Diener Leads Pacers Past Sonics

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Supersonics	24	21	24	18					87
Pacers	31	24	23	19					97

Indiana 97, Seattle 87

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 13 (AP) -- Travis Diener scored 15 points and Jermaine O'Neal added 14 to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 97-87 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in an exhibition game Saturday night.

Mike Dunleavy had 14 points, Danny Granger scored 12 and Troy Murphy grabbed 12 rebounds for the Pacers, who improved to 2-0 this preseason under new coach Jim O'Brien.

Seattle rookie Kevin Durant, the second overall pick in the NBA draft, had 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field. Rookie Jeff Green, the fifth pick in the draft, scored 14.

The SuperSonics (1-2), who trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, got within 78-73 early in the fourth quarter following consecutive baskets by Mouhamed Sene.

Indiana used an 8-0 run to extend its lead to 90-77 with 5 minutes left. Diener, who started in place of injured guard Jamaal Tinsley, hit two straight jumpers during the spurt.

In the first quarter, Durant's 3-pointer and Green's layup gave the Sonics a 20-15 advantage. The Pacers answered with a 10-0 run, which was capped by Granger's 3-pointer, to jump ahead by five points.

Indiana stretched its lead to 12 points following Dunleavy's 3-pointer late in the second quarter. The Sonics cut the deficit to 55-45 on Green's layup to end the half.

Notes: O'Neal started for the Pacers after missing the team's opening preseason game against New Orleans with a sore left knee. ... Seattle G/F Damien Wilkins sprained his right ankle in the second quarter and did not return. ... Pacers G Kareem Rush didn't play in the second half because of a sore right Achilles'. He scored five points in the opening half. ... Tinsley (sore right shoulder) and C David Harrison (ankle) did not play. ... Sonics G Delonte West (lower back strain) did not play. ... Seattle played its third of four straight road games to begin the preseason. The Sonics play their first home game Oct. 20 against Houston.

source : NBA.com

Wallace Helps Bobcats Top Heat

<

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Heat	21	15	18	22					76
Bobcats	29	23	22	18					92

Charlotte 92, Miami 76

GREENSBORO, N.C., Oct. 13 (AP) -- Gerald Wallace scored 18 points to lead four players in double figures, and the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Miami Heat 92-76 Saturday night.

Matt Carroll added 17 points, Raymond Felton scored 13, Adam Morrison had 10 points and Emeka Okafor pulled down nine rebounds for the Bobcats (1-2), who gave Sam Vincent his first win as an NBA head coach.

Daequan Cook scored 10 points to lead the Heat (0-4), who gave up 30 points off turnovers.

Former NBA MVP Shaquille O'Neal had six points and three rebounds in the first quarter for Miami, but left the game in the closing seconds of the period with what team officials said was a bruised left quadriceps.

Miami hit five of its first six shots in the opening minutes to race out to an 11-6 lead, but Wallace scored six points during a 16-2 run that put Charlotte ahead 22-13 with 3:33 remaining in the first quarter.

Felton's jumper with 7:09 left in the second quarter capped an 11-2 run to put the Bobcats up 40-23, and his three-point play in the final seconds put Charlotte up 52-36 at the break.

The Bobcats took their biggest lead of the game late in the third quarter, going up 67-43 with 3:30 remaining on Jameel Watkins' tip-in of Okafor's missed hook shot.

source : NBA.com

Wizards?Spell Too Much for Mavs !!

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Mavericks	22	20	20	24					86
Wizards	25	17	25	23					90

Washington 90, Dallas 86

FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 13 (AP) -- Andray Blatche had 12 points and 10 points, and the Washington Wizards beat the Dallas Mavericks 90-86 in a foul-filled preseason game on Saturday night.

Dallas, which played without three of its four top scorers from last season - reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki, point guard Jason Terry and swingman Jerry Stackhouse - hardly resembled a team that won an NBA-best 67 games in the regular season. Nowitzki, Terry and Stackhouse were rested by coach Avery Johnson.

Washington, which took a 59-58 lead when Blatche hit two free throws with 3:22 to play in the third quarter, expanded its lead in the fourth quarter when coach Eddie Jordan made liberal use of his bench. After Dallas' Maurice Ager scored on a layup to cut the Washington lead to 67-66 with 10:05 to play, the Wizards scored 11 straight points to take a 78-66 lead with 6:14 to play.

Ager scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, leading a late Dallas run. Jared Newson hit two free throws with 11.3 seconds remaining to cut Washington's lead to 88-86. Dallas is 1-2 in the preseason.

The Wizards (2-0) shot 43 free throws, missing 14 of them. The Mavericks converted 25 of their 30 as the teams combined to commit 51 fouls.

Gilbert Arenas, in his second game after undergoing left knee surgery last April, played 17 minutes and had six points. He played 21 minutes and had nine points in his first game on Tuesday.

Brendan Haywood had 10 first-quarter points, but didn't play again.

source : NBA.com

Anthony Leads Nuggets To Victory

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Trail Blazers	32	24	23	23					102
Nuggets	32	32	33	21					118

Denver 118, Portland 102

DENVER, Oct. 12 (AP) -- Carmelo Anthony had 22 points and seven rebounds and the Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 118-102 on Friday night.

Linas Kleiza added 19 points for Denver. Allen Iverson scored 17 points in the game, played at the University of Colorado.

Martell Webster led Portland with 19 points. Travis Outlaw had 18 points.

Anthony had 20 points in the first half as Denver took a 64-56 lead into halftime. Outlaw hit three straight shots in the second quarter and had all of his 18 points by the break for Portland, which led 51-45 with 4:08 remaining in the period.

Denver began the third period with a 15-5 run to move ahead 79-61. Kleiza had nine of his points in the period and the Nuggets took a 97-79 lead into the fourth quarter.

Without a starter on the floor, the Nuggets extended their lead to 105-79 on eight consecutive points by Anthony Roberson at the start of the fourth quarter. Baskets by Webster and Taurean Green got Portland as close as 110-94 with 3:15 left.

Kenyon Martin dressed but did not play for the Nuggets. Nene missed his second straight game because of a strained right calf.

The Trail Blazers were without Josh McRoberts, Darius Miles and Greg Oden. McRoberts was out with an injured left ankle while Miles and Oden have injuries to their right knees.

source : NBA.com

Deng And Bulls Beat Mavericks

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Mavericks	30	19	19	24					92
Bulls	33	20	23	24					100

Chicago 100, Dallas 92

CHICAGO, Oct. 12 (AP) -- Luol Deng scored 18 points and Tyrus Thomas added 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 100-92 exhibition victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Josh Howard scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting for Dallas and Dirk Nowitzki finished with 11.

The Bulls (1-1) pulled away midway in the third quarter. Leading 61-60, Deng hit a jumper and rookie guard Thomas Gardner had a dunk. Kirk Hinrich capped off a 9-0 run with a 3 to give Chicago a 70-60 lead with 5:25 left in the quarter.

Nowitzki and teammate Devin Harris had an animated conversation early in the third quarter after Nowitzki fouled Deng. Dallas coach Avery Johnson had a brief conversation with the two and order was restored between them.

Ben Gordon, Joe Smith, Adrian Griffin, and Thabo Sefolosha missed the game because of injuries for Chicago. Gordon missed with a sprained left ankle, Smith with a swollen right knee, Griffin with a back injury and Sefolosha was out due to a sore hamstring.

Deng was 6-of-7 shooting in 21 minutes and Hinrich added nine points in six assists in 20 minutes.

All starters for both teams sat out the entire fourth quarter.

Joakim Noah, who led Florida to back-to-back titles in college, received a nice ovation from the home crowd when he checked into the game in the first quarter. Noah, who was the ninth overall pick, scored 11 points in his United Center debut. Rookie center Aaron Gray scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds for Chicago, who was their 49th pick overall.

Deng scored 11 points for Chicago in the first half, who led 53-49. Dallas (1-1) guard Jose Barea scored 12 points in the half on 5-of-7 shooting. Barea finished with 17.

source : NBA.com

Sonics Beat Cavs, Give New Coach First Win

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Supersonics	24	28	28	16					96
Cavaliers	26	21	19	24					90

Seattle 96, Cleveland 90

CLEVELAND, Oct. 12 (AP) -- P.J. Carlesimo earned his first win as SuperSonics' coach, 96-90 over the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exhibition game Friday night.

Cavs All-Star forward LeBron James was forced out of action in the third quarter because of a right shoulder contusion. The injury doesn't appear to be serious. He had 14 points for the Cavs.

Forward Chris Wilcox led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds for Seattle.

Guard Kevin Durant, a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, had 15 points and seven rebounds. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft was just 5-of-22 from the field.

Guard Wally Szczerbiak, acquired from Boston in the Ray Allen trade last June, added 14 points.

The Cavaliers left on a 16-hour trip to China after Friday's game. They will play two preseason games there against Orlando next week.

Guard Shannon Brownpaced the Cavs with 19 points, while forward Ira Newble added 13. Backup center Dwayne Jones, trying to earn a spot on the roster, had 10 rebounds for Cleveland.

The Sonics took control of the game by outscoring the Cavs 28-19 in the third quarter. They also outrebounded the Cavaliers 15-8 in the quarter.

Seattle was playing without point guards Luke Ridnour(non-displaced fracture of nasal bone) and Delonte West(lower back strain).

The Sonics led 52-47 at halftime, as Wilcox had 12 points and Szczerbiak added 11.

Before the game, the Cavs waived guard Chet Mason, which reduced their roster to 17 players.

source : NBA.com

Williams Lifts Jazz Past Pistons

Team	1	2	3	4					Full Time
Jazz	20	14	35	31					100
Pistons	25	21	18	21					85

Utah 100, Detroit 85

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.(, Oct. 12 AP) -- The Detroit Pistons planned to work on rebounding in the preseason.

So far, it isn't going too well.

For the second game in a row, the Pistons gave up more than 50 rebounds and lost. This time, the Utah Jazz beat the Pistons 100-85 in an exhibition game Friday night.

The Jazz outrebounded the Pistons 55-38.

"This is something we are going to have to continue to work on,'' Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "Their guards had 19 rebounds in the first half, which means our guards aren't getting to the places we need to be.''

Without Chris Webber, the Pistons know that they will be vulnerable on the boards this year. Neither Rasheed Wallace nor Antonio McDyess are traditional post players, so Detroit will need contributions from Tayshaun Prince, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton.

"Our two bigs are great jump shooters, but that means the rest of us have to help them out in the boards,'' Billups said. "We didn't do that tonight.''

Utah's starters all had at least six rebounds and finished with a 35-20 advantage over Detroit's top five.

"I think we played well,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "Every game, we need to work like crazy.''

As expected in an early preseason game, both coaches went to the benches early and often. Jazz forward Paul Millsap was the only starter to play more than 25 minutes, and Jarvis Hayes led Detroit with 31 minutes.

"We played some of our reserves a lot of minutes, and those guys were really out of gas at the end,'' Saunders said after his team was outscored 66-39 in the second half. "It was tough for them.''

The game did feel like a regular-season contest in one way - Wallace was ejected in the third quarter after picking up his second technical foul.

"I think both teams were frustrated by the number of fouls that were called,'' Saunders said. "You couldn't even work on getting to shape, because the game was so choppy.''

There were 59 fouls called in the game, an average of one every 49 seconds.

"There was no flow out there,'' Billups said. "It's a preseason game, so the refs are always working on something, and they have to blow their whistles, but it makes it tough on physical teams like us.''

Ronnie Brewer led Utah (1-1) with 18 points, while Millsap added 15 points and eight rebounds. Morris Almond, Utah's first-round draft pick, had eight points in 24 minutes.

Hayes paced the Pistons (1-2) with 16 points, while Wallace finished with 12. First-round draft pick Rodney Stuckey had 11 points, giving him double figures in each of Detroit's first three games.

The Pistons led 46-34 at halftime, but the Jazz dominated the third quarter with both sets of starters on the court. Utah began the period with an 18-7 run to pull within one, then took the lead for good late in the quarter.

Utah took a 69-64 lead into the fourth quarter, outscoring the Pistons 35-18 in the third, including 12 points from Deron Williams. The Jazz shot 63 percent from the field while Detroit hit 35 percent.

"That quarter is about as good as we've played,'' Sloan said. "Those are the things we need to see and do.''

Utah played without Carlos Boozer, but he was in attendance after missing much of training camp due to his son's illness.

source : NBA.com