Celtics fire Heat

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Kevin Garnett added 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Celtics made their first eight shots of the fourth quarter to hold off the Heat 115-107.

Rajon Rondo posted double-digit assists for the 18th straight game, extending the NBA's longest such streak in 20 years with an 18-point, 15-assist effort. Brandon Bass added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Avery Bradley scored 11 for the Celtics, who shot a season-high 61 percent and survived two possessions where Miami could have tied the score in the final quarter. LeBron James finished with 36 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Miami, which got 20 from Dwyane Wade and 18 from Mario Chalmers. Chris Bosh finished with 13 on 5-for-13 shooting for Miami, which has gone 5-5 in its last 10 games.

Miami had two shots to tie early in the fourth after being down by as many as 18 earlier, before Garnett made jump shots on four straight possessions, the average length of those makes being 19 feet.

A 10-0 run early in the first quarter gave Boston a quick lead - and that wasn't even the Celtics' best run of the opening period. Boston scored the last 11 of the first, the run actually becoming 13-0 when Garnett scored to open the second quarter, and Boston's lead was 35-22.

Everything the Celtics wanted, they got. Boston shot 61 percent in the first quarter, 62 percent in the second. Rivers used eight players, all of them making multiple shots by halftime. Of them, the only one who failed to make at least half his shots was Bass, who more than made up for that with six first-half rebounds.

Here's how well the Celtics were shooting: Miami went into the break shooting 51 percent from the field, 60 percent from 3-point range and 78 percent from the foul line - and Boston was at least 10 percentage points better in every department.

Down by 18 in the first half, Miami cut the deficit to 65-57 at halftime. James closed it with a 3, punching the air as the shot dropped.

Even with that, every moment of the second half was an mounting combat

And the Celtics weren't being caught.

Miami got within five twice in the third, with Rondo answering both times to make it a three-possession game again. The Celtics held the Heat to 36 percent shooting in the quarter, keeping the eight-point lead entering the fourth at 89-81.

The Heat had two chances to tie early in the fourth, after starting the period on a 7-0 run. The first of those slipped away when Bosh failed to finish off a three-point play opportunity by missing from the line. The next came when Udonis Haslem missed from the left baseline with 9:17 left, and Boston's answer that time was absolute.

Allen made a catch-and-shoot 3 for a 94-89 lead, and then Garnett just took over.

 

Grizzlies top Warriors Got 3rd straight win

Grizzlies defeated the Golden State Warriors 98 -94 last night.

O.J. Mayo had 19 points to lead Memphis scorers, DanteCunningham scored 13 points, hitting all six of his shots for Memphis, which played with little drive for most of the game but acieved a  third straight win.

Marc Gasol added 12, Rudy Gay finished with 11 points, in spite of going 3 of 13 from the field, and Gilbert Arenas scored 10 points, hitting all four of his shots.

David Lee scored 22 points and had 13 bounce backs to lead the Warriors, who lost their sixth straight. Nate Robinson scored 18, and BrandonRush added 13 on 4 of 7 from the field.

The Grizzlies won the game by outscoring Golden State 28-15 in the final period, shooting 70.5 For the first three quarters, the Warriors appeared to be the ones in line for the playoffs, instead of hoping for good draft position.

The game started pretty ugly. The Warriors missed nine of their first 10 shots, and both teams ended the first quarter hitting 9 of 24 from the field.

The offense picked up in the second as Lee was effective for the Warriors, while Memphis was relying on balanced scoring.

Golden State, which started three rookies - Klay Thompson, Jeremy Tyler and Charles Jenkins - went to their veterans to take a second-quarter lead.

Lee's basket with 2.4 seconds left in the half gave him 14 points and tied the game at 50 at the break.

Conley, who hit 5 of 7 shots including 2 of 3 outside, had 12 for Memphis. The Warriors complete the lead to nine in the middle stages of the third as the Grizzlies continued to look exhausted Mayo hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Memphis close, but Robinson answered with consecutive long-range jumpers to provide the Warriors a buffer.

That helped Golden State carry a 79-70 lead into the final quarter, and a 3-pointer by Rush on the Warriors' early possession of the fourth gave them the first double-digit lead of the game.

Heat lost in OT to Warriors

Heat played its splatter game of the season in losing to Warriors in overtime on Tuesday.

Golden State out scored the Heat 24-12 in the fourth quarter. The Heat shot 11.8 percent in the quarter with Wade and Udonis Haslem scoring the only field goals of the period. But Haslem’s biggest contribution to the outcome game wasn’t his immerse that gave the Heat a 93-85 lead. Wade, who led the Heat with 34 points, flow awayed in the fourth and shot 1 of 8 from the field. Still, he led the Heat with six points in the period, which was five more points than James offered. James finished with 26 points on 10 of 19 shooting.

The Warriors (3-6) might have a losing record but they’ve already defeated Boston, New York and Heat at home. Golden State knocked off the team with the best record in the league on Tuesday without arguably its best player, guard Stephen Curry (ankle) and its starting center, Andris Biedrins (ankle).

Reserve Nate Robinson, the shortest player on the court at 5-9, led the Warriors with 24 points. He was 14 of 14 from the free-throw line and made several important shots during the Warriors’ fourth quarter comeback, including a pair of three-pointers.

The Heat had 22 turnovers, missed 14 free throws and blew a 17-point lead in the third quarter by shooting 2 of 17 from the field in the final period. Golden State finished the game with 20 turnovers of its own and shot 40 percent from the field, including 21.7 percent in the third quarter.

But the Warriors caught fire in the overtime. Dorell Wright, the former Heat first-round pick, Golden State scored 15 points in the five-minute overtime period. Wright was perfect from the field in overtime, shooting 3 of 3 from the field and 2 of 2 from three-point range.

Lakers thrash Grizzlies

Warriors rally to beat Knicks

Warriors knocked off the New York Knicks 92-78 in the fourth quarter.Monta Ellis scored 12 of 22 points. He was in the position to take over the game because defense
Kept the warriors in the game.Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony has scored
58 points.Stoudemire finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds,where as Anthony had 13 points. Ish Smith had 11 points ,four assists and six rebounds. But it was the Warriors’ defense that made the biggest difference a refreshing change considering the team’s recent history of shunning that part of the game. No one else could pick up the scoring slack for the Knicks, who were also outrebounded 47-31 by the smaller but quicker Warriors. Landry Fields had 13 of his 14 points in the first half. Bill Walker also scored 14 for the Knicks, who failed in their bid to start the season with consecutive victories for the first time since 1999.
Former Knick David Lee scored 13 points for Golden State (2-1).
This was the first stop on a three-game trip to the West Coast for New York.
The Knicks, who beat the Celtics on Christmas Day to kick off the truncated NBA schedule after losing all eight games to Boston in 2010, play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday. They return to Northern California to face the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
The Warriors played without Curry, who landed awkwardly on his surgically repaired right ankle in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win over Chicago.
It was the second time in seven days that Curry injured the ankle. He also missed eight games last season because of lingering ankle problems.
Smith started in place of Curry and scored seven of Golden State’s first 10 points. He finished 5 of 13 from the floor. Anthony and Stoudemire couldn’t get much of anything to fall. The duo repeatedly settled for long jumpers, a trend that continued deep into the fourth quarter.
Even with their two stars off to a slow start, the Knicks took a 43-37 lead into the half.
Golden State closed the gap with a 15-5 run early in the second half, tied the game at 64 when Rush made a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter, then took control with 20-6 burst in the fourth.
The Warriors opened a 19-point lead with 4:09 left when the Knicks frustrations began to show.Tyson Chandler tossed Lee to the ground and was whistled for a technical foul, bringing the sold-out crowd at Oracle Arena to its feet.

China beats Japan

China overcame Japan 84-58 to stay victorious at 2011 FIBA Asia Men's Basketball Championship on Wednesday and will play against Lebanon in Friday's quarterfinals.

Defending Champions Iran also raised its winning record to 6-0 after beating South Korea 79-62. They will meet Jordan in the quarterfinals.

Yi Li led China with 19 points and five rebounds, while Yi Jianlian had a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds. Zhu Fangyu took all his eight points in the first quarter but contributed five assists. Liu Wei had 14 points and five assists. Wang Zhizhi earned 13 points and three steals.

Zhu Fangyu and Wang Zhizhi combined 14 points in the first quarter. Kawamura Takuya led Japan with eight points but Zhang Bo's buzzer-beater three-pointer closed the first quarter as China led 21-16.

Kawamura Takuya continued his dazzling performance in the second quarter as he scored 11 points. Yi Li stood out and answered with 11 points. Yi Jianlian took 11 points before the half time and China enlarged the lead to 14 points by half.

Kawamura Takuya had a match-high 24 points, only five of which came from the second half. Matsui Keijuro became Japan's main attack force in the third quarter as he took all his seven points in that. But China had a 8-0 run in the beginning of that quarter and Wang Zhizhi took seven points in straight to close the third quarter.

Liu Wei's 11 points in the fourth quarter just enlarged China's lead to 21 points. The defeat put Japan in third place in the group and will play against South Korea in the quarterfinals.The other quarterfinal will be played between Chinese Taipei and the Philippines. Chinese Taipei trouncedMalaysia 109-62 and the Philippines beat Syria 75-52. Chang Tsung-Hsien came up with 25 points to help Chinese Taipei occupy the third spot in the group.

Fever defeat Liberty in Semi's

Indiana Fever assure their Eastern Conference semifinal series with a 72-62 win over the New York Liberty on Monday. The Fever advanced to host Atlanta on Thursday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.Katie Douglas dominated her matchup with Cappie Pondexter.Douglas handled Pondexter on both ends of the floor. The Fever guard scored 21 points in Game 3, just under her average of 22 points in the series. She also helped hold Pondexter, one of the league's top scorers, to 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting.Douglas' size and smarts were the Prominent elements that forced the explosive Pondexter into numerous bad shots or prevented her from getting the ball at all.Pondexter had been a thorn in the Fever's side the past two years. She averaged 20.8 points in the 2009 WNBA finals and led Phoenix to a 3-2 win. She went to New York and averaged 27.3 points last year in the East semifinals against Indiana, a 2-1 win for the Liberty.

Pondexter nearly did it again in Game 1, but she missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won that game for New York.

Douglas got help from her teammates against Pondexter -- five different players guarded her at some point during the game.Erin Phillips had 12 points and five steals for the Fever, who scored 26 points off New York's 20 turnovers.Nicole Powell led New York with 19 points.

Indiana outscored New York 21-7 from the free-throw line.The Fever led 59-54 with 4 minutes to play when Catchings took over. She hit a 3-pointer, then scored on a putback on Indiana's next possession to push the lead to 10.

Indiana led 40-36 at halftime during a chippy affair that saw Powell and Catchings get called for double technicals.The Fever opened the second half with an aggressive driving layup by Catchings and a baseline jumper by Phillips to take a 44-36 lead. New York went scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the second half, allowing Indiana to take a 49-36 lead.

New York closed the third quarter strong and cut Indiana's lead to 54-48. The Liberty got as close as three points in the fourth quarter, but the Fever responded with their traditional shutdown defense.

Storms Give Shock a Shocking Defeat

Lauren Jackson’s return gave the Storm a third straight win they needed. Jackson

Scored nine of her 14 points in the third quarter to help lead the storm against Tulsa Shock 74-57 last night .

Wright scored 12 points,Camille Little scored 10 and Swin Cash 9 for Seatttle which

Resulted into a tie with Phoenix for second place in the Western conference.

Jackson played only for 15 minutes in the fourth quarter and the storms comfortably

Lead.

Tiffany Jackson and Sheryl Swoopes each scored 12 points and Amber Holt had 10 for Tulsa (1-25), which extended its WNBA record to 20 straight losses.

Lauren Jackson has averaged 15.7 points in the three games after missing 20 games.

Jackson made 4 of 9 shots from the field, including two 3-pointers. She opened the second half with a three-point play and a 3-pointer.

Defending champion Seattle hopes to overtake Phoenix for second as the top two conference teams earn homecourt advantage in the playoffs. The Storm are 12-2 at home and 4-10 on the road.

Jackson scored nine and Cash had five to input a 28-16 run in the third quarter and give the Storm a 56-41 lead. Jackson hit two 3-pointers in the quarter to help offset Holt's eight points, including two 3's.

Seattle led 28-25 at halftime as scored 10 to help keep the Shock close.

in spite of Tulsa's nearly 7-minute scoreless drought to start the second quarter, the Shock closed the first half with six straight points.

The Storm struggled as well with a 4-minute scoreless extend early in the second quarter and shot 3 for 16 from the field in the period. Jackson and Cash were a combined 1 for 11 in the first half, including Cash's 0-for-5 effort.

Tulsa's only win this season came on June 18, 77-59 against Washington.

Suns Give Sparks a Hot Shot

Connecticut Sun defeated the Los Angeles Sparks 79-70 to achieve their second victory at Staples Center in WNBA.

Tina Charles had 20 points and 13 rebounds,Renee Montgomery hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points for the Sun 12-6, who used a 12-0 run to start the fourth in winning for the sixth time in seven games.

Connecticut won its third straight on the road after starting the season 1-5 away from home.

Charles hit a free throw and later added a pair of jumpers during the run, resulting in a 68-56 lead. The Sun's defense held the Sparks scoreless for 4½ minutes.

DeLisha Milton-Jones had 14 points to lead the Sparks 7-12, who were playing the first of a season-high, six game-homestand. Tina Thompson and Ebony Hoffman scored 13 points apiece.

Milton-Jones hit a jumper to end the Sparks' scoring drought and followed with a layup on the next possession to cut it to 68-60 with 4:57 left. The Sparks trailed 71-65 after Kristi Toliver's 3-pointer with 3:08 remaining, but Charles answered with a jumper.

Charles, who recently earned her first All-Star selection, leads the league with 10.6 rebounds per game. She had just seven points and six rebounds at halftime before asserting herself down the stretch.

Montgomery had missed her last 11 shots from 3-point range coming in. She hit three 3s in the second quarter, the last of which put the Sun ahead 33-32 after they trailed by as many as nine.

Since winning the first two games under Joe Bryant, the Sparks have dropped six of their past seven. Bryant took over as head coach for Jennifer Gillom on July 10.

Jenna O'Hea gave the Sparks their biggest lead at 25-16 when she was fouled while making a layup with 7:44 left in the second. The Sparks shot 50 percent in the first half and led 40-35 at the break.

Liberty Victory over Mystics

Cappie Pondexter scored 19 points and Kia Vaughn had 14 and the Liberty beat the Mystics 75-71 on Thursday night. Plenette Pierson added 13 points to give the Liberty (10-7) their sixth win in eight games.Crystal Langhorne had 18 points and nine rebounds, Kelly Miller scored 17 and Marissa Coleman 13 for the Mystics (3-13), who have lost eight of nine.New York trailed 36-32 at halftime while shooting 14-for-32 (44 percent) from the field but had no free-throw attempts.

The Liberty used an 11-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to take the lead. Pondexter's layup in the opening minute of the fourth put New York ahead 56-55 -- its first advantage since late in the second quarter -- and Carson's 3-pointer with under three minutes left capped the run and stretched the lead to four.

Coleman hit a 3 about 45 seconds later to pull Washington within one. DeMya Walker made two free throws and Kerri Gardin made a layup to give the Mystics a 67-66 lead with under four minutes to go.

The teams traded baskets, with Vaughn's layup with 54 seconds remaining giving the Liberty a 72-71 lead. On the Mystics' ensuing possession, Gardin was whistled for an offensive foul on a drive to the basket that would have regained the lead with under 37 seconds left.

Pondexter made 1-of-2 from the line with 9.4 seconds to go for a two-point lead. Jasmine Thomas lost the ball out of bounds on Washington's following possession, and Pierson made two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to seal the win.

Coleman had a three-point play and Matee Ajavon made a pull-up jumper to give the Mystics a 47-39 lead with 6:45 left in the third quarter.

Washington opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play by Miller, to take a 24-16 lead.

Pondexter scored eight points during a 10-0 run and her jumper put the Liberty ahead 26-24 with 7:10 to go in the first half.

The teams played close the rest of the quarter, with neither leading by more than two until the Mystics scored six consecutive points to take a 36-32 lead at the break.