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Mavs Sets Record With Most 12 Game Win Streaks In Season

The Dallas Mavericks' 20th consecutive home victory and 12th straight overall was the picture of precision.

Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points and eight rebounds and Jason Terry added 21 points as the Mavericks extended their club-record home winning streak by easing to a 110-87 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

The Mavericks are the first team in NBA history with three winning streaks of 12 or more in a season, having already had runs of 12 and 13 games. The Milwaukee Bucks (1970-71), Philadelphia 76ers (1980-81) and Los Angeles Lakers (1999-2000) have had three winning streaks of 10 or more in a season.

The only bad news for the Mavericks came in the fourth quarter when Josh Howard sprained his right ankle. He finished with 20 points.

Howard was helped off the court with 6:11 to play after he took a jumper and landed on the foot of Atlanta's Joe Johnson. X-rays were negative and Howard made the trip to Minnesota where the Mavericks meet the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Howard, who's been playing on a sore right ankle sustained under similar circumstances in a game last week against the Miami Heat, is listed as day-to-day.

"Hopefully he should be OK," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said.

Reserve Jerry Stackhouse, playing extended minutes with starting guard Greg Buckner out with a bruised left knee, contributed 19 points and a season-high nine assists for the Mavericks.

"Dallas is good, they try to do things the right way," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said. "They have so many weapons, it's like, pick your poison out there."

Dallas has won 47 of 52 after losing its first four games, improving to a league-best 47-9 record. The Mavericks haven't been beaten at home since a 92-83 defeat to the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 7.

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

Blazers GM Resigns

With the Portland Trail Blazers headed in a positive direction, billionaire owner Paul Allen shook off one more remnant of the team's recent -- albeit troubled -- past.

Team president and general manager Steve Patterson abruptly resigned Thursday after Allen refused to renew his contract.

Tod Leiweke, chief executive officer of the Seattle Seahawks, will take over while a full-time replacement is found. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, also owns the Seahawks.

Leiweke will also head a new company that will oversee both teams.

The move comes as part of an ongoing process to recapture "Rip City" and Portland's fervor for its team. Leiweke praised Patterson for his work in righting the Blazers, but suggested there was more work to be done.

"I have a mandate to work with this management to find someone to push this franchise to where it once was," Leiweke said.

Patterson had been the team president since 2003 and became the GM after John Nash was fired last May. The resignation came hours before the Trail Blazers (24-34) hosted Charlotte.

The Blazers, fourth in the Northwest Division, have regrouped after finishing an NBA-worst 21-61 last season. The improvement has been sparked by a flurry of draft-day trades and an infusion of young talent, including Brandon Roy.

Patterson took over a franchise that was burdened with a high payroll and a sullied reputation from a chain of player arrests and bad behavior.

Fans turned away from the once-beloved team that had won the NBA championship in 1977.

He said he was proud of the Blazers' turnaround under his watch.

"Now we got a young exciting club of folks that represent the community well and want to live here as opposed to a number of the guys that didn't share this community's values and didn't represent it well," Patterson said.

However, the team also had some troubles during Patterson's tenure. There was Allen's decision in 2004 to throw the Rose Garden Arena into bankruptcy and surrender ownership of the building, only to recently announce plans to but it back.

Allen also indicated that the team was up for sale last year, then abruptly pulled it off the market.

Leiweke will remain in his role with the Seahawks.

"Putting the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks under a common management umbrella underscores my commitment to the future of both franchises," Allen said in a statement. "Tod has done great things for the Seahawks, and I fully expect similar results for the Trail Blazers."

Patterson said his contract was to expire soon.

"I think you get to the point you have a certain number of successes and you know it gets to the point that sometimes it's better for somebody to take the ball the last 10 yards than somebody's who's taken it the first 90 yards," Patterson said.

Leiweke said the search for a new president and general manager would begin immediately, with the intent of having both positions filled by the offseason and in time for the draft.

"This is not going to be about micromanagement," he said. "We're going to hire quality people to take this franchise back to what it once was."

Leiweke also will become the CEO of a newly formed management company, Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, which will oversee both the Trail Blazers and Seahawks organizations.

He will retain that position after the new management for the Blazers is in place.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2784401

Ray Allen May Miss Rest of Season

Seattle SuperSonics All-Star guard Ray Allen could miss the rest of the NBA season due to bone spurs in his left ankle.

A CT scan scheduled Friday could determine whether Allen, who missed Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, will need season-ending surgery from an injury that has plagued him for the past two months, The News Tribune in Tacoma reported.

Allen has said he will eventually get surgery at some point, but if doctors determine his pain will not subside, he could opt for it sooner rather than later and miss the final 24 games of the Sonics' season.

"The bone spur is there from the last time I went to the doctor, but it has gotten worse," Allen told the newspaper. "We'll just see how it goes the next couple of days because if it does not get any better, I could have surgery sooner."

Despite his injuries, Allen is having another productive season, averaging a career-high 26.4 point per game.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2785705

Phil Jackson, Roy Williams Leads 2007 Hall of Fame Class

Phil Jackson rode his string of three separate NBA championship three-peats straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of consideration on Monday.

Jackson has won nine NBA titles as a coach with Chicago and the Los Angeles Lakers, matching Red Auerbach's record and making him an easy selection to the Hall of Fame.

Another coach who has achieved success with two teams, Roy Williams, joined Jackson in heading a class of seven named Monday to enter the Hall of Fame in September.

"I've been blessed to have coached in various leagues and cities over 25 years, but the opportunity to coach two talented NBA franchises, the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers, through championships says it all," Jackson said.

"I'm accepting this honor with full recognition of those players, coaching staffs and personnel that brought excellence to those teams."

Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles -- 1991-93 and 1996-98 -- before leading the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight championships in 2000-02.

Williams is the third coach in history to lead two schools to the NCAA championship game. He won the championship with North Carolina in 2005 and also reached the final with Kansas.

"I'm the first to admit that I've been very lucky at Kansas and North Carolina but I'm also the one that can say I know what we went through,'' Williams told ESPN.com's Andy Katz.

With each team Jackson built winners around superstars -- Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with Chicago and Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant with the Lakers.

Jackson was a college player at North Dakota under future NBA coach Bill Fitch and played 13 years in the NBA, primarily with the New York Knicks.

Also selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame were the 1966 NCAA champion Texas Western team, four-time WNBA championship coach Van Chancellor, former NBA referee Mendy Rudolph and international coaches Pedro Ferrandiz of Spain and Mirko Novosel of Yugoslavia.

Jackson and Texas Western were elected in their first year of consideration. Novosel, Rudolph and Williams were first-time finalists. Chancellor and Ferrandiz had been named finalists in previous years.

Among the notable finalists who did not receive the required 18 votes from 24 members of the Hall of Fame honors committee were ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale and longtime college coach Eddie Sutton.

"I'm really disappointed, not so much for me, I've had a great life heading to the final chapter, but for my wife and two great daughters and grandkids and my co-workers," Vitale said Monday, about an hour after the Hall of Fame's seven-member class for 2007 was announced and it did not include him. "If this is the worst thing that ever happens to me, I've had a great, great life."

Texas Western, now known as UTEP, was the first team in NCAA history to win a title with five black players, beating an all-white Kentucky team in the 1966 final. The achievement, regarded as a turning point in the integration of college athletics, was the subject of the movie "Glory Road."

Rudolph worked 2,112 games in his career, a record when he retired. He was selected to referee eight NBA All-Star games and at least one game in the NBA finals for 22 straight seasons. He died in 1979 at the age of 53.

Chancellor, who also attended Monday's announcement, was the women's coach at Mississippi from 1978-97 before leading the Houston Comets to the first four WNBA championships from 1997 through the 2000 season. He also coached the 2004 U.S. gold medal team and has a 38-0 record in international competition.

Ferrandiz has led Real Madrid to a record 12 Spanish League titles, 11 Spanish Cup championships and four European Cup titles. He was a co-founder and first president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches.

Novosel coached the Yugoslavian team that won the gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. His teams won the silver medal in 1976 and bronze in 1984. He is one of only four Olympic coaches to win at least three medals.

The class will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in September.

Source: ESPN

Arenas tears meniscus, out 2-3 months

The Washington Wizards point guard had surgery Thursday for a left
knee injury that will sideline him for two to three months.

Arenas was diagnosed with a lateral meniscus tear and had arthroscopic
surgery at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. He was injured in the
first quarter of Wednesday night's 108-100 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

Arenas averaged 28.4 points and six assists this season.

Gilbert Arenas
Point Guard
Washington Wizards

Profile
2007 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
74 28.4 4.6 6.0 .418 .844

Source: http://tinyurl.com/292uoh

Sonics Will Leave Seattle After 2008 Season

SuperSonics majority owner Clay Bennett says the NBA team likely will not play in Seattle beyond the 2007-08 season.

Bennett said Tuesday that Gov. Chris Gregoire won't call lawmakers into special session so the team can continue to push for taxpayer money for a new $500 million arena. And he said the Sonics will honor their KeyArena lease that runs through 2010 -- but most likely only through "a legal exercise."

"That may or may not mean the team will play there," Bennett said during a conference call.

Seattle's NBA team for the last 40 years is obligated to stay in the city only for one more season.

"I'm not sure it makes sense to play there if relocation [is imminent]."

Bennett, whose investor group bought the team last year from a local group headed by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, is a prominent Oklahoma City businessman, and the sale prompted widespread fear among Sonics fans the team would be moved to Oklahoma. Bennett promised to keep the team in the Seattle area if a deal could be struck for a new arena.

On Monday, legislative leaders decided not to consider the plan for a new arena in suburban Renton during the regular session, which is due to end by Sunday, saying it lacks enough support to pass.

Bennett said he had no hope Gregoire would call lawmakers back.

"I have asked her opinion of that and she said the special session is not (going to) happen," Bennett said.

Asked by The Associated Press on Tuesday morning about a special session, Gregoire replied: "No discussion about that." Her spokeswoman later disputed Bennett's account of his conversation with Gregoire.

"The governor has no recollection of any mention of a special session during her phone call with Clay Bennett," said Holly Armstrong, Gregoire's spokeswoman.

Bennett also said he would not bring the arena plan before lawmakers when the next regular session begins in January because he will by then be exploring his contractual right to move the Sonics and the WNBA's Storm. That right, from his $350 million purchase of the teams last summer, takes effect after Oct. 31.

The Sonics did not file a relocation application with the NBA before a March 1 deadline, so they must play in Seattle next season.

Asked about lawmakers' claims Monday night the proposal to use $278 million in King County tax revenues toward a new arena did not have enough support in the Legislature, Bennett scoffed and said, "That sounds like politics to me."

Source: Sports Illustrated

Sebastian Telfair Arrested on Felony Gun Charges

Boston Celtics guard Sebastian Telfair was arrested early Friday after police stopped him for speeding and found a loaded handgun under a seat in his SUV.

Telfair, 21, of Brooklyn was stopped at about 4 a.m. on the Bronx River Parkway in Yonkers, N.Y. after being clocked at 77 mph in a 45-mph zone in his Range Rover, Westchester County police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said.

Neither Telfair nor passenger Al Eden Fuentes had a valid driver's license, so Telfair's SUV was set for impoundment and searched by an officer, O'Leary said. The officer quickly noticed the butt of the handgun sticking out from under the passenger seat, O'Leary added.

Telfair and Queens resident Fuentes, 28, said they knew nothing about the gun, O'Leary said. Police still were investigating whether the gun was registered.

Telfair and Fuentes pleaded not guilty Friday at Yonkers City Court to charges including felony second-degree possession of a weapon, and bail was set at $7,500. The pair was due back in court May 17.

"The players on the Celtics have been explicitly warned, this year, to obey the team and league gun prohibition as well as state laws. We take this very seriously, and will act accordingly once the facts have been determined," owner Wyc Grousbeck said Friday night.

"We began the building process towards next year yesterday, and the last thing we want or will tolerate is a distraction along the way."

Celtics director of basketball operations Danny Ainge declined to comment.

O'Leary said Telfair was polite and cooperative.

"Our officers said he behaved like a gentlemen," O'Leary said.

A clerk at the Yonkers court did not have the name of Telfair's attorney, and it could not be immediately determined who was representing him.

Telfair, the 13th pick in the 2004 NBA draft, was traded to the Celtics last year from Portland.

While Telfair was with Portland in February 2006, he was questioned after a handgun registered to his girlfriend was found in his pillowcase aboard the team's plane at Logan International Airport in Boston. The Trail Blazers later fined Telfair and suspended him for two days.

Source: Sports Illustrated

Suns Leandro Barbosa Wins Sixth Man Award

Leandro Barbosa, among the fastest players in the NBA, ran away with the league's sixth man award Monday.

The "Brazilian Blur" received 101 of a possible 127 first-place votes from a media panel.

The honor came one day after Barbosa matched his career playoff high with 26 points in the Phoenix Suns' 95-87 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday in Game 1 of their opening series.

"Give him a soccer ball," the Lakers' Kobe Bryant said when asked what could be done to stop Barbosa. "Tell him Brazilians should be playing soccer, not basketball."

In his fourth NBA season, the 24-year-old Barbosa averaged a career-high 18.1 points, shooting 43 percent from 3-point range.

Barbosa had 578 overall points in the media voting.

San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili was second with 269 points and Dallas guard Jerry Stackhouse was third with 210.

Barbosa is the fourth Suns' player to win the award, joining Eddie Johnson (1988-89), Danny Manning (1997-98) and Rodney Rogers (1999-00).

Source: Sports Illustrated

Raptor's Sam Mitchell Named Coach of the Year

Sam Mitchell was honored as the NBA coach of the year Tuesday after leading the Toronto Raptors to a franchise-record-tying 47 victories and their first Atlantic Division title.

"It's a great honor," Mitchell said. "It floors you. You're thankful. Words just can't express it."

Mitchell won the Red Auerbach Trophy in a decisive vote over Utah's Jerry Sloan. He picked up 49 first-place votes for a total of 394 points in balloting by 128 basketball writers and broadcasters. Sloan had 301 points followed by Dallas' Avery Johnson with 268.

"We recognized him for it this morning, " forward Chris Bosh said. "But the thing I love about him is he said it was a team effort."

Mitchell, the sixth coach in Toronto's team's history, guided the Raptors to an NBA-best 20-game improvement (27-55) over the 2005-06 season. The Raptors trail New Jersey 1-0 in a first-round playoff series, with Game 2 Tuesday night in Toronto.

Source: ESPN

yeah he deserves it....raptors are gonna be givin folks the business in the future man..

Celtics To Release Telfair

Less than a week after Sebastian Telfair was arrested on a gun possession charge, the Boston Celtics have taken what appears to be a first step toward severing ties with the guard after one season.

"I wanted to let you know that we have removed Sebastian's nameplate from his locker in Waltham. The facts and circumstances of his case have not been determined but he does not have a Celtics locker and we do not anticipate that he will," Celtics managing partner Wyc Grousbeck wrote in an e-mail to The Boston Globe on Tuesday.

Telfair was arrested on a gun possession charge after the car in which he was driving was stopped for going 77 mph in Yonkers, N.Y., early Friday. The 21-year-old Brooklyn native was charged with second-degree possession of a handgun and driving with a suspended license following the 3:53 a.m. stop on the Yonkers highway, Westchester County police said.

Telfair's attorney, Ed Hayes, told The Associated Press the Celtics are rushing to judgment.

"It always bothers me when you punish a guy so severely before there's been a finding of fact. I think that's wrong whether it happens in Durham (N.C) or in Boston," Hayes said, referring to the Duke lacrosse rape case.

Hayes said Telfair supports 17 relatives on his NBA salary since being drafted out of high school in Brooklyn.

According to Westchester police, Telfair was driving his 2006 Range Rover on northbound Bronx River Parkway when it was clocked speeding in a 45-mph zone.

A passenger, Al Eden Fuentes of Queens, was in the car with Telfair when it was stopped on the parkway, about five miles north of Manhattan. Telfair produced a Florida driver's license that had been suspended.

After stopping the Range Rover, the officer found a loaded .45-caliber handgun sticking out from under the front passenger seat, according to the Westchester County spokesman.

Telfair and Fuentes, 28, said they knew nothing about the gun, Westchester County police spokesman Kieran O'Leary said. Police were still investigating whether the gun was registered.

Telfair's brief NBA career has been marred by controversy, starting with his 2005 fine by the Portland Trail Blazers after a loaded gun was found on the team's private jet at Boston's Logan Airport.

The handgun was found in a pillowcase belonging to Telfair as the team plane was being prepared for a flight from Boston to Toronto. Telfair explained to local authorities that the gun belonged to his girlfriend and that he had inadvertently grabbed the wrong bag when leaving for the team's road trip.

In October 2006, Telfair reported a $50,000 chain was snatched off his neck at a Manhattan night club. He was unable to identify the men who stole the chain.

The 6-foot Telfair, a former New York schoolboy hoops legend, averaged 6.1 points and 2.8 assists a game this season for the Celtics.

Source: ESPN