NBA Today - April 17
Tue, Apr 17, 2007
By Associated Press
Dallas at Golden State (10:30 p.m. EDT). The Warriors are still alive for the last playoff spot in the West, which would end a 12-year drought for Golden State.
STARS
Monday
- Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, Rockets. McGrady scored 39 points and Yao had 34 to help Houston wrap up home-court in the first round of the playoffs with a 120-117 win over Phoenix.
- Vince Carter, Nets, had 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in New Jersey's 104-95 win over New York.
- Mo Williams, Bucks, scored 26 points and Milwaukee beat Atlanta 102-96.
- Linas Kleiza, Nuggets, had 23 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in Denver's 122-107 win over Minnesota.
HOME SWEET GARDEN
New Jersey won its sixth straight at Madison Square Garden, beating New York 104-95 Monday night for its 10th win in the last 11 meetings against the Nets' rivals across the Hudson River. New Jersey has won 22 of the last 26 in the series, including two victories in the last four nights.
STREAKS
Houston won its fifth straight by beating Phoenix 120-117 Monday night. The Rockets also snapped a six-game losing streak against the Suns.
IT STILL COUNTS
Pau Gasol scored 25 points,grabbed 15 rebounds and had six assists to lead the Grizzlies to a 101-91 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. The Grizzlies, who also defeated the playoff-bound Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, have won two straight, matching their longest winning streak of the season.
SPEAKING
''I don't know who got the group together. I don't know who organized the group. I just heard them and knew where they were at. I wanted to play good for them.'' - Linas Kleiza on an organized cheering section of fans wearing Lithuanian colors that cheered him on to his first career double-double in Denver's 122-107 win over Minnesota on Monday night.
Sore knee slowing D-Wade as playoffs near
Mon, Apr 16, 2007
By Associated Press
MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade says he's scared of needles. Once again, though, they're helping him get ready for the playoffs.
Bothered by knee tendinitis, the Miami Heat guard is utilizing acupuncture therapy to help relieve the pain. Wade missed 23 games with a dislocated left shoulder before returning last week, but as the postseason looms, it's the knee - not the shoulder - that's causing him the most angst.
''You just try to find a way to feel a little better,'' Wade said Monday before the Heat hosted the Boston Celtics. ''Find a way. We get the best of help from all the best doctors around the world, so you try to find someone to help you. Right now I'm doing that and I feel a little better.''
The Heat play their final game of the regular season Wednesday at the Orlando Magic.
Wade, the reigning NBA finals MVP who entered Monday averaging 27.8 points, fourth in the league, has taken a number of painkilling injections during the previous two postseasons for a variety of ailments, including rib and leg injuries.
Acupuncture is a centuries-old practice of poking tiny needles into the skin to treat a variety of ailments, including seizures, skin conditions, arthritis, chronic pain and sinus infections. A number of NBA players have tried it in recent years, including New Jersey guard Jason Kidd, Los Angeles Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic and even Wade's teammate Shaquille O'Neal - who said he utilized it during the 2001 playoffs, when he was with the Lakers.
And this isn't Wade's first foray with the treatment, either. He used it on his shoulder during his college years, when he was on a summertime European tour with a team coached by Bill Van Gundy.
''You can't do it every day,'' Wade said. ''But I do it like every other day. It helps.''
Since Wade returned to the Heat lineup on April 8, he hasn't complained of any issues with the shoulder.
But the knee has been tender; he grimaced last week after jumping for a dunk, has been undergoing other forms of treatment besides acupuncture and had a large ice pack strapped to the joint after Miami practiced Monday morning.
''It's getting better,'' Wade said. ''That's the only thing I can ask for, that each day it doesn't get any worse. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I'm not going to complain.''
Heat's Posey sprains wrist, shoulder after tumble
Mon, Apr 16, 2007
By Associated Press
MIAMI -- Heat forward James Posey left Miami's game against Boston on Monday night with a sprained left wrist and shoulder, injuries that come less than a week before the defending NBA champions open the playoffs.
He did not return to the game, Miami's next-to-last of the regular season.
Posey got hurt in a collision with the Celtics' Rajon Rondo with 5:44 left in the second quarter. Both players were moving toward a loose ball, hit awkwardly and Posey fell hard to the court - immediately grimacing and grabbing his arm. He got up quickly and began walking around, but then left to be examined in the Heat locker room.
Posey is averaging 7.9 points this season, his second with Miami.
Camby day-to-day with bruised knee
Mon, Apr 16, 2007
By Associated Press
DENVER -- Marcus Camby, the NBA's leader in blocked shots, sat out the Denver Nuggets' game against the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night as a precaution.
Camby, who leads the league with 3.3 blocks per game, bruised his right knee in the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' loss at Memphis on Saturday night and is listed as day to day.
The sixth-seeded Nuggets will open the playoffs at San Antonio and a healthy Camby is vital for their chances of upsetting the third-seeded Spurs.
NBA suspends referee Joey Crawford
NBA referee Joey Crawford was suspended indefinitely by commissioner David Stern on Tuesday for his conduct toward Tim Duncan, who contends the ref challenged him to a fight.
Crawford ejected Duncan from a game in Dallas on Sunday, calling a second technical foul on the San Antonio Spurs star while he was on the bench.
"He looked at me and said, 'Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?'" Duncan said. "If he wants to fight, we can fight. I don't have any problem with him, but we can do it if he wants to. I have no reason why in the middle of a game he would yell at me, `Do you want to fight?'"
Crawford's suspension will last at least through the NBA finals.
Raptors Anthony Parker (rest) is listed as out of tonight's game.
76ers Kyle Korver (wrist) and Andre Iguodala (back) are listed as out of tonight's game