News from April 1. Chicago activated Dickey Simpkins and placed Larry Krystowiak on IR with an inflamed right knee. Houston activated Zan Tabak and placed Tim Breaux on IR with a lower back strain. News from April 3. Golden State suspended Latrell Sprewell for 2 games without pay for conduct determental to the team. David Robinson (SA) was named as both Player of the Week for last week and Player of the Month for March. News from April 4. Kendall Gill (Sea) was given an indefinite medical leave of absence after being diagnosed with symptoms of clinical depression. Jason Kidd (Dal) was named as Rookie of the Month and Bernie Bickerstaff (Den) was named as Coach of the Month for March. Indiana signed Greg Kite to a 2nd 10-day contract. The NBA fined Rick Mahorn (NJ) $7,000 and Patrick Ewing (NY) $3,500 for their altercation in Sunday's NY-NJ game. Derek Harper (NY) was also fined $5,000 for comments made to the refs after being ejected (while he was at the free throw line). Rick Fox (Bos) had surgery on both ankles to removed bone spurs and is out for the season. Philadelphia signed Corey Gaines for the rest of the season. Terrell Brandon (Cle) suffered a stress fracture in his right tibia during the Bos-Cle game and will be out for the rest of the season. News from April 5. Charlotte placed Scott Burrell on IR and activated Tom Tolbert. Cleveland placed Terrell Brandon on IR and activated John Battle. New Jersey placed Chris Morris on IR with a strained left hamstring and activated Sleepy Floyd. Denver signed Greg Grant for the rest of the season. News from April 6. Mario Bennett (Arizona State, junior) declared his eligiblity for the NBA draft. A steel rod was inserted into Terrell Brandon's (Cle) right tibia to help repair the stress fracture in his leg. Nick Anderson (Orl) will be out about a week recovering from a concussion suffered during Wednesday's Orl-Det game. Anfernee Hardaway (Orl, inflamed esophagus) will also not accompany the team on its road trip to Detroit and Philadelphia this weekend. News from April 7. Orlando placed Tree Rollins on IR. Corliss Williamson (Arkansas, junior) declared his eligiblity for the NBA draft. Dana Barros' (Phi) now 50 consecutive games with at least 1 3-pointer made is the NBA record for a season. Michael Adams holds the record for consecutive games with at least 1 3-pointer made in 79 games from January 28, 1988 through January 23, 1989. News from March 8. Boston signed Tony Dawson to a 2nd 10-day contract. Orlando signed Darrell Armstrong (guard) for the rest of the season. News from April 10. Clyde Drexler (Hou) was named as player of the week. News from April 11. The LA Lakers activated George Lynch and Tony Smith, placed Kurt Rambis on IR, and waived Lloyd Daniels. Dal 156, Hou 147 2OT - at Hou Jason Kidd (Dal) had 36 points including 8-12 3-pointers and 6-10 FT, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 3 steals in 49 minutes. Jamal Mashburn (Dal) had 42 points including 9-16 FT, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in 53 minutes. Popeye Jones (Dal) had 11 points and 21 rebounds. Clyde Drexler (Hou) had 29 points on 8-24 FG, 1-7 3-pointers, and 12-12 FT, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, and 3 steals in 51 minutes. Kenny Smith (Hou) had 29 points including 5-10 3-pointers and 6 assists. Pete Chilcutt (Hou) had 22 points including 3-5 3-pointers and 11 rebounds. Chucky Brown (Hou) had 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 turnovers. Dal shot 55-128 FG and Hou shot 51-106 FG. The 28 combined 3-pointers made set the NBA record (previous 23). Lucious Harris (Dal, sprained right ankle), Hakeem Olajuwon (Hou, anemia), Vernon Maxwell (Hou, anemia), and Carl Herrera (Hou, right hip contusion) did not play. It was a wild one. Houston led by 12 after 3, but Dallas came back with a 3-point barrage to go up by 8 with a little over a minute left in regulation. Houston scored 13 points in the final 30 seconds to tie the game at 119-119 on a 3 by Sam Cassell with 1.9 seconds left. Houston built up a 13 point lead in the first overtime, but Dallas rallied back and scored 14 points in the final minute and sent the game into a 2nd overtime on a 3 by Kidd with 2.5 seconds left. Houston was up 147-146 with 2:20 left and Dallas scored the final 10 points of the game to win. News from April 12. Scott Skiles (Was) will undergo season ending surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right wrist. Philadelphia waived Alaa Abdelnaby. The expanion draft is scheduled for June 24. The list of the 8 protected players from each team (excluding teams in the finals) is due June 10. Unrestricted free agents do not need to be protected and can not be selected. Restricted free agents can be protected and selected, but if they are selected, they become unrestricted free agents. Only one player from each team can be selected. The draft lottery is scheduled for May 21. The draft itself takes place in Toronto on June 28. The early entry eligibility declaration deadline for college underclassmen is May 14. News from April 13. Gary Trent (junior, Ohio University) declared his elibigility for the NBA draft. News from April 14. Joe Smith (sophmore, Maryland) declared his eligiblity for the NBA draft. Charles Grantham resigned as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. Grantham sited "irreconcilable differences concerning matter of internal association governance" for his resignation. He had been head of the players association since September, 1988. General Counsel Simon Gourdine was named as Grantham's replacement. Denver activated LaPhonso Ellis and placed Mark Randall on IR. San Antonio activated Dennis Rodman and waived Howard Eisley. Gary Payton (Sea) suffered a broken finger on his left (non-shooting) hand. His status for Saturday's game is uncertain. Benoit Benjamin (NJ, back injury) and Derrick Coleman (NJ, sprained left wrist) are likely to miss the rest of the season. News from April 15. New Jersey activated Chris Morris and placed Benoit Benjamin on IR with a sore lower back. Charlotte activated Michael Adams from IR and waived Tom Tolbert. Seattle activated Bill Cartwright and placed Dontonio Wingfield on IR with a strained neck. The NBA suspended Charles Barkley (Pho) for 1 game for exceeding the league flagrant foul limit. Barkley received his 6th flagrant foul of the season during Friday's Phoenix-Denver game. Barkley served his suspension during the LA Lakers game Saturday night. Kendall Gill (Sea) returned from his leave of absence for clinical depression and played 23 minutes in the gamve vs Golden State. Tom Chambers (Uta) became the 20th NBA player to reach 20,000 career points. News from April 17. Carl Herrera (Hou) separated his right shoulder in last night's game and will be out 2 to 3 weeks. The LA Clippers have indefinitely suspended Lamond Murray. Chicago activated Jud Buechler and placed Corie Blount on IR. Orlando activated Tree Rollins and placed Brooks Thompson on IR. The regular season ends Sunday. The playoffs start Thursday, April 27. News from April 18. Dikembe Mutombo (Den) was named as Player of the Week for last week. Detroit activated Bill Curley and waived Ivano Newbill. The LA Clippers reinstated Lamond Murray after a one-game suspension. Scott Thurman (junior, Arkansas), Rodrick Rhodes (junior, Kentucky), and Chris Carr (junior, Southern Illinois) declared their eligiblity for the NBA draft. Golden State activated Rony Seikaly and placed Victor Alexander on IR with ligament damage in his right ankle. News from April 19. Detroit waived Rafael Addison. Miami waived Kevin Pritchard. Washington waived Brent Price and Anthony Tucker. Latrell Sprewell (GS) says that his sore right knee will keep him out for the rest of the season. News from April 20. Charlotte activated Tony Bennett and placed Michael Adams on IR. Sacramento placed Bobby Hurley on IR. The NBA fined Sherman Douglas (Bos) $4,000 for not leaving the court in a timely manner and verbally abusing the refs after Monday's Bos-NJ game. News from April 21. New York placed Derek Harper on IR with a sore left ankle and activated Charlie Ward. News from April 22. Today (Sunday) is the last day of the regular season. Only the Sacramento- Denver game has any meaning. The winner of that game gets the 8th playoff spot in the Western Conference. I'll send out final season rankings and first round playoff matchups tomorrow. The playoffs start Thursday. News from April 23. Thus ends the regular season for 1994-95. The playoffs start Thursday. News from April 24. Houston signed Charles Jones for the rest of the season. Karl Malone (Uta) was named Player of the Week. Glenn Robinson (Mil) was named Rookie of the Month for April. Lenny Wilkens (Atl) was named as the coach for the 1996 US Olympic basketball team. News from April 25 Bob Hill (SA) was named as Coach of the Month for April. Final Regular Season Stat Leaders: Scoring Title: Shaquille O'Neal (29.3 pts) Assists Title: John Stockton (12.3 ast) Rebounding Title: Dennis Rodman (16.8 reb) Blocked Shots Title: Dikembe Mutombo (3.9 blk) News from April 26. Detroit fired coach Don Chaney and accepted the resignation of vice president of player operations Billy McKinney. Doug Collins is rumored to be Chaney's replacement. Carl Herrera (Hou) will miss the first two games of the playoffs while still recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Carlos Rogers (GS) underwent surgery Tuesday on his right ankle to have bone and cartilage chips removed. The draft order between teams with identical records was decided at the owner's meeting the other day. Washington and Minnesota had the same record and Washington won the draw to be ranked 2nd in the lottery draft. Washington will get 183 chances and Minnesota will get 182 chances in the lottery. If neither team wins the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd draft pick, Washington will select ahead of Minnesota. Houston received the 19th draft pick and Chicago the 20th. Orlando received the 25th draft pick and Seattle the 26th. News from April 28. David Robinson (SA) won the IBM Award - a computerized rating that measures the overall contributions to a team. Patrick Ewing (NY), Karl Malone (Uta), Dikembe Mutombo (Den), and Shaquille O'Neal (Orl) were the runners-up. Muggsy Bogues (Cha) won the Bauschem Laum (I know I misspelled that) Court Vision Award. Bogues led the league in assist to turnover ratio. News from April 29. As expected, Doug Collins was named as the new coach of Detroit.