a stab at trying to find combinations that work. The change came a night after the Knicks trailed by as many as 19 at Dallas, where Anthony afterward admitted having trouble finding his new role in the offense.
Lin came out of nowhere last month and delivered the Knicks the playmaking point guard they craved. But New York’s transition has been anything but seamless since Anthony returned Feb. 20 after missing seven games, mostly because of a groin injury.
The Knicks are 2-5 with Anthony back in the lineup. D’Antoni said before the game that Anthony needs to be New York’s leading scorer and said he understood the frustration of his star.
“You have to work through. But there’s no reason why it can’t co-exist,” D’Antoni said. “There’s no reason why everybody shouldn’t do well. We just got to find the right balance of everybody getting into their spots.”
Anthony had as many field goals in the first 6 minutes Wednesday night — two 3-pointers — than he did in Dallas. He was 12 of 24 from the floor. Lin shot 7 of 15 and had four assists. Stoudemire had 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Gary Neal scored 12 points and found his way back into the starting lineup as the Spurs ease Ginobili back into playing shape. Ginobil played 25 minutes, shooting 7 of 10 from the floor and adding six assists.
DeJuan Blair, Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter added 10 points apiece for the Spurs. It was a convincing win for San Antonio, which had lost two of its last three at home after returning from the winningest nine-game road trip in NBA history, when the Spurs went 8-1 and quietly climbed to second in the West.
“We spent a lot of energy on the road when we went 8-1,” Parker said. “So we want to take care of home court and we did that.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn’t stick around to see the end, getting ejected at the end of the third quarter following a heated exchange with officials over foul calls.
A scary moment came in the second quarter when Spurs point guard T.J. Ford lay on the floor for more than three minutes. The Spurs said the veteran received a stinger after getting elbowed in his back, and Ford appeared wobbly while being helped off the court and back into the tunnel. He didn’t return to the game.
Ford missed the entire 2004-05 season because of a spinal cord injury, and the Spurs took the unusual step of noting that Ford was “neurologically intact” on a midgame injury report. It was not immediately clear how much time the Spurs might be without their backup point guard, who has played in just 14 games all season because of other injuries.
Wizards 106, Lakers 11
WASHINGTON — Roger Mason led a spirited fourth-quarter comeback with nine points in the period, Kobe Bryant lost his shooting touch down the stretch, and the Washington Wizards rallied from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit Wednesday night to stun the Los Angeles Lakers 106-101.
Mason hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, turning what had been a pro-Lakers scene into an unusually raucous show of home support for a team that’s 20 games below .500. The same arena that rocked to “M-V-P!” for Bryant in the first half was bellowing “Beat L.A.!” in the final minute.
Nick Young scored 19 points for the Wizards, who beat the Lakers for the first time since 2006 — a stretch of nine straight losses. Trevor Booker had 18 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and Kevin Seraphin scored a career-high 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
Mason also finished with 14 points, and John Wall had nine assists to help make up for four points on 1-for-8 shooting.
Bryant scored 30, but he went 1 for 10 from the field in the fourth quarter. Pau Gasol had 19 points and 15 rebounds, and Andrew Bynum scored 19 points for the Lakers, who dropped both ends of a road back-to-back.
76ers 103, Celtics 71
PHILADELPHIA — Evan Turner scored a career-best 26 points, helping the 76ers rout the Celtics to maintain their lead in the Atlantic Division.
Before tip-off, Turner denied a radio report that a mystery problem was causing his inconsistent play. Then Turner went out and proved he’s just fine. He shot 11 of 19 and grabbed nine rebounds.
Six Sixers scored in double figures, including Elton Brand (18), Lou Williams (15) and Nik Vucevic (14). Vucevic’s 12 rebounds were a high for the rookie. Andre Iguodala had 10 points, eight assists and seven boards.
The Sixers, a surprise contender a month ago, had lost eight of 10 to drop their lead in the division to one game over Boston, which had won five in a row.
Jazz 99, Bobcats 93
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Al Jefferson had 31 points and nine rebounds as the Jazz controlled the paint, where they outscored the Bobcats 54-36 and outrebounded them 43-34.
Jefferson was 11 of 19 from the field and hit all but one of his 10 foul shots in a dominating inside effort. Paul Millsap scored 16 points while Derrick Favors added 14 points for the Jazz, who won for just the fifth time this season on the road.
The victory helped pull the Jazz back to .500 at 19-19.
Corey Maggette scored 25 points to lead the Bobcats, who failed in their quest to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. It’s the third straight 20-point game for Maggette, who’s averaging 19.7 points per game over the last 10 games.
Raptors 116, Rockets 98
TORONTO — DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points as the Raptors used a rare offensive outburst to beat the Rockets.
Linas Kleiza added 19 points while Jose Calderon had 17 points and 12 assists for the Raptors, who wrapped up a 2-2 homestand with one of their strongest games of the season. Toronto set season highs in points and shooting percentage (59.2) while overcoming a shaky third quarter by dominating the weary Rockets over the final 12 minutes.
Leandro Barbosa added 15 points and Amir Johnson had 14 for the Raptors.
Chandler Parsons scored 17 points to lead the Rockets, who have dropped five straight in Toronto, and five in a row overall.
Heat 89, Hawks 86
MIAMI — LeBron James had 31 points and 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade added 18 points and set up Udonis Haslem for an alley-oop dunk with 12 seconds left.
Miami won its 11th straight at home and had to come from 10 points down in the third quarter to extend the streak. Another Heat streak ended — it was Miami’s first time since April 6, 2006, without making a 3-pointer, a span that included 455 regular-season games and 60 more in the playoffs.
The Heat were 0 for 10 from beyond the arc.
Josh Smith scored 23 for the Hawks, who were without Joe Johnson and Tracy McGrady, among others.
Timberwolves 106, Trail Blazers 94
MINNEAPOLIS — Wes Johnson scored 19 points to back Kevin Love’s 29 points and 16 rebounds for Minnesota.
Johnson went 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and Luke Ridnour added 22 points for the Timberwolves (21-19), who moved into the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff race. They own the tiebreaker over Houston, which lost earlier Wednesday.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and Gerald Wallace had 13 points, nine assists and nine rebounds for the Blazers, who have lost four of their last five games.
Aldridge went 2 for 3 from the free throw line — his first foul shots in four games — but was badly outplayed by Love for the second straight game. He was held to just five points in the second half.
Thunder 115, Suns 104
OKLAHOMA CITY — Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, James Harden added a career-high 30 off the bench and the Thunder roared back for their 14th straight home win.
Kevin Durant also chipped in 30 points and Serge Ibaka contributed 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as the Thunder overcame a 16-point deficit late in the third quarter.
Oklahoma City limited the Suns to two baskets over an 11-minute stretch, outscoring Phoenix 33-9 to eliminate a big deficit and take control.
Marcin Gortat had a career-best 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Phoenix, which built the largest lead for an opponent this season inside Chesapeake Energy Arena only to watch it disintegrate.
Bulls 106, Bucks 104
MILWAUKEE — Derrick Rose drilled a long jumper at the buzzer, powering the Bulls.
Holding the ball for the last shot in a tie game, Rose pulled up just inside the 3-point line and hit it just as time expired. Rose was mobbed by his teammates near halfcourt, and cheered wildly by a predominantly pro-Bulls crowd.
Rose scored 30 and Joakim Noah added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who have won eight straight.
Ersan Ilyasova had a career-high 32 points and Drew Gooden added a season-high 27 for the Bucks, who were coming off a home win over Philadelphia on Monday.
The Bulls held Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings to 11 points on 4-for-18 shooting. Jennings had scored 27-plus points in his previous three games coming into Wednesday.
Nets 101, Clippers 100
NEWARK, N.J. — Jordan Farmar hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 0.2 seconds left and the Nets squandered an 18-point, second-half lead before beating the Clippers.
Deron Williams had 21 points and picked up his 10th assist with a pass to Farmar as the Nets won the chippy contest that featured five technical fouls.
Chris Paul put the Clippers ahead for the first time since the opening minutes when he made two free throws with 8.9 seconds to play after being fouled 20 feet from the basket. Williams nearly lost the ball on the Nets’ first inbounds play and the ball went out of bounds near halfcourt. Williams took the ensuing inbounds pass from Farmar and returned the ball for the game-winning shot.
Spurs 118, Knicks 105
SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker scored 32 points and the Spurs dealt the sliding Knicks a third consecutive loss.
Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili added 17 points apiece in Ginobili’s second game back after missing two weeks with a strained stomach muscle. Like the Knicks, the Spurs are finally at full strength again, but are doing a far better job of blending rotations and fitting all their pieces together.
The Knicks have lost six of nine. They bear little resemblance to their Jeremy Lin-inspired resurgence before the All-Star break, and booting Landry Fields from the starting lineup before the game didn’t help much.
Anthony led New York with 27 points. Lin had 20.
Cavaliers 100, Nuggets 99
DENVER — Kyrie Irving hit a driving layup with 4 seconds left to cap a seesaw battle in the final minutes. Irving scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, all in the last 2:36 of the game, and Antawn Jamison had 33 to help the Cavaliers snap a six-game skid.
Al Harrington had 22 points and Andre Miller 16 for the Nuggets, whose four-game win streak ended.
Neither team could pull away in the fourth quarter. Denver scored the first six points to go ahead 78-76 and the lead changed hands nine times in the final 2:36,, with the point guards staging a personal duel down the stretch.
Ty Lawson had five of his 18 points to give Denver a 95-94 lead and Irving had two three-point plays and a driving layup to put Cleveland up 98-97 with 24 seconds left.
He saved his best for the final seconds.
Kings 99, Hornets 98
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — John Salmons made the go-ahead layup with 6.8 seconds left, Marcus Thornton scored 25 points, and the Kings snapped a four-game losing streak.
The Hornets led by one and inbounded with 8.9 seconds left, but Isaiah Thomas stole Trevor Ariza’s pass and quickly spotted Salmons cutting to the basket for a left-handed layup.
Jarrett Jack had 25 points and Ariza 20 for the Hornets, who lost their third straight and fifth in six games. Chris Kaman had 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
Tyreke Evans had 13 points for the Kings, who had dropped 10 of their previous 12 games. Jason Thompson, Salmons and Thomas all had 12 points, and Jimmer Fredette scored 11.
Grizzlies 110, Warriors 92
OAKLAND, Calif. — Rudy Gay had 26 points, 12 rebounds and five assists to lead the Grizzlies to their fifth straight victory.
Marc Gasol added 17 points and 12 rebounds and Marreese Speights scored 18 points to pace the hot-starting and hard-closing Grizzlies, who sprinted to a 21-4 lead, lost it, then built back a 21-point lead late. Memphis has won nine of its last 10 games and is gaining momentum for the second straight season in the deep Western Conference.
Monta Ellis had 16 points and a hobbled Stephen Curry came off the bench to score 15 points for a Warriors team that just returned home from a solid 3-3 road trip only to turn in another perplexing performance.
