News from February 4. The NBA named James Harden (Hou) and Atlanta's starting 5 (Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll) as Players of the Month for January. Harden averaged 25.8 points and 6.7 assists as Houston went 11-6. Atlanta went 17-0 and Millsap averaged 18.3 points and 8 rebounds, Horford averaged 17.1 points, Teague averaged 16.6 points and 8.5 assists, Korver averaged 13.4 points, and Carroll averaged 12.3 points. The NBA named Andrew Wiggins (Min) and Elfrid Payton (Orl) as Rookies of the Month for January. Wiggins averaged 19.8 points and 4.6 rebounds as Minnesota went 3-14. Payton averaged 10.7 points and 6.9 assists as Orlando went 2-13. Dwight Howard (Hou) is expected to be out at least 4 more weeks with an injured right knee. Oklahoma City activated Perry Jones and placed Mitch McGary on IL. Orlando activated Andrew Nicholson and placed Aaron Gordon on IL. San Antonio activated Marco Belinelli and placed Tiago Splitter on IL. GS 128, Dal 114 at GS Stephen Curry (GS) had 51 points on 16-26 FG and 10-16 3-pointers, and 9-11 FT. Klay Thompson (GS) had 18 points including 4-10 3-pointers and 5 assists. Marreese Speights (GS) had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Chandler Parsons (Dal) had 24 points. Tyson Chandler (Dal) had 21 points including 8-9 FG and 17 rebounds including 6 offensive. Mem 100, Uta 90 at Uta Zach Randolph (Mem) had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Marc Gasol (Mem) had 23 points and 6 rebounds. Mike Conley (Mem) had 17 points. Enes Kanter (Uta) had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Trey Burke (Uta) had 21 points. SA 110, Orl 103 at SA Kawhi Leonard (SA) had 18 points including 7-9 FG, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Tim Duncan (SA) had 26 points including 11-17 FG and 10 rebounds. Manu Ginobili (SA) had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. Tobias Harris (Orl) had 23 points including 9-13 FG and 3-4 3-pointers, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Nikola Vucevic (Orl) had 25 points including 11-17 FG and 13 rebounds. OKC 102, NO 91 at NO Russell Westbrook (OKC) had 45 points including 18-31 FG, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers. Serge Ibaka (OKC) had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 blocks. Dion Waiters (OKC) had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Anthony Davis (NO) had 23 points and 8 rebounds. Ryan Anderson (NO) had 19 points and 6 rebounds including 5 offensive. OKC shot 52.9% (45-85) FG and NO shot 38.5% (37-96) FG. Min 102, Mia 101 at Min Kevin Martin (Min) had 30 points including 4-8 3-pointers. Thaddeus Young (Min) had 16 points and 5 steals. Maurice Williams (Min) had 10 points and 10 assists. Hassan Whiteside (Mia) had 24 points on 12-13 FG, 20 rebounds including 9 offensive, and 3 steals. Luol Deng (Mia) had 18 points. Mil 113, LAL 105 OT at Mil Giannis Antetokounmpo (Mil) had 25 points including 10-14 FG and 6 rebounds. Khris Middleton (Mil) had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. Brandon Knight (Mil) had 24 points including 4-7 3-pointers, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists. O.J. Mayo (Mil) had 21 points including 5-8 3-pointers. Wayne Ellington (LAL) had 19 points including 5-12 3-pointers. Ed Davis (LAL) had 7 points including 2-8 FG and 20 rebounds including 9 offensive. Carlos Boozer (LAL) had 28 points including 13-21 FG and 9 rebounds. Kobe Bryant (LAL, torn right rotator cuff surgery) and Jordan Hill (LAL, strained hip flexor) did not play. Hou 101, Chi 90 at Hou Trevor Ariza (Hou) had 20 points including 7-10 FG and 5 rebounds. James Harden (Hou) had 27 points. Donatas Motiejunas (Hou) had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jimmy Butler (Chi) had 27 points and 6 rebounds. Joakim Noah (Chi) had 1 point including 0-8 FG and 19 rebounds including 6 offensive. Derrick Rose (Chi) had 23 points. Bro 109, Tor 93 at Tor Jarrett Jack (Bro) had 24 points including 9-13 FG and 6 assists. Alan Anderson (Bro) had 22 points including 7-9 FG and 5 rebounds. Joe Johnson (Bro) had 12 points and 7 assists. Kyle Lowry (Tor) had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. Terrence Ross (Tor) had 23 points including 5-11 3-pointers. Bos 104, Den 100 at Bos Avery Bradley (Bos) had 17 points. Jae Crowder (Bos) had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Marcus Thornton (Bos) had 17 points including 4-5 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Kenneth Faried (Den) had 17 points including 6-8 FG and 11 rebounds. Ty Lawson (Den) had 23 points including 9-15 FG and 8 assists. Atl 105, Was 96 at Atl Jeff Teague (Atl) had 26 points and 8 assists. Al Horford (Atl) had 21 points and 13 rebounds including 6 offensive. Paul Millsap (Atl) had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. Bradley Beal (Was) had 23 points including 7-10 FT. John Wall (Was) had 24 points including 9-15 FG, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. Ind 114, Det 109 at Ind George Hill (Ind) had 20 points and 6 assists. Roy Hibbert (Ind) had 16 points on 8-11 FG, 12 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 blocks. David West (Ind) had 14 points on 7-10 FG and 7 rebounds. Andre Drummond (Det) had 18 points on 9-15 FG and 16 rebounds including 7 offensive. Greg Monroe (Det) had 16 points, 9 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 steals. Schedule for Thursday, February 5 (All times Central) Washington @ Charlotte 6:00 pm LA Clippers @ Cleveland 7:00 pm TNT Dallas @ Sacramento 9:00 pm Phoenix @ Portland 9:30 pm TNT Schedule for Friday, February 6 (All times Central) New York @ Brooklyn 6:00 pm Cleveland @ Indiana 6:00 pm LA Lakers @ Orlando 6:00 pm LA Clippers @ Toronto 6:00 pm ESPN Golden State @ Atlanta 6:30 pm Philadelphia @ Boston 6:30 pm Denver @ Detroit 6:30 pm Milwaukee @ Houston 7:00 pm Memphis @ Minnesota 7:00 pm New Orleans @ Oklahoma City 7:00 pm Utah @ Phoenix 8:00 pm Miami @ San Antonio 8:30 pm ESPN ---- 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