News from December 23. The LA Lakers signed Pau Gasol to a 3 year, $60 million contract extension. He is now signed through 13-14. Paul Pierce (Bos) is expected to be out 2 weeks after having fluid drained from his right knee. Houston signed Michael Harris and placed Chase Budinger (sprained right ankle) on IL. Cleveland activated Jamario Moon and placed Danny Green on IL. Oklahoma City activated Kyle Weaver and placed Matt Harpring (ankle infection, out for season) on IL. New Orleans activated Bobby Brown and placed Morris Peterson on IL. New Jersey activated Tony Battie and Yi Jianlian and placed Chris Douglas-Roberts and Eduardo Najera on IL. Orl 102, Hou 87 at Orl Dwight Howard (Orl) had 13 points including 5-7 FG, 20 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Vince Carter (Orl) had 18 points and 5 rebounds. Ryan Anderson (Orl) had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Aaron Brooks (Hou) had 17 points including 5-14 FG and 4-8 3-pointers. Carl Landry (Hou) had 20 points including 8-11 FG. Mia 80, Uta 70 at Mia Quentin Richardson (Mia) had 11 points and 7 rebounds. Dwyane Wade (Mia) had 29 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Udonis Haslem (Mia) had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Carlos Boozer (Uta) had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Deron Williams (Uta) had 18 points including 7-10 FG, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers. Was 109, Mil 97 at Mil Caron Butler (Was) had 23 points and 10 rebounds. Antawn Jamison (Was) had 25 points including 10-11 FT and 10 rebounds. Gilbert Arenas (Was) had 18 points including 5-14 FG, 9 assists, and 7 turnovers. Andrew Bogut (Mil) had 12 points and 9 rebounds. Michael Redd (Mil) had 32 points including 15-15 FG and 6 rebounds. Was shot 52.9% (36-68) FG and Mil shot 35.6% (32-90) FG. Den 124, Atl 104 at Den Carmelo Anthony (Den) had 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. Ty Lawson (Den) had 16 points including 7-11 FG, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. J.R. Smith (Den) had 41 points including 15-25 FG and 10-17 3-pointers. Al Horford (Atl) had 18 points including 7-9 FG and 11 rebounds. Jamal Crawford (Atl) had 24 points including 9-15 FG and 4-7 3-pointers. Tor 94, Det 64 at Det Hedo Turkoglu (Tor) had 11 points and 11 assists. Andrea Bargnani (Tor) had 21 points including 9-15 FG. Jarrett Jack (Tor) had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Will Bynum (Det) had 12 points. Chris Wilcox (Det) had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Tor shot 53.8% (35-65) FG and Det shot 27.9% (24-86) FG. Richard Hamilton (Det, sore right hamstring) did not play. NO 108, GS 102 at NO David West (NO) had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. Emeka Okafor (NO) had 10 points including 4-17 FG and 14 rebounds including 9 offensive. Chris Paul (NO) had 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Corey Maggette (GS) had 22 points and 10 rebounds. Monta Ellis (GS) had 35 points including 15-26 FG, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 5 turnovers. Andris Biedrins (GS, osteitis pubis), Mikki Moore (GS, bone spurs right heel), and Ronny Turiaf (GS, left knee pain) did not play. OKC 117, Pho 113 at Pho Kevin Durant (OKC) had 38 points on 12-20 FG, 3-4 3-pointers, and 11-14 FT and 6 rebounds. Jeff Green (OKC) had 17 points and 9 rebounds. Russell Westbrook (OKC) had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 5 turnovers. Amare Stoudemire (Pho) had 35 points on 11-16 FG and 13-16 FT and 14 rebounds. Channing Frye (Pho) had 24 points including 4-10 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Steve Nash (Pho) had 24 points including 10-17 FG and 12 assists. Por 98, SA 94 at SA LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) had 22 points including 9-13 FG, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. Juwan Howard (Por) had 12 points and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive. Jerryd Bayless (Por) had 31 points including 9-10 FT and 7 assists. Richard Jefferson (SA) had 18 points including 7-10 FG. Tim Duncan (SA) had 24 points including 10-11 FT and 11 rebounds. Joel Przybilla (Por, injured right knee), Rudy Fernandez (Por, back pain), and Brandon Roy (Por, sore left shoulder) did not play. Cle 117, Sac 104 OT at Sac LeBron James (Cle) had 34 points including 14-30 FG, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. Maurice Williams (Cle) had 27 points. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (Cle) had 25 points including 10-14 FG and 3-3 3-pointers and 8 rebounds. Tyreke Evans (Sac) had 28 points and 5 assists. Spencer Hawes (Sac) had 17 points, 12 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 3 blocks. Cle out-scored Sac 13-0 in overtime. Min 103, NJ 99 at NJ Kevin Love (Min) had 13 points and 16 rebounds including 5 offensive. Al Jefferson (Min) had 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Jonny Flynn (Min) had 22 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Devin Harris (NJ) had 23 points, 8 assists, and 6 turnovers. Courtney Lee (NJ) had 20 points including 3-4 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Yi Jianlian (NJ) had 22 points including 4-6 3-pointers and 8 rebounds. Rafer Alston (NJ, sore back) did not play. Schedule for Thursday, December 24 (All times Central) No games scheduled Schedule for Friday, December 25 (All times Central) Miami @ New York 11:00 am ESPN Boston @ Orlando 1:30 pm ABC Cleveland @ LA Lakers 4:00 pm ABC LA Clippers @ Phoenix 7:00 pm ESPN Denver @ Portland 9:30 pm ESPN To all who celebrate it, have a wonderful Christmas! ---- Patricia Bender pbender@eskimo.com For NBA stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/index.html For Mavs stuff: http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/mavs.html