FT Chronicle

MIAMI (AP) – Dwyane Wade had 28 points and eight rebounds, Michael Beasley scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half and the Miami Heat took control in the opening minutes on the way to beating the Atlanta Hawks 92-75 on Monday night.

Udonis Haslem scored 12 points and Quentin Richardson added 10 rebounds for Miami, which snapped a three-game losing streak and moved within 3 1/2 games of Atlanta for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Heat held Atlanta — which came in averaging 104.9 points — to a season low, plus finished with a 52-30 rebounding edge.

Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES – Kobe Bryant’s buzzer-beating three-pointer capped a rally that saw the Los Angeles Lakers erase a 20-point deficit to beat Sacramento 109-108 Friday in a National Basketball Association thriller.

Bryant finished with 39 points, while Lamar Odom added a season-high 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lakers.

Spain’s Pau Gasol had 17 points, 16 rebounds and four assists, one of which set up Bryant’s game-winner from in front of the Sacramento bench.

Bryant buried the three-pointer as time expired and Lakers fans at Staples Center chanted “M-V-P”.

It was Bryant’s third game-winning shot of the season. He scored 27 of his 39 points in the second half.

Andrew Bynum added 16 points and four rebounds for the Lakers, who improved to 26-6.

Spencer Hawes had a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Kings, Omri Casspi scored 23 points, and Beno Udrih added 19 points and 13 assists.

The Lakers’ Shannon Brown had a three-pointer fail to drop with 8.9sec to play, and the Kings were up 108-106 when the ball went out of bounds off Gasol’s knee.

But Sacramento’s Ime Udoka left the door open for the Lakers when he missed two free throws with 4.8 seconds to play.

After a Lakers timeout with 4.1 remaining, Bryant sealed the win, avoiding stepping out of bounds as he released the ball in the nick of time.

Los Angeles were without Ron Artest for the fourth straight game as he continued to recover from a concussion suffered in a fall at his home.

Agence France-Presse

HOUSTON – Aaron Brooks scored 27 points and Luis Scola added 13 with 12 rebounds Tuesday as Houston overcame outstanding showings from Chris Paul and David West to beat New Orleans 108-100 in a National Basketball Association contest.

Paul had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for his 11th career triple-double and first this season. West had 44 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Hornets from falling to 2-13 on the road this season.

Shane Battier scored 20 points and Carl Landry added 18 off the bench for the Rockets, who went 12 for 23 from three-point range.

West helped the Hornets rally to take the lead after Houston led by 10 at halftime.

West scored 22 points in the third quarter on 7-for-10 shooting. Scola poked him in the eye with 3:45 left, but West returned after a timeout and scored eight more points as New Orleans took an 82-74 lead.

But with West on the bench to start of the fourth quarter, the Rockets edged ahead 87-86, and after he returned they still were able to build the lead to 96-86.

Devin Brown’s three-pointer for New Orleans cut Houston’s lead to 100-98, but Trevor Ariza dunked and sank a free throw, then Paul missed on a drive and Landry nailed a free throw with 27 seconds left to seal the victory.

VIENTIANE, Laos— The Philippines’ favorite sport—basketball—will be back in the calendar when Indonesia takes its turn to host the 26th Southeast Asian Games in 2011.

And another possible gold medal trove for the Filipinos, tenpin bowling, is also among the sports to be reinserted as the Indonesians proposed to stage 37 events, a lot bigger than the 25-event edition of this year’s games here.

Two extreme sports, wall climbing and roller-skating, have been included after the SEA Games Federation’s executive meeting, according to a Bernama report on Monday.

To be scrapped from the program are regional disciplines petanque, fin swimming, muay thai and shuttlecock, which are among the events being played in this capital city.

Other sports included in the 2011 roster are badminton, weightlifting, aquatics, football, archery, shooting, pencak silat, taekwondo, athletics, squash, hockey, billiard & snooker, boxing, volleyball, basketball, golf, judo, sepak takraw, table tennis, wushu and cycling.

The Indonesians have hosted the biennial meet three times in 1979, 1987 and 1997, all in capital Jakarta. Each time, the Indonesians wound up overall champions.

Apart from tenpin bowling, other sports not being played here but are slated in Indonesia are equestrian, gymnastics, fencing, chess, traditional boats, kayaking, rowing, sailing, softball and baseball.

The Filipinos are the defending champions in both men’s and women’s softball and are medal contenders in chess, rowing and fencing.

For the first time in the history of the SEA Games, Indonesia also proposed to include kempo, a type of combat sport similar to fencing that uses bamboo weapons. It is a sport popularly known as kendo in Japan.

Also added was powerlifting, a normal fare in Paralympic events.

via Inquirer.net

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Detroit guard Ben Gordon sat out the Pistons’ game Wednesday night against Philadelphia because of a sprained left ankle.

Gordon injured the ankle in late November and missed two games before returning to play. Gordon is averaging 18.7 points. He played 12 minutes Sunday against Washington.

The Pistons have already been playing without Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back).

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A tearful Allen Iverson is happy to be back with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Iverson is returning to the franchise where he was an MVP, calling it an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

The 10-time All-Star guard signed a non-guaranteed deal with the 76ers on Wednesday, and said at the Wachovia Center that he’s ready to prove he can still play.

“I want to retire here,” Iverson said Thursday.

The 34-year-old Iverson was teary almost from the start of his news conference. He said he retired after his ill-fated stint with the Memphis Grizzlies because he felt like “the basketball part of my life was over.”

Iverson will play his first game for the 76ers against Denver on Monday.

“Coming back home, all I could think about was the people who made me who I am,” said Iverson, the NBA MVP in 2001, when he led the Sixers to the finals.

Philadelphia hasn’t won a playoff series since 2003.

In 10 seasons with the Sixers, Iverson posted the highest scoring average in team history (28.1), was second on the points list (19,583) and holds the record for 3-pointers (877). He was a seven-time All-Star, won four scoring titles and two All-Star game MVPs.

He had a bitter parting with the 76ers in December 2006 and was traded to Denver. He’s also played with Detroit and three games this season with the Grizzlies.

“I always thought it was strange having another uniform,” Iverson said. “I couldn’t feel comfortable with another uniform.”

Flanked by team president Ed Stefanski, Iverson said he dreamed of returning to the 76ers.

“I watch other NBA teams. I can’t watch the Sixers,” he said. “Ever since I left, I wasn’t able to. Not because there was any bitterness, it was just a feeling I get. I gave everything I had here for 10 years. It was just always tough for me to watch them, so I didn’t.”

Iverson was apologetic for his past behavior and said he acted a lot on anger.

“I don’t want to prove anyone wrong in this situation. I’m not in it for that,” he said. “If I can help my team win basketball games the way Coach wants me to help, then I’ll be satisfied.”

Iverson was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft, but his 10 turbulent seasons in Philadelphia were marred by rants about practice, run-ins with former coach Larry Brown, arrests and a failed rap career.

In one infamous blowup at the end of the 2002 season, he repeated the word “practice” nearly 20 times during a rambling monologue.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are supposed to be an aging NBA afterthought, a team that a couple of years ago saw its best title shot slip away.

Few could have foreseen the way this team has bolted out of the starting gate. With Steve Nash as good as ever, Amare Stoudemire on the mend and an array of sharpshooters firing away, the Suns are off to an 11-3 start.

Going into Tuesday’s action, coach Alvin Gentry’s team was tied for the best record in the league.

“It’s a lot of fun. My teammates are great,” Nash said. “We’re playing in a fun style where we move the ball a lot. We’re not really a fastbreak team like we used to be but the ball still moves. I think the guys are just playing hard for one another.”

“We enjoy each other on the court and off and it makes all the difference in the world when you have that singular vision and everyone buys into it.”

Nobody was talking that way a year ago, when many players, including Nash, weren’t buying into new coach Terry Porter’s system. Porter wanted a slower game, a defensive-oriented style, a system that, except for Shaquille O’Neal, failed to match the personnel at hand.

Porter was fired at the All-Star break and O’Neal was traded to Cleveland in the offseason. Now the court is wide open for Nash and his teammates to do what they do best.

Stoudemire is back, wearing protective goggles following serious eye surgery that sidelined him for the final 29 games last season. He leads the team in scoring at 19.9 points per game.

“He’s probably 80-85 percent now,” Gentry said. “I still think there’s a little bit more that he can do for us, but he’s getting better and as he gets a little better, our team will get a little better.”

With O’Neal no longer clogging the middle, Nash and Stoudemire again are making the pick and roll the tough-to-defend heart of the Suns’ offense.

“The spacing is good. Everybody’s comfortable,” Stoudemire said. “It feels great when guys know where they’re supposed to be and then when the ball comes out to them they’re ready to shoot or pass because the rhythm and flow is perfect right now.”

Gentry promised to return the team to the high-flying style of coach Mike D’Antoni, and while the Suns might not quite be the “seven seconds or less” squad of those days, they still are a highly entertaining bunch.

Phoenix leads the NBA in scoring with a 110.35 average and is the only team that has topped 100 points in each of its games. The Suns are making 44.4 percent of their 3-pointers, a better percentage than eight teams are shooting overall from the field.

At the controls is the 35-year-old Nash.

“I think he’s playing right now better than he did the year he got the MVP, either one of them,” Gentry said.

Nash is averaging 17.1 points and an NBA-best 11.6 assists per game. He already has two 20-assist games and is shooting 52 percent from the field, 44 percent on 3s.

But numbers don’t really describe his play, the way he is weaving through towering defenders, then softly tossing the ball — with either hand — off the glass for a layup, or somehow finding the open man.

The question, of course, is whether this team will prove to be any good over the grueling 82-game season.

“I think going in I kind of knew we’d be better than what people thought,” forward Grant Hill said. “What that means overall, it’s still too early to judge. But I think we’re good. We like each other. We play hard and have good chemistry. We’re defending.”

Gentry won’t call his team a title contender. The aim is to just get back to the playoffs after missing them in a dysfunctional 2008-09 season.

“I just think this is a special group of guys,” Gentry said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen but I do know that night in and night out we’ll compete and play extremely hard and try to play together, and to me as a coach whatever happens after that I would be willing to accept.” - AP