News from December 28. The NBA named Russell Westbrook (OKC) and Marcin Gortat (Was) as Players of the Week for the week ending December 27. Westbrook averaged 28 points, 7.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists, and 3 steals as Oklahoma City went 3-1. Gortat averaged 21.3 points and 11.7 rebounds as Washington went 3-0. The NBA suspended Matt Barnes (Mem) for 2 games for an off the court altercation with New York head coach Derek Fisher on 10/3/15 at a party for Barnes' ex-wife. Phoenix fired assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting and named Earl Watson and Nate Bjorkgren as assistant coaches. Philadelphia released Tony Wroten on December 24. Atlanta activated Walter Tavares and placed Tiago Splitter on IL. Charlotte activated P.J. Hairston and placed Spencer Hawes on IL. Cleveland activated Kyrie Irving and placed Sasha Kaun on IL. Dallas activated Justin Anderson and placed Deron Williams (strained left hamstring) on IL. Miami activated Tyler Johnson and placed Jarnell Stokes on IL. Milwaukee activated Jerryd Bayless and placed Damien Inglis on IL. New Orleans activated Alexis Ajinca. Orlando activated Devyn Marble. Phoenix activated Bryce Cotton and placed Eric Bledsoe (injured left knee) on IL. San Antonio activated Manu Ginobili and placed Rasual Butler on IL. Toronto activated Jonas Valanciunas and placed Bruno Caboclo on IL. Utah placed Alec Burks (broken left leg) on IL. Dal 103, Mil 93 at Dal Wesley Matthews (Dal) had 22 points including 5-7 3-pointers. Zaza Pachulia (Dal) had 17 points and 8 rebounds. Raymond Felton (Dal) had 14 points including 5-6 FG. Khris Middleton (Mil) had 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 turnovers. Jerryd Bayless (Mil) had 19 points, 7 assists, and 5 turnovers. Dal had 4 turnovers and Mil had 18 turnovers. SA 101, Min 95 at SA Kawhi Leonard (SA) had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Boban Marjanovic (SA) had 17 points including 7-7 FG. Manu Ginobili (SA) had 13 points and 5 rebounds. Andrew Wiggins (Min) had 18 points and 6 rebounds. Zach LaVine (Min) had 15 points including 5-14 FG. Cle 101, Pho 97 at Pho Kyrie Irving (Cle) had 22 points. J.R. Smith (Cle) had 17 points including 5-11 3-pointers. Kevin Love (Cle) had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Brandon Knight (Pho) had 18 points. T.J. Warren (Pho) had 23 points including 9-15 FG and 4-5 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Uta 95, Phi 91 at Uta Gordan Hayward (Phi) had 24 points on 6-21 FG and 10-11 FT and 6 rebounds. Jeff Withey (Uta) had 11 points and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive. Trey Burke (Uta) had 14 points including 5-15 FG. Ish Smith (Phi) had 22 points, 11 assists, and 6 turnovers. Nerlens Noel (Phi) had 18 points including 8-9 FG, 6 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Derrick Favors (Uta, back spasms) and Jahlil Okafor (Phi, sore right knee) did not play. GS 122, Sac 103 at GS Draymond Green (GS) had 25 points including 5-7 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. Klay Thompson (GS) had 29 points including 5-12 3-pointers and 5 rebounds. Stephen Curry (GS) had 23 points including 6-13 3-pointers, 14 rebounds, and 10 assists. Omri Casspi (Sac) had 36 points including 13-18 FG and 9-12 3-pointers and 6 rebounds. Rudy Gay (Sac) had 17 points and 18 rebounds. Leandro Barbosa (GS, sprained left shoulder) did not play. Cha 108, LAL 98 at Cha Kemba Walker (Cha) had 38 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Nicolas Batum (Cha) had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists. Cody Zeller (Cha) had 16 points including 8-10 FG and 8 rebounds. Kobe Bryant (LAL) had 20 points including 5-20 FG and 3-12 3-pointers. Larry Nance (LAL) had 12 points on 6-7 FG and 7 rebounds. Ind 93, Atl 87 at Ind Monta Ellis (Ind) had 26 points including 4-9 3-pointers. Ian Mahinmi (Ind) had 13 points and 9 rebounds including 5 offensive. Chase Budinger (Ind) had 10 points on 5-6 FG. Paul Millsap (Atl) had 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jeff Teague (Atl) had 18 points on 3-9 FG and 11-14 FT, 5 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. C.J. Miles (Ind, sore lower back) and Myles Turner (Ind, chip fracture left thumb) did not play. Orl 104, NO 89 at Orl Nikola Vucevic (Orl) had 28 points including 14-21 FG, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Evan Fournier (Orl) had 20 points including 3-4 3-pointers. Tobias Harris (Orl) had 14 points and 9 rebounds. Anthony Davis (NO) had 20 points and 8 rebounds. Norris Cole (NO) had 17 points and 8 rebounds. Orl shot 54.9% (45-82) FG and NO shot 44.6% (37-83) FG. LAC 108, Was 91 at Was Chris Paul (LAC) had 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. Jamal Crawford (LAC) had 21 points including 9-12 FG. DeAndre Jordan (LAC) had 15 points including 6-6 FG and 13 rebounds. John Wall (Was) had 23 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, and 6 turnovers. Otto Porter (Was) had 21 points and 8 rebounds. LAC shot 52.6% (52-78) FG and Was shot 39.1% (34-87) FG. Gary Neal (Was, strained right calf) and Bradley Beal (Was, sore right leg) did not play. Bro 111, Mia 105 at Mia Brook Lopez (Bro) had 26 points and 12 rebounds including 5 offensive. Jarrett Jack (Bro) had 18 points and 6 assists. Wayne Ellington (Bro) had 26 points including 7-9 FG and 7 rebounds. Chris Bosh (Mia) had 24 points including 7-8 FG and 5-5 3-pointers and 12 rebounds. Dwyane Wade (Mia) had 24 points on 7-11 FG and 10-12 FT and 6 assists. Hassan Whiteside (Mia) had 18 points including 7-10 FG, 11 rebounds including 6 offensive, and 5 blocks. Chi 104, Tor 97 at Chi Nikola Mirotic (Chi) had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Derrick Rose (Chi) had 20 points. Tony Snell (Chi) had 22 points including 3-4 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. Kyle Lowry (Tor) had 28 points including 9-5 FG and 3-4 3-pointers, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 3 steals. DeMar DeRozan (Tor) had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Doug McDermott (Chi, right knee) did not play. ---- 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