Jamaal Tinsley had 20 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds to lead the suspension- and injury-depleted Pacers to a 106-102 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Austin Croshere had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Fred Jones added 17 points for the Pacers.
Kevin Garnett led Minnesota with 23 points and nine rebounds, and Wally Szczerbiak added 18 points.
"Jamaal Tinsley is the facilitator for us," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Right now, he's doing things very few point guards in the league can do."
The Pacers were 13-of-25 from 3-point range, consistently beat the Timberwolves to loose balls and made the extra pass for wide open shots to pull out their second victory in three games without Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson, who were suspended for fighting with Detroit fans last week.
"It's like we were pacing ourselves, waiting to turn it on," Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. "We were out there and it seemed like the last place we wanted to be."
The Timberwolves played without center Michael Olowokandi, who was suspended for the game by the team after being arrested at an Indianapolis nightclub early Thursday morning.
Clippers 101, Nets 88
In Los Angeles, Marko Jaric scored 23 points to lead Los Angeles' balanced scoring and the Clippers beat New Jersey to run the Nets' losing streak to seven games.
Elton Brand scored 17 points and Corey Maggette had 16 to help the Clippers end a three-game losing streak of their own.
Richard Jefferson scored 24 points for New Jersey, and Travis Best added 16.
The Nets' slump is their worst since the 2000-2001 season, when they also dropped seven in a row from Jan. 23-Feb. 2.
Hubie Brown retired as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday because of health reasons.
"Unexpected health-related issues will not allow me to continue coaching the Memphis Grizzlies," the 71-year-old Brown said in a statement. "This situation was unforeseen and absolutely nonexistent at the beginning of the season."
Assistant coach Lionel Hollins was named interim coach, Grizzlies president Jerry West said.
Brown was not available for comment Thursday. The team scheduled a news conference for Friday.
"This is an extremely sad day for me," West said in a statement. "This franchise is by far better from the leadership and guidance of Hubie Brown, and we will be forever grateful to Hubie."
Grizzlies spokeswoman Stacey Mitch said Brown did not have a serious illness, but declined to comment further, referring all questions to Friday's news conference.
Brown retired one day after the Grizzlies lost to the Seattle SuperSonics 93-84 and slipped to 5-7, fourth place in the Southwest Division. He made no reference to retiring after the game.
During the game, Brown was active, arguing with officials, calling out plays and checking on players when they were injured.
Brown was the oldest coach in the NBA when he returned to the league in 2002 after a 16-year break.
He was the coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 1976-1981 and the New York Knicks from 1982-1986. He took the Hawks to the playoffs three times, including when he was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1978, and the Knicks to playoffs twice.
In 1975, Brown led the Kentucky Colonels to the ABA championship.
Fired by the Knicks after starting 4-12 in 1986, Brown became a TV basketball analyst.
He returned to the league on Nov. 12, 2002, when he replaced Sidney Lowe after an 0-8 start with the Grizzlies in their second season after leaving Vancouver, where the franchise was founded in 1995. Brown went on to lose five straight games to start 0-13.
The Grizzlies went on to win a franchise best 28 games, before last year's 50-32 record and first playoff appearance.
Brown received his second coach of the year award after last season and leaves as the most successful coach in Memphis history with a record of 83-85.
Olowokandi goes to jail
Michael Olowokandi, center for the Minnesota Timberwolves, spent Wednesday night in jail after police needed a stun gun to compel him to leave a nightclub.
He was later suspended for Thursday's game against the Indiana Pacers.
The manager of the bar flagged down police after Olowokandi refused to leave at its 3am closing time. The 7-foot center was tasered when he walked away from a police officer, but a second shocking was required after the first had little effect.
The Timberwolves suspended Olowokandi for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Olowokandi was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing -- both misdemeanors -- and released on his own recognizance Thursday afternoon.
Olowokandi is averaging 5.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 21.2 minutes per game so far this season, his second with Minnesota.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB