Nelson scores 22, Lewis 21 as Magic crush Warriors

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Jameer Nelson has elevated his play during the Orlando Magic's five-game winning streak.

Nelson scored 22 points and had seven assists to help the Orlando Magic rout the Golden State Warriors 113-81 on Monday night.Nelson, named NBA Player of the Week for the first time in his career earlier on Monday, was 9-for-9 from the field -- including hitting four 3-pointers."I'm not stat-chasing, Player of the Week chasing or All-Star chasing, I'm just trying to help us win games," Nelson said. "Honors like that, they'll come to somebody on a team that's winning, but we've got to keep winning."He had 13 points and four assists in the third period when the Magic blew open a close game with a 22-9 run on their way to their ninth win in 10 games."Jameer is carrying us right now," said teammate Mickael Pietrus, who scored 14 points. "I've been telling him that he's playing at an all-star level and if he keeps playing like this, he?s going to make an all-star team."Rashard Lewis scored 21 points and Dwight Howard added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who held Golden State to just 31.9 percent shooting for the game.Jamal Crawford led the Warriors with 18 points, but was 7-for-21 from the field. Anthony Morrow had 13 points and Marco Belinelli 12 for the Warriors, who lost for the sixth time in the last seven games."We got shots we're used to making, but we pretty much struggled from the field the whole night," Crawford said. "They are such a good 3-point shooting team and then you have Dwight [Howard] inside so you have to pick your poison."Orlando led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but saw that advantage dwindle to just 58-54 when Crawford hit a 3-pointer with 9:49 left in the third. The Magic lead was only seven when Lewis hit his third 3-pointer with 6:13 left in the quarter to start the 22-9 run to close out the period.The Magic lead grew to as many as 35 points as the reserves took over in the fourth quarter.Orlando got off to a hot start in winning their seventh straight game at home. Nelson's driving layup gave Orlando a 25-10 lead with 3:11 left in the first period, but the Warriors scored the last six points of the period to cut the deficit to nine.The Magic pushed the advantage back to 17 points when Lewis' 3-pointer made it 48-31 with 3:38 left in the second, but Golden State responded again. Crawford started a 14-5 run with a 3-pointer and the Warriors had the deficit down to 53-45 by halftime.Game notes
Nelson broke the Amway Arena record for most field goals in a game without a miss. ... The Magic made a season-high 16 3-pointers in the game. ... The Magic are 15-1 this season when scoring 100 points or more. ... The 81 points ties the second-lowest output this season by Golden State. The lowest was 79 at Memphis in the fourth game of the season.

Kobe forces Lakers to victory, leads Gasol to win over ex-team

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Kobe Bryant rescued the Los Angeles Lakers from a third straight loss.

Bryant scored 36 points and keyed a late rally to help the Los Angeles Lakers snap a two-game losing streak with a 105-96 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

Fast Facts

• Kobe Bryant has scored 20 or more points in 24 of 26 games this season.

• The Lakers are 8-5 when Bryant attempts more than 20 shots. They are 14-0 when he attempts less than 20 shots.

• Memphis is 1-7 vs. Southwest Division opponents this season.

• Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay has more than 20 points in five of his last seven games.

• The Lakers are 43-10 with Pau Gasol in the lineup.

-- ESPN research

The Lakers trailed by 93-88 with 3:08 left, but closed the game on a 17-3 run, including 10 points from Bryant to overtake the Grizzlies down the stretch. His breakaway dunk as the horn sounded put an exclamation point on the Lakers' win."We know what we want to do," Bryant said of the Lakers' late play against the young Grizzlies. "For a young team, they are still kind of searching for what that identity is going to be."For us, we've been there, done that. So, it's just a matter of how well we executed."Bryant was 14-of-23 from the field, part of Los Angeles shooting 54 percent on the night."Obviously, Kobe hit a big shot, and we never really responded to that," said Rudy Gay, who led Memphis with 23 points. "I think we took a stride, but then again, you can't be happy with a loss."Pau Gasol had 15 points, seven rebounds and had six assists in his return to Memphis. Gasol played six-plus seasons with the Grizzlies before being traded to Los Angeles in February. Part of the trade included his brother, Marc, going to the Grizzlies."Somebody had to lose tonight, right?" Gasol said. "I'm happy we came out victorious because we needed this win extremely bad to continue to pursue our goals. But I'm sorry that on the losing end were the Grizzlies and my brother."Gasol is the Grizzlies franchise leader in 12 statistical categories, including points, rebounds and blocks, and the only All-Star in Grizzlies history (2006).

Brotherly Love

Pau Gasol faced his former team and his brother, Marc, for the first time. Since 2000, only two other pairs of brothers have started against each other in the NBA.

Comparing the Gasols' nights

	Pau	Marc
Points	15	8
FGM-A	6-10	2-7
Rebounds	7	7
Assists	6	2
Minutes	34	32

He was met with a mixture of cheers and boos in the pregame introductions. Later, when the Grizzlies presented a video tribute during a timeout, the boos were louder.Rudy Gay led Memphis with 23 points, while O.J. Mayo scored 22 and had six assists.Andrew Bynum had 13 points and Lamar Odom finished with 12.The game was close throughout without either team building a lead of more than eight through the first three quarters. The Lakers had lost their last two games on the road -- at Miami and Orlando -- by a total of five points."We battled for three and a half quarters," Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni. "Unfortunately, 3 1/2 quarters isn't enough to beat the Lakers. We didn't play very well down the stretch."Memphis led 57-49 at the half and couldn't pull away in the third quarter. The two teams got testy as Marc Gasol and Bryant drew technicals. Odom would also draw one for arguing a no-call later in the half.The two teams exchanged leads late in the third period before Memphis carried an 80-77 lead into the fourth quarter.Game notes
Monday was the final game of a season-long five-game homestand for the Grizzlies. After winning the first two, Memphis lost three straight. ... Earlier in the day, the Lakers announced that a pair of doctors had confirmed Jordan Farmar suffered a torn lateral meniscus and will need surgery. He could be sidelined for eight weeks.




espn.com

Melo to sit 3 games total with injury

December 23, 2008

DENVER -- Carmelo Anthony's sore right elbow will keep him out of the Denver Nuggets' next two games after he missed Monday's game, the team and the forward said Monday.

Anthony

"Right now is the best timing," Anthony said before Denver beat Portland 97-89. "Get it over with, get the rest and depend on my teammates to go out there and have somebody step up."

Anthony said he has two bone spurs -- one in each elbow -- and the team hopes resting him for a week will help. He missed the game against Portland on Monday and won't face the Blazers on Tuesday. He said he will also sit out Friday's home game against Philadelphia.

"It's trying to get as much length into the rehab in the middle of the season," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "We're hoping it settles down and it's more tendinitis than structural. Everyone feels confident it's tendinitis."

Anthony has been hampered by the injury since training camp and it's grown progressively worse in the past few weeks. He was held to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting in a loss to Phoenix on Saturday.

He said it has bothered him since the start of the season.

"I think it was the beginning of the season, then in one game I fell on it," he said. "Then I fell on the other one. After the Charlotte game [on Nov. 11] I got some X-rays and I found out I had two bone spurs, one on each arm, and they just started getting worse and worse."

Anthony, who is averaging 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds this season, said he got phone calls and text messages from friends and family concerned about how the elbow was affecting his performance.

"Yesterday was the deciding factor," he said. "Even after the game in Phoenix I got a lot of texts from people saying, 'Man, you don't look right out there.' They don't know what I'm going through with this elbow."

"Friends, a brother, family, agent, doctors, there were a lot of people said they didn't want me to mess around and have this thing keep stalling out throughout the whole year. This can be something if I keep getting hit on, it can linger the whole year."

Anthony tied an NBA record for points in a quarter with 33 against Minnesota on Dec. 10. He scored 45 against the Timberwolves and 27 against Golden State three days later, but his point production decreased over the next four games. He is hopeful rest will take care of the problem.

"I don't know. I'll try and see," he said. "After these three games we'll see what happens."

ESPN.com

Game Schedule For Dec 27, 2008

Game Schedule For Dec 27, 2008

Date	Away	Home	Time
Sat, Dec 27	Chicago	Atlanta	7:00 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	New Jersey	Charlotte	7:00 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Oklahoma City	Washington	7:00 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Orlando	Minnesota	8:00 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Utah	Houston	8:30 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Detroit	Milwaukee	8:30 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Memphis	San Antonio	8:30 PM ET
Sat, Dec 27	Toronto	Portland	10:00 PM ET

Game Schedule For Dec 26, 2008

Game Schedule For Dec 26, 2008

Date	Away	Home	Time	National TV	Sirius Channel	Local TV
Fri, Dec 26	Chicago	Miami	5:00 PM ET	ESPN	--	--, CSN-Chicago
Fri, Dec 26	Charlotte	New Jersey	7:30 PM ET	--	--	YESHD
Fri, Dec 26	Minnesota	New York	7:30 PM ET	--	--	MSG, KSTC-45
Fri, Dec 26	Oklahoma City	Detroit	8:00 PM ET	--	--	FS Plus, FS Oklahoma HD
Fri, Dec 26	Indiana	Memphis	8:00 PM ET	--	--	--
Fri, Dec 26	Houston	New Orleans	8:00 PM ET	--	--	CST, FSNHOU
Fri, Dec 26	Philadelphia	Denver	9:00 PM ET	--	--	Altitude HD, CSN
Fri, Dec 26	Dallas	Utah	9:00 PM ET	--	--	KJZZ, KTXAHD
Fri, Dec 26	Toronto	Sacramento	10:00 PM ET	--	--	CSNCA
Fri, Dec 26	Boston	Golden State	10:30 PM ET	NBATV	--	CSNBayHD, CSNHD

Game Schedule For Dec 25, 2008

Game Schedule For Dec 25, 2008

Date	Away	Home	Time	National TV	Sirius Channel	Local TV
Thu, Dec 25	New Orleans	Orlando	12:00 PM ET	ESPN	--	Sun Sports HD
Thu, Dec 25	San Antonio	Phoenix	2:30 PM ET	ABC	--	--
Thu, Dec 25	Boston	L.A. Lakers	5:00 PM ET	ABC	--	--
Thu, Dec 25	Washington	Cleveland	8:00 PM ET	TNT	--	--
Thu, Dec 25	Dallas	Portland	10:30 PM ET	TNT	--	--

NBA Game Schedule for 12/23/08

Date	Away	Home	Time	National TV	Sirius Channel	Local TV
Tue, Dec 23	Oklahoma City	Atlanta	7:00 PM ET	--	--	Fox Sports South, FS Oklahoma
Tue, Dec 23	Washington	Charlotte	7:00 PM ET	--	--	--, CSN+
Tue, Dec 23	Houston	Cleveland	7:00 PM ET	--	--	FSOhio HD, FSNHOU
Tue, Dec 23	New Jersey	Indiana	7:00 PM ET	--	--	FSI, YESHD
Tue, Dec 23	Philadelphia	Boston	7:30 PM ET	--	--	CSNHD, WPSG
Tue, Dec 23	Golden State	Miami	7:30 PM ET	--	--	Sun Sports HD, CSNBay
Tue, Dec 23	Chicago	Detroit	8:00 PM ET	--	--	FS Detroit HD, WGNAmerica
Tue, Dec 23	Utah	Milwaukee	8:00 PM ET	--	--	FSN Wisconsin, FSN
Tue, Dec 23	L.A. Lakers	New Orleans	8:00 PM ET	NBATV	--	CST, KCAL HD
Tue, Dec 23	Memphis	Dallas	8:30 PM ET	--	--	FSNSWHD, SportSouth
Tue, Dec 23	Minnesota	San Antonio	8:30 PM ET	--	--	FSNSW, FSN North
Tue, Dec 23	Denver	Portland	10:00 PM ET	--	--	CSN, Altitude

Game Schedule - 12/22/08

Team
Warriors
Magic

7:00 PM ET

Team
Rockets
Nets

7:30 PM ET

Team
Lakers
Grizzlies

8:00 PM ET

Team
Kings
Spurs

8:30 PM ET

Team
Trail Blazers
Nuggets

9:00 PM ET

Team
Raptors
Clippers

10:30 PM ET

• 
• 

clippers

Game Scores

pistons

78

Team	1	2	3	4					T
Pistons	25	16	22	15					78
Hawks	22	30	17	16					85

FINALGame Scoreboard

hawks

85

knicks

105

Team	1	2	3	4					T
Knicks	21	37	29	18					105
Celtics	40	26	32	26					124

FINALGame Scoreboard

celtics

124

mavericks

97

Team	1	2	3	4					T
Mavericks	22	20	28	27					97
Wizards	21	23	24	18					86

FINALGame Scoreboard

• 
• 

wizards

86

cavaliers

102

Team	1	2	3	4					T
Cavaliers	27	25	30	20					102
Thunder	25	22	25	19					91

FINALGame Scoreboard

thunder

91

NBA Team Standings

2008-2009 Conference Regular Season Standings
Eastern Conference
Eastern	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
Boston1	26	2	0.929	0.0	19-1	5-0	16-1	10-1	10-0	W 18
Cleveland2	23	4	0.852	2.5	15-3	6-1	13-0	10-4	9-1	W 3
Orlando3	21	6	0.778	4.5	10-2	3-1	11-3	10-3	8-2	W 4
Atlanta4	17	10	0.630	8.5	13-7	6-0	11-2	6-8	6-4	W 2
Detroit5	14	11	0.560	10.5	10-7	4-0	7-5	7-6	4-6	L 2
Miami6	14	12	0.538	11.0	7-6	3-2	8-5	6-7	6-4	W 2
New Jersey7	13	13	0.500	12.0	7-9	3-2	5-9	8-4	4-6	L 1
Chicago8	13	14	0.481	12.5	6-9	2-3	10-3	3-11	5-5	W 1
Milwaukee	13	16	0.448	13.5	9-10	2-4	7-4	6-12	6-4	W 2
Philadelphia	12	15	0.444	13.5	8-12	2-3	7-8	5-7	5-5	L 1
New York	11	16	0.407	14.5	6-11	1-3	7-5	4-11	3-7	L 4
Toronto	10	17	0.370	15.5	9-9	2-5	5-8	5-9	2-8	L 5
Indiana	10	17	0.370	15.5	6-14	0-6	6-6	4-11	3-7	W 1
Charlotte	9	19	0.321	17.0	4-14	1-4	7-10	2-9	2-8	L 1
Washington	4	21	0.160	20.5	2-17	0-6	3-12	1-9	1-9	L 6
Western Conference
Western	W	L	PCT	GB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	L 10	STREAK
L.A. Lakers1	21	5	0.808	0.0	14-1	6-1	14-1	7-4	7-3	L 2
New Orleans2	16	7	0.696	3.5	12-4	3-1	9-3	7-4	8-2	W 4
Houston3	18	9	0.667	3.5	14-7	4-3	9-3	9-6	7-3	W 3
Denver4	17	10	0.630	4.5	12-8	3-1	9-4	8-6	6-4	L 3
Portland5	17	10	0.630	4.5	9-8	2-2	9-2	8-8	6-4	W 2
San Antonio6	16	10	0.615	5.0	12-6	4-3	9-5	7-5	7-3	W 1
Phoenix7	16	11	0.593	5.5	9-8	1-2	9-5	7-6	5-5	W 1
Utah8	17	12	0.586	5.5	12-2	5-0	10-4	7-8	5-5	L 1
Dallas	15	11	0.577	6.0	8-7	3-2	7-6	8-5	7-3	W 1
Memphis	9	17	0.346	12.0	6-12	1-6	7-7	2-10	5-5	L 2
L.A. Clippers	8	19	0.296	13.5	6-14	0-4	3-10	5-9	5-5	L 1
Golden State	8	20	0.286	14.0	5-8	1-1	4-7	4-13	3-7	W 1
Sacramento	7	21	0.250	15.0	7-15	3-3	5-9	2-12	2-8	L 3
Minnesota	4	22	0.154	17.0	2-17	1-7	2-11	2-11	0-10	L 12
Oklahoma City	3	25	0.107	19.0	2-13	1-2	2-13	1-12	1-9	L 1