Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift are early AMA winners

(AP) The Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift were among the early winners at American Music Awards on Sunday night, but the ceremony was as much a showcase for acts with new albums as it was a celebration of the biggest achievers of 2010.

"This is amazing!" said an exuberant Rihanna, who danced onstage to receive her award — favorite soul/R&B female. She ended her speech by yelling, "Wassup! Thank you!"

Rihanna, with her hair dyed a ruby red, gave the show a colorful and sexy start, performing a medley of songs from her just released album "Loud," including the No. 1 hit "What's My Name," wearing a bustier and what seemed like a scarf wrapped around her backside.

The Black Eyed Peas, winners for favorite pop/rock band, gave a levitating performance, singing from boxes atop the stage during part of their performance of their new single, "The Time."

But some of the prime-time performances were given to acts who weren't nominated, but had albums to promote. Diddy's latest incarnation with the group Diddy-Dirty Money sang material from their upcoming album, while Kid Rock gave a stirring, acoustic performance of "Times Like These," his song lifting up his hometown of Detroit during its recent economic struggles, from his new CD, "Born Free."

Swift, last year's artist of the year, took home favorite country female. Sporting sleek blonde hair instead of her usual cascading curls, Swift said simply: "I just want to thank the fans."

Swift was due to perform later in the evening, along with Bon Jovi, a pregnant Pink and more.

The night's top nominees were Eminem and Lady Antebellum with five apiece; they had yet to appear on the stage by mid-show.

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Usher and the Peas capture first AMAs of the night

(AP) Usher and the Black Eyed Peas captured the first honors at the American Music Awards on Sunday night, with Usher beating out Alicia Keys and Sade for R&B/Soul album of the year.

"All of my team back in New York City, I'm bringing this home for you," the leather-clad crooner said as he held his trophy high.

The Black Eyed Peas won best pop/rock band, duo or group. While they didn't give a noteworthy speech, frontman will.i.am wore a memorable outfit: A hat and a necklace made out of what appeared to be Legos.

The performance-driven show got off to a colorful and sexy start, courtesy of flaming redhead Rihanna, who performed a medley of songs from her latest album, including the No. 1 hit "What's My Name," wearing a bustier and what seemed like a scarf wrapped around her backside.

Eminem and Lady Antebellum were both up for a show-topping five awards apiece. Other major nominees included Ke$ha and Katy Perry.

A cold Los Angeles night didn't stop the stars from showing a little skin as they arrived for the awards at the Nokia Theatre.

Miley Cyrus walked the red carpet wearing a strapless dress with a flowing train. Avril Lavigne rocked in a mini animal-print dress.

John Legend was more covered up than the ladies, but even he remarked on the cold and windy conditions. Still, he said he expected a "pop music explosion" during the show.

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Jazz rally from 18 down, beat Clippers in 2 OTs

SALT LAKE CITY (AP)–  Deron Williams scored 30 points, making the tiebreaking layup with 6.8 seconds left in the second overtime, and the Utah Jazz overcame an 18-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 109-107 on Saturday night.
Williams had 22 points after halftime, and Paul Millsap added 25 points and 13 rebounds. Al Jefferson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in Utah's 15th consecutive home victory over the Clippers.
Eric Gordon scored 27 points and his slam dunk with 6.2 seconds left in regulation tied it at 91. Gordon missed a runner in the lane at the end of the first overtime, and Craig Smith missed from short range at the final buzzer at the end of the second OT.
Chris Kaman scored 23 points despite playing most of the game with foul trouble for the Clippers, who fell to 1-6 and haven't won in Salt Lake City since Jan. 22, 2003.
Utah opened the second half with a 17-3 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Raja Bell and Andrei Kirilenko, and began the fourth quarter with a 14-7 spurt to build an 87-80 lead.
Williams scored 15 points in the third quarter and gave Utah its first lead of the game, 77-75, on a layup with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter. He missed a jumper from the top of the key at the end of regulation.
The Clippers struggled against Utah's zone defense in the second half. Rookie Blake Griffin scored 16 points, but was 0 for 4 from the floor after the first quarter. He fouled out with 2:28 to go.
Early on, Los Angeles hardly looked like a team playing on the road for the second consecutive night. The Clippers, who lost a night earlier to Denver, made nine of their first 10 shots and opened a 17-point lead less than nine minutes in. They led 55-39 at halftime.

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West leads unbeaten Hornets over Bucks

MILWAUKEE (AP) –  The New Orleans Hornets are rolling. The Milwaukee Bucks are sputtering — and growing increasingly frustrated.
David West made 10-of-12 shots and scored a season-high 25 points, and New Orleans remained unbeaten with an 87-81 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday night.
Chris Paul and Marco Belinelli each added 14 for the Hornets, who at 6-0 are off to their best start in franchise history. They entered play under rookie coach Monty Williams as one of only three undefeated teams in the NBA after beating the Miami Heat on Friday.
"I just wanted to be a presence," West said. "I knew we may be a step slow because we had a tough game last night, but we responded. Guys made big plays down the stretch."
Andrew Bogut had 19 points and 14 rebounds in his return to the lineup for Milwaukee after missing Friday night's game against the Indiana Pacers with a migraine. John Salmons added 14 points for the Bucks, who dropped to 2-5.
Brandon Jennings, who had 12 points for Milwaukee, said he can't pinpoint the cause of the early problems and used a couple of expletives in summing up his team's play to date.
"We just need to go out there and play basketball," Jennings said. "Anybody can talk in the locker room."
While Milwaukee looked sluggish for most of the first three quarters, there was no letdown for the Hornets after their 96-93 victory over the Heat on Friday.
They led 41-35 at halftime despite 13 first-half turnovers after Belinelli sank a 64-foot, three-quarter court shot at the halftime buzzer.
West scored 10 points in the third quarter, and the Hornets led by as many as 13 points in the period. They led 65-54 after three, but Milwaukee used an 11-2 run to cut it to 67-65 on Jennings' 3-pointer.
Milwaukee hung tight but got no closer the rest of the way.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's follow shot made it 84-81 with 1:48 left, but he missed a free throw, and Drew Gooden then missed two free throws with 1:09 remaining that would have made it a one-point game.
The Bucks again had a chance to cut into the lead on their next possession, but West picked off Salmons' errant pass with 42 seconds left, and Paul, who made three shots in the final 5:56, sealed it with a running baseline jumper with 21.5 seconds remaining.
"We had a two-and-a-half hour flight to get up here, and we easily could have just chalked this one up," West said. "At halftime, (coach) Monty (Williams) talked about just fighting the temptation of being tired, and we were able to come out and have a good third quarter, which I thought put them on their heels a little bit and made them fight uphill the rest of the game."
Milwaukee made just 38.6 percent of its shots and 25 percent (4 of 16) of its 3-pointers.
"They missed a lot of shots, but we had 19 turnovers," Williams said. "For us to overcome 19 turnovers, we had to defend."
Said Paul: "The crazy thing is we're still not where we need to be defensively. I think that says a lot about our team. Right now this team gets mad when other teams score."
Jennings said the Bucks could use similar energy.
"It was just an ugly game for us," he said. "It's starting to get a little bit ridiculous now because every day it's like it's something — shots not falling and we just all break down. Some people are probably not on the same page, or I don't know what it is, but it's getting a little bit annoying now.
"When things aren't going right, it just seems like the energy level goes all the way down. We have got to find something before it gets too late and it gets a little ugly."
Migraines have been a recurring problem for Bogut, who also missed a preseason game on Oct. 16 with one. He said it typically takes 48 hours to feel symptom-free and that he still had a minor headache and some light sensitivity before the game Saturday.

Notes: Bucks Andrew Bogut's 14 rebounds of the game gave him 3,059 for his career, moving him into 10th place in franchise history ahead of Ervin Johnson (3,050). ...

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Anthony's 27 points lead Nuggets past Mavericks

|DALLAS (AP) –  Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points and the Denver Nuggets went 13 for 21 from beyond the 3-point line in a 103-92 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.
Chauncey Billups added 18 points and Al Harrington contributed 14 points and eight rebounds for Denver.
Jason Terry scored 26 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 23 for the Mavericks, who have lost two of their first three home games.
The teams met in Denver on Wednesday night, with Dallas pulling out a 102-101 victory behind Nowitzki's 35 points. This time, the Nuggets pulled away in the fourth quarter after it was tied at 79 after three.
Anthony hit three 3-pointers in the final 3:47 and scored 15 points in the third, but was on the bench for most of the Nuggets' 12-4 spurt to start the fourth. The run started and ended with dunks by Harrington, giving Denver a 91-83 lead with 7:23 left, and the Mavericks never recovered.
Terry had one point and Nowitzki went scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Denver clung to a 53-52 advantage at the break behind 6-for-9 3-point shooting. Terry's 23 points were among the few Dallas highlights, with Terry draining a 3-pointer with 5.9 left until halftime to get the Mavericks close.
The Nuggets went with a small lineup including 6-foot-9 Sheldon Williams as the tallest starter, and Denver assumed a 26-24 lead after one quarter as Dallas committed six turnovers in the first 12 minutes, 10 in the first half.
Late in the second quarter, Anthony got into a playful exchange with some heckling fans. Anthony was laughing during the give-and-take.
Denver was coming off Friday night's 111-104 home victory over the Clippers. The Mavericks had been idle since Wednesday night.

Notes: These is the 3rd straight game that Denver are without the presence of their three Bigs, Brazilian C Nene missed his third straight game with a strained left groin while Fs Kenyon Martin and Chris "the BirdMan"Anderson are out indefinitely while recovering from knee surgeries.

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Wade, James, Bosh carry Heat past Nets, 101-89

MIAMI (AP) –  Terrance Williams sent LeBron James into the stands — and into overdrive. Just like that, a close game turned into a Miami Heat runaway.
Dwyane Wade had 29 points and 10 rebounds (his 96th double double giving sole possession of 4th place in Miami Heat history), James scored 14 of his 23 points in the third quarter — seven in the last 32 seconds after getting flagrantly fouled by Williams — and the Heat rolled past New Jersey 101-89 on Saturday night for their second easy win over the Nets in a week.
A 25-10 run over the final 7 minutes of the third allowed the Heat to finally take control, sending the Nets to their fourth straight loss.
Wade and James had a few highlight-reel moments. James went behind-the-back, one of his nine assists, to set Wade up for a dunk late in the first half; Wade returned the favor on a lob for a spectacular alley-oop on a 2-on-1 runout in the third quarter, prompting the two to meet in a twisting, side-bumping airborne celebration.
Then Williams really got James flying.
James was coming down the right side of the court in transition when Williams simply drove a shoulder, hockey-style, into the side of the NBA's two-time reigning MVP. James toppled over the row of courtside photographers and into some of the most expensive seats in the house for an impromptu meet-and-greet with fans.
Williams was called for a flagrant-one foul, James made one of the two ensuing free throws, then a 3-pointer on the extended possession. The next time down, James struck from 3-point range again to close the third quarter and give Miami an 87-68 lead and essentially put away the game.
Chris Bosh scored 21 points for Miami, which started a six-game homestand. The Heat have held all seven opponents under 100 points, and did so again Saturday while shooting 49 percent.
Anthony Morrow scored 25 for the Nets, 4-for-7 from behind 3-point arc, and is 15 made 3's shy of being eligible to pass Steve Kerr for No. 1 on the league's all-time accuracy list from beyond the arc. ... ,the Nets got also 12 from Brook Lopez — who made three of his first four shots in the game's opening 2:11, and went 2 for 12 the rest of the way. And Heat fans didn't forgive Williams, either: He was booed every time he touched the ball the remainder of the evening.
For the seventh game of their season, the Heat were almost implored to take a Game 7 approach.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra — who wasn't thrilled with the "energy and effort," two of his favorite buzzwords, in the early going of Miami's loss at New Orleans on Friday night — wrote the word "desperate" six times on the massive whiteboard that covers one wall of the home locker room.
Miami didn't exactly respond with that mantra in mind.
New Jersey ran out to a 12-5 lead and led for much of the game's first 18 minutes, before a three-point play by Wade put the Heat ahead 40-39 with 5:47 left until halftime. Morrow's jumper early in the third quarter tied the game at 55, but Carlos Arroyo scored on the next Heat possession and Miami wouldn't trail again.
Eventually, Miami started to click a little bit, too.
With two Nets players in front of him in transition, Wade made a nifty pass to James for a swooping left-handed layup and the foul, the three-point play putting Miami up 62-55. And the other "Big 3" guy got into the act on the next possession, with James finding Bosh for a dunk that was immediately followed by a long scream under the basket.
It was the 900th career game for Heat swingman Jerry Stackhouse.

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Winless Rockets lose Brooks, fall to Spurs in OT

SAN ANTONIO (AP)–  Tony Parker had 21 points and 14 assists, including seven points in overtime, and the San Antonio Spurs kept the Houston Rockets winless with a 124-121 victory Saturday night. The Spurs are off to their first 4-1 start since the 2007-08 season.
The only NBA team without a victory this season, the Rockets (0-5) are off to their worst start since 1999. They might have more troubles ahead, too, after point guard Aaron Brooks was carried off the court at halftime with an injured left ankle.
Brooks came down on Manu Ginobili's foot after heaving an errant halfcourt shot at the buzzer. He did not return to the game, and results of X-rays taken in the locker room weren't immediately available.
Ginobili scored 28 points, and the Spurs withstood three 3-point tries by the Rockets in the frantic final 14.3 seconds of overtime. Richard Jefferson added 22 points and was 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point line.
Kevin Martin led the Rockets with 24 points. Luis Scola had 20, and shot the last of a trio of missed 3-pointers that
 Houston was able to attempt while the scrambling Spurs couldn't corral a rebound.
Tim Duncan shook off a miserable first half and finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
With the Rockets already saving Yao Ming for Sunday's game against Minnesota, the injury to Brooks left them without two starters for the second half. It almost didn't matter.
The Rockets had two chances to put the Spurs away in the final 16.8 seconds of regulation, but Courtney Lee missed two free throws that would've pushed the lead to four and rookie Ishmael Smith missed a potential game-winning runner with 2.8 seconds left.
Shane Battier added 14 points for the Rockets.
Before arriving in San Antonio, the winless Rockets could take some comfort in losing to four teams that were a combined 18-3 entering Saturday, including unbeaten New Orleans and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Silver linings in this loss might be tough to find. Brooks had 18 points before writhing on the court while his teammates trotted to the locker room without the club's third-leading scorer.
Towering over Brooks on the court in a blazer was Yao, who didn't play on the first night of back-to-back games. Faced with choosing between Yao defending San Antonio's pick-and-roll or Minnesota's Darko Milicic, Rockets coach Rick Adelman preserved Yao for the Timberwolves.
"I don't know if it's right or not," Adelman said.
The Rockets are putting strict limits on Yao's minutes to try and keep the injury-plagued star healthy for a full season. The 7-foot-6 center is averaging 12.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

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Celtics' Pierce reaches 20,000 career points

BOSTON (Reuters) - All Star forward Paul Pierce became the third life-long Boston Celtics player to reach 20,000 NBA career points on Wednesday.
Pierce, who scored 28 points in his team's 105-102 overtime victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, has spent all of his 13 seasons in the NBA with the Celtics. Hall of Fame players Larry Bird and John Havlicek, who both also achieved the mark, spent their entire careers with Boston.
"It was really emotional," Pierce told television reporters after he passed the mark from the free throw line and received an ovation from his home crowd.
"I've been through so many hard years here. To come so far at this point in my career I'm just blessed and happy to still be a Celtic."
Pierce now has 20,005 points and joins three of his current team mates, center Shaquille O'Neal, power forward Kevin Garnett and guard Ray Allen in achieving the milestone.

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Paul helps Hornets sting Rockets for 4-0 start

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Chris Paul led the New Orleans Hornets to a 107-99 victory over the winless Houston Rockets on Wednesday as the team improved to 4-0 and matched their best start to an NBA season.
The three-time All-Star led all scorers with 25 points, including 13 in the final three minutes, and added eight assists.
Paul, who missed 37 games last season due to injury, put New Orleans ahead for good with 2:33 remaining, sending Houston (0-4) to their worst start since 1999.
The Hornets, meanwhile, remained one of the three unbeaten teams in the NBA alongside the Atlanta Hawks and two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
"We talked about being as desperate as (the Rockets) are before the game," Hornets first-year coach Monty Williams told reporters.
"I asked the guys, 'How would you feel if you were 0-3?' That was my mindset all day. How would I feel if we were 0-3?"
Guards Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks each scored 18 points for Houston, who led by one point with three and a half minutes to play before New Orleans surged to the finish.
Brooks was ejected in the final minutes after receiving a double technical for arguing a call.
"It's been the same story for four games now," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "We right in that game with a couple minutes to go, and we're just not finishing them."
China's Yao Ming, who missed last season after surgery on his left foot, had 15 points.
Marco Belinelli added 18 points for the Hornets who trailed by nine in the third before a 14-2 run helped them go ahead by two heading into the fourth.

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Lakers trounce Warriors to remain unbeaten

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers All-Stars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol helped the two-time defending NBA champions breeze to a 3-0 start to the season with a one-sided 107-83 victory over the Golden State Warriors Sunday.
Spanish center Gasol paced the team with 26 points and 12 rebounds while Bryant recorded 20 points and seven rebounds in just 27 minutes of work.
"It feels good (to rest down the stretch). That means we're taking care of business," Bryant told reporters. "We're playing well, the pieces we have complement each other and we're just going to keep it rolling."
The Lakers got off to a fast start, outscoring the Warriors 34-14 in the first quarter, and cruised to their 10th straight win against Golden State, who last defeated Los Angeles in March 2008.
Lamar Odom scored 11 of his 16 points in the opening quarter and also chipped in 14 rebounds to continue his strong start after spending the summer helping the United States win a gold medal at the FIBA World Championships.
Monta Ellis scored a team-high 20 points for the Warriors (2-1) who had began the year with two wins but were without sharp-shooting guard Stephen Curry who missed the game with an ankle injury.
Curry averaged 17.5 points per game last season to finish runner-up for the Rookie of the Year Award, but he has been slowed by an ankle ailment since the preseason.
In his absence, Golden State shot just 40 percent from the field and was outrebounded 55-42.
In their quest for a third straight NBA title, the Lakers have leaned on Gasol early in the campaign while Bryant works his way back from offseason knee surgery and center Andrew Bynum sits out after his own knee procedure.
"Probably (this is the best start I've had in my career)," said Gasol, who has led the team in scoring in two of the three games. "I try not to look at numbers. I'm happy with us playing well and we'll try to continue."

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