Knicks @ Pacers 117-119

The Pacers didn’t need Danny Granger’s help to beat the New York Knicks on Sunday.

They wouldn’t have won the rematch without him.

Granger, who missed the win at New York with strep throat, hit the game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds left and scored 26 points in Indiana’s 119-117 victory on Tuesday night.

Indiana passed the ball inbounds with 7.8 seconds left. Granger worked the clock, drove right on Shawne Williams, pulled up and connected on a 17-foot fadeaway.

Williams, a former Pacer who guarded Granger many times in practice, anticipated Granger’s first move.

“I tried to jump on his right hand, but he gave me a move,” he said. “You just got to get into him and make that shot more difficult than it was. I feel like he got too good of a look at the basket. He’s going to make those eight times of out 10.”

Indiana coach Frank Vogel’s game plan was simple.

“We wanted to get the last shot and we wanted Danny to take it,” he said. “That’s all the details were. Get the ball to your best player and, as time expires, get a shot off.”

Time didn’t quite expire, but New York couldn’t connect on a lob attempt as time ran out.

The Pacers were in position to win in part because Tyler Hansbrough scored a career-high 30 points. He set a career high with 29 points on Sunday.

“I love New York, but I just happen to play good against them,” Hansbrough said.

Carmelo Anthony was at a loss to explain how the Knicks let a player who averages 10 points explode for 59 points on 65 percent shooting in two games.

“We all know what he was capable of doing,” said Anthony, who led the Knicks with 29 points. “I don’t think we made adjustments to him at the top of the key. Especially after the game he had in the Garden, I would think we would make some adjustments after that. He’s played great these last two games.”

Darren Collison added 24 points and nine assists for the Pacers, who had lost six straight before the back-to-back wins over the Knicks.

“We had a rough stretch that, we all understand that we went through a tough time,” Vogel said. “We’re on our way back to being ourselves.”

Amare Stoudemire had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks. Toney Douglas and Landry Fields each added 17 points for the Knicks, who have lost three straight.

A jumper by Collison gave the Pacers a 116-115 lead with 24 seconds remaining. New York had a chance to take the lead, but Paul George stole Chauncey Billups’ bounce pass to Stoudemire. George was fouled and made one of two free throws with 13 seconds left to give Indiana a 117-115 lead.

Anthony made a layup on the other end with 7.8 seconds remaining to tie the score. He drove on Granger, who was playing with five fouls.

Granger responded with the game-winner.

“They made some big shots, but we came right back and made some big shots,” he said.

The Pacers surged ahead early in the third quarter. A power dunk in traffic by Hansbrough ignited the crowd, then Granger hit a 3-pointer and Collison scored on a fast-break layup to push Indiana’s lead to 76-66 midway through the period.

After a Knicks timeout, Hansbrough continued his onslaught. He scored another bucket, then converted a three-point play to make it 81-68. He finished with 15 points in the quarter.

New York closed the quarter on a 10-0 run to cut Indiana’s lead to 87-82 at the end of the period.

Indiana surrendered its lead in the fourth before rallying.

“Our execution down the stretch, in particular late in the fourth quarter, was terrific, and that’s what wins ballgames for you,” Vogel said.

The loss left the Knicks searching for answers.

“It feels bad,” Williams said. “We know we got to get it going, some kind of way. I feel like we all got to take a good look in the mirror and redefine ourselves. We got to take more pride in defense.”

Aldridge scored 30 in Portland’s victory over Dallas

Brandon Roy’s ongoing process for dealing with his knees is not to get too excited when things go well—as they did against the Mavericks.

Roy came off the bench to score 21 points, including a key jumper with less than a minute to go, in Portland’s 104-101 victory against Dallas on Tuesday night.

Roy, a three-time All-Star, had arthroscopic surgery on both knees in January because of too little cartilage, a condition that will likely bother him the rest of his career.

Since the surgery, he has come off the bench and his minutes have been closely monitored.

“It’s a process. I try to stay even keel with everything going on,” he said. “Tonight, I felt great.”

The Blazers led 100-94 with 3:50 left, but Jason Terry’s basket narrowed it to 100-99. Roy hit a pair of free throws before a pull-up jumper that made it 104-99 with 47 seconds left.

Dirk Nowitzki hit a pair of free throws, but after a timeout with 8.8 seconds on the clock, he missed a 3-point attempt from the corner and time ran out for the Mavericks.

“That’s the best I’ve seen him this year,” coach Nate McMillan said of Roy, who went on his own personal 10-4 run for the Blazers midway through the second half.

Nowitzki finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds for Dallas, which shot 59.7 percent.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 30 points and eight rebounds. Wesley Matthews added 18 points.

The Mavericks had a tense moment in the first half when Nowitzki left the court with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. He returned to the bench a short time later, however.

Dallas made its first 10 shots and didn’t miss until Brian Cardinal’s failed 3-point attempt with 3:25 left in the first quarter. The errant shot earned applause from the Rose Garden crowd. The Mavs shot 73 percent in the first quarter.

Dallas led by eight points early, but Portland narrowed the gap to 24-21 on Aldridge’s dunk. Portland briefly took the lead when Matthews’ 3-pointer made it 45-43. But Dallas quickly reclaimed the lead on Terry’s 3-pointer and the Mavericks were up 56-53 at the break.

The Mavericks extended the lead to 71-62 on Tyson Chandler’s dunk. The Blazers kept up the pressure, and Aldridge tied it at 76 with a turnaround jumper late in the third quarter. Portland took a 78-76 lead on Roy’s layup.

It was the first of 10 straight points for Roy that put Portland up 86-80 early in the fourth quarter.

“He made some tough shots. He looked like the Brandon Roy of old,” Nowitzki said. “If he shoots the ball like that, they’ve got two legit go-to guys with Aldridge, who is playing phenomenal, and him. They’re going to be tough to beat in the playoffs whoever they play.”

McMillan said Roy’s effort against Dallas doesn’t mean that his “process” in coming back this season will change.

“We’ve talked to him about his minutes. He’s feeling good with the minutes that he’s been getting and we need to keep him there,” the coach said. “That’s working. We haven’t had any setbacks.”

Roy said that half of what he’s dealing with is mental.

“I’ve got to challenge myself to push through, and know that my body’s OK,” he said.

The Mavericks were without Brendan Haywood who was sitting with lower back stiffness. Peja Stojakovic missed his fourth straight game with a stiff neck.

The Blazers switched things up by starting Gerald Wallace in place of Marcus Camby. Wallace, an All-Star last season, came to the Blazers in a trade with Charlotte at the deadline last month.

Camby had arthroscopic knee surgery in January and his minutes have been limited since his return. McMillan did not say whether the change was permanent.

Portland was home after two straight losses on the road. The Mavericks were coming off a 96-91 loss at home to the Lakers on Sunday.

Westbrook, Durant lead Thunder past Cavs 95-75


Russell Westbrook dunked on the Cavaliers. Byron Scott slammed them even harder.

Westbrook began a personal 12-point scoring tear by crushing a two-handed jam in the third quarter that awakened his listless Thunder teammates and led Oklahoma City to a 95-75 win Sunday over Cleveland, leaving Scott to doubt his team’s toughness.

“I’m really starting to question what type of heart we have as a basketball team,” the coach said.

Westbrook scored 14 of his 20 points in the third quarter, helping the Thunder open a 20-point cushion and coast to an easy win. He began his one-man sideshow by delivering a dunk that stunned the Thunder, the Cavs, ushers, vendors, mascots and 19,000 fans.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of a 95-75 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in an NBA basketball game, Sunday, March 13, 2011, in Cleveland.

“It caught us all by surprise,” Kevin Durant(notes) said. “That was a big-time dunk. I’ve been waiting for that one.”

Westbrook followed it up with five consecutive layups, spinning around or blowing past any Cleveland defender daring to cover him.

Scott was incensed that none of his players bothered putting a body on Westbrook.

“It was too easy,” he said. “He’s a great player, but it gets to a point as a team where enough is enough and somebody has to knock him on his (rear end). It’s as simple as that, and that’s where the heart part comes in. Or are you just going to keep backing down and taking it?”

Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer, had 19 points—nine below his average— but the Thunder hardly needed their superstar while improving to 19-6 against Eastern Conference teams.

Eurobasket 2009 - Day 3

Group A: FYROM 71-81 Croatia, Israel 80-106 Greece

Nikola Vujcic – Croatia (Photo: FIBA Europe/Castoria/Vlachos)Greece finished Group A undefeated after routing Israel, while Croatia picked up a win to take into the second round by rallying to beat F.Y.R. of Macedonia 71-81 in Poznan on Wednesday. Croatia finished second place with a 2-1 record, FYROM is third at 1-2 and Israel goes home winless. In the early game, a rain of three-pointers and an outstanding Darko Sokolov helped FYROM take a 26-20 edge after 10 minutes. An 8-0 run that Real Madrid’s Jeremiah Massey capped with a layup soon made it a 14-point game as the Croatian fans started to wonder. FYROM's lead peaked at 41-24 on another basket by Massey. Vujcic and Davor Kus of Benetton Gioco Digitale fueled a 0-13 run that brought Croatia back to life, 48-46. A three-pointer by Stefanov boosted his team's lead back to 61-52, but another 0-11 run that Marin Rozic of Cibona capped with a triple put Croatia ahead for good, 61-66, with seven minutes to go. And Marko Popovic of Unics and Niksa Prkacin made sure to lead Croatia to its second EuroBasket win. Olympiacos superstar Nikola Vujcic paced the winners with 12 points and Marko Banic of Bizkaia Bilbao Basket added 11, while CSKA playmaker Zoran Planinic dished 6 assists for Croatia. Vrbica Stefanov, Sokolov and Massey each had 12 points for FYROM. Massey also had 10 rebounds. Riste Stefanov added 11 points for FYROM. Later, Greece cruised to an 80-106 win over Israel as Final Four MVP Vassilis Spanoulis totaled 18 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes. The game was for protocol only as Greece had won the group and Israel knew it was headed home already the night before. Greece pulled away with a 2-13 run at the end of the second period to take a 42-56 halftime lead and Israel never seriously threatened the rest of the way. Antonis Fotsis of Panathinaikos and Sofoklis Schortsanitis of Olympiacos added 18 apiece for Greece, while Ioannis Kalampokis scored 12 and Konstantinos Kaimakoglou 10. Caja Laboral forward Lior Eliyahu carried Israel with 21 points and 8 rebounds and Maccabi Electra’s Raviv Limonad added 15 in defeat.

Group B: Russia 64-69 France, Germany 62-68 Latvia

France became remained unbeaten and won Group B in Gdansk by edging defending champion Russia 64-69 and Germany reached the second round despite a 62-68 loss against Latvia. Russia, Germany and Latvia all finished with 1-2 records, but it was Latvia that fell to last due to the tiebreak procedure. Latvia would have advanced with a 12-point win. In the first game, small forward Kelly McCarty of Khimki Moscow kept Russia in the game early and CSKA forward Andrei Voronstevich followed triple with a layup-plus-foul to give Russia a 28-21 margin. Boris Diaw and Valencia Basket’s Nando de Colo brought France as close as 35-34 at halftime. An outstanding Anton Ponkrashov pushed Russia back ahead 47-40, but Tony Parker and Diaw stepped up big late in the third quarter to tie the score at 55-55 seven minutes to go. Diaw took over with several easy baskets and got some help from Ronny Turiaf to seal the outcome, 64-69, as Russia went scoreless in the final three minutes. Diaw paced the winners with 19 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Turiaf posted a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds while Parker scored 17 points for Les Bleus. McCarty led Russia with 13 points despite briefly leaving the game with a leg injury. Nikita Kurbanov of CSKA added 12 while Vitali Fridzon of Khimki had 11. Later Latvia overcame a slow start with strong defense that held Germany scoreless for four minutes to take a 6-8 lead. A three-pointer by Kristaps Janicenoks and a free throw by Kaspars Kambala gave Latvia a 13-14 edge after 10 minutes. Three-pointers by Uvis Helmanis and DKV Joventut guard Kristaps Valters boosted the Latvian margin to 22-29 late in the second quarter. Germany did not find answers in offense and a buzzer-beating jumper by Bizkaia Bilbao Basket guard Janis Blums gave Latvia a 29-37 halftime lead. Demond Greene got Germany as close as 35-37 after the break, but Armands Skele and Valters gave Latvia some fresh air, 38-46. Valters remained hot and free throws by Kambala made it 46-57 with six minutes remaining. Greene struck from downtown to give Germany some hope, 51-57. Latvia seemed to be close to advancing when a three-pointer and free throws by Janicenoks gave his team a 57-68 margin. However Jan Jagla buried a triple and added foul shots to send Germany to the next round. Janicenoks led Latvia with 14 points. Kambala added 11 and Valters and Skele each had 10 for Latvia. Greene scored 16 points for Germany and Jagla was the hero with 5 of his 13 points in the final 13 seconds.

Group C: Spain 90-84 Slovenia, Great Britain 59-77 Serbia

Ricky Rubio – Spain (Photo: FIBA Europe/Castoria/Parausic)Spain survived a real scare from Slovenia before winning 90-84 in overtime to punch its ticket to the next round and Serbia took care of business against Great Britain with a 59-77 win. Spain, Slovenia and Serbia all advanced with 2-1 records, while Great Britain heads home winless. The Spain-Slovenia game was neck and neck for 17 minutes before Euroleague MVP Juan Carlos Navarro of Regal FC Barcelona stepped up to lead a 7-0 spurt as Apin took a 43-35 halftime lead. Navarro scored the first basket of the second half and his Barcelona teammate Ricky Rubio drilled a three to pump the lead up to 13. The lead reached 15 late in the third quarter and was still 13 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but that’s when Slovenia took over. Jaka Lakovic, also from Regal FCB, drained a pair of threes and Goran Dragic scored 6 points in a 0-12 charge that brought Slovenia back. Navarro’s near-perfect free-throw shooting helped Spain keep the lead, but Dragic was always there, nipping at the lead. In the closing seconds, after Rudy Fernandez put Spain up 78-75, Rubio sent Dragic to the line to avoid letting him attempt a game-tying three. Instead, Dragic made the first and missed the second on purpose. Erazem Lorbek grabbed the ball and beat the buzzer to tie the game at 78-78 and force overtime. Alas, the effort needed to comeback left Slovenia spent and Pau Gasol and Real Madrid's Felipe Reyes stood tall to wrap up the win in the final minutes. Navarro finished with 21 points, Fernandez netted 19, Reyes had 17 points and 8 rebounds and Gasol posted 13 points and 9 boards. Dragic led Slovenia with 19 points, Lakovic had 15, Bostjan Nachbar 14 and Primoz Brezec 12. Serbia’s Milenko Tepic scored 7 during a 2-17 opening-quarter charge that saw his team take control for good. Serbia led 12-21 after 10 minutes, but Great Britain clawed its way back to 20-22 thanks to Unicaja's Robert Archibald. Nevertheless, Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic restored Serbian control and a 29-39 halftime advantage. Krstic continued to dominate the paint throughout the second half, never allowing Great Britain a real chance and securing the win. Krstic and Tepic led Serbia with 17 points apiece and Teodosic added 11. Nate Reinking led Great Britain with 21 points and Pops Mensah-Bonsu tallied 16 in defeat.

Group D: Poland 69-87 Turkey, Lithuania 84-69 Bulgaria

Omer Asik - Turkey (Photo: FIBA Europe/Castoria)Turkey finished Group D with a perfect record after mauling host Poland 69-87 in Wroclaw. The loss was Poland’s first so far at the event. Meanwhile Lithuania ousted Bulgaria and advanced to the next round in a battle of previously winless games. For Turkey, Fenerbahce Ulker center Omer Asik shined with 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting and 8 rebounds to lead the way, while Ersan Ilyasova added 18 points and 8 boards. Turkey led from start to finish, taking its first double-digit lead after just eight minutes on a triple by Efes Pilsen playmaker Kerem Tunceri. A three-pointer from Asseco Prokom’s David Logan followed by a Szymon Szewczyk free throw narrowed the gap to 4 early in the second quarter, however threes by Ender Arslan of Efes Pilsen and Hedo Turkoglu restored the Turkish control. The lead would reach 17 before Poland got threes from Michal Chylinski and Krzysztof Szubarga to get within 34-45 at the half. Poland’s best efforts couldn’t get the hosts closer than 6 in the third quarter and a 2-15 charge to start the fourth quarter sealed the win for Turkey. Turkoglu finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds, Tunceri added 11 and Arslan had 10 for the winners. Marcin Gortat led Poland with 21 points and Maciej Lampe of Maccabi Electra scored 14. Lithuania pulled away late to ice Bulgaria 84-69 and book a spot in the next round. Lithuanian led by 2 with five minutes to play, but Montepaschi big man Ksistof Lavrinovic drilled and three-pointer and followed that up with 3 free throws as his team quickly built a 10-point lead. K. Lavrinovic and Armani Jeans Milano’s Marius Petravicius made sure the lead stood up with free throws as Lithuania snagged the win. The game was close in the early going, despite Lithuania often pulling ahead and Bulgaria catching up. The score was knotted at 41-41 at halftime. Bulgaria got hope when Todor Stoykov led off the third quarter with back-to-back three-pointers, but Petravicus and the Lavrinovic twins kept Lithuania close. It would remain that way until midway through the period, when Lithuania turned up the pressure and took the win.


Game 3, Wednesday September 9, 2009
Group A Result Group B Result
F.Y.R.O.M vs. Croatia 71-81 F Russia vs. France 64-69 F
Israel vs. Greece 80-106 F Germany vs. Latvia 62-68 F
Group C Result Group D Result
Spain vs. Slovenia 90-84 F Poland vs. Turkey 69-87 F
Great Britain vs. Serbia 59-77 F Lithuania vs. Bulgaria 84-69 F


Next Game, Game 4, Friday-Saturday September 11-12, 2009
Group E , Friday 11 CET Group F, Saturday 12 CET
Russia vs. Croatia 15:45 Turkey vs. Spain 15:45
Germany vs. Greece 18:15 Poland vs. Serbia 18:15
France vs. F.Y.R.O.M 21:00 Lithuania vs. Slovenia 21:00