Rockets Extend Franchise-Record Winning Streak to 19

Houston 91, New Jersey 73

HOUSTON, March 10 (AP) -- Tracy McGrady pulled the towel over his shoulders, leaned back in his seat on the bench and smiled. The Houston Rockets' 19th consecutive victory was a laugher.

McGrady scored 19 points in less than three quarters and the Rockets routed cold-shooting New Jersey 91-73 on Monday night to match the third-longest winning streak in NBA history.

Most importantly, the Rockets closed within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs for the top seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers play in Houston on Sunday, but the hype for that showdown can wait.

Houston can match the second-longest victory streak in NBA history with a win in Atlanta on Wednesday night. The Milwaukee Bucks won 20 in a row during the 1970-71 season.

The Rockets held the Nets to 30 percent shooting (24-of-79) to match the league's longest winning streak since the 1999-2000 Lakers won 19 in a row on their way to the first of three straight championships with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.

Rafer Alston and Luis Scola had 12 points apiece for the Rockets, who've won 23 of their last 24 games and 28 of their last 31. Houston also improved to 7-0 since Yao Ming's season-ending foot injury.

McGrady's only 3-pointer came in the final minute of the third quarter put Houston up 70-45. He sat out the entire fourth quarter, joking and cheering with Dikembe Mutombo.

Vince Carter scored 13 and Richard Jefferson had 12 for the Nets, who've lost six in a row and nine of their last 12. The Nets shot 9-for-43 (21 percent) in the first half.

New Jersey missed 11 of its first 13 shots and the Rockets built an early seven-point lead. Smothered by Jefferson early, McGrady missed his first three shots.

Sharpshooting Steve Novak came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer and McGrady sank two free throws to give Houston a 22-15 lead after one quarter. Novak finished with 11.

McGrady continued to struggle early in the second quarter. He couldn't handle an alley-oop pass from Bobby Jackson, then bounced a dribble off his foot after a steal, ruining a chance for a breakaway dunk.

After McGrady went to the bench three minutes into the second quarter, Novak swished another 3-pointer and Jackson hit a tough fadeaway to start a 19-5 run that Houston made without its seven-time All-Star.

McGrady returned after a long rest and got his first basket on a drive with 1:46 left in the half. Shane Battier swished a 3-pointer from the corner to give Houston a 46-28 lead at the break.

McGrady hit a jumper and Battier swished another 3-pointer in the first minute of the third quarter as the lead swelled over 20. Mutombo blocked a putback try by Carter and gave an emphatic wag of his finger to the crowd.

Jefferson drove for a dunk over Mutombo and wagged his finger back at Mutombo, but referee Joe Crawford gave Jefferson a technical foul. Jefferson pleaded about the apparent double standard to Crawford to no avail.

The Nets shot better in the third quarter and made a mild rally, cutting the deficit to 14. McGrady hit a running jumper and his only 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the third quarter before calling it a night.

Notes: The Rockets failed to reach 100 points for just the second time in 10 games. ... New Jersey's 28 first-half points and 47 points after three quarters were season lows. The Nets' 28 first-half points were also a season low for a Rockets opponent. ... Rockets rookie F Carl Landry sat out for the second straight game with a bruised right knee.

McGrady, Alston Boost Rockets to 17th Straight Win

NBAE/Getty Images

Tracy McGrady and the Rockets kept rolling along
Thursday with their 17th straight win.

Houston 113, Dallas 98

DALLAS, March 6 (AP) -- A step or two over halfcourt, Rafer Alston saw Tracy McGrady headed to the hoop and let the ball fly. Hanging on the rim after his early fourth-quarter dunk pretty much sealed a victory, McGrady looked toward the Dallas Mavericks bench and smiled.

It was that kind of night for the Houston Rockets. Again.

McGrady had 31 points and nine assists and Alston added a season-high 24 points, helping the Rockets boost their franchise-best winning streak to 17 games with a 113-98 victory over the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

"We all believe, man,'' McGrady said. "When you've got a roster full of guys that really believe in themselves, great chemistry among the team, and we go out and play extremely hard every night, I'm not surprised.''

Houston's streak -- which includes five straight wins since Yao Ming's season-ending foot injury -- is tied for seventh-best in NBA history.

The Rockets will try moving into a tie for fourth on the all-time list Saturday night at home against New Orleans, the next team they're trying to catch for a top-tier seed in the Western Conference. Houston already has gone from 24-20 to 41-20; the Hornets are 41-19.

"There is just a real confidence about the way they're playing,'' Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "There's a trust in each other and it's just a pleasure to see. As a coach, it's just fun to watch a group of guys come together like they have and maintain this over such a period of time.''

McGrady and Alston helped Houston break the game open in the third quarter.

After consecutive long jumpers by Dallas' Jason Kidd tied it at 55 early in the period, the Rockets answered with a 13-3 run. They pushed their lead to 19 on the Alston-to-McGrady alley-oop. A timeout followed and fans started streaming out with 8:42 left.

"They just outworked us -- to a man, every position,'' Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. "That's something we can't allow to happen. ... They're playing well together right now, but at the same time there's not a team we can't beat.''

Josh Howard scored 21 points and Terry had 17 for Dallas, which lost its third straight and fourth in five games. The Mavs also had won 12 straight at home -- but this time they were without Nowitzki, who was serving a one-game suspension for a hard foul on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko.

Dallas' offense was out of whack without Nowitzki, and his team-best 23.6 points and 8.7 rebounds. His absence was especially obvious during the third-quarter meltdown, when the Mavericks kept looking for someone to get the ball to but instead kept turning it over. Dallas had seven turnovers in the period, leading to 12 points for Houston.

The Rockets -- who'd been 0-3 against the Mavs this season -- won by sharing the ball and by protecting it. As of midway through the fourth quarter, when victory was secure, Houston had 22 assists and four turnovers.

"The third quarter we were terrific, just controlled the tempo at both ends of the court,'' Adelman said. "We just have to continue on with the same attitude and same intensity every game.''

Carl Landry scored 17 points, including 12 in the second quarter, and Luis Scola added 12 points and nine rebounds for Houston.

Jerry Stackhouse was the only other double-digit scorer for Dallas with 11. Kidd had seven points, six assists and six rebounds. Brandon Bass, who started in Nowitzki's place, had seven points.

Houston made its first five shots, then its first six in the second quarter. Dallas went through a 2-of-12 drought and other poor stretches, yet managed to go into halftime trailing only 52-50. The Mavericks were almost giddy on their way to the locker room because of the score and because Devean George closed the half by making a high-arching 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left.

Dallas fell to 4-5 since Kidd arrived. The only consolation is that all the losses were to teams ahead of the Mavs in the Western Conference. Up next for them: Five straight games against teams with losing records. The first four are at home, then they go to Miami to face the club with the league's worst record.

"I thought this would be a good night for us to rally,'' Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "But we just didn't have that type of energy. They had it and we didn't. We have to get back to practicing, get better tomorrow.''

Notes: The teams Houston tied with 17 straight wins: Dallas and Phoenix last season, San Antonio in 1995-96, Boston in 1959-60 and Washington in 1946-47. ... Dallas' last home loss was Dec. 27 against Cleveland. ... Adelman said his team was about to sign C Justin Williams to help fill the void created by Yao's absence. "I know one game he had, because he had it against us, he had something like 12 rebounds in a half,'' Adelman said.

Jazz Blow 21-Point Lead Before Edging Mavs

Utah 116, Dallas 110

SALT LAKE CITY, March 3 (AP) -- Utah lost a starter, blew a huge lead and rallied to keep the best home record in the NBA.

The Jazz went on a momentum-changing fourth-quarter run in a 116-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, coming back after blowing a 21-point lead. Utah made all 18 free throws in the fourth quarter and stayed near the top of the congested standings in the Western Conference.

"Everybody right know is fighting for their lives and fighting for a playoff spot. It was a fun game to be a part of," said Deron Williams, who tied his season high with 20 assists and scored 17 points for the Jazz. "I wish we would have held on to that lead. We let that slip away. We knew they were going to make a run, but we should have put them away a little earlier."

Mehmet Okur had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Carlos Boozer scored 28 points for the Jazz, who won their 16th straight at Energy Solutions Arena.

Utah played most of the game without forward Andrei Kirilenko, who was knocked out of the game with 7:04 left in the first quarter after taking a flagrant foul from Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki. Kirilenko went crashing to the floor and bruised his right hip bad enough that he was taken to the hospital for X-rays, which showed no break.

The play angered Jazz fans, who shouted that Nowitzki should be ejected and booed him loudly every time he touched the ball. They also relished it when Boozer stripped the ball from Nowitzki two times in a row down the stretch.

"It was a playoff atmosphere," Boozer said. "You had people diving for loose balls, scrapping for rebounds. That's what the playoffs are about. That's what the last 20 games are going to be like as we try to position ourselves for the playoffs."

Josh Howard scored 25 points and Nowitzki finished with 23 for Dallas, which fell to 4-4 since acquiring Jason Kidd.

Kidd finished with nine assists and 19 points -- 10 of which he scored in the fourth quarter. Jason Terry scored 21 for the Mavericks.

Dallas held Utah scoreless for almost five minutes early in the fourth quarter and opened the period on an 11-2 run to take its first lead of the game. Then the Mavericks went on their own scoring drought.

"We found a way to get back in the game and take the lead, but again, we're just not able to close games like we should," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said.

After Kidd's 23-footer with 6:29 put Dallas up 92-89, Dallas didn't score again until Nowitzki's three-point play with 2:42 left. Utah scored 16 straight points, mostly from the foul line, and pulled far enough ahead that late 3-pointers by Nowitzki and Kidd weren't enough to lead the Mavericks back.

"It was anybody's ballgame there. We had a couple turnovers down the stretch, then missed some shots," Kidd said. "They scored. We didn't."

The Mavericks were coming off a 108-104 loss to the Lakers on Sunday in Los Angeles and started slowly. Dallas also finished slowly and lost for the third time in four games.

Utah had gone 4:59 without a point when Boozer broke the drought with a layup, which started the 16-0 run. Boozer followed that with two free throws, Okur made two from the line and Williams pulled back on a break opportunity and passed to Kyle Korver for a 3-pointer that put Utah up 98-92 with 4:43 left. That had the fans back on their feet and the Jazz continued to pull away from there.

Korver finished with 17 points, three more than all of Dallas' reserves combined.

Kirilenko was injured he went up for a layup and Nowitzki came down hard with his right arm, catching Kirilenko on the shoulder and neck.

Nowitzki said he didn't want to give Kirilenko a three-point play opportunity.

"I kind of tried to grab him, and unfortunately grabbed him around the neck," Nowitzki said. "Things went so fast, I didn't mean to grab the neck, but I just tried to hold him so he doesn't score. I happened to grab his neck and it was a bad fall."

Kirilenko was down for several minutes. He finally got up and walked gingerly to the free-throw line, where he made both foul shots before being helped to the locker room.

Notes: Williams' 14 assists in the first half were one short of John Stockton's team record for a half. ... Dallas was tied for Utah with the best home record entering the game. ... Devean George scored 12 for Dallas, the only Mavericks reserve to score more than two.

James Scores 24 in the Fourth as Cavs Rally to Beat Raptors

Cleveland 93, Toronto 90

TORONTO, Jan. 6 (AP) -- For three quarters he was ordinary. Then, when it mattered most, LeBron James was unstoppable.

James scored 39 points, including 24 in the fourth, to help the Cleveland Cavaliers rally for a 93-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

"In the fourth quarter, he was amazing,'' Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "He just took the game over and put us on his back. What a tremendous, tremendous performance.''

James, who made eight of 10 field goal attempts in the fourth, said tuning out distractions helped his concentration.

"I just felt like I was out there by myself,'' he said. "Everything was going right for me and I just felt like I was out there in practice. The hoop felt like the ocean.''

Forward Drew Gooden has seen James take over before, but said this one was special.

"This was impressive because of the circumstances,'' Gooden said. "We were down 20 on the road and we could have easily given in. He was attacking the basket and knocking down outside shots.''

With the Cavs trailing 70-57 to begin the fourth, James scored on a layup, a free throw and back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes. Damon Jones added two 3-pointers before James tied it at 76 with a jump shot at 6:26.

"I was able to control the tempo in the fourth quarter with my penetration,'' James said, "getting into the lane and kicking out for 3s.''

James' spurt set off alarm bells for Toronto's Jamario Moon.

"When he started hitting (shots), we knew it was going to be a long quarter,'' Moon said. "I thought we were going to hit some shots, build the lead back up a little bit and pull the win out, but he kept hitting them and they pulled it out.''

James gave Cleveland its first lead with a 3-pointer from the right wing at 3:59, then drained another 3-pointer on the Cavaliers' next possession.

"It's hard to trap a guy past the 3-point line'' Chris Bosh said. "He made two or three spot-up 3s and when a guy is doing that, it makes it very tough.''

Two free throws by Jose Calderon and a layup from Moon tied the game at 84, but James made a layup and Daniel Gibson hit a wide-open 3 from the corner to put Cleveland up by five.

Bosh had two free throws and two layups in the final minute, but Cleveland sealed the game at the free throw line.

The Cavaliers have won five of six to level their record at 17-17, returning to .500 for the first time since they were 9-9 on Dec. 2.

Celtics Beat Raptors, Extend Win Streak to Nine

Boston 90, Toronto 77

TORONTO, Dec. 16 (AP) -- With another dominant defensive performance, the Boston Celtics matched their longest winning streak in 14 years.

Paul Pierce scored 18 points, Kevin Garnett had 16 and the Boston Celtics extended their streak to nine games by beating the Toronto Raptors 90-77 on Sunday.

"Our philosophy is that defense is going to win games for us,'' Garnett said. "We're trying to have the defense fuel the offense, and it's been working.''

The Atlantic Division leaders matched their longest winning streak since March 16-31, 1993.

Boston is 20-2. The only other time the franchise opened the season with that record, it won the 1963-64 championship.

The Celtics lead the NBA in opponents' scoring average and scoring differential.

"That's going to be our staple pretty much all year long,'' Pierce said. "We're going to take pride on the defensive end.

"When you get 12 guys committed and on the same page, night in and night out, anything is possible,'' Pierce added. "That's what we have right now.''

James’ Fourth Triple-Double Leads Cavs Past Pacers

Cleveland 111, Indiana 106

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 25 (AP) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers were having a blast laughing at the Indiana Pacers for about 2 1/2 quarters.

The joke almost was on them.

Indiana erased a 14-point deficit in the third quarter before Cleveland rallied behind LeBron James' fourth triple-double of the season to beat the Pacers 111-106 Sunday for their third straight win.

Cleveland's obnoxious behavior and the lapse that followed bothered coach Mike Brown.

"We have to do a better job of respecting the game,'' he said. "Especially when we're up. We've got to continue doing the little things on both ends of the floor that got us the lead.''

James, the league's leading scorer, finished with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Iverson’s 37 Lead Nuggets Past Cavs

Denver 122, Cleveland 100

DENVER, Nov. 12 (AP) -- Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James were the headliners, but Allen Iverson and J.R. Smith stole the show.

Iverson scored a season-high 37 points and Smith added 29 to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-100 on Monday night.

"They didn't steal my spotlight,'' said Anthony, who had 22 points and nine rebounds. "They did what they were supposed to do. They took advantage of the defense that they threw at us.''

Iverson set the tone early with his sharp shooting. He had 18 points at halftime, when the Nuggets took a 58-43 lead. He came out firing in the second half, scoring 11 points in the first six minutes, including two 3-poiners, to push Denver's lead to 78-51.

"I got into a rhythm in the second half,'' said Iverson, who finished 14-for-20 from the field and added eight assists. "The basket looked like an ocean; I was throwing rocks in. It feels good when you catch a rhythm like that.''

LeBron James led Cleveland with 27 points, but the Nuggets were able to contain the rest of the Cavaliers.

"Even though LeBron had a great game, his great game came from getting fouled,'' Nuggets coach George Karl said. "We took away what we wanted to take away, him making other people better.''

The Cavaliers struggled offensively. They shot 41.9 percent from the field and were 21-for-38 from the foul line.

"I'm not too disappointed,'' James said. "We did a lot of things that we wanted to do differently. We didn't execute offensively or defensively. I think we tried to do some things right.''

Even though his team was playing its fifth game in seven days, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown said fatigue was not an excuse.

"Denver got off a (four)-game road trip in a short amount of time,'' he said. "It wasn't as if they were sitting here for five days waiting on us.''

LeBron’s Big Second Half Lifts Cavs Over Kings

Cleveland 93, Sacramento 91

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 9 (AP) -- Four years after LeBron James made his NBA debut in Arco Arena, he can perform much greater feats with a whole lot less effort.

Back in 2003, the teenage phenom put in a full night of relentless effort in an outstanding first outing. These days, the King of the Eastern Conference can take most of the night off and still flatten the Sacramento Kings.

James rallied the Cavaliers with eight points on a series of dynamic moves in the final 2:57, and Cleveland hung on for a 93-91 victory Friday night.

James finished with 26 points despite seeming to sit back and watch much of the Cavs' fourth game in six nights. He scored just seven points in the first half, and was passive for much of the second until rising up for his late flurry, capped by a beautiful three-point play with 53 seconds left.

"You've just got to seize the moment,'' James said. "For the first three quarters, I didn't force anything. I like to just take what the offense gives me, and I make plays happen. In the fourth, I was able to get some rebounds and force the issue more, and it turned into good things. The team did a great job feeding off me.''

Nowitzki, Mavericks Golden Against Warriors

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Nov 9 2007 3:09AM

Dallas 120, Golden State 115

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 8 (AP) -- Baron Davis lined up a straightaway 3-point shot to tie it in the waning seconds, and the Golden State crowd rose while the Mavericks' hearts sank.

From Dirk Nowitzki to the peanut vendors, everybody assumed the man who became a Bay Area folk hero with his dynamic playoff performances against Dallas last spring would hit another magical shot to hurt the Mavs.

"We gave Baron a look like that, and it looked like he was going to get it,'' Nowitzki admitted.

But Baron blew it, and the Dallas Mavericks fled Oracle Arena with a 120-115 victory over the winless Golden State Warriors on Thursday night -- and a bit of hollow revenge from their historic playoff defeat in the same arena they finally silenced.

Nowitzki scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, while Jason Terry and Josh Howard both had 24 points as the Mavericks snapped a five-game regular season losing streak against an opponent that always brings out the worst in one of the NBA's best franchises.

Until Davis' 3-point attempt clanged off the front of the rim with 4 seconds to play, the Mavericks were all but expecting a calamity. They lost three games in Oakland last spring in front of frenzied crowds as Davis led the eighth-seeded Warriors to the NBA's first upset of a top-seeded opponent in a seven-game series.

"We're always going to look at how that season ended,'' Nowitzki said. "That won't leave us, but this is a young team, and our team may still have its time.''

With a whole lot less at stake Thursday night, the Mavericks needed strong efforts from every veteran to hang on against an 0-5 Golden State team with 10 players in uniform. No matter the circumstances, the Mavs finally moved their biggest mental block a few inches.

LeBron Just Misses Triple-Double in Win Over Warriors

Cleveland 108, Golden State 104

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 6 (AP) -- The water-saturated stat sheet floated between LeBron James' shins as he soaked his feet in the ice bath. Lifting one swollen eyelid, he could just make out his numbers: 24 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and three big blocked shots.

Yet the most eye-popping parts of James' all-out effort in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 108-104 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night weren't reflected in that soggy box score.

For starters, James took an accidental blow to the face in the first quarter, but barely missed 90 seconds before returning. He barked orders at his teammates with authority, and he demanded a fourth-quarter defensive assignment on Baron Davis.

And when the Warriors triple-teamed him with the game on the line, James got what coach Mike Brown termed "the big hockey assist,'' making the pass that led to the pass that set up the shot that won it for Cleveland.

Allen’s 3-Pointer Help Celtics Tame Raptors in OT

Boston 98, Toronto 95

TORONTO, Nov. 4 (AP) -- Ray Allen made the winning 3-pointer with less than 3 seconds to play, and finished with 33 points in the Boston Celtics' 98-95 overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

Kevin Garnett scored 10 of his 23 points in overtime and added 13 rebounds, giving him double-doubles in both of his games for Boston this season.

Paul Pierce added 13 points for Boston (2-0), and James Posey had 11. T.J. Ford led Toronto (2-1) with 32 points, and Chris Bosh had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Celtics played without head coach Doc Rivers, who left Toronto early Sunday after his father died in Chicago. Assistant Tom Thibodeau took over for Rivers.

Ford tied it at 95 on a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in overtime, but Allen won it with a 3 from the corner on Boston's final possession.

Allen, who made 11 of 16 shots, passed 17,000 points for his career.

Boston held a 11-point lead after three quarters before Toronto rallied behind Bosh. His basket made it 78-76 with under 1 minute left. Ford tied the game at 78 with a lay-up with 27 seconds left.

Pierce had a chance to win the game in regulation but his jumper from just outside the top of the key went wide, sending the game into overtime.

Allen scored 13 first-quarter points as Boston built a 23-14 lead. The Celtics led 38-31 at the half.