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Stojakovic cheered while Artest booed by fans in Indiana

Ron Artest was booed loudly and shot poorly in his return to Indiana as the Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 98-93 in the NBA on Friday.

Artest was playing in Indianapolis for the first time since his trade request was granted and he was sent to the Kings for Peja Stojakovic seven weeks ago. Artest scored 18 points, but shot 6-for-22 from the field, including 2-for-14 in the second half.

He was booed during pregame introductions and that continued every time he touched the ball.

The fans reserved their loudest pregame cheers for Stojakovic, who scored 20 points to help the Pacers snap the Kings' five-game winning streak.

Danny Granger had a career-high 23 points and Jamaal Tinsley added 20 for Indiana (33-30).

Mike Bibby led the Kings (33-32) with 22 points and Brad Miller, who also played for the Pacers, added 17.

Mavericks 104, Wizards 94

At Washington, Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points apiece, and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away in the second half.

Jerry Stackhouse, booed every time he touched the ball by Wizards fans disenchanted with his two seasons in Washington, added 17 points off the bench for the Mavericks, who won their third straight game.

Gilbert Arenas scored 26 points to lead Washington.

Nets 92, Lakers 89

At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Nenad Krstic scored 26 points and tapped in a missed shot by Vince Carter with 13 seconds left to lift New Jersey over Los Angeles.

Smush Parker had brought the Lakers to within 90-89 on a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left. Carter drove the lane and missed, but Krstic scored on the rebound to give the Nets a three-point lead. Kobe Bryant missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Carter scored 24 points for New Jersey, which won its fourth straight game and improved to 17-3 in its last 20 home games. Bryant led the Lakers with 24 points, 11 below his average.

Cavaliers 99, Trail Blazers 84

At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 27 points to lead Cleveland past Portland.

Drew Gooden added a season-high 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and handed Portland its ninth consecutive road loss. The Trail Blazers have lost three in a row and 17 of their last 20 overall.

Sebastian Telfair, a reserve, scored 24 points to lead Portland, which is last in the league in scoring and didn't even make its 88.4 average.

Knicks 105, Pistons 103

At New York, Jamal Crawford scored 15 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, including the tiebreaking jumper with 2.2 seconds left, and New York rallied to beat Detroit.

Eddy Curry added 16 points and 11 rebounds and Steve Francis scored 15 points for the Knicks, who were decked out in green for the first time ever to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. They looked nothing like the team that has one of the NBA's worst records in Larry Brown's first season as coach after two seasons with the Pistons.

Chauncey Billups scored 24 points for the Pistons, who lost All-Stars Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton to ejections in the third quarter and their magic number to clinch the Central Division title remained at two.

Grizzlies 116, Nuggets 102

At Memphis, Tennessee, Mike Miller matched a franchise record with 41 points to lead Memphis over Denver.

Miller, who also set a franchise record for points from a reserve, connected on 12 of his first 15 shots and 15-of-24 for the game as the Grizzlies built the lead to 22 in the third quarter.

Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 33 points, but the Nuggets, despite shooting 55 percent, never got the deficit below double digits after the early stages of the second half.
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