News from January 2. The NBA named Chris Paul (LAC) and LeBron James (Mia) as Players of the Month for December. Paul averaged 16 points and 9.3 assists as the Clippers went 16-0 in December. James averaged 27.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists as Miami went 10-5 in December. The NBA named Vinny Del Negro (LAC) and Larry Drew (Atl) as Coaches of the Month for December. The LA Clippers went 16-0 and Atlanta went 10-5 in December. The NBA named Damian Lillard (Por) and Bradley Beal (Was) as Rookies of the Month for December. Lillard averaged 18.4 points and 6.3 assists as Portland went 9-4 in December. Beal averaged 13.4 points as Washington went 3-11 in December. The NBA fined Charlie Villanueva (Det) $25,000 for his flagrant foul on Isaiah Thomas (Sac) during Tuesday's Det-Sac game. The 12/26 Chicago at Indiana game that was postponed has been rescheduled for February 4. Houston signed James Anderson and released Daequan Cook. [San Antonio had released Anderson on December 20.] Maurice Williams (Uta) is expected to be out 6 weeks after undergoing surgery on his injured right thumb. Boston activated Avery Bradley and placed Chris Wilcox (sprained right thumb) on IL. Brooklyn activated Gerald Wallace and placed Jerry Stackhouse on IL. Milwaukee activated Doron Lamb and placed Beno Udrih on IL. Mia 119, Dal 109 OT at Mia LeBron James (Mia) had 32 points including 9-11 FT, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. Chris Bosh (Mia) had 17 points including 7-10 FG and 3 blocks. Dwyane Wade (Mia) had 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. O.J. Mayo (Dal) had 30 points on 12-21 FG and 4-10 3-pointers, 6 assists, and 6 turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki (Dal) had 19 points and 6 rebounds. Mia out-scored Dal 16-6 in overtime. Bro 110, OKC 93 at OKC Brook Lopez (Bro) had 25 points including 11-17 FG and 5 rebounds. Deron Williams (Bro) had 19 points including 3-4 3-pointers, 13 assists, and 5 steals. Joe Johnson (Bro) had 33 points including 11-19 FG and 5-10 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Kevin Durant (OKC) had 27 points including 11-17 FG, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers. Russell Westbrook (OKC) had 26 points including 11-19 FG, 10 assists, 3 steals, and 6 turnovers. SA 117, Mil 110 at Mil Tim Duncan (SA) had 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists. Tony Parker (SA) had 23 points and 11 assists. Manu Ginobili (SA) had 16 points and 6 assists. Brandon Jennings (Mil) had 31 points, 5 assists, and 5 turnovers. Monta Ellis (Mil) had 18 points and 8 assists. Mike Dunleavy (Mil) had 19 points. John Henson (Mil) had 20 points on 10-11 FG and 9 rebounds. Tor 102, Por 79 at Tor Ed Davis (Tor) had 19 points including 9-12 FG and 7 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan (Tor) had 24 points including 11-17 FG and 3 steals. Amir Johnson (Tor) had 17 points and 7 rebounds. Terrence Ross (Tor) had 26 points including 6-9 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge (Por) had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Damian Lillard (Por) had 18 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and 7 turnovers. Linas Kleiza (Tor, sore right knee) did not play. GS 115, LAC 94 at GS David Lee (GS) had 24 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists. Klay Thompson (GS) had 19 points including 5-9 3-pointers. Stephen Curry (GS) had 31 points including 11-16 FG and 6-8 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists. Matt Barnes (LAC) had 19 points and 7 rebounds. Chris Paul (LAC) had 23 points including 1-6 3-pointers and 10-12 FT and 6 assists. Jamal Crawford (LAC) had 24 points including 4-10 3-pointers and 5 assists. GS shot 50% (42-84) FG and LAC shot 36.3% (29-80) FG. Caron Butler (LAC, personal reasons) did not play. Chi 96, Orl 94 at Orl Luol Deng (Chi) had 23 points. Carlos Boozer (Chi) had 31 points including 13-22 FG and 11 rebounds. Taj Gibson (Chi) had 21 points, 11 rebounds including 5 offensive, and 4 blocks. Nikola Vucevic (Orl) had 20 points and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive. Jameer Nelson (Orl) had 32 points including 6-9 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Arron Afflalo (Orl) had 19 points. Joakim Noah (Chi, flu), Vladimir Radmanovic (Chi, flu), and E'Twaun Moore (Orl, sprained left elbow) did not play. Ind 89, Was 81 at Ind Paul George (Ind) had 29 points and 14 rebounds. Roy Hibbert (Ind) had 13 points. D.J. Augustin (Ind) had 18 points including 9-10 FT and 6 assists. Jordon Crawford (Was) had 20 points and 7 assists. Kevin Seraphin (Was) had 16 points and 9 rebounds. Ind shot 26-31 FT and Was shot 8-10 FT. Trevor Ariza (Was, strained left calf) and A.J. Price (Was, fractured right hand) did not play. Uta 106, Min 84 at Uta Jamaal Tinsley (Uta) had 12 points on 6-8 FG and 6 rebounds. Gordon Hayward (Uta) had 17 points including 3-4 3-pointers. Enes Kanter (Uta) had 15 points and 8 rebounds. Andrei Kirilenko (Min) had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Kevin Love (Min) had 13 points including 4-14 FG and 10 rebounds. Uta shot 49.4% (43-87) FG and Min shot 34.5% (29-84) FG. Maurice Williams (Uta, sprained right thumb), Ricky Rubio (Min, back spasms), and Malcolm Lee (Min, hyperextended right knee) did not play. Mem 93, Bos 83 at Bos Rudy Gay (Mem) had 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Mike Conley (Mem) had 23 points and 9 assists. Tony Allen (Mem) had 15 points including 6-8 FG and 5 rebounds. Paul Pierce (Bos) had 17 points including 4-8 3-pointers and 7 rebounds. Kevin Garnett (Bos) had 12 points including 5-14 FG, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Hou 104, NO 92 at Hou Omer Asik (Hou) had 21 points and 8 rebounds. James Harden (Hou) had 31 points and 7 assists. Patrick Patterson (Hou) had 15 points on 7-8 FG and 10 rebounds. Greivis Vasquez (NO) had 15 points and 14 rebounds. Ryan Anderson (NO) had 18 points and 7 rebounds. Cole Aldrich (Hou, flu) did not play. Pho 95, Phi 89 at Pho Luis Scola (Pho) had 21 points and 9 assists. Marcin Gortat (Pho) had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Goran Dragic (Pho) had 20 points, 6 assists, and 3 blocks. Thaddeus Young (Phi) had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Jrue Holiday (Phi) had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 6 turnovers. Sac 97, Cle 94 at Cle Francisco Garcia (Sac) had 14 points and 6 rebounds. Jason Thompson (Sac) had 19 points and 10 rebounds. DeMarcus Cousins (Sac) had 18 points, 16 rebounds including 7 offensive, and 6 assists. Alonzo Gee (Cle) had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Kyrie Irving (Cle) had 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Dion Waiters (Cle) had 20 points. Marcus Thornton (Sac, sprained left ankle) did not play. Schedule for Thursday, January 3 (All times Central) San Antonio @ New York 6:30 pm Minnesota @ Denver 8:00 pm Schedule for Friday, January 4 (All times Central) Sacramento @ Toronto 6:00 pm Brooklyn @ Washington 6:00 pm Cleveland @ Charlotte 6:00 pm Chicago @ Miami 6:30 pm ESPN Atlanta @ Detroit 6:30 pm Indiana @ Boston 7:00 pm Portland @ Memphis 7:00 pm Philadelphia @ Oklahoma City 7:00 pm Houston @ Milwaukee 7:30 pm Utah @ Phoenix 8:00 pm LA Lakers @ LA Clippers 9:30 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