Tony Parker has 24 points, Hornets beat Pistons

DETROIT — Most of the stars of the 2005 NBA Finals have been out of the league for several years.

Tony Parker, is still beating the Detroit Pistons.


Sunday, he faced them for the first time as a member of the Charlotte Hornets, but the results weren’t any different. The 36-year-old scored 24 points in 28 minutes off the bench to lead Charlotte to a 113-103 victory.

“That’s what Tony does. I’m just surprised that he never loses any of his speed and quickness,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “He got to every spot he wanted to out there, and we weren’t stopping him.

“He’s probably going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but we’ve got to be better.”

Parker improved to 20-11 in the regular season against the Pistons, first playing them as a 19-year-old with San Antonio on Jan. 2, 2002. The Spurs also beat Detroit in seven games in the 2005 finals.

″(Tony) is a leader,” said Kemba Walker, who had 24 points and seven assists. “He brings passion and the winning attitude. He just knows how to win.”

Cody Zeller added 14 points as Charlotte won for the third time in four games.

“I thought they were great tonight,” Charlotte coach James Borrego said. “Their effort and their attention to detail were fantastic. I’m really proud of our group on both ends of the floor.”

Andre Drummond had 23 points and 22 rebounds for the Pistons, and Reggie Bullock had a career-high 23 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Detroit has lost six of eight after a 4-0 start.

“We are our own worst enemies,” Casey said. “We have to make shots and we have to stop getting caught out of position on defense. I’m going to have to make sure everyone understands our defensive assignments.”


Detroit’s Blake Griffin was given a flagrant-2 foul and ejected with 7:06 to play for a shoulder check on Malik Monk. Griffin shot 4-for-16, missing all five 3-pointers, and is 6-for-26 in his last two games.

“We’re asking Blake to carry too much of a load right now,” Casey said. “He’s bringing the ball up the floor, then going into the post and getting hit on every shot. It’s taking a toll on him.”

The Hornets started the third quarter with a 10-2 run to go ahead 61-51, and only 12 points from Bullock in the quarter kept Detroit within eight going into the fourth. Walker had nine points in the quarter and Charlotte went 6 of 8 on 3-pointers.

“We played hard and we played the right way, but the challenge is not getting frustrated,” said Reggie Jackson. “We have to find a way to stay consistent all game.”

Charlotte also jumped on the Pistons at the beginning of the fourth. The Hornets scored the first eight points to take a 16-point lead.

“I think it was really about urgency,” Borrego said. “It isn’t about playing perfect basketball but playing with urgency and aggressiveness for 48 minutes.”

Charlotte rookie Miles Bridges, who played at Michigan State, delighted a huge group of friends and family with an uncontested windmill dunk to make it 95-77 with 8:51 left.

“This was great, especially getting the win,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be a star right away on a team with Kemba, so I’m just adjusting to the league and learning my spots.”

TIP INS

Hornets: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist left early in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle and did not return. Kidd-Gilchrist had 12 points and 12 rebounds in a 133-132 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday night.

Pistons: Drummond’s 20-20 game was the 25th of his career and his 301st double-double. He leads both categories since he joined the NBA in 2012-13.

UP NEXT

Hornets: At Cleveland on Tuesday night.

Pistons: At Toronto on Wednesday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

NBA: Spurs stretch home win streak with Warriors up next

LOS ANGELES—Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge each scored 22 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat Portland 118-110 Thursday, boosting their home record this season to 34-0 and stretching their overall NBA home win streak to 43 games.

French guard Tony Parker added 18 points and 16 assists, his most since 2012, while Australia’s Patty Mills came off the bench to contribute 17 points in the triumph, which improved the Spurs to 58-10 this season.

Not since falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 12 of last year have the Spurs been defeated in San Antonio.

But that streak will receive a major test Saturday when the Spurs host the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the first of three meetings between the Western Conference powerhouses over the final month of the season.

The Warriors have lost 32 games in a row in San Antonio. Golden State has not beaten the Spurs in San Antonio since February 14, 1997, when Warriors star Stephen Curry was eight years old.

The Spurs’ streak is the third-longest in NBA history behind a 44-game Chicago run in 1995-96 and the ongoing streak of Golden State, which has won 50 home games in a row over two seasons.

San Antonio’s 34-0 home start is the second best home run to open an NBA season, trailing only the 37 in a row by Chicago in 1995-96.

Golden State, which is 61-6 and chasing Chicago’s 1995-96 team’s 72-10 mark for the all-time best season in NBA history, could move past both those home marks this season but have not yet played enough home games.

The Spurs led 56-54 at half-time then scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and surged ahead by as much as 19 in the period. Leonard scored 11 points in the third quarter to spark the run and San Antonio never looked back to the finish.

Hornets get rare Miami win



At Miami, Kemba Walker had 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Charlotte Hornets rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the host Heat 109-106. Al Jefferson added 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Hornets broke a 12-game losing streak in games at Miami.

Britain’s Luol Deng led the Heat with 22 points and nine rebounds, but left the game with a bloody mouth after colliding in the final seconds with Jeremy Lin, who made four late free throws to secure victory for the Hornets.

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each scored 28 points to lift the Toronto Raptors over host Indiana 101-94 in overtime. The Raptors improved to 46-21, while the Pacers fell to 1-7 in overtime games and slid to 36-32 overall.

John Wall had 16 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds — his seventh career NBA “triple-double” — while Marcus Thornton scored 18 points to spark the Washington Wizards past host Philadelphia 99-94. The Wizards improved to 33-35, 1 1/2 games behind Chicago for the last Eastern Conference playoff berth.

At Chicago, Doug McDermott came off the Bulls bench to score 25 points and lead the hosts over Brooklyn 118-102. Jimmy Butler scored 22 points and passed out seven assists for the Bulls.

Tim Hardaway produced 21 points in his first Atlanta start to lead eight double-figure scorers for the Hawks in a 116-98 victory over visiting Denver.

At Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 15 points and added 11 assists, six rebounds and three blocks as the Milwaukee Bucks beat Memphis 96-86, handing the Grizzlies their fourth loss in a row.

Trey Lyles came off the bench to score 17 points and lead a balanced scoring attack that powered Utah over Phoenix 103-69.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Parker’s 28 helps Spurs carve up Wolves 121-92

MINNEAPOLIS, United States— Tony Parker scored 28 points in 25 minutes and the San Antonio Spurs cruised past the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves, 121-92, in the National Basketball League on Friday night.

Parker made 12 of 18 shots, including all three of his 3-pointers, and Danny Green scored 18 points for the Spurs, which pulled away with a dominant third quarter.

Anthony Bennett scored a career-high 20 points for the Timberwolves, who had just 10 healthy players after announcing earlier in the day that Kevin Martin will be out indefinitely with a fractured right wrist. The Wolves were also missing starters Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Thaddeus Young and backup big man Ronny Turiaf.

Against overmatched point guards Mo Williams and Zach LaVine, Parker sliced and diced the Timberwolves’ defense to death with dribble penetration. When he wasn’t scoring on crafty floaters or nifty little finishes at the rim, he was collapsing the Wolves’ inexperienced defense and finding open shooters for 3s.

The Wolves stayed in it thanks to 15 first-half points from Williams and San Antonio’s sloppy ball-handling. The Spurs committed 20 turnovers in the game.

Tim Duncan had nine points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes and Austin Daye had 13 points and 11 boards for the Spurs.

At Washington, John Wall took over in the third quarter and finished with 28 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and the hustling Washington Wizards clamped down for a 91-78 win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Resuming a rivalry that peaked last decade when the Wizards and James’ Cavaliers met three consecutive years in the playoffs, the Wizards grabbed a majority of the 50-50 rebounds and capitalized on the defensive woes that have hurt Cleveland.

James scored 22 points on 8-for-21 shooting, but Cleveland committed 19 turnovers, shot 36 percent and scored a season-low in points.

At Toronto, Lou Williams scored a season-high 22 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 18 points and 12 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 124-83.

The Raptors narrowly missed matching its largest margin of victory in franchise history, set in a 96-54 victory over Miami on March 19, 2008.

Kyle Lowry scored 20 points and Terrence Ross had 13 as the Raptors wrapped up a franchise-record seven-game homestand at 6-1 and became the first Eastern Conference team to reach 10 wins.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points in yet another efficient shooting effort and the Dallas Mavericks used the NBA’s highest-scoring offense to roll to a 140-106 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Mavericks won their sixth straight game as Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons combined for 23 of 33 from the field. Parsons had 21 points and Ellis scored 20.

Kobe Bryant missed his first eight shots and was 6 of 22 for 17 points. Jeremy Lin had 18 to lead the Lakers.

In other games Friday, the Orlando Magic downed the Charlotte Hornets 105-100, the Atlanta Hawks recovered after blowing a 19-point lead to beat the Detroit Pistons 99-89, the Memphis Grizzlies topped the Boston Celtics 117-100 and the Phoenix Suns eased past the winless Philadelphia 76ers 122-96.

Also, the Brooklyn Nets edged the Oklahoma City Thunder 94-92, the Denver Nuggets routed the New Orleans Pelicans 117-97, the Portland Trailblazers thrashed the Chicago Bulls 105-87 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 101-88.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Spurs open title defense with win; Rockets spoil Bryant return

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tony Parker scored 23 points, including a big 3-pointer late in the game as the San Antonio Spurs opened their title defense with a thrilling 101-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time).

Manu Ginobili added 20 points for San Antonio, which shot 53 percent from the field. Tim Duncan had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his 14th double-double in a season opener, the most by any player in NBA history, according to Elias Sports.

Monta Ellis scored 26 points for Dallas, and Dirk Nowitzki had 18. Devin Harris finished with 17 points.

Following a video recap of the 2014 season narrated by actor and Spurs fan Samuel L. Jackson, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver presented San Antonio’s staff and players with their championship rings. The inscription inside the ring was “Good to Great,” which was coach Gregg Popovich’s mantra last season.

After Nowitzki gave Dallas a 100-98 lead with a fadeaway jumper over Boris Diaw with 1:37 remaining, Parker drained a 3 in front of the Mavericks’ bench off a feed from Diaw. Parker was 4 for 4 from long range, matching a career high for 3s in a game.

Houston’s James Harden scored 32 points, and Dwight Howard added 13 points and 11 rebounds before getting into a shouting match with Kobe Bryant as the Rockets spoiled Bryant’s return to the Lakers with a 108-90 victory.

Bryant’s comeback game got even worse when Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle seriously injured his right leg in the fourth quarter, leaving his NBA debut on a wheeled stretcher. The seventh overall pick out of Kentucky collided with two Rockets under the basket and landed awkwardly.

Bryant scored 19 points in his first game back at Staples Center after missing most of the Lakers’ worst season in a half-century with two major injuries.

Trevor Ariza and Terrence Jones scored 16 points each for Houston.

At New Orleans, Anthony Davis had 26 points, 17 rebounds and nine blocks to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to a 101-84 season-opening win over the Orlando Magic.

Ryan Anderson, coming back from surgery on a herniated disk that cost him more than half of last season, scored 22 points. The Pelicans’ new 7-foot (2.13-meter) center, Omer Asik, had a double-double with 14 points and 17 rebounds.

Tobias Harris scored 25 points for Orlando, while Nikola Vucevic added 15 points and 23 rebounds.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Spurs clobber Heat in Miami for 2-1 lead in NBA Finals

MANILA, Philippines—The San Antonio Spurs outclassed the Miami Heat, 111-92, at the reigning champions’ home court to gain a 2-1 advantage in the 2014 NBA finals.

The Spurs waxed hot in the first half with brilliant 75.8 percent shooting from the field and led the Heat by as many as 25 points.

Kawhi Leonard finished with 29 points off-the-bench on 10-of-13 shooting. Danny Green and Tony Parker added 15 points each.

Sparked by Dwyane Wade, Miami trimmed the deficit down to seven, 74-81, in the third period, but San Antonio found ways to keep the Heat at bay the rest of the way.

It was the Heat’s first loss at home in the entire 2014 NBA playoffs.

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is on Friday (Manila time), still at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Spurs rout Mavs to set up clash with Trail Blazers

SAN ANTONIO –The San Antonio Spurs ended a hard-fought first-round series in emphatic style Sunday, routing the Dallas Mavericks 119-96 to advance in the NBA playoffs.

The Spurs, top seeds in the Western Conference, were pushed to the brink by the eighth-seeded Mavs, but with their season on the line responded with the blowout win that gave them a four-games-to-three triumph in the best-of-seven first-round series.

Tony Parker scored 24 of his 32 points in a first half, when San Antonio connected on a sizzling 68.4 percent of their shots from the field to build a comfortable cushion.

“We have a lot of respect for Dallas, they’re a great team,” Parker said. “They made it very hard on us. The whole series it was a hard fight.”

Manu Ginobili finished with 20 points, five assists and six steals and Danny Green added 16 points for the Spurs, who will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday in game one of their second-round series.

“I think our movement was good today and I think we’re getting back to playing Spurs basketball,” Parker said. “We’re going to need it against Portland, they’re a very good team.”

The Mavericks were trying to become just the sixth number eight seed to knock off a top seed.

But on Sunday they struggled offensively, with Dirk Nowitzki’s 22 points leading the way and Devin Harris contributing 17 points off the bench.

Monta Ellis, who had averaged 24 points over the previous five games, contributed only 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

The game was the last of a record five game sevens in the opening round of the playoffs.

The total already matches the NBA record for the most seventh games in all rounds in any playoff year.

source: sports.inquirer.net

LeBron dominates by scoring less

THE NBA may no longer have to resort to a new script other than the one used in the previous Eastern Conference Finals playoffs.

If there’s something truly new and startling in the current series, it was the plot used by the Miami Heat in striking back and tying up the crown race.

This came to the fore yesterday.

In an NBA title series that has started to center on two main standouts, Tony Parker, hero of Game 1 for San Antonio, was nowhere when the Spurs got spanked by Miami via a 103-84 rout.

* * *

It’s, of course, a bit odd that Miami vital cog LeBron James himself did not figure magnificently in scoring as the Heat leveled the 2013 NBA Finals playoffs at 1-all.

James, for one, scored only on one of his first 13 attempts and finished with 17 points, two fewer than top-scoring Mario Chalmers.

That below-par output, however, did not in any way weaken the dam-burst onslaught that peaked with a 33-5 Miami run starting midway in the third quarter and which, by the way, was punctuated by a crushing above-the-ring stoppage of a Tiago Splitter slam by James.

James did not have to say it, but it has become clear he could still dominate and win by scoring less.

* * *

Said the New York Times: “His (James) box-score totals did not leap off the page. His most memorable play was a block that merely provided a final exclamation point on the rout.”

But both strong and subtle, NY Times explained, James was still the driving force as the Heat tied the championship series.

The NBA Finals series moves to San Antonio starting Wednesday (Manila time).

It’s now the turn of the stunned Spurs  to reinvigorate the Finals after they got blown off the court in Game 2.

* * *

Coach Greg Popovich, who took Game 1 by planting intangibles all over the floor, can only be expected to lean on the homecourt advantage.

At least, Popovich did not have to be told that holding down James can no longer provide a vouch for a San Antonio victory.

“What I do know is sharing the ball is contagious,” James bared postgame with evident humility.

James has also started to enjoy being pressed hard.

“That way, it allows everyone to feel  involved with the offense,” he said.

source: sports.inquirer.net