NBA Capsules: Nowitzki rallies Mavericks to win over 76ers

The All-Star forward scored 33 points, including eight straight during a key fourth-quarter stretch, to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 111-98 victory over Houston.

Love was already unpopular in Houston after stepping on Luis Scola's face and chest after knocking him to the ground while driving to the basket in a Minnesota win on Feb. 4. He was suspended for two games but has scored at least 30 points in four of five since.

"Hopefully, they'll move past the stomp, know that I've learned from it and just start remembering me as a good player who beat them up in the fourth quarter," Love said about Rockets fans.

Nikola Pekovic added a career-high 30 points and had 12 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 3-1 against Houston this season.

"We thought we had a big advantage before the game with Love and Pek inside," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said. "A lot of people haven't paid attention to Pek, but he's been doing this to everybody."

A big run by Houston at the beginning of the fourth cut Minnesota's lead from 14 to one before Love took over. He scored eight points in a row, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers, to push Minnesota's lead to 103-94 with 3 minutes left. The Rockets never threatened again.

"I'm happy we won the season series and we're happy to be done with Houston," Love said.

Love also had 17 rebounds for his 27th double-double of the season, most in the NBA.

"They just beat us up, bottom line," Houston coach Kevin McHale said.

Houston got 18 points from Chandler Parsons and 17 each from Kyle Lowry and Courtney Lee, who tied a season best.

Adelman said before the game he didn't think there would be any carry-over and he was right — when it came to the players. The fans were a different story, with the crowd booing Love loudly during introductions and sporadically throughout the game.

When he was called for an offensive foul that knocked Scola to the ground in the third quarter, the crowd seemed confused, with some booing while others cheered.

Houston's offense got going in the fourth quarter and the Rockets went on a 17-4 run to cut the lead to 95-94 with 6 minutes remaining. Lee, Parsons and Lowry each had 3-pointers during that span while the Timberwolves where slowed by four turnovers.

Love's run came after that to seal the victory.

"We got within one," Lee said. "We were right there. All we had to do was get a couple more stops."

Ricky Rubio scored the first six points of the third quarter for the Timberwolves and Kevin Martin had a 3-pointer for Houston in that span to leave Minnesota ahead 67-57 with about 10 minutes left.

Rubio had 18 points and nine assists for the Timberwolves, but was unhappy with his six turnovers and apologized to Adelman after the game for not taking better care of the ball.

The Timberwolves led by nine later in the quarter before Houston used a 7-2 spurt to cut the lead to 74-68. Minnesota responded with an 8-0 run to extend its advantage to 82-68 with just under 4 minutes to go.

Minnesota led 91-77 entering the fourth quarter after Lowry's jump shot at the end of the third quarter.

The last two points in that run came on free throws by Love after Scola picked up his fifth foul and went to the bench. Limited after picking up his fifth foul, Scola finished with 10 points.

Houston led by two with about 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter before Minnesota used a 14-2 run to take a 59-49 lead. Pekovic got it going with five straight points and Rubio had a 3-pointer.

Love raved about the play of the 6-foot-11, 290-pound Pekovic.

"He is a rising star," Love said. "He's been playing great this season for us and we are happy to have him. He's a guy that you put out there and he's going to get points, rebounds and draw fouls on the other team."

A 3-pointer by Martin with 9 seconds left got Houston within 61-54 at halftime.

NOTES: Martin finished with 16 points after tying a season high with 32 in Houston's win over Oklahoma City on Wednesday. ... Pekovic's 12 rebounds were one off his career high.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — So you like NBA players plucked from obscurity who help rejuvenate sagging contenders?

How's this: The San Antonio Spurs, winners of nine straight and now second in the West, are surging behind a supporting cast nearly as anonymous as Jeremy Lin was two weeks ago.

"There are a lot of guys out there who, if they get the opportunity to play, take advantage of it. Look at Danny Green," said Spurs guard Gary Neal, pointing toward his equally unheralded teammate Friday. "He played, what, seven games his fist two years? And now he's a starter. That's just the way life works."

It's never worked like this in San Antonio.

The Spurs, the NBA's bedrock of consistency, did fine without Manu Ginobili for six weeks. Tim Duncan isn't an All-Star for the first time, but San Antonio hasn't needed him to be one. Tony Parker is an All-Star, sure, but he hasn't single-handedly put the Spurs within two games of first-place Oklahoma City.

There's been Green and Neal. Rookie Kawhi Leonard and 7-footer Tiago Splitter. Just another revolving door of interchangeable role players orbiting the Big Three?

That's true to some extent. But what's unique is that the supporting cast in San Antonio has never been so inexperienced: seven players on opening day who had three or fewer years of NBA experience. The average age of 26.9 is the youngest in the Duncan era.

Duncan regards the group as maybe the deepest bench that's ever surrounded him.

Duncan is averaging 13.8 points and 8.3 rebounds, almost identical to what he averaged as an All-Star a year ago. He's hardly acted disappointed in not being picked — the 35-year-old would rather have the weekend resting at home — and has been grateful for the new crop of help around him.

"Kawhi's been a quick study. Danny Green's been thrown in the frying pan and done a good job. Gary Neal is trying to get back into his rhythm after the appendicitis," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They're all competitive guys and doing a good job while Manu is out. It's really helped Tony and Tim keep us afloat."

Ginobili returned last weekend after breaking his hand Jan. 2 but still hasn't reclaimed his starting job from Green while easing back into playing shape. In the meantime, San Antonio's former leading scorer has conceded control to Parker after a dazzling two months that earned the Frenchman his fourth All-Star trip.

"He owns the team now. He really owns them," Ginobili said Friday.

Ginobili's simply trying fit back after the Spurs were remarkably fine without him.

The Spurs went 15-7 without Ginobili in the lineup. Before San Antonio began its nine-game tear, it was eighth in the Western Conference. The Spurs are now second behind the Thunder, who they manhandled at home behind Parker's 42 points before embarking on their current nine-game road swing.

For the last decade, the Spurs have reigned as the NBA's winningest franchise with a proven formula of role players surrounding the Big Three. Those pieces took on an outsize role with Ginobili out, and have given San Antonio a rare scoring balance that's been almost unseen since Duncan, Ginobili and Parker began playing together in 2002.

Last season, for instance, just 23 times did someone other than The Big Three lead the Spurs in scoring. Thirty games through this strike-shortened season, it's already happened 11 times.

Once the high scorer was Green, who was barely hanging onto his spot at the end of the bench when he scored 24 points two games after Ginobili broke his hand. Neal scored 18 points in back-to-back wins last week. Splitter, who only scored in double figures 10 times as a tentative rookie last season, already has nearly double as many games.

"The system is set up that you can maybe go without one of the Big Three and still be able to win games. That's the way the system works," Neal said. "With Manu out, no one would have expected us to win the amount of games that we won. But with the system, you can do what Manu did, collectively. No one can do it individually, but when you throw me, Danny and Kawhi together, we kind of made up for missing Manu."

-- Paul J. Weber

Other NBA Capsules

Hornets stop Lin, streaking Knicks

NEW YORK (AP) — The Lin-ning streak is over. And Jeremy Lin's sloppiness was one of the problems. Lin committed nine turnovers, tied for the most in the NBA this season, and the New York Knicks had their seven-game winning streak stopped with an 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.

Lin scored 26 points, but his turnovers nearly doubled his five assists and the Knicks lost for the first time since Linsanity began, falling back below .500 at 15-16 heading into a matchup with the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Trevor Ariza scored 25 points for the Hornets, who have won three in a row after a 4-23 start. Marco Belinelli added 17.

Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and 12 rebounds for New York.

HEAT 111, CAVALIERS 87

CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James scored 28 points in his third game back to Cleveland as a visitor, Dwyane Wade added 22 and Miami won its fifth straight — all on the road.

James, booed loudly every time he touched the ball by fans who haven't forgiven him for leaving two years ago, scored 16 in the third quarter when the Heat opened a 34-point lead. James added four dunks, three 3-pointers, five rebounds, five assists and rested the entire fourth quarter.

Miami has won eight of nine and went 5-1 on its trip, winning by an average of 18.8 points.

The Heat showed no mercy on the Cavs, who got 17 points from rookie Kyrie Irving.

THUNDER 110, WARRIORS 87

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — James Harden scored 25 points, Kevin Durant added 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Oklahoma City completed a season sweep of Golden State.

Russell Westbrook scored 18 points for Oklahoma City, but the All-Star point guard left with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter with what the team said was a sprained right ankle. He didn't return.

Still, the Thunder improved to 23-7, the best record in the Western Conference, with their third win over the Warriors in 22 days.

David Lee led Golden State with 23 points. Monta Ellis, who scored 48 the last time the teams played, had 11 in this one.

GRIZZLIES 103, NUGGETS 102

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Dante Cunningham tipped in Rudy Gay's miss with less than a second left to lift Memphis over Denver.

Andre Miller's inbounds pass with 0.2 seconds left was batted away at the rim, allowing Memphis to win its third straight despite blowing a 23-point second-half lead.

Gay had 20 points to lead six Grizzlies players in double figures. O.J. Mayo finished with 17, while Mike Conley and Marc Gasol scored 16 apiece. Gasol also grabbed 14 rebounds and handed out eight assists. Marreesse Speights added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Corey Brewer keyed the Nuggets' rally by scoring a season-high 26 points, all in the second half, on 10-of-14 shooting.

BOBCATS 98, RAPTORS 91

TORONTO (AP) — Reggie Williams scored a season-high 22 points to help Charlotte snap a 16-game losing streak by beating Toronto.

D.J. Augustin had 11 points and 10 assists, Kemba Walker scored 14 points and fellow rookie Bismack Biyombo had a career-high 13 rebounds as the Bobcats won for the first time since beating Golden State on Jan. 14. Corey Maggette added 16 points as Charlotte avoided becoming the 28th team in NBA history to drop at least 17 straight games.

All of Williams' points came in the first three quarters. He did not play in the fourth.

DeMar DeRozan scored 24 and Amir Johnson had a career-high 15 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost four straight and 10 of 13. Toronto has lost five in a row to Charlotte and is 4-11 at home this season.

MAGIC 94, BUCKS 85

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Dwight Howard had 26 points and 20 rebounds as Orlando rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Milwaukee.

It was Howard's seventh 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season. Ryan Anderson added 23 points, including four 3-pointers, and Hedo Turkoglu had 14 points and seven assists.

The Magic have won four straight overall and 12 in a row at home against the Bucks.

Carlos Delfino led the Bucks with 16 points and Ersan Ilyasova added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Milwaukee has lost four in a row.

PISTONS 114, KINGS 108

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Rodney Stuckey scored a season-high 36 points and rookie Brandon Knight added 23 points and 10 assists to help Detroit rally past Sacramento.

Tayshaun Prince finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Stuckey was 12 for 20 from the floor and 11 for 12 from the free throw line. Detroit has won six of eight after a 4-20 start.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Kings with 26 points and 15 rebounds, while Marcus Thornton added 24.

JAZZ 114, WIZARDS 100

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Al Jefferson scored a season-high 34 points, including 26 in the first half, to lead Utah over Washington.

The Jazz, who had lost five of six, broke it open in the third quarter when they outscored the Wizards 38-28, fueled by runs of 8-0 and 20-8.

Jefferson had eclipsed his season high of 30 points with nearly 5 minutes left in the third as the Jazz led by as many as 28. He finished 16 of 23 with 12 rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.

John Wall led the Wizards with 24 points, while Jordan Crawford added 21 off the bench.

Paul Millsap had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Utah, which held a 70-44 advantage in the paint.

LAKERS 111, SUNS 99

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant scored 18 of his 36 points in the third quarter, Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and the Lakers handed the Phoenix Suns their fourth straight loss.

It was only the fourth time in 30 games this season that the Lakers reached the 100-point mark. Pau Gasol had 13 rebounds and 10 points, and Matt Barnes added 17 points off the bench along with seven boards in 25 minutes. Bryant had nine rebounds and six assists.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping attended the game, capping a four-day visit to the U.S. He entered the arena on a red carpet during the second quarter and observed the proceedings from the second tier of luxury suites above the official scorer's table and the players' benches.

Marcin Gortat, the only player to start all 31 games for the Suns, led them with 21 points and 16 rebounds on his 28th birthday.

Other NBA News

Asian-Americans rejoice as Lin smashes stereotypes

WASHINGTON (AP) — They know what it feels like to be overlooked. People, they say, assume they are weak, servile, out of place. So when these Asian-Americans watch Jeremy Lin slash and shoot his way through the NBA's finest, it's almost as if they are on the basketball court with the California-born point guard who has set the zeitgeist on fire.

Asian-Americans have rallied around other athletes — Michael Chang, Hideo Nomo, Yao Ming, Michelle Wie, Ichiro Suzuki. Tiger Woods was embraced for his Thai side. But Lin has a new and different appeal — a homegrown star besting some of the world's greatest athletes in an intensely physical sport. Asian-Americans have done well in America in many areas, but not this one.

The child of Taiwanese immigrants, Lin was ignored instead of hyped. He emerged from the end of the bench to hoist the sinking New York Knicks to win after improbable win. A few hints of racism have scratched the edges of his growing fame, but Lin continues to put up unprecedented numbers and capture the imagination of mainstream America.

In a mere half-dozen games, Lin became that rarest of Asian-Americans: A widely regarded hero.

"There's a certain validation to this," said Phil Yu, founder of the influential blog Angry Asian Man, which tracks and discusses Asian issues.

"Asian-Americans are still seen as foreigners in this country," Yu said. "Seeing Jeremy Lin accepted and celebrated in this American sport, it makes us more American, and it makes other people see us as more American."

The moment that resonates most with Yu is not Lin's game-winning 3-pointer against the Toronto Raptors with less than a second to play this week. It's not Lin's 38 points to beat the Los Angeles Lakers after Kobe Bryant said he didn't know who Lin was. It's not Lin's crossover leading to a soaring dunk against the Washington Wizards, even though the play victimized John Wall, the top draft pick the year Lin went unselected.

Instead, Yu cherishes seeing a picture of two white fans wearing Lin's No. 17 Knicks jersey.

"There is no comparison to anything else I've ever seen," Yu said. "I can't describe how I'm feeling." Watching Lin's highlights, "I got a little bit choked up, honestly."

Ren Hsieh had a different reaction as Lin was torching the Lakers: He shouted loud enough to wake the baby in the other room. "It was the improbability of it all," he said.

"I've never seen it happen ..." NBA analyst Tim Legler said on ESPN. "A guy that had three different teams look at him and not see what we're seeing now?"

The reason is obvious to Hsieh, who played high school basketball in Houston and now runs a league and foundation promoting Asian-American athletics.

"No one would outwardly say (Lin was passed over) because he's Asian, but every Asian-American athlete knows that feeling of being overlooked," he said. "I certainly felt it when I was playing.

"You get a look in people's eyes, they just don't get excited to see you. They don't say, 'Oh man, I gotta have this kid on my team.' Every Asian-American athlete has always had to really bust their butt to get a chance to play at a high level."

Hsieh remembers the skepticism when the China-born Yao entered the NBA. One commentator, NBA great Charles Barkley, promised to kiss his co-host's posterior if Yao scored 19 points in a game.

Yao went on to score 19 or more points 268 times in his eight-year NBA All-Star career, and Barkley kissed a donkey on national television.

Lin was similarly underestimated. He led his high school team to a state championship, but was ignored by every Division I college team except Harvard. He was cut by two NBA teams and could barely get on the floor in practice, until the injury-riddled Knicks handed him the ball almost in desperation. Now Lin owns an NBA record for most points in the first five games as a starter since 1976.

So when someone labels Lin "deceptively athletic" even though he has a typical point-guard build, or when his teammate Tyson Chandler says, perhaps jokingly, that he didn't know the 6-foot-3 (1.91-meter) Lin could dunk, some see stereotypes afoot.

That was a point made by Knicks superfan Spike Lee. Brainstorming a slew of Lin nicknames, he gleefully tweeted, "Jeremy 'Stop Asian Profile' Lin."

"The word athlete is really not associated with people of Asian descent," said Helen Zia, author of "Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People."

Zia said Asians were first viewed in America as "coolies," laboring on railroads, laundry or in restaurants. Then they were a stealthy and diabolical wartime enemy, then rivals stealing American jobs with cheap labor. Today the labor stereotype has transferred to another arena, with Asians viewed as math-and-science robots toiling over books and computer screens.

Zia calls Lin's rise in a game as athletic as basketball "stunning" and "a real turning point."

Nobody deliberately excluded Lin because of his ethnicity, Zia said: "That's not the point. The pervasive and insidious nature of racism keeps us from seeing what's right in front of us."

Lin has declined to dwell on racial issues, but he did tweet that when he first joined the Knicks, "Every time I try to get into Madison Square Garden, the security guards ask me if I'm a trainer."

There have been countless Asian-based puns, like the New York Post's "Amasian" headline. Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather tweeted that Lin was getting attention just because he's Asian. And Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock tweeted a cruelly racist remark about Lin's manhood. (Whitlock later apologized.)

It didn't work with Lin. Women were in the stands this week with "Be My Va-LIN-tine" signs. Websites were matchmaking Lin with women of all ethnicities. A YouTube video shows an Asian girl dumping her white boyfriend for an Asian man after watching Lin on the court.

"He's giving Asian men some swag," said Jeffrey Ng, founder and creative director of the Staple Design clothing and creative agency in New York City.

When Ng started selling hip-hop apparel 15 years ago, there were no Asian-Americans in his business. Meeting with clients, "I always felt this, like, why are you here? No matter how good my clothing was, I had to first answer the question of, why are you in this room?"

"Lin had to work twice as hard to overcome that first question of, 'Why are you on this court?'"

Peter Kim, an actor in Los Angeles, said Lin's success could open up more opportunities in his business, which puts few Asians in leading or romantic roles.

He recalled that when Lin beat the buzzer to give the Knicks the win against the Raptors, the crowd exploded — and the game was in Toronto, not New York.

"That alone should show how significant Jeremy Lin is to the Asian people," Kim said. "He's not just an athlete playing for a team. He's playing for a whole culture and our representation to the rest of the world."

-- Jesse Washington

'Linsanity' a boon for NBA in China

BEIJING (AP) — The excitement surrounding New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is providing a fresh impetus to the NBA's lucrative China business in the wake of Yao Ming's retirement.

The Harvard graduate's stunning rise this month is spurring further growth in viewership and merchandise sales that soared during the years Yao played with the Houston Rockets, NBA China CEO David Shoemaker said in an interview Friday.

The league's Beijing office is working hard to nurture the frenzy surrounding Lin, whose parents were born in Taiwan. That includes ensuring Knicks games are as accessible as possible, providing online content, and using social media to stir the discussion, Shoemaker said.

Yao was quoted Friday as praising Lin's performance and dismissing any notion of him having been a mentor or inspiration.

Noting the differences between them — Yao was born in Shanghai and raised to play basketball, while Lin hails from Northern California and attended Harvard — Yao said the two were friends and sometimes exchanged text messages.

"The environments in which we were raised were very different, but I'm really happy that a guard like him could appear out of nowhere and have such a huge impact on the NBA," Yao was quoted as saying by the official China News Service.

Yao, who is owner of the Chinese Basketball Association's Shanghai Sharks, also noted that Lin, at 6-foot-3, is much closer to average height than any of the four Chinese players who have gone to the NBA, all of them 7 feet or taller.

Lin and Yao never played against each other, although Lin took part in a charity game in Taiwan last year organized by Yao. Lin also has visited China as part of the NBA's outreach program and to visit his grandmother's hometown in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

"What we've seen, the huge enthusiasm and the frenzy around Jeremy is just serving to act as a further catalyst to grow the sport of basketball and to grow the NBA in China in a very short period," Shoemaker said.

The league plans to bring Lin to China this summer, as soon as his schedule permits, Shoemaker said.

China's enthusiasm for basketball and the NBA has held strong despite Yao's retirement and China remains the league's biggest market outside North America, according to NBA China, which doesn't provide revenue figures.

Even the country's vice president and designated future leader, Xi Jinping, recently said he enjoys watching NBA games in his spare time.

Twenty-five years after the league partnered with state broadcaster CCTV, the audience for NBA games on television and online has risen 39 percent this year over the last season, the NBA says. The league also claims 41 million followers on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service, including many who pay for its premium service, along with 25,000 points of sale in shops and online.

Despite that, the league is struggling to get jerseys into stores to satisfy demand for all things Lin, whose followers on Weibo have soared this week from 150,000 to 1.4 million by Friday.

Lin, who was ignored by every Division I college team except Harvard and was cut by two teams before joining the Knicks, wasn't on many fans' radar before this month, but Shoemaker said the NBA in China had been keeping an eye on him for a while. Still, the "Linsanity" phenomenon has been as breathtaking to him as to anyone.

"We're caught up witnessing what we see globally as a passion for sport, really a love of the underdog story and the global appeal for the NBA and that's all come through in spades in a short period of time, in about 10 days," he said.

Lin's exploits also have riveted Taiwan, with reporters staking out the apartment where his grandmother and an uncle live.

Lin's success in both sports and academics again raises questions about China's state-run system of sports academies that has produced scores of Olympic gold medal winners by relentlessly training athletes from an early age, while offering them little chance of a normal childhood or proper education, said Jin Can, an expert at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences Sports Culture Research Institute.

"Lin's case tells us that the regular education system can produce an excellent athlete, and a first-rate player can come out from a world-class university. I think our sport authorities should pay more attention on this question," Jin said.

-- Christopher Bodeen

Linsanity helps end Knicks blackout on Time Warner

First, he lifted the Knicks back into the playoff hunt. Now Jeremy Lin has put them back on TV. The Madison Square Garden Co. said Friday it had reached a tentative deal to put Knicks games back on television for some 2 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area. New York state officials and the NBA had pressured the companies to settle.

A dispute over fees had left subscribers unable to watch the Knicks since Jan. 1, meaning they couldn't tune in to watch the undrafted point guard from Harvard come off the bench to lead the team to seven straight wins and a 15-15 record. Fans complained and called for a quick resolution.

One state official close to the negotiations said Lin's phenomenal run forced the deal, along with the recent play of the Rangers, whose hockey games are also carried on the MSG network.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped in over the last two days, telling the sides how important it was to get Lin back on TV for both parties, for the league and for basketball itself, said one person close to the talks who requested anonymity.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called each company's top executives in the last two days, according to another state official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he had been working for a month to shepherd the companies toward agreement.

"I thank them for being responsive to the needs of New Yorkers," Cuomo said in a statement.

"Hallelujah," said Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who wrote to the companies Friday to complain. "We can all watch and experience this evolving story."

The deal came just as the Knicks prepared to host the New Orleans Hornets Friday night.

A hurricane of "Linsanity" has swirled around the breakthrough 23-year-old, who was born in Palo Alto, Calif., to Taiwanese parents.

His play has helped lift the stock of The Madison Square Garden Co., which owns the Knicks and the MSG network that carries their games. On Friday, shares closed up 98 cents, or 3.1 percent, at $32.85.

The company's stock is up more than 11 percent since Lin stepped off the bench Feb. 4 and posted his first professional 25-point game.

An explosion of interest from fans around the world has resulted in a big ratings boost wherever Knicks games have been shown, including on Sina.com, the NBA's official website partner in China. The NBA has only one other Asian player, Hamed Haddadi, an Iranian who plays limited minutes for the Memphis Grizzlies.

ESPN had its biggest regular-season Friday night audience so far this season — 34 percent above the average with 3 million viewers — when Lin outscored Kobe Bryant with 38 points to beat the Lakers on Feb. 10.

MSG network has seen ratings more than triple since his breakout Feb. 4 game, according to Nielsen, even with the games blacked out to Time Warner Cable subscribers who account for about a fifth of more than 10 million people who get MSG.

Lin jerseys have been the top-selling jerseys at NBAStore.com for the last couple weeks, and they've now been shipped to 23 countries. Most buyers are in the U.S. and Canada; Taiwan, China and Australia round out the top five destinations. Fathead posters of Lin and trading cards are also flying out the door.

The new TV deal means higher advertising revenue and higher fees per subscriber for Madison Square Garden. The companies had been at loggerheads over what Time Warner Cable said was a demand for a 53 percent fee hike. MSG has said that claim was "simply incorrect."

While New Yorkers are especially possessive of their new star, his performances have helped fill sports bars and win fans around the world.

"The last time I was a Knicks fan was when Patrick Ewing was playing," said Tim Chen, a 25-year-old accountant who showed up at the Barney's Beanery sports bar near the UCLA campus in Los Angeles to catch the Knicks game Wednesday night. "It's been all Lin all week. People just overlooked him."

-- Ryan Nakashima

Lee wears Lin's high school jersey at game

NEW YORK (AP) — One fan at Madison Square Garden spotted a guy in a Palo Alto High School jersey and asked, "Are you Lin's high school coach?"

Just about every part of the Jeremy Lin story is making news these days.

The green No. 20 in fact belonged to a fellow former Palo Alto player, who was tasked with transporting Lin's old No. 4 jersey cross-country so it could be worn Friday night by the New York Knicks' biggest celebrity fan: Spike Lee.

The latest twist in the Lin saga started earlier this week when his high school coach in California, Peter Diepenbrock, said in an interview with a New York radio station that he hoped to put a Vikings jersey on the director's back. Turns out Lee heard about it and had one of his representatives contact Diepenbrock about making it happen.

Diepenbrock isn't scheduled to make it to a Knicks game until Sunday, but another of his former players, Chris Bobel, was planning to get to New York on Friday. Bobel, four years older than Lin, actually has a connection to two Knicks: He was a walk-on at Stanford, where he played with Landry Fields. Along with wearing his No. 20 from Palo Alto, Bobel also brought a Cardinal jersey.

Bobel dropped off Lin's jersey with Lee's rep after arriving in New York but couldn't quite believe it would be worn. Standing a few rows up from the court about 40 minutes before the game, he was thrilled to hear Lee had been seen earlier sporting the top.

Later, Bobel was able to meet Lee.

"This is just the coolest thing ever," Bobel said.

Bobel, who coached the Palo Alto freshman team when Lin was an 11th grader, now works in sales for a Silicon Valley startup, Box.com. While Lin played for the hometown Golden State Warriors last season, it bothered Bobel that fans would go wild when the rookie from Harvard made a routine play.

During Friday night's 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets, which ended New York's seven-game winning streak, Bobel saw a very different scene: the Garden crowd treating Lin as the biggest of stars.

-- Rachel Cohen

Nash, at 38, playing great for mediocre Suns

PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns are a shadow of the frenetic scoring machine they were a few years ago. Maybe that makes the season Steve Nash is having all the more impressive.

Not surrounded by an abundance of talent, on a team that stood 12-18 going into Friday night's game against the Lakers in Los Angeles, Nash leads the league in assists at 10.7 and is the top shooter among guards at 56 percent. That's third overall among players at any position and would be his career best if it holds up for the season.

On his 38th birthday, Feb. 7, Nash had 18 points and 11 assist, including the game-winning layup with 5 seconds to go in a 107-105 win at Milwaukee. For the eighth time in his 16-year NBA career, he made the All-Star Game roster.

There has been one concession to his age. Coach Alvin Gentry held him out of Tuesday's loss at Denver so he wouldn't have to play three consecutive nights. The next night he had 22 points and 16 assists but his team faded down the stretch in a home loss to Atlanta.

"People are saying 'Hey, you're playing great for 38,'" said Lon Babby, the Suns' president for basketball operations. "My answer to that is 'No, he's just playing great — period."

Nash is in the final year of his contract, and his future in Phoenix is an open question.

Babby has said all along that the team has no plans to trade Nash. Given his age and contract status, the return probably wouldn't come close to matching his value to the franchise anyway. But Babby said he would be obliged to listen when approached.

"You can lock your door, you can pull down the shade, but that doesn't mean you can keep people from ringing your door bell," he said.

Nash, of course, has been through all this before.

"I'm happy to honor my contract to play for the Suns," he said. "Along with my teammates, I'll try to make this as positive and successful a situation as we possibly can. That's all I should concern myself with right now. If the Suns decide to trade me, I'll take that same attitude where ever I'm sent. But my attitude is to do the best I can with the Suns and see what happens at the end of the season."

A two-time league MVP, the point guard prides himself on his physical conditioning. He believes he can play in the NBA for several more years.

"I feel great," he said. "When people ask me, I just say I can play a couple more years. I could say three more years. Who knows? Maybe five. I think I could play a long time if I want to."

Babby says the Suns want him to retire as a member of the team.

"What I've said to him is that he's earned the right to stay here as long as he wants provided that he believes in what we're doing and believes in the direction that we're going and is all in," Babby said.

Nash is open to coming back.

"I definitely want to see the team improve and try to get us back in contention," he said, "but I definitely would re-sign with the Suns."

But the team, with its eye to free agent additions, might not want to invest as much as Nash believes he is worth.

The Suns would do that, Nash said, "at their own peril."

Babby said he believes Nash understands that "we're a team in transition."

"Our expectation and goal is to strive to be an elite team and return to elite status," he said. "That's the catch phrase and what I really mean by that is the ability to compete at the highest level. It doesn't mean you're going to win a championship but that's our aspiration."

It could be a slow climb, and Nash already acknowledges that playing for a losing team is a chore.

"Obviously everyone wants to be on a contender," he said. "When you're not it's not as much fun. At the same time, I have had a lot of years when I was at the other end of the spectrum, when I was winning almost every night, contending, going to the conference finals. What can I say? In some ways, everyone's going to go through tough years. I think you've got to keep your head down and work hard and try to turn it around and do the best you can to overcome it."

This year's Suns simply lack the personnel to go against the big boys of the NBA.

"Look at our roster," Nash said. "We don't have like a go-to scorer. We don't have the talent level. We don't have a max contract guy, let alone two or three that some teams have. In most areas, we struggle a little bit. We have good guys. We've shown some glimpses. We've just got to find a way to collective find that little something extra that can get us over the hump."

Babby insists that changes are coming, but perhaps not as fast as some would like.

"We're going to have the ability to spend the money next summer," Babby said. "We've got to make sure we spend it wisely or don't spend it, keep our powder dry for another day, or use it for a lopsided trade. I don't think there's a quick-term fix here. We want to build this brick by brick and make sure that we can build to last."

And he says having Nash around would ease the process.

"But we also have to be realistic that there's going to have to come a time when this franchise is going to have to live without him, at least on the court," Babby said. "My attitude is we ought to be savoring every day that we have him, not looking past and into the future when we won't have him. Obviously we have to prepare for that day in some fashion, but he can help us get there."

-- Bob Baum

James tells Heat fans not to worry

CLEVELAND (AP) — Relax, Miami. LeBron James isn't leaving the Heat. Not yet anyway.

One day after saying he would not rule out a return to play for the Cavaliers at some point in his career, the superstar did not back away from those comments. James, though, did try to reassure fans who may have taken his remarks the wrong way that he's fully committed to helping the Heat win an NBA title this season

"I love the fans of Miami. I'm here," he said following Friday's shootaround as the Heat prepared to play the Cavs. "The question was asked of me, could I see myself playing back here. I said yeah, in the sense of I don't know what my future holds and I don't want to take that out. I love the fans of Miami.

"I've got everything thing invested with this team. I'm looking forward to the years to come."

James, who famously left Cleveland in July 2010 as a free agent to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Heat, caused a stir on Thursday when he was asked if he could ever see himself playing for the Cavs again. The two-time MVP didn't say no, leaving open the possibility he could return to Cleveland.

"I think it would be great," James said of a return to Cleveland. "It would be fun to play in front of these fans again. I had a lot fun times in my seven years here. You can't predict the future and hopefully I continue to stay healthy. I'm here as a Miami Heat player, and I'm happy where I am now, but I don't rule that out in no sense.

"And if I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me."

His response didn't sit well with some Heat fans.

"I answered it truthfully," James said. "But it's all about this season for me and it's all about playing with this Miami Heat team and trying to win an NBA championship. The fans of Miami shouldn't be worried about anything at this point."

James tortured Cleveland fans two years ago when he kept the city on edge before announcing his decision. He was asked if he has put Miami on a "clock."

"I don't know, I'm already on LeBron watch. For the most part, everything I do is the LeBron watch. But like I said, my mindset is on this season. My mindset is on helping this team win a championship and as a team get better every day," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting back to Miami and seeing the fans."

James is expecting another rude welcome on Friday night from Cleveland fans, who haven't forgiven him for leaving them.

Not long after he and the Heat left Quicken Loans Arena after their shootaround, bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in to sweep the areas near the Miami's locker room. Asked if this was routine for every game, a police officer said, "No, just for that (expletive)."

James said he recently moved his family to South Florida, where his two sons now attend school.

"It was a very difficult year for me last year, a transition year for myself on the court and off the court," he said. "I'm very comfortable when I'm with my whole family.

"My family is down there and I feel great."

-- Tom Withers

Seattle arena plan now public, but is it realistic?

SEATTLE (AP) — Those whispers that circulated for months about a possible arena plan that might bring the NBA back to Seattle — and perhaps professional hockey, too — are now replaced by a concrete proposal with a staggering private investment.

The question now is whether the plans unveiled Thursday by wealthy San Francisco businessman and Seattle native Christopher Hansen will ever become a reality.

Hansen's proposal would help heal the scars from the SuperSonics' messy divorce with the city in 2008 that led them to a new home in Oklahoma City, leaving behind more than 40 years of history essentially over an unprofitable arena. But his proposal comes with the condition that no shovels will go into the ground until NBA and NHL franchises are locked in as tenants for the next three decades — not exactly an easy task.

From the fans' perspective, Hansen's proposal to the city and King County is a victory after nearly a year worth of behind-the-scenes work. The proposal features an eye-popping $290 million in private investment just for the building itself, not including the cost to Hansen's investment group for purchasing a new NBA club.

On the surface, there appears to be minimal risk to the local municipalities. Their contribution to the project is capped at $200 million and would not include new taxes, but instead would be paid off through taxes and rent collected on the tenants of a gleaming new building. It could spurn additional revitalization in an area that features Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field, but has its eyesores of vacant buildings and drab warehouses.

The public portion of the proposal would come in the form of bonds issued by the city and county to help cover construction costs and would be paid off over the life of the lease signed by the franchises. The arena would be publicly owned. City Councilman Tim Burgess said he and his colleagues would examine the plan "to make sure that our exposure and risk is zero."

"When people say there are no new taxes, that's literally true. But it's not correct to say public money is not involved," Burgess said. "We are being asked to sell bonds and finance part of the arena. That raises questions about our debt limit ... so there's lots of questions. The devil is in the details."

Approval of the proposal would eventually be needed at both the city and county level. But the months of work by lawyers, arena experts, Hansen's investors and city staff will be for naught unless a franchise is willing to call Seattle its new home.

"My understanding is there are pathways to obtaining a team and (Hansen) is obviously not going to be committing the time and effort he's been committing so far and the potential dollars unless he feels his prospects are good," Seattle mayor Mike McGinn said. "Again, that's his job, not our job. Our job is to make sure we're in a position to respond and provide an answer."

The most obvious target for landing that anchor tenant would be Sacramento, where the city faces a March 1 deadline imposed by the NBA for coming up with a financing plan for a new arena in California's capital city. The lynchpin in Sacramento's arena plan — a proposal to divert and privatize parking revenues to pay for roughly $200 million of the arena project — is tentatively scheduled for a full City Council vote on Feb. 28.

Public documents released by the city of Seattle show that Hansen is closely watching the situation in Sacramento. But if the Kings can get their new arena, then the question is who the next possible target becomes since the NBA has no plans for expansion. New Orleans is currently operated by the NBA, but commissioner David Stern seems determined to find a local owner who will keep the Hornets in Louisiana. Other franchises are struggling but none are serious candidates for relocation.

While getting the NBA is Hansen's focus, part of his charge is finding a partner to bring in an NHL franchise. City officials said Thursday that their financial estimates for how the public investment would be paid off are based on the assumption of having both NBA and NHL teams.

Seattle would be an attractive market for the NHL — commissioner Gary Bettman said as much last month at the All-Star Game — and could face competition for either a relocated or expansion franchise from places such as Quebec City and the push for a second Toronto area franchise.

-- Tim Booth

Knicks sign Smith, waive Balkman

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks signed J.R. Smith on Friday, hoping his 3-point shooting can improve one of their biggest weaknesses. The timing may be risky with the Knicks playing their best basketball of the season, but the Knicks think Smith will be worth the risk.

"We just felt that it was an opportunity to acquire a very good basketball player and to help us in a way that I think we're in need of," interim general manager Glen Grunwald said. "He's a talented offensive player, shoot the ball, he can get to the rim, he can run the floor, so we just felt it was the right fit for what sort of we'd be facing the rest of this year."

Smith is returning to the NBA from China, where he signed to play during the lockout. He was ineligible to return until his team had completed its season and FIBA, basketball's governing body, had given him clearance.

Smith had declared his intentions to reunite with former Denver teammate Carmelo Anthony earlier in the day on Twitter, saying "New York Knicks it is!"

The Knicks still had their two-year exception, worth about $2.5 million a year, to offer. The second year of the deal is at Smith's option.

Smith is a streaky shooter with deep range and has averaged 12.5 points in the NBA since he was the No. 18 pick by the Hornets in the 2004 draft. He spent the last five seasons with the Nuggets, twice scoring more than 15 points per game.

Grunwald said Smith shot around 50 percent from 3-point range while playing for Zhejiang of the Chinese Basketball Association. The Knicks rank 26th in the league from behind the arc.

But the Knicks are taking a chance of messing up the chemistry they have developed while winning seven straight games behind Jeremy Lin. Plus, Smith has developed a reputation as a chucker.

"He's not stopping the ball, that's for sure," coach Mike D'Antoni joked, flicking his hand as if we he were taking a shot.

Plus, Smith is also temperamental and has clashed with teammates and coaches, plus spent time in jail on a reckless driving charge.

"We had people that had let's say inside personal experience with J.R. and they all came out in favor of this move," said Grunwald, mentioning director of pro player personnel Mark Warkentien, Denver's former general manager. "We talked to a lot of people, we are comfortable with the decision we made and we're hopeful that it's all going to work out for the best."

Smith won't arrive until Saturday night and won't get a chance to practice, so it's doubtful he plays Sunday against Dallas.

"I don't think so," D'Antoni said. "That's a little much."

To make room on the roster, the Knicks waived forward Renaldo Balkman.

Chinese VP Xi attends Lakers game

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping wrapped up his four-day U.S. visit in Southern California style — in a box seat at the Los Angeles Lakers' game against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.

Expected to become president of the world's most populous nation next year, Xi began the final day of his U.S. visit at a downtown trade conference hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and then accompanied Vice President Joe Biden to a suburban school in South Gate that specializes in Asian studies.

The day ended at Staples Center, across the street from the JW Marriott at LA Live, where Xi was staying. He entered the arena on a red carpet toward the end of halftime, then watched the entire third quarter and part of the fourth alongside Gov. Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the Lakers beat the Suns 111-99.

Xi and his party then left for the airport.

During the game, Villaraigosa presented Xi with a Lakers jersey that had his name on the back. Former Lakers star Magic Johnson came up to the suite to meet him, as did Los Angeles Galaxy soccer player David Beckham.

Kobe Bryant, who scored 18 of his 36 points in the third period while Xi was in the building, had a pair of autographed shoes sent up to the Chinese dignitary.

The NBA has been enormously popular in China since the arrival of 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming, who spent eight seasons with the Houston Rockets before retiring in July. On Thursday, the league announced that its 21-game broadcast schedule during the Chinese New Year celebration in China from Jan. 21-28 was watched by 96 million viewers there — 79 million on the league's television partners in China, and another 17 million on digital platforms.

The recent success of Jeremy Lin, an American-born point guard from Harvard who has had a phenomenal two-week run with the New York Knicks, has only added to the NBA's popularity in China. Lin is the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

The league staged preseason games in China the previous few years, although international play was scrapped this season because of the lockout.

A number of NBA players who became free agents at the end of last season played in China during the 149-day lockout, including J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler and Kenyon Martin.

Durant splits from longtime agent Goodwin

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant says he's splitting from his longtime agent, Aaron Goodwin. Durant said before Friday's game against Golden State that he appreciates what Goodwin has done for him "but it was time for me to move on."

When he entered the NBA draft in 2007 after his freshman season at Texas, Durant signed with Goodwin's Seattle-based Goodwin Sports Management. Goodwin helped negotiate Durant's five-year, $86 million contract that Durant signed in July 2010. Durant's picture and name still were prominently displayed on the company's website Friday night.

Durant says he hasn't chosen a new agent and that he and his brother will handle those duties for now. Durant says he won't let changing agents affect him on the court.

Knicks' Anthony out again with groin injury

NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony sat out the New York Knicks' game against the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night because of a strained right groin.

Anthony missed his sixth straight game. The Knicks had said he was expected to be sidelined a week or two after he was hurt during a Feb. 6 victory over Utah.

Anthony worked out before the game but coach Mike D'Antoni said the All-Star forward felt pain Thursday and the decision had been made to give him extra time.

The Knicks' next game is at home Sunday against Dallas. Anthony leads the Knicks with 22.3 points per game but has missed nine games with injuries.

Rose appears close to returning from back problem

DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Derrick Rose appears to be close to returning to the Chicago Bulls' lineup after missing the past four games because of back spasms.

Coach Tom Thibodeau says the league's reigning MVP was more involved in Friday's light practice but remains day to day. He says whether Rose returns Saturday against New Jersey depends on "how he feels." If he sits out the Nets game, his next chance to play would be Monday against Atlanta. Thibodeau says the Bulls want him to be pain-free when he returns.

Veteran guard Richard Hamilton, who has been limited to 11 games because of groin and thigh problems, did some shooting and worked one-on-one with assistant Ron Adams after practice. Thibodeau says he "still has a long way to go" and will not play Saturday.

WNBA

Shock agree to deal with Dorrell

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Scholanda Dorrell is coming back to the Tulsa Shock.

Dorrell, who agreed to a multiyear deal on Friday, was Tulsa's second-leading scorer in 2010 when she averaged 11.9 points per game. She was traded to San Antonio last offseason for a second- and third-round pick in the 2012 WNBA draft. Dorrell averaged 4.8 points in 32 games for the Silver Stars last year. Tulsa head coach Gary Kloppenburg called Dorrell an underrated offense player and a stopper on defense.

The Shock acquired Dorrell with the seventh pick in the Sacramento Monarchs dispersal draft after the 2009 season and she averaged career highs in scoring, rebounds (2.4), assists (1.7) and steals (1.6) in 2010.

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