SCOREBOARD
Thursday, Jan. 3
San Antonio at Denver (9 p.m. EST). Fabricio Oberto scored 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and had 13 rebounds in the Spurs’ 102-91 win over the Nuggets on Dec. 15.
STARS
Wednesday
-LeBron James, Cavaliers, scored 32 of his 36 points in the second half of a 98-94 victory over Atlanta.
-Pau Gasol, Grizzlies, scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Memphis’ 90-72 win over Indiana.
-John Salmons, Kings, scored a career-high 32 points in a 107-97 victory over New York.
-Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks, had 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a 121-99 win over Golden State.
CRUISING
Richard Hamilton scored 20 points, and added nine assists and seven rebounds to help Detroit earn its 10th consecutive victory by beating Washington 106-93 Wednesday night. It’s the Pistons’ longest winning streak since an 11-gamer in January 2006, and the average margin of victory during the current run is 16.8 points.
BIG GREEN MACHINE
Kevin Garnett scored 11 of his 26 points in the last 7 minutes on Wednesday night, adding nine rebounds to help Boston beat Houston 97-93 and earn its seventh consecutive victory. The Celtics improved to 27-3 to match the best 30-game start in the shot-clock era. Five other teams have lost just three of their first 30 games, including the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls who finished the season with an NBA-record 72 wins.
CROWNED
John Salmons scored a career-high 32 points and Sacramento beat New York 107-97 on Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak. Brad Miller had 26 points and 16 rebounds while Francisco Garcia added 22 points for the Kings, who led by as many as 24 in a game that was never close in the second half. Salmons added 11 rebounds and six assists. The Kings never trailed and easily handed the Knicks their fifth straight loss.
MAGIC ACT
the career list for rebounds by a guard. He accomplished both feats in the first 3 1/2 minutes.
SECOND WIND
LeBron James scored 32 of his 36 in the second half, including 19 in the fourth quarter and 12 in the final 1:50 to lead Cleveland to a 98-94 win over Atlanta on Wednesday night. After taking only five shots and scoring four points in the first half, James dropped in 13 points in the third and then took over in the fourth, scoring 19 of Cleveland’s 22 over the last 6:51 and making 6-of-6 free throws in the last 16 seconds.
OUT
Ron Artest had surgery on his right elbow Wednesday and will miss three to four weeks, another blow to the injury-depleted Sacramento. After missing two games, Artest had an MRI in his hometown of New York, and it was decided to have the procedure to remove five bone chips right after. Artest is averaging 19.1 points in 19 games, having missed the first seven games of the season while serving an NBA suspension. The Kings beat New York 107-97 on Wednesday night.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Andre Iguodala scored a season-best 30 points in Philadelphia’s 110-107 loss to Utah. … Dwyane Wade scored 27 points and had eight assists in Miami’s 103-98 loss to Milwaukee. … Jason Richardson scored 28 points in Charlotte’s 109-97 loss to Chicago on Wednesday night.
SPEAKING
“There’s a refusal to come together and play collectively. We do it in spurts, but then we sit back and we watch. Just somehow got to push through this and get them playing together as a group, because individually they do have talent.” – Knicks coach Isiah Thomas after New York suffered their fifth straight loss 107-97 to Sacramento on Wednesday night. New York trailed by as many as 24, and lost by double digits for an NBA-high 15th time.