Rookie Nenad Krstic of Serbia-Montenegro returned to the lineup after missing two game with a viral infection and scored a career-high 25 points to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 93-86 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday.
"We definitely missed his big body and what he brings," said teammate Jason Kidd. "He is a very smart player and maybe he just needed a week and a half off."
PHOTO: AP
Vince Carter added 28 points and Kidd had 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as the Nets snapped a two-game losing streak by beating the expansion Bobcats for the third time this season.
"It's a frustrating game when you work it down to one and then you can't get a couple of shots and then it goes away again," Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said.
"We kept digging out of a hole and they kept putting us in a hole."
Gerald Wallace had 23 points to lead the Bobcats, who made the Nets sweat this one out, cutting a 13-point halftime deficit to 67-66 early in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Jason Kapono.
Pacers 106, Cavaliers 82
In Indianapolis, Stephen Jackson scored 28 points, including 11 straight late in the fourth quarter, to help Indiana defeat Clevaland in its season-high fifth straight win.
Jermaine O'Neal had 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Indiana, which shot 52 percent and won for the eighth time in its last 10 games.
LeBron James scored 21 points on 9-of-25 shooting, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks for Cleveland, which lost to the Pacers for the 10th time in its last 11 games.
Raptors 106, Bucks 102
In Milwaukee, Chris Bosh had 27 points and eight rebounds to lead Toronto over Milwaukee.
Leading 98-94 with less than a minute to go, Toronto's Donyell Marshall missed a 3-pointer. But Bosh grabbed the rebound and found Morris Peterson for a dunk and a 100-94 lead.
Bosh went 8-of-14 from the field and 11-of-12 from the line. The Raptors are 13-4 when he scores at least 20 points and 10-28 when he doesn't.
Maurice Williams had 21 points for Milwaukee, while Joe Smith added 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Bulls 97, Wizards 90
In Chicago, Kirk Hinrich scored 26 points and rookie Ben Gordon added 20 to lead Chicago past Washington. Othella Harrington added 12 points and rookie Chris Duhon had 11 points and eight assists for Chicago, which moved a season-high four games over .500.
Gilbert Arenas had 36 points for Washington, giving the All-Star 30 or more points for the 12th time in 17 games.
Nuggets 97, Grizzlies 94, OT
In Memphis, Tennessee, Denver's Earl Boykins scored 19 points, including a pair of free throws with 10.1 seconds left as Denver edged Memphis.
Marcus Camby, who had 17 points and 15 rebounds, hit a pair of free throws to give Denver a 95-93 lead with 1:08 left in overtime. The Nuggets shot 34 percent, but hit 44 of 52 foul shots.
Denver tied the score at 91-all with 13.1 seconds left in regulation on Andre Miller's three-point play.
Miller added 15 for Denver, while Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin had 12 each.
Brian Cardinal scored a season-high 28 points, including 20 in the second half, while Shane Battier finished with 17 points.
Celtics 109, Jazz 102
In Salt Lake City, Antoine Walker had 24 points and 10 rebounds in his first game back with Boston as the Celtics downed Utah.
Walker was acquired from Atlanta on Thursday and quickly resumed his leadership role on offense, making 10 of 18 shots from the field.
Ricky Davis scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half and Delonte West added 16 points and seven rebounds to help the Celtics overcome Paul Pierce's foul trouble. Pierce scored 15 points in just 25 minutes.
Andrei Kirilenko scored a season-high 29 points and Matt Harpring added 18 for the Jazz, who almost overcame an eight-point deficit in the final 3 minutes. Utah has lost six of their last seven games.
Trail Blazers 102, Hawks 101
In Portland, Oregon, Zach Randolph had 31 points and 12 rebounds, including a go-ahead runner in the lane with 9 seconds left to lead Portland over Atlanta.
Al Harrington had 25 points for the Hawks, who dropped their 18th straight road game.
Atlanta had two chances to win. Peja Drobnjak missed a jumper with 5 seconds left before the ball was knocked out of bounds. Rookie Josh Smith missed an open shot as time expired.
Ruben Patterson had 20 points for Portland. Damon Stoudamire added 14 points and 14 assists.
SuperSonics 98, Timberwolves 88
In Seattle, Ray Allen scored 24 of his 32 points after halftime, and Seattle rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat Minnesota.
Vladimir Radmanovic added 17 points for the Sonics, who extended their lead over the Timberwolves in the Northwest Division to 12 1/2 games.
Kevin Garnett had 31 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota.
Pistons 111, Lakers 90
In Los Angeles, Tayshaun Prince scored 26 points and Chauncey Billups added 23 to help Detroit extend its winning streak to six games with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Richard Hamilton had 18 points and eight assists and Rasheed Wallace had 19 points for the defending NBA champions, who have 11 wins in their last 12 games.
Kobe Bryant had 20 points and 11 assists for the Lakers, who came in riding a season-high three-game winning streak.
The five Indiana Pacers charged in a brawl with fans during a NBA game with the Detroit Pistons last November are asking for separate trials.
Lawyers for Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Johnson, Jermaine O'Neal and David Harrison filed the motion on Friday, said Jackson's lawyer James Burdick. Friday was the deadline for motions in all the cases related to the Nov. 19 fight at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The cases of the five players, as well as those of five Pistons fans involved in the fight, all have been assigned to Judge Lisa Asadoorian of the 52nd District Court in Rochester Hills. Asadoorian has not said whether she intends to try all the cases together.
The defense lawyers argue that the cases all involve distinct incidents even though they occurred in the same place. In addition, conflicts could arise because some of the defendants also were victims -- and therefore likely prosecution witnesses -- Burdick said.
For example, Artest and O'Neal both punched people and also were struck by cups thrown by fans.
Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Paul Walton said the court would have to consider the issue of "judicial efficiency and economy," as well as fairness to witnesses, in deciding whether or not to grant separate trials.
In a related motion, the Pacers' lawyers also argue that their clients' right to have their cases randomly assigned to judges was violated.
They say the court administrator automatically assigned all the cases to Asadoorian after she was randomly assigned to the first case. That would only be permissible if all the charges stemmed from the same occurrence, Burdick said.
There are three judges in the Rochester Hills court.
Burdick said Asadoorian was not to blame for the assignments, but rather the court administrator.
The administrator, Linda Hammerstein, said she had no comment because she had not seen the motion.
Separately, a lawyer for two of the fans, William Paulson and John Ackerman, also planned to file a motion to have their clients tried separately.
Michael Sweetney speaks
Michael Sweetney says he is willing to play whenever and wherever he is told, which makes him perfect for the newest version of the Knicks. They seem to have a lot of parts of roughly the same size in the body shop.
"I'll just keep doing what I've been doing when my name is called," Sweetney said Friday.
After two roster-jumbling trades at the NBA trade deadline Thursday, the Knicks (22-33) are loaded with forwards. That did not make a difference to guard Stephon Marbury, who said the Knicks had become better.
"It gives us some depth," Marbury said.
Referring to the maneuvering by Isiah Thomas, the team president, Marbury said: "I think it moves us forward. I don't think Isiah would do anything to set us going backwards."
Later, when asked if the Knicks' chemistry had been disrupted, Marbury said: "The thing that's important is making the playoffs. And that's it."
Yes, the Knicks still think they can make the playoffs, even though they have not won two games in a row since Dec. 29.
The Knicks entered Friday five games behind the Atlantic Division leader, the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks still did not have enough players for practice Friday because their two newest players -- Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor -- arrived in New York on Friday morning and had physical examinations.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
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