News from January 24. The NBA named LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) and Dwight Howard (Orl) as Players of the Week. Aldridge averaged 28.3 points and 10.3 rebounds as Portland went 4-0. Howard averaged 26 points and 13.3 rebounds as Orlando went 3-1. TRADE: Dallas traded Alexis Ajinca, a future 2nd round draft pick, and cash to Toronto for the rights to 2007 2nd round draft pick (#58) Georgios Printezis. Dallas signed Peja Stojakovic. Toronto signed Sundiata Gaines to a 2nd 10-day contract. Portland signed Chris Johnson to a 10-day contract and placed Marcus Camby (arthroscopic surgery right knee, out 3 weeks) on IL. Portland had receive an injury exception to carry 16 players on their roster. Gregg Popovich (SA) will coach the West team for the All-Star Game to take placed February 20 in LA. San Antonio has clinched the best record in the Western Conference through February 6, the date for determining who coaches the All-Star teams. Golden State activated Acie Law and placed Charlie Bell on IL. Houston activated Ish Smith and placed Jared Jeffries on IL. Smith was recalled from the NBADL. Minnesota activated Nikola Pekovic and placed Kosta Koufos on IL. Toronto activated Sonny Weems and placed Leandro Barbosa (strained right hamstring) and Alexis Ajinca on IL. Philadelphia activated Andres Nocioni and placed Darius Songaila on IL. SA 113, GS 102 at GS Manu Ginobili (SA) had 20 points including 3-4 3-pointers and 7-11 FT and 7 assists. Tony Parker (SA) had 18 points, 11 assists, and 3 steals. Tim Duncan (SA) had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Dorell Wright (GS) had 18 points including 10-11 FT, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. Monta Ellis (GS) had 25 points and 3 steals. David Lee (GS) had 31 points including 13-19 FG and 12 rebounds. Det 103, Orl 96 at Orl Tayshaun Prince (Det) had 20 points including 9-14 FG. Tracy McGrady (Det) had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Austin Daye (Det) had 20 points including 4-4 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Dwight Howard (Orl) had 20 points and 16 rebounds including 7 offensive. Ryan Anderson (Orl) had 21 points including 4-10 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Sac 96, Por 81 at Por DeMarcus Cousins (Sac) had 14 points and 8 rebounds. Tyreke Evans (Sac) had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers. Carl Landry (Sac) had 16 points and 8 rebounds. Andre Miller (Por) had 18 points, 5 rebounds (all offensive), 5 assists, and 3 steals. Wesley Matthews (Por) had 21 points. Sac shot 50% (38-76) FG and Por shot 39.5% (34-86) FG. NJ 103, Cle 101 at NJ Brook Lopez (NJ) had 28 points including 8-10 FT and the game winning jumper with 1.4 seconds left and 7 rebounds. Devin Harris (NJ) had 14 points and 10 assists. Anthony Morrow (NJ) had 16 points. Antawn Jamison (Cle) had 26 points including 10-10 FT and 8 rebounds. Daniel Gibson (Cle) had 19 points and 5 assists. Anthony Parker (Cle, lower back strain) did not play. NO 91, OKC 89 at NO David West (NO) had 20 points including the game winning jumper with .5 seconds left. Emeka Okafor (NO) had 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Chris Paul (NO) had 24 points including 8-10 FT, 9 assists, and 3 steals. Kevin Durant (OKC) had 22 points and 8 rebounds. Jeff Green (OKC) had 19 points and 7 rebounds. Russell Westbrook (OKC) had 18 points and 10 assists. Phi 105, Pho 95 at Phi Elton Brand (Phi) had 22 points including 10-15 FG and 9 rebounds. Evan Turner (Phi) had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Thaddeus Young (Phi) had 24 points including 11-17 FG, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Steve Nash (Pho) had 17 points including 7-11 FG, 9 assists, and 5 turnovers. Jared Dudley (Pho) had 23 points and 7 rebounds. Mem 100, Tor 98 at Tor Rudy Gay (Mem) had 21 points including the game winning jumper with .9 seconds left. Zach Randolph (Mem) had 17 points including 8-24 FG and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive. Marc Gasol (Mem) had 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Andrea Bargnani (Tor) had 29 points and 5 rebounds. Jerryd Bayless (Tor) had 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 11 assists. DeMar DeRozan (Tor) had 25 points and 9 rebounds. Jose Calderon (Tor, flu like symptoms), Joey Dorsey (Tor, strained right patella tendon), and Linas Kleiza (Tor, sore right knee) did not play. Hou 129, Min 125 at Min Shane Battier (Hou) had 19 points including 5-9 3-pointers. Luis Scola (Hou) had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Kevin Martin (Hou) had 34 points including 13-18 FT and 3 steals. Kevin Love (Min) had 24 points including 11-11 FT, 17 rebounds including 9 offensive, and 7 assists. Amir Johnson (Min) had 19 points and 3 steals. Chi 92, Mil 83 at Chi Carlos Boozer (Chi) had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Tim Thomas (Chi) had 22 points including 10-16 FG, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Derrick Rose (Chi) had 21 points on 5-16 FG and 10-10 FT and 10 assists. Andrew Bogut (Mil) had 8 points on 4-11 FG, 18 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Chris Douglas-Roberts (Mil) had 30 points including 13-21 FG. Chi shot 22-25 FT and Mil shot 8-11 FT. John Salmons (Mil, strained right hip) did not play. NY 115, Was 106 at NY Wilson Chandler (NY) had 25 points including 4-8 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire (NY) had 30 points, 9 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 5 assists. Raymond Felton (NY) had 17 points, 15 assists, and 4 steals. Rashard Lewis (Was) had 20 points and 5 rebounds. Nick Young (Was) had 22 points. John Wall (Was) had 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 9 assists. Schedule for Tuesday, January 25 (All times Central) Denver @ Washington 6:00 pm Cleveland @ Boston 6:30 pm LA Clippers @ Dallas 7:30 pm Charlotte @ Sacramento 9:00 pm Utah @ LA Lakers 9:30 pm Schedule for Wednesday, January 26 (All times Central) Orlando @ Indiana 6:00 pm Memphis @ New Jersey 6:00 pm Philadelphia @ Toronto 6:00 pm Denver @ Detroit 6:30 pm Atlanta @ Milwaukee 7:00 pm Oklahoma City @ Minnesota 7:00 pm LA Clippers @ Houston 7:30 pm Charlotte @ Phoenix 8:00 pm San Antonio @ Utah 8:30 pm ESPN New Orleans @ Golden State 9:30 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