Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/98711
2B Daily News ��� Thursday, December 13, 2012 WARRIORS 97, HEAT 95 RAIDERS Golden State slips by McClain off Miami on savvy play suspension, practices MIAMI (AP) ��� The Golden State Warriors used a savvy play by a rookie and took advantage of a defensive breakdown to surprise the Miami Heat on Wednesday. Draymond Green, a second-round draft pick out of Michigan State, made a layup with 0.9 seconds left give the Warriors a 97-75 win over the Heat. The Heat left him open under the basket as there was miscommunication between Ray Allen and Shane Battier. ������With the last shot, Coach didn���t point out who specifically was going to take the shot,������ Green said. ������We were going to find out who was open and make the best play. Of course guys are going to go with Klay (Thompson) and Steph (Curry). I just happened to be wide open and (Jarrett Jack) found me.������ Klay Thompson tied a season high with 27 points to lead the Warriors, who have won five straight. ������We���re on fire right now,������ Thompson said. ������We���re going to continue building on this. This is a special win. We haven���t played the best competition the last few games but with the Miami Heat, we���re showing people we���re going to bring it every night. We have a chance to be special.������ LeBron James led Miami with 31 points as he reached the 20-point mark for the 25th consecutive game, the longest current streak in the NBA. After the game, James talked to Green to congratulate him. ������He played hard, it was great competition out there between me and him,������ James said. ������I���ve also respected him especially in college, a big-time player and no one really gave him a shot, but you can tell he knows how to play the game. ������Any team that got him he will find a way to get minutes because he knows how to play the game and (Golden State) is a good fit for him. It was good to see him out there.������ Jack dribbled the ball at the top of the key for the Warriors on the final possession as the clock ticked down before finding Green open underneath the basket. ������I was about to shoot it,������ Jack said. ������... I was about to jump and in the corner of my eye I saw Draymond and I was able to make the pass and he converted the basket.������ Green caught the pass in mid-air and made the basket as Battier was late in coverage. ������I think I showed too early,������ Battier said. ������It was my responsibility. I got anxious. They made a nice play and burned for us our over-anxious play out there, my over-anxious play.������ James��� jumper from the baseline banged off the rim giving Golden State the win as Miami lost for just the second time in 12 home games and did not score in the final 3:18. ������You have to give Golden State a lot of credit for this road trip they are on right now, five straight,������ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ������It doesn���t matter where you���re doing that on the road, that���s impressive. They took control of this game. They were playing more consistently with more force, more rhythm, execution, and they dug out a good win tonight.������ David Lee scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Jack added 20 points off the bench for the Warriors. Wednesday���s victory over the NBA champs adds to their best start since 1991-92 improving to 15-7 and 9-4 on the road. Golden State took a 77-74 lead into the fourth quarter after leading for most of the third. After hitting a 3 to tie the game at 87, James gave the Heat their first lead since early in the third with a turnaround 18-footer with 6:39 left for an 89-87 advantage. The teams played a one-possession game over the next four minutes before Lee knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game at 95 with 1:54 left. The score was still tied at 95 with under a minute remaining. Allen had a chance to give the Heat a lead with 46 seconds left. Lee followed by missing a driving layup. Battier���s miss from the corner with 12 seconds left gave the Warriors an opportunity in the closing seconds. ������Ray got two clean looks, Shane got a clean look, Chris had some daylight on his roll to the rim, for the most part our execution going down the stretch we���ve had a lot of those games where that ball is going in and it changes your perspective,������ Spoelstra said. The Heat received a scare in the second quarter when Lee sent James to the floor with a flagrant foul sending James to the floor on his back. James popped up quickly, but spent the next couple of minutes stretching out his right shoulder before knocking down the free throw and hitting a shot on the ensuing possession for a 47-43 lead. ������I���ll be all right,������ said James, who had an ice pack on his shoulder after the game. ������It will be sore tomorrow, but I���ll be ready by Saturday. That���s all that matters.������ BUCKS 98, KINGS 85 Jennings, Ellis lead Bucks in win MILWAUKEE (AP) ��� Brandon Jennings scored 19 points, Monta Ellis had 17 points and 11 assists and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Sacramento Kings 98-85 on Wednesday night. Ersan Ilyasova added 16 points and a seasonhigh 14 rebounds, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored a seasonhigh 17 points in his first start of the season for Milwaukee (11-9), which has its best 20-game start since 2005-06. Tyreke Evans had 17 points in his return to Sacramento���s lineup after missing three straight games ��� and five of six ��� with a sore left knee. John Salmons added 16 points. The Kings were without center DeMarcus Cousins, suspended one game by the NBA earlier in the day striking Dallas��� O.J. Mayo in the groin area in their road loss Monday night. The Bucks never trailed and used a 12-2 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to take a 79-64 lead and put the game away. Both teams were shorthanded. Besides Cousins, the team���s leading scorer and rebounder, the Kings were without key reserve forward Marcus Thornton (personal reasons). The Bucks were missing their two starting forwards, Larry Sanders (illness) and Epke Udoh (left wrist sprain), and key reserves Mike Dunleavy (bruised left knee) and Beno Udrih (right ankle sprain). The offenses struggled as the Bucks shot 41 percent (39 for 96) from the field to Sacramento���s 37 percent (32 for 86), and the Kings were just 3-of19 (16 percent) on 3s. The missed shots led to a lot of rebounds and Milwaukee finished with a 60-50 edge. Drew Gooden finished with 10 boards in his first extended playing time (22 1/2 minutes) of the season. He was inactive much of the year before making his debut last Friday. Jason Thompson had a season-high 15 rebounds for Sacramento. The Bucks jumped to an early 20-10 lead and led 29-19 after the first quarter, as Ellis sank a half-court shot to beat the buzzer. Sacramento used a 10-0 run to tie it at 32. Two Bucks players picked up technical fouls with 2:04 left in the second quarter after exchanging words with referee Ken Mauer. Tobias Harris was whistled after arguing over a no-call following a layup attempt. Then, as Harris was getting taped up near the bench, Mauer whistled Gooden, who was sitting on the bench. The technical free throws made it 43-39, but Milwaukee scored the last six points of the half to lead by 10 at the break. Mbah a Moute had 13 in the half. ALAMEDA (AP) ��� Oakland Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain met with coach Dennis Allen before returning to practice Wednesday after serving a two-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. Allen would not discuss details of the meeting but said McClain would remain on the roster in a backup role after starting nine games this year before his suspension. ������I laid out exactly what the expectations are for him moving forward,������ Allen said. ������Really that���s about it. We���re moving on from there. Rolando���s part of this team and we���re going to move on.������ McClain had not been at the team���s facilities since Nov. 28 when he was kicked out of practice following an argument with Allen. McClain was told not to return to practice and was suspended two days later. That McClain is back with the Raiders is somewhat surprising considering he posted several comments on Facebook criticizing the team after he was sent home from practice. Those comments were later removed. ������Things get said in the heat of the moment,������ Allen said. ������We���ve gotta move on.������ Whether McClain has moved on is unknown. The eighth overall pick in 2010, who posted that he was ������mentally done������ and ������just waiting on my papers������ after being sent home, did not appear in the Raiders locker room during the 45minute media access period and did not issue a statement. He practiced with Oakland���s second-team defense Wednesday while Omar Gaither, who started at middle linebacker in place of NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific W L Pct GB L.A. Clippers 16 6 .727 ��� Golden State 15 7 .682 1 L.A. Lakers 9 13 .409 7 Phoenix 8 15 .348 8.5 Sacramento 7 14 .333 8.5 Southwest W L San Antonio Pct GB 18 4 .818 ��� Memphis 10 11 .476 7.5 New Orleans 5 16 .238 12.5 Northwest NHL LOCKOUT W L Pct GB Oklahoma City 18 4 .818 ��� room. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman then said that the offer was being pulled from the table. However, mediators informed the union on Wednesday that the proposal was still available, but it carried a take-itor-leave it ultimatum. ������It wasn���t much of a decision,������ said Brendan Morrison, one of 13 players to attend Wednesday���s talks. ������I thought the gap would be closed much quicker, but it hasn���t come to fruition yet, so we have to keep working.������ All games through Dec. 30 have been canceled, about 43 percent of the season, along with the New Year���s Day Winter Classic, and the All-Star game. No new meetings have been scheduled. Mediators rejoined the process Wednesday, at the request of the players��� association, after they were unable to move the sides any closer to a deal during two days of talks last month. Whether they will stay involved beyond Wednesday remains to be seen. ������We did several different caucus meeting rooms, and really there���s nothing new to report,������ NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday, the 88th day of the league���s lockout. ������We don���t have a conclusion to the process.������ The union was expected to get back in touch with federal mediator Scot L. Beckenbaugh on Wednesday night, and he was then supposed to reach out to the NHL. After three straight days of talks between the sides ended last Thursday, union executive director Donald Fehr began the first of his two news conferences by proclaiming he believed the sides had agreements on such issues as actual dollars, and then returned moments later to reveal the NHL rejected everything his side offered. The 2004-05 season was lost completely before the players��� association accepted a deal that included a salary cap for the first time. While no major philosophical issues such as that exist in these negotiations, the sides still don���t appear to be ready to come to an agreement. ������I never thought the issues were as big as they were back in 04-05,������ Morrison said Wednesday. ������Apparently, I was wrong.������ A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January. Bettman said he wouldn���t have a season shorter than that. The NHL wants to limit personal player contracts to five years, seven for a club to re-sign its own player, and has elevated the issue to the highest level of importance. The union countered with an offer of an eight-year maximum length with the variable in salary being no greater than a 25 percent difference between the highestpaid year of the deal and the lowest. Utah W L y-Denver 10 3 San Diego 5 8 RAIDERS 3 10 Kansas City 2 11 East W L y-N. England10 3 N.Y. Jets 6 7 Buffalo 5 8 Miami 5 8 South W L x-Houston 11 2 Indianapolis 9 4 Tennessee 4 9 Jacksonville 2 11 North W L Baltimore 9 4 Pittsburgh 7 6 Cincinnati 7 6 Cleveland 5 8 10 9 .526 6.5 Denver 11 12 .478 7.5 9 12 .429 8.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic W L Pct GB New York 16 5 .762 ��� Brooklyn 12 9 .571 4 Boston 12 9 .571 4 Philadelphia 12 10 .545 4.5 Toronto 4 19 .174 13 Central T 0 0 0 0 Pct .769 .385 .231 .154 PF 375 292 248 195 PA 257 281 402 352 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .769 .462 .385 .385 PF 472 245 289 240 PA 274 306 352 276 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .846 .692 .308 .154 PF 365 292 271 216 PA 263 329 386 359 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .692 .538 .538 .385 PF 331 278 321 259 PA 273 264 280 272 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division NFC West W 9 8 6 4 L 3 5 6 9 T 1 0 1 0 Pct .731 .615 .500 .308 PF 316 300 236 186 PA 184 202 279 292 W 8 7 7 4 L 5 6 6 9 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .615 .538 .538 .308 PF 373 343 300 240 PA 270 329 314 341 W y-Atlanta 11 Tampa Bay 6 New Orleans5 Carolina 4 North W Green Bay 9 Chicago 8 Minnesota 7 Detroit 4 L 2 7 8 9 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .846 .462 .385 .308 PF 337 354 348 265 PA 259 308 379 312 L 4 5 6 9 T 0 0 0 0 Pct .692 .615 .538 .308 PF 323 308 283 320 PA 279 219 286 342 49ERS Seattle St. Louis Arizona East 12 10 .545 6 Minnesota Portland NEW YORK (AP) ��� The latest round of NHL labor talks ended with the two sides not even getting into the same room with each other. The players��� association and league negotiators met separately Wednesday with federal mediators in suburban New Jersey, holding discussions that didn���t immediately appear to have moved the sides any closer to a deal to save the hockey season. There was hope going into Wednesday that negotiations could get back on track to the point they were last Thursday before talks fell apart. When the NHL agreed last week to increase its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million it was part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the players��� association accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle AFC West 11 11 .500 7 Houston Sides still remain apart on labor issues NFL 14 5 .737 2.5 Dallas McClain the past two weeks, continued to work with the starters. Although neither McClain nor the Raiders have said publicly what the dispute between the two men was about, Allen acknowledged the linebacker was told before the suspension that he had lost his starting job on defense. ������Everybody makes mistakes in life, and to be honest I still don���t know the whole story,������ Gaither said. ������I don���t know who���s at fault. (But) you welcome him back with open arms, put him back in the mix, and you just go from there.������ McClain was reinstated to Oakland���s roster on Monday but was unable to meet with Allen because the coach was in Texas to attend his father���s funeral. In 41 career games with Oakland, McClain has 6 1/2 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble, no fumble recoveries and did little to help improve Oakland���s struggling run defense. Other players who have struggled with the Raiders this season have already been released. Starting cornerback Ron Bartell was cut on Monday as part of a handful of moves to open a roster spot for McClain. Backup fullback Owen Schmitt was also let go, three weeks after outside linebacker Aaron Curry ��� a projected starter before the season ��� was given his walking papers. N.Y. Giants Washington Dallas Philadelphia South Week 14 Results W L Chicago Pct GB 12 9 .571 ��� Milwaukee 11 9 .550 .5 Indiana 11 11 .500 1.5 Detroit 7 17 .292 6.5 Cleveland 5 18 .217 8 Southeast W L Pct GB Miami 14 6 .700 ��� Atlanta 13 6 .684 .5 Orlando 8 13 .381 6.5 Charlotte 7 14 .333 7.5 Washington 3 16 .158 10.5 ������������������������������������������������������ Wednesday���s results Brooklyn 94, Toronto 88 Indiana 96, Cleveland 81 Atlanta 86, Orlando 80 L.A. Clippers 100, Charlotte 94 Chicago 96, Philadelphia 89 Golden State 97, Miami 95 Houston 99, Washington 93 Minnesota 108, Denver 105 Oklahoma City 92, New Orleans 88 Milwaukee 98, Sacramento 85 Boston 117, Dallas 115,2OT Phoenix 82, Memphis 80 San Antonio at Utah, late Today���s games Charlotte at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at New York, 5 p.m. San Antonio at Portland, 7:30 p.m. Thursday's result Denver 26, Oakland 13 Sunday's results Minnesota 21, Chicago 14 Washington 31, Baltimore 28, OT Cleveland 30, Kansas City 7 San Diego 34, Pittsburgh 24 Indianapolis 27, Tennessee 23 N.Y. Jets 17, Jacksonville 10 Carolina 30, Atlanta 20 Philadelphia 23, Tampa Bay 21 St. Louis 15, Buffalo 12 Dallas 20, Cincinnati 19 San Francisco 27, Miami 13 Seattle 58, Arizona 0 N.Y. Giants 52, New Orleans 27 Green Bay 27, Detroit 20 Monday's result New England 42, Houston 14 Week 15 Schedule Today���s game Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 5:20 p.m. Sunday���s games Green Bay at Chicago, 10 a.m. Tampa Bay at New Orleans, 10 a.m. Minnesota at St. Louis, 10 a.m. Indianapolis at Houston, 10 a.m. N.Y. Giants at Atlanta, 10 a.m. Washington at Cleveland, 10 a.m. Jacksonville at Miami, 10 a.m. Denver at Baltimore, 10 a.m. Carolina at San Diego, 1:05 p.m. Detroit at Arizona, 1:05 p.m. Seattle vs. Buffalo at Toronto, 1:05 p.m. Kansas City at Oakland, 1:25 p.m. Pittsburgh at Dallas, 1:25 p.m. San Francisco at New England, 5:20 p.m. Monday���s game N.Y. Jets at Tennessee, 5:30 p.m.