News from March 15. TRADE: In a 3-team trade, Denver traded away Nene and received JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf; Washington traded away JaVale McGee, Ronny Turiaf, and Nick Young and received Nene, Brian Cook, and a LAC conditional 2015 2nd round draft pick; and the LA Clippers traded away Brian Cook and a conditional 2nd 2015 round draft pick and received Nick Young. TRADE: Cleveland traded Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga to the LA Lakers for Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, a conditional 1st round draft pick (2012 or 2014), the right to swap 2013 1st round draft picks, and cash. TRADE: Golden State traded Stephen Jackson to San Antonio for Richard Jefferson, T.J. Ford (retired), and a lottery protected 2012 1st round draft pick. TRADE: Atlanta traded a 2012 2nd round draft pick (the lesser of Atlanta's and Phoenix's (which Atlanta owned)) to Golden State for cash. TRADE: Houston traded Jordan Hill to the LA Lakers for Derek Fisher and a (top 20 protected) Dallas 2012 1st round draft pick (which the Lakers received in the Lamar Odom trade). TRADE: Memphis traded Sam Young to Philadelphia for the rights to Ricky Sanchez (#35 pick in 2005). TRADE: Portland traded Marcus Camby to Houston for Jonny Flynn, Hasheem Thabeet, and a conditional 2012 2nd round draft pick. TRADE: Portland traded Gerald Wallace to New Jersey for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams, and a (top 3 protected) 2012 1st round draft pick. TRADE: Toronto traded Leandro Barbosa to Indiana for a 2012 2nd round draft pick and cash. The NBA trade deadline has passed. [None of the traded players were available for Thursday's games.] Dwight Howard (Orl) announced that he has waived his opt-out clause for this summer, making him signed through 12-13. Portland released Greg Oden and Chris Johnson. Toronto released Anthony Carter. Portland fired head coach Nate McMillan. Assistant coach Kaleb Canales was named as interim coach. Charlotte activated Eduardo Najera and placed Boris Diaw on IL. Denver activated Julyan Stone. Minnesota activated Darko Milicic and placed Michael Beasley on IL. Oklahoma City activated Thabo Sefolosha and placed Ryan Reid on IL. Utah activated DeMarre Carroll and placed Earl Watson on IL. Dal 101, Cha 96 at Dal Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) had 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jason Terry (Dal) had 18 points and 5 rebounds. Rodrigue Beaubois (Dal) had 14 points on 7-9 FG. Corey Maggette (Cha) had 21 points on 5-15 FG and 9-10 FT. Tyrus Thomas (Cha) had 14 points including 5-7 FG and 8 rebounds. OKC 103, Den 90 at Den Kevin Durant (OKC) had 24 points and 8 rebounds. Russell Westbrook (OKC) had 23 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 turnovers. James Harden (OKC) had 18 points. Danilo Gallinari (Den) had 15 points. Andre Miller (Den) had 17 points including 7-9 FG. Pho 91, LAC 87 at LAC Shannon Brown (Pho) had 21 points including 8-10 FT. Jared Dudley (Pho) had 11 points including 3-10 FG and 6 rebounds. Channing Frye (Pho) had 12 points on 4-6 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Blake Griffin (LAC) had 25 points including 12-18 FG and 8 rebounds. Caron Butler (LAC) had 14 points. Steve Nash (Pho, rest) and Grant Hill (Pho, rest) did not play. Uta 111, Min 105 OT at Uta Paul Millsap (Uta) had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 steals. Devin Harris (Uta) had 18 points including 5-14 FG. Gordon Hayward (Uta) had 26 points. Kevin Love (Min) had 25 points on 9-23 FG and 5-10 FT and 16 rebounds. Nikola Pekovic (Min) had 20 points and 9 rebounds. Luke Ridnour (Min) had 18 points, 13 assists, and 3 steals. Was 99, NO 89 at NO John Wall (Was) had 26 points including 11-16 FG, 12 assists, 3 steals, and 5 turnovers. Jordan Crawford (Was) had 17 points. Roger Mason (Was) had 19 points including 7-9 FG and 4-6 3-pointers. Gustavo Ayon (NO) had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Chris Kaman (NO) had 20 points including 9-15 FG and 7 rebounds. Rashard Lewis (Was, sore left knee), Emeka Okafor (NO, sore left knee), and Jason Smith (NO, concussion) did not play. Schedule for Friday, March 16 (All times Central) Miami at Philadelphia 6:00 pm ESPN New Jersey at Orlando 6:00 pm Indiana at New York 6:30 pm Washington at Atlanta 6:30 pm Portland at Chicago 7:00 pm Toronto at Memphis 7:00 pm San Antonio at Oklahoma City 8:30 pm ESPN Detroit at Phoenix 9:00 pm Boston at Sacramento 9:00 pm Minnesota at LA Lakers 9:30 pm Milwaukee at Golden State 9:30 pm Schedule for Saturday, March 17 (All times Central) Houston at LA Clippers 2:30 pm Toronto at Charlotte 6:00 pm New York at Indiana 6:00 pm New Orleans at New Jersey 7:00 pm Philadelphia at Chicago 7:00 pm San Antonio at Dallas 8:00 pm NBATV Boston at Denver 8:00 pm Golden State at Utah 8:00 pm ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For Trianglons puzzles: http://www.trianglons.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html