NBA Capsules: Boozer, Jazz get 4th win over Spurs this season

SAN ANTONIO — Sure, the Utah Jazz would rather sweep the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. But they'll take this one.

Lopsided as this series has often been? You bet.

Carlos Boozer scored 31 points and 13 rebounds, and Andrei Kirilenko added 26 points as the Jazz beat the Spurs for a fourth and final time this regular season, 105-98 on Wednesday night.

"We're proud of ourselves," Boozer said. "They're a championship team. We've never done that in the history, since I've been here. It's been a long time since we swept them. Hopefully we can build on this."

Few coaches have been around longer than Jerry Sloan and Gregg Popovich. But even Popovich wasn't yet the head coach in San Antonio the last time Utah was this dominant against the Spurs.

The Jazz swept the season series for the first time since 1993-94, when Utah beat San Antonio five times during the regular season. The Jazz also went on to eliminate the Spurs 3-1 in the playoffs that same year.

More recently, the Jazz had been downright stumped against the Spurs. They entered the season having not won in San Antonio in a decade, but can now claim two wins at the AT&T Center in the same season.

Last decade, there was a period when Sloan endured the futility of Utah losing 18 straight to San Antonio. That said, Sloan quickly put these four wins in a somewhat muted perspective.

"When you look at the whole picture you see that you beat San Antonio four times this year, and you're in ninth place," Sloan said. "There's not a whole lot of consolation when you look at the whole picture."

Manu Ginobili scored 22 points for the Spurs, who had a 25-0 run but couldn't prevail in a game of wild swings. The Jazz split a two-game road swing after losing to Denver on Sunday. Utah has won five of six.

The Jazz also deprived Tim Duncan from joining the 20,000-point club, holding the perennial All-Star to 14 points — leaving him at 19,999.

Duncan shot 5 of 15 and made just one shot in the fourth quarter. Boozer drew a sixth foul on Duncan with 30.1 seconds left and the Spurs trailing 99-96, and Boozer sank both free throws to seal the victory.

"It's tough just seeing the team lose for the fourth time against the Jazz," Ginobili said. "That's hard to swallow."

Three points was the closest San Antonio got after trailing by as many as 12 in the quarter. Tony Parker scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth, but Boozer had eight down the stretch to keep the Spurs at bay.

"We beat them a lot over the years," Parker said. "I think, you know, this year they had our number."

Boozer picked up his 25th double-double of the season. Deron Williams also had a double-double, getting 18 points and 10 assists. Williams also didn't turn the ball over.

George Hill had 16 points and Richard Jefferson had 12 for the Spurs.

San Antonio had crawled back into the game after a horrid start, missing its first eight shots. A 25-0 run over 5 minutes in the first half brought the Spurs back and then some, but the Jazz held off a final Spurs push.

The loss was a dulling start to a six-game homestand for the Spurs. The home games are the last for San Antonio before embarking on their annual "Rodeo Road Trip," which will keep the Spurs away for virtually all of February while cowboys and cattle take over the AT&T Center for a month.

NOTES: Duncan will go for 20,000 points on Friday against Houston. Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Boston's Ray Allen have already hit the milestone this season.

Mavericks win another 1-pointer, top Wizards 94-93

WASHINGTON — Caron Butler’s 16-foot jumper had no chance. Shawn Marion was all but guaranteed to get a hand on it. The Washington Wizards aren’t having much of a season, and the Dallas Mavericks don’t lose when it’s a one-point game.

Marion blocked Butler’s shot with 1.9 seconds to play Wednesday night, and the Mavericks opened the second half of their season by avenging a loss from opening night, topping the Wizards 94-93.

The win extended Dallas’ streak of victories in one-point games to nine, tied for second longest in NBA history. The Mavericks haven’t lost a one-point game since January 2007, and they’re one squeaker away from the record of 10 set by the St. Louis Hawks in 1959-60.

"When it comes to that situation, it’s second nature to us," guard Jason Terry said. "We don’t tense up."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, Terry added 21, and Jason Kidd had 15 assists for the Mavericks, who again made up for some offensive doldrums with good defensive stops. Marion’s play on Butler was one of nine Dallas blocks to go along with nine steals, helping overcome the fact that the team known for scoring in bunches was kept under 100 points for the sixth straight game.

"Winning on a defensive possession, you wouldn’t say that in the past about the Mavericks," Kidd said. "It would be us trying to get a basket on the other end. This year, we’ve really focused on playing defense. We looked at the last champions and said, ‘Hey, they all played defense.’ So that’s what we’re focused on right now, and Shawn really made a great play on Caron at the end."

The loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Wizards, who again missed a chance to win three in a row for the first time since April 2008. Randy Foye scored a season-high 26 points, Butler added 20, and Brendan Haywood had 13 points and 18 rebounds for Washington.

The Wizards nearly pulled off an impressive last-minute comeback. The Mavericks led 94-87 with 1:12 to play after Erick Dampier’s dunk, but Washington rallied with back-to-back 3-pointers from Foye and Mike Miller to make the score 94-93 with 27 seconds left.

Then, with the Mavericks holding the ball and the one-point lead, Nowitzki worked the clock before driving to the basket — where he charged into Haywood with 6.7 seconds remaining.

The Wizards called timeout to set up a play, but Butler dribbled into a wall named Marion.

"I obviously wanted the ball, and I kind of had my mind made up what I was going to do with it already, and just mistimed it," Butler said. "And it was good defense."

Said Marion: "I knew he was going to iso, so I just wanted to stay and play good defense on him, and I did that. ... It fires you up when you make that big play. That’s what makes it fun."

The Wizards beat the Mavericks 102-91 in Dallas to start the season, a win that appeared to validate Washington’s preseason confidence of being a top team in the Eastern Conference. That victory now seems ages ago for a team that has been rocked by the indefinite suspension of Gilbert Arenas for bringing guns into the locker room.

Only two Wizards who were in the starting lineup on opening night — Haywood and Butler — started Wednesday’s game. The Mavericks have gone on to be their usual playoff-bound selves — 28-14 after 42 games — while Washington’s record is nearly reversed: 14-27 at its halfway mark.

More from the tale of two teams: Dallas is 7-0 this season in games decided by one or two points; Washington is 2-6. The only consolation for the Wizards was that they came within a basket of sweeping a top Western Conference team.

"It shows the potential of this ballclub and what we’re capable of doing," Butler said, "so if we give that same effort night-in and night-out and stay with it, anything can happen."

The Mavericks led by as many as 14 in the first half and 11 in the third quarter, but Miller capped a 6-0 Wizards run with a jumper that put Washington ahead 75-74 early in the fourth, the home team’s first lead since 2-0.

The Mavericks went back in front, but the Wizards wouldn’t go away. Butler’s baseline fadeaway cut the lead to one with 3½ minutes left, but soon Dampier’s dunk put Dallas ahead by seven. Washington’s final rally fell just short, and the Mavericks had another close one in the bag thanks to Marion’s block.

Told of the one-point streak, Terry smiled: "I still think hitting the game-winning shot is the best way to go."

NOTES: The Sacramento Kings also won nine one-point games in a row from 2002-05. ... The Mavericks are 2-1 on their five-game road trip and were coming off a big win against the Boston Celtics on Monday night. ... Terry started for Josh Howard, who missed the game with a stomach illness. ... The Wizards are 3-6 since Arenas’ suspension. ... The Wizards are 2-1 midway through a six-game homestand. ... In addition to Howard, F Tim Thomas was also inactive for the Mavericks. He is not on the five-game road trip due to personal reasons. ... The Mavericks’ 100-point drought is their longest since an eight-game stretch in February 2008.

-- Joseph White

Mavericks G Howard sits out with stomach illness

WASHINGTON — Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Howard will sit against the Washington Wizards because of a stomach illness.

Jason Terry started in Howard’s spot on Wednesday night.

Howard has missed 21 of Dallas’ 42 games this season. He’s spent much of the season rehabilitating his surgically repaired left ankle.

Tim Thomas was also inactive. He is not with the team on a five-game road trip due to personal reasons.

NBA Glance 

CLEVELAND — Seconds after LeBron James and his Cavaliers teammates dismissed the Toronto Raptors, one excited Cleveland fan began a solitary chant.

"Beat L.A., Beat L.A.," he screamed.

Dude, chill. It’s January. But maybe not too early to dream about June.

After all, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are coming.

In possible NBA finals preview Thursday night, Cleveland will host the Los Angeles Lakers, who have a score to settle after being embarrassed 102-87 by the Cavs on Christmas Day. It was a lump-of-coal-in-the-stocking-loss that ended with irate Lakers fans tossing foam fingers — and a few filled water bottles — onto the Staples Center court in anger.

With Mo Williams scoring 28 points, James adding 26 and Shaquille O’Neal acting as their enforcer, the Cavaliers bullied the defending NBA champions, whose frustration level led to them retaliating with some cheap shots and being slapped with several technical fouls.

"We didn’t like that Christmas game," Lakers center Pau Gasol said. "It was very disappointing on our part. We’ve got to try to get that ballgame when we play them again. We need to do that. You never want a team to get the confidence they can beat you, especially when it’s somebody you might see down the road in the playoffs."

The stop in Cleveland begins a demanding, eight-game road trip for the Lakers (32-9), who have the league’s best record in part because of a favorable schedule. They’ve played just 15 road games — compared to 25 for the Cavs — and the imbalance has helped Los Angeles open a five-game lead over Dallas in the Western Conference.

That could change depending on how the Lakers handle a stretch of eight games in 13 days, including three sets of back-to-backs. Last season, Los Angeles went 6-0 on a similar Eastern trip that helped propel the Lakers to a title.

First, though, they want to erase the memories of an unhappy holiday that was particularly hazardous for forward Ron Artest.

"That Christmas game was tough, and then that whole day wasn’t too good for me, anyway," said Artest, who suffered a concussion in a fall at home hours after the loss to Cleveland. "We feel like we’re a better team now than when we played them before."

The Cavaliers believe they are better, too.

At 32-11, Cleveland has the best record in the East, and with 23 of their final 39 games at home, the Cavs have a chance to run away from Boston, Orlando and Atlanta, their closest competitors in the conference. They just returned from a West Coast trip, where they displayed some bad habits — a tendency to rely too heavily on James — and also some new offensive wrinkles with O’Neal on the floor.

In Tuesday night’s win over Toronto, O’Neal was the difference maker on both ends as the Cavs beat the improved Raptors for the 10th straight time at home. It’s taken longer than expected, but Cleveland coach Mike Brown may have finally figured out how to best utilize the super-sized center, whose offensive game isn’t what it once was but whose defensive presence remains unmatched.

O’Neal hammered Raptors guards Jarrett Jack and DeMar DeRozan with hard-but-clean fouls in the third quarter that ignited Cleveland’s defense, which gave up 60 points in the first half.

"He’s a guy from the old school," Brown said of O’Neal, who also surpassed 28,000 career points in the win. "He’s not going to give up anything easy around the basket."

That was the case when the Lakers and Cavaliers met last month. Bryant scored 35 points, but few were easy and he finished just 11 of 32 from the field. And, on more than one occasion, he ran into O’Neal, his former, formidable teammate.

"He definitely had a presence in the game," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I do know it was a factor on Kobe. (Shaq) knocked him down about four times without a call."

Down the stretch against Toronto, the Cavaliers ran their offense through O’Neal, who couldn’t be stopped by any of the Raptors. Brown ran four consecutive plays to O’Neal in the low post and he produced two assists and a dunk in a 9-2 spurt to put the game away.

"It is great to have that luxury," James said. "Shaq is an unselfish guy and it is great to have that interior presence."

Jackson doesn’t want his team to get too caught up in Thursday’s matchup or the Lakers’ upcoming trip, which will take the club to New York on Friday and won’t conclude until Feb. 1 in Memphis.

"Last year’s road trip jump-started our season," he said. "I’m setting a low bar for this team, though. We don’t need to put too much emphasis on the entire trip as a whole. We just need to play good, solid games and avoid injuries, starting in Cleveland. We don’t assign a whole lot extra importance to that game, even though it is an interesting game."

-- Tom Withers

Shaq’s superstar dunk contest grounded

CLEVELAND — So far, Shaquille O’Neal’s proposal for a superstar dunk contest to raise money for Haiti hasn’t left the ground.

On Tuesday night, O’Neal suggested that he would love to see his Cleveland teammate LeBron James take part in the NBA’s All-Star dunk contest, but only if former champions Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant and another unnamed star also joined the field.

O’Neal said he wanted a large prize, with half of the money going to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Carter, who won the contest in 2000, declined the offer and said Orlando teammate Dwight Howard, the 2008 champion, could do it.

"Nobody should feel obligated to do anything they don’t want to do," Carter said. "I did make Tracy (McGrady) get in the dunk contest in 2000, but he could have said no. It’s up to the individual."

Miami’s Dwyane Wade heard about O’Neal’s idea and supports the effort to raise more money — he has already donated a one-game check of about $175,000 — but won’t dunk, either.

Only defending dunk champion Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks was behind O’Neal’s philanthropic plan.

"That seems like an awesome idea to me," he said. "For Shaq to say something like that, that’d be pretty cool and pretty awesome."

Put on the spot during a TV interview while watching last year’s event, James said he would consider dunking this year in Dallas. It seemed as if James was trying to get some of the league’s top players involved, but none of the game’s premier dunkers wanted in and James recently decided not to participate after hedging for months.

He has been criticized for ducking out.

"LeBron said he would be in and he should be in it," TNT’s Charles Barkley said earlier this week. "I think there are certain things that guys should do just for the good of the game. Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins didn’t have to be in the slam dunk contest but they understood they were trying to push the game.

"It would be great for the game if LeBron was in it."

James was not available for comment on Wednesday because the Cavs did not practice. Bryant and the Lakers were traveling to Cleveland.

On Monday, the league announced Shannon Brown of the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace and Robinson would take part in this year’s dunk event. The fourth spot in the field will be determined in a dunk off between Toronto rookie DeMar DeRozan and the Clippers’ Eric Gordon.

-- Tom Withers

No. 1 pick Griffin has successful surgery on knee

LOS ANGELES — The doctor who performed surgery on Blake Griffin’s broken left kneecap says the Los Angeles Clippers’ No. 1 overall draft pick should be able to do basketball drills in three to four months.

Griffin underwent a two-part procedure Wednesday at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Neal ElAttrache repaired Griffin’s patellar tendon and performed a "left patellar fragment excision," according to the Clippers.

"This is a rare problem. It was the first time that we’ve had to do anything like this," ElAttrache said at Staples Center before the Clippers’ game against the Chicago Bulls. "Blake had a stress fracture at the bottom of the kneecap. In October, he pulled that off. For it to pull off like that is a bit of a rare problem. But the fragment did not involve any of the joint’s surface. And that’s a big determining factor.

"The quality of his patellar tendon also looked quite good," ElAttrache added. "So the two things that we would have been concerned about having some trouble getting him back or having long-term problems, neither of those things was there. So, if you had to design how this day would go, this is how I would have dreamed it up."

An incision was made where the tendon attaches to the bottom of the kneecap, which is where the fracture was. The piece of bone that was causing the problem was attached to the deep fibers underneath the surface of the tendon. So ElAttrache was able to shell out the offending piece of the bottom of the kneecap and then reinforce the patellar tendon repair.

"We were very happy that the piece itself didn’t damage a significant portion of the tendon. So that bodes well for his rehab and his prognosis," ElAttrache said.

Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy is eager to get Griffin back healthy again for the start of training camp. But he always had held out hope during the past few months that he would have him back sooner.

"It looked at one point that everything was going in the right direction for us," Dunleavy said. "But the end result was going to be that he had to take off and land. So that was obviously going to be the big test. Then he started having some pain in his knee while he was in the pool, that was obviously not a good sign."

Griffin is expected to be back in action in four to six months, allowing him to return for summer workouts. He will be on crutches for another three weeks.

"The bench marks would be that we want him to get his range of motion back first," ElAttrache said. "We need to rest the knee for the next several days to a week, then start working on working on his range of motion, and then put him on an early strengthening program.

"I would hope that in three or four months that he should be strengthened enough that we should be able to get him into some basketball drills."

Griffin broke his kneecap during the Clippers’ final exhibition game Oct. 23.

Kobe still tops in jersey sales; Howard, Rose rise

NEW YORK — Kobe Bryant has retained his spot atop the list of the NBA’s best-selling jerseys, while young stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose moved into the top five.

Howard vaulted from No. 10 to No. 3 behind LeBron James. Rose, last season’s rookie of the year, climbed to fourth from No. 11. Dwyane Wade was fifth.

The list released Wednesday by the NBA is based on sales at the NBA Store and nbastore.com since the start of the season. Bryant has topped the list since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. His jersey is also No. 1 in sales in Europe and China.

Shaquille O’Neal was ninth, his first time in the top 10 since June 2008.

The Lakers remained No. 1 in team merchandise sales, with Boston second and Cleveland up one spot to No. 3.

NBA’s Pistons exploring options for possible sale

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Detroit Pistons owner Karen Davidson says the option of selling the NBA franchise is being explored.

Davidson spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday night after the first quarter of a game against the Boston Celtics.

Her husband, Bill Davidson, died last year. The late owner known as "Mr. D" helped the Pistons win NBA titles in 2004, 1990 and 1989 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

He said a succession plan was in place to keep the team in the family and it would not be sold during an interview with the AP in 2008.

Forbes valued the Pistons at $479 million last month.

-- Larry Lage

Kings G Evans letting reps deal with lawsuit

ATLANTA — Sacramento Kings rookie Tyreke Evans says he is letting his agent and lawyer deal with a wrongful-death lawsuit resulting from a fatal shooting committed out of his vehicle by a teenage cousin.

Evans is among four people being sued over the November 2007 drive-by shooting near his home in Chester, Pa., just south of Philadelphia. His cousin, Jamar Evans, is serving a 9-to-20-year prison term after admitting he fired out the passenger-side door and killed 19-year-old Marcus Reason.

Evans says he is staying focused on his game and letting his representatives handle the lawsuit, which seeks more than $50,000. He says the whole situation is tough on him, but he’s learned from it and now he’s just trying "to move on."

Evans spoke before Wednesday night’s game against the Hawks.

Wolves’ Love, Thunder’s Collison miss game

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love missed his second straight game Wednesday because of an illness.

Love came to the morning shootaround before the Wolves hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder, but coach Kurt Rambis said he was still too weak to play. The Timberwolves said their leading rebounder and second-leading scorer is day to day.

Love is averaging 15.2 points and 12.3 rebounds this season. The Timberwolves won their previous game without him against Philadelphia on Monday.

The Thunder were missing forward Nick Collison for the second straight game because of a concussion. Collison is also considered day-to-day. He is averaging 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Pistons missing three players against Celtics

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Detroit Pistons will be without three key players against the Boston Celtics.

Tayshaun Prince (knee), Ben Gordon (groin) and Will Bynum (ankle) did not play Wednesday night — the fifth game in a row all three have been out. Bynum has now missed 10 straight games, while Gordon has only played in 25 of Detroit’s 41 games and Prince has been in active in just nine.

Kevin Garnett (knee) missed his 11th game of the season for Boston, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that Garnett looked "fantastic" in Tuesday’s practice, and could play Friday against Portland.

Blazers’ Roy leaves with hamstring injury

PHILADELPHIA — Portland guard Brandon Roy missed the second half of the Trail Blazers’ game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night because of a strained right hamstring.

Roy, who is averaging 23.4 points, grabbed his right thigh after banking in a 10-footer with 1:02 left in the second quarter. The Blazers said Roy would not return and is listed as day-to-day.

Roy scored 10 points in 18 minutes.

Celtics’ Wallace fined $35K for criticizing refs

NEW YORK — Boston Celtics forward Rasheed Wallace has been fined $35,000 by the NBA for publicly criticizing officials.

NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson announced the decision in a statement Wednesday.

Wallace was fined for comments he made following the Celtics’ 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.