October 2008 Transactions

NBA Transaction

Wed,
Oct. 8 L.A. Lakers waive Dwayne Mitchell.

Cleveland waives Lance Allred and Michael Dickerson.

Sacramento waives Zhang Kai.


Mon,
Oct. 6 New Jersey waives Awvee Storey.

Philadelphia waives Andre Emmett, Maureece Rice and Cory Underwood.


Sat,
Oct. 4 Atlanta waives Olumide Oyedeji.

Miami waives Matt Walsh.


Fri,
Oct. 3 Miami signs Shaun Livingston.

Denver signs Juwan Howard.


Wed,
Oct. 1 Chicago re-signs Ben Gordon to a qualifying offer.

Golden State signs Dan Dickau.

Sacramento names Shareef Abdur-Rahim assistant coach.

San Antonio signs Charles Gaines and waives Brian Morrison.

Warriors Stop Trail Blazers in Portland

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Warriors	26	23	28	33					110
Trail Blazers	27	26	25	17					95

Golden State 110, Portland 95 (F)

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 8 (AP) -- Kelenna Azubuike scored 18 points, all in the second half, and Brandan Wright added 16 points and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 110-95 Wednesday night.

Portland center Greg Oden, the first pick of the 2007 draft, scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge also scored 14 points for the Blazers while Jerryd Bayless had 13.

Azubuike, who didn't play during the first half, hit 7 of 10 shots during the second half as the Warriors (1-1) rallied from a four-point halftime deficit.

Golden State, which trailed 78-77 after three quarters, outscored Portland 33-17 during the fourth quarter to pull away. Azubuike scored 11 points during the fourth quarter.

Wright scored 10 of his 16 points during the second half, and tied a team high with five rebounds. Corey Maggette added 15 points for Golden State while Andris Biedrins scored 13.

Portland guard Rudy Fernandez played 36 minutes before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury. Fernandez hit 5 of 12 shots from the field and led the Blazers with 15 points.

Portland (1-1) was nowhere near as sharp against Golden State as it was during Tuesday's preseason opener, an 110-81 win over Sacramento in which the Blazers had an array of dunks and highlight-reel passes.

Portland committed 25 turnovers and shot just 36.9 percent from the field against the Warriors.

Portland took a 53-49 halftime lead during a ragged first half. Oden did most of his damage during the first half, scoring 10 points while grabbing nine rebounds.

Golden State raced to a 76-66 lead, but the Blazers came alive during the final three minutes of the quarter, outscoring the Warriors 12-1 to take a 78-77 lead into the fourth quarter.

Golden State took command of the game early in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors went on a 15-2 run to establish a 94-83 lead with seven minutes remaining.

Prior to the game, the Trail Blazers announced that guard Martell Webster suffered a left foot injury during Tuesday's game against Sacramento. An MRI confirmed that Webster has a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal. The team said it would announce a course of treatment, which could include surgery, and a timetable for Webster's return Thursday.

Joining Webster as inactive for Wednesday's game were Steve Blake (hamstring) and Channing Frye (ankle), while guard Brandon Roy was rested and didn't play.


source : NBA.com

Hawks Stage Rally to Defeat Suns

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Hawks	12	25	36	27					100
Suns	21	23	26	26					96

Atlanta 100, Phoenix 96
PHOENIX, Oct. 8 (AP) - Marvin Williams scored 19 points, Josh Smith had 18 and the Atlanta Hawks spoiled Terry Porter's debut as Phoenix coach, rallying to beat the Suns 100-96 Wednesday night.

It was the second victory in two exhibition games for the Hawks, who also defeated Orlando on Monday.

Williams and Smith got lots of offensive support. Ex-Sun Joe Johnson scored 14 points, Flip Murray had 13 and Al Horford and Acie Law 10 each.

Shaquille O'Neal topped the Suns with 21 points and 10 rebounds in 23 minutes. Alando Tucker scored 14, Matt Barnes and Louis Amundson 12 apiece, and Grant Hill 10.

The Suns, playing without Amare Stoudemire (torn iris in right eye) and Leandro Barbosa (personal reasons), showed off their newfound defensive prowess in the first quarter. They held the Hawks to 12 points, just two in the final six minutes, on 29.4 percent shooting (5-for-17). During the period, they also limited Atlanta's reserves to two shots and no points in a total of 19 minutes.

With the subs on the floor for most of the second quarter, the pace picked up and so did the scoring. At halftime, Phoenix led 44-37 as reserve Tucker led the way with 10 points and newcomer Amundson had nine. Starters Williams and Johnson each scored nine for Atlanta. Overall, the Suns' second team outscored Atlanta's No. 2 unit 24-3.

Surprisingly, the Suns, one of the league's most prolific 3-point shooting teams in the league last season, failed to hit from long range, missing all three of their attempts, and they had only four fastbreak points, another sharp contrast to a year ago when they frequently pushed the ball up court under Mike D'Antoni.

Phoenix quickly broke its 3-point drought in the second half, making their first two, one each by Steve Nash and Raja Bell. But with the starters playing most of the minutes in the third period, the Hawks solved the Suns' defense, outscoring Phoenix 36-26 for a 73-70 lead by the end of the quarter. Smith was the catalyst, scoring 10 points, while Zaza Pachulia added eight.

They hung on in the fourth period, building an eight-point lead, 91-83, on a basket by Williams - who also had two 3-pointers in the quarter.

Notes: The Suns will be playing three exhibition games in four days, most unusual for the preseason. Thursday night, they will be at Utah and Saturday they will face Denver at Indian Wells, Calif., in the NBA's first outdoor game in the modern era. ... The Hawks and Suns will meet again Oct. 15 at Atlanta. ... Atlanta guard Speedy Claxton missed Wednesday night's game with a pulled hamstring.

source : NBA.com

McCants Sparks Timberwolves Past Thunder

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Thunder	13	28	22	19					82
Timberwolves	24	16	20	28					88

Minnesota 88, Oklahoma City 82
BILLINGS, Mont., Oct. 8 (AP) - Rashad McCants scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and Rodney Carney and Ryan Gomes hit consecutive 3s to help Minnesota spoil the Oklahoma City Thunder's debut with an 88-82 victory Wednesday night.

The exhibition game was the Thunder's first since the team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City during the offseason.

The Thunder led 71-62 with 9:54 remaining, but McCants scored 11 of Minnesota's next 14 points, tying the score at 76 with a dunk with 4:45 remaining.

Two more free throws by McCants and the consecutive 3s by Carney and Gomes gave the Wolves an 84-78 lead with 2:23 remaining.

A basket by Chris Wilcox pulled the Thunder to 84-80 with 2:11 remaining, but Sebastian Telfair made a basket and two free throws to finish the scoring for Minnesota.

Al Jefferson added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves (2-0) and Corey Brewer finished with 11 points.

Damien Wilkins led the Thunder with 19 points. Wilcox had 17 and Russell Westbrook 13.

Oklahoma City led 41-40 at halftime.


source : NBA.com

Webster Out At Least Eight Weeks With Foot Injury

The euphoric aftermath of the Trail Blazers' electric start to the exhibition season was dealt a somber dose of news Wednesday when Martell Webster, the front-runner to start at small forward, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left foot

Webster, who unbeknown to the Blazers had been experiencing discomfort throughout training camp, finally told the team Tuesday night after playing a painful 26 minutes against the Sacramento Kings. The 6-foot-7 sharpshooter had X-Rays taken Tuesday night and underwent magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography testing on Wednesday, which revealed the injury to his fifth metatarsal.

Webster is expected to miss at least eight weeks -- and potentially as many as 20 or 25 games -- but an official timetable for his return will be determined Thursday after he undergoes further examination. The team has not yet determined if Webster will undergo surgery or simply rehabilitate his left foot.

"We lost a piece of this team and I think an important piece," coach Nate McMillan said. "He was one of the guys this year who could help us spread the floor and take some of that pressure off the low-post game and (we were) hoping he would have a big year. We'll have to make adjustments."

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source : oregonlive.com