Grizzlies deal Vasquez to Hornets for Pondexter

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- The Memphis Grizzlies have swapped guard Greivis Vasquez to the New Orleans Hornets for guard/forward Quincy Pondexter in a move designed to boost their depth with Darrell Arthur out for the season.

The Grizzlies announced earlier Saturday that they signed Dante Cunningham after Charlotte failed to match an offer. Then they later announced the trade with New Orleans.

The 6-foot-6 Pondexter averaged 13 points and 8.5 rebounds in 33 minutes in two preseason games against Memphis. The 23-year-old averaged 2.8 points and 1.3 rebounds in 66 games as a rookie with New Orleans last season after being the 26th pick overall by Oklahoma City in 2010 before being traded to New Orleans.

Vasquez played in 70 games and averaged 3.6 points and 2.2 assists as a rookie with Memphis last season.

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Hornets sign center Jason Smith to three-year deal

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets and 7-foot free agent forward Jason Smith have agreed to a three-year contract.


Smith's agent, Mark Bartelstein, says the deal is worth $7.5 million.

Smith played for the Hornets last season, averaging 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game. His best game came when he scored a career-high 20 points against Washington in the one of the six games he started.

He was a backup for most of last season at both the power forward and center spots.

The 25-year-old Smith is entering his fourth NBA season out of Colorado State.

Bartelstein says Smith had a number of options, but likes coach Monty Williams' staff and appreciates the individual work Hornets coaches put into developing his game last season.

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NBA rejects Paul-to-Lakers blockbuster trade

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The NBA's decision to reject a proposed trade involving All-Star guard Chris Paul set the stage for an awkward opening to training camps on Friday in New Orleans, Los Angeles and Houston.

The NBA-owned Hornets thought they had worked out a three-team deal to send Paul to Los Angeles in a deal that also would have sent Lamar Odom to New Orleans and four-time All-Star Pau Gasol to Houston.

The league, however, declined to approve the trade, meaning Paul was expected to report to Hornets camp, while Odom and Gasol were expected to show up when the Lakers opened practice under new head coach Mike Brown.

After deal fell through, Paul simply wrote, "WoW," on his Twitter page.

Odom, too, took to Twitter to share his feelings: "When a team trades u and it doesn't go down? Now what?"

The fallout from the trade that never was caused the NBA to deny reports that deal was nixed because a number of team owners complained about it to NBA commissioner David Stern.

"It's not true that the owners killed the deal, the deal was never discussed at the Board of Governors meeting and the league office declined to make the trade for basketball reasons," league spokesman Mike Bass said.

Yahoo Sports reported that Stern killed the trade after several owners complained. Citing anonymous sources, Yahoo reported Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was one of the most outspoken owners upset about the deal, done the same day as the end of the lockout, which was supposed to restore competitive balance in the league.

Owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Thursday, the final step to ending the five-month lockout and allowing training camps and free agency to open Friday.

There was hope in small markets like New Orleans that after the lockout it would be easier for teams to hold on to their stars. Had the deal had been approved, one of pro basketball's biggest stars from the league-owned, small-market Hornets would have moved to one of the NBA's largest, richest markets.

The Hornets have been owned by the NBA since last December, when the league bought the club from founder George Shinn.

A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that the framework for a deal had been in place earlier Thursday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were supposed to remain confidential.

As part of the trade, the Rockets also had agreed to send forward Luis Scola, shooting guard Kevin Martin, point guard Goran Dragic and a first-round draft choice to New Orleans.

Odom, whose marriage to Khloe Kardashian and E! network reality show put him at the center of Hollywood's love affair with the Lakers, sounded devastated to be leaving his adopted hometown in an interview on 710 ESPN radio earlier Thursday. Odom was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year last season, and has spent all but one season of his NBA career with the Clippers or Lakers.

The NBA's move also quashed an attempt by the Lakers to retool their roster after their back-to-back title reign ended last spring with Dallas' second-round playoff sweep.

There is, however, still the question of Orlando's Dwight Howard.

The Lakers are widely reported to be interested in acquiring the Magic center, another All-Star expected to move before signing a long-term deal. Unlike Paul, Howard has made no secret of his affection for Los Angeles.

If the Hornets are unable to figure out a trade for Paul, he would be able to opt out of his current contract after the upcoming season.

Speaking earlier Thursday, Hornets president Hugh Weber said the franchise has been preparing for months for the possibility that Paul would resist signing an extension in New Orleans, a move that would leave the Hornets with the choice of trading him or simply letting him walk in free agency at the end of the season.

"We've been preparing for this moment for over a year, and it's not like we were surprised or caught flat-footed," Weber said. "This is not a surprise. This is not something where we've been sitting around waiting to see what would happen. We've been managing this and taking control of the situation as best we can and we're going to have a team that we believe achieves that objective of making this community proud."

Paul, 26, averaged 15.8 points and 9.8 assists last season.

Despite the lockout and uncertainty over Paul's future, fan support has been building in New Orleans, where the team has advertised its season-ticket drive as an effort to lure a permanent local buyer who is committed to keeping the team in Louisiana.

The Hornets have increased their season ticket base from a little more than 6,000 last season to 10,019 as of Thursday afternoon.

Paul was drafted by the Hornets fourth overall out of Wake Forest in 2005.

He has been selected to the Western Conference All-Star squad the past four seasons and also was a member of the United States' Olympic gold medal-winning team in Beijing in 2008.

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Boston roll on, Sixers cool off Heat

(Reuters) - The Boston Celtics swept aside the New York Knicks to move ominously into the second round of the playoffs after a 101-89 victory on Sunday.

Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and had 10 rebounds, Rajon Rondo recorded 21 points and 12 assists and the veteran Celtics completed their 4-0 best-of-seven rout over the Knicks.

Meanwhile, the second seed Miami Heat had their series advantage cut to 3-1, while the Atlanta Hawks took a 3-1 series lead over Orlando and the New Orleans Hornets leveled their match-up at 2-2 with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Having reached the NBA Finals in two of the last three seasons, Boston produced a business-like win as they nearly led from start to finish.

The revamped Knicks, who signed All Star Amar'e Stoudemire in the off-season and traded for All Star Carmelo Anthony at mid-season, suffered a disappointing exit from the playoffs.

"They're going to be good," Boston coach Doc Rivers said of the Knicks. "They're just going to be able to keep building. As long as everyone stays patient with them, it will work out."

Anthony finished with 32 points and nine rebounds and New York got 19 and 12 rebounds from Stoudemire who was limited in the series by back spasms that nagged him since Game Two.

Knicks starting point guard Chauncey Billups also injured his knee in Game Two and was sidelined for the rest of the series.

Miami attempted to punch its ticket to the second round but was stalled by Philadelphia 76ers who pulled off a gritty 86-82 win to avoid a first round sweep.

Philadelphia's Lou Williams had 17 and made the go-ahead three-pointer with eight seconds for the winning margin while LeBron James scored 31 and Dwyane Wade had 22 for the Heat.

Game Five is Wednesday in Miami.

In New Orleans, Jarrett Jack made a clutch jumper to put the home team up four with nine seconds left, and Chris Paul had a triple-double of 27 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds as the Hornets outlasted the Lakers in a 93-88 win.

Kobe Bryant, who exchanged words with Paul throughout the testy affair, shook off a slow start and a sore ankle to finish with 17 points and eight assists.

Los Angeles stayed close but never led in the second half and will try to regain control of the series in Game Five on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Atlanta led Orlando by as much as 16 in the second quarter, but still had to hold on late to fend off the Magic in an 88-85 win.

Orlando forward Hedo Turkoglu missed a three-pointer attempt at the buzzer to seal his team's fate as the Magic wasted Dwight Howard's dominance of 29 points and 17 rebounds.

Jamal Crawford had 25 points off the bench to lead the Hawks who will try to close the series in Game Five on Tuesday.

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Hawks swoop for late win as big guns boom

(Reuters) - Jamal Crawford banked in a three-pointer with 5.7 seconds left to seal a 88-84 win for the Atlanta Hawks over the visiting Orlando Magic Friday.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers ambushed the New Orleans Hornets 100-86 on the road to join in the Hawks in taking a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven NBA playoff series.

The Boston Celtics mercilessly overpowered the New York Knicks 113-96 to ruin the excitement of the first playoff game at Madison Square Gardens in seven years.

In Atlanta, Crawford scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half including the game-clinching three in the dying seconds of a nip-and-tuck contest.

"I just tried to get to my comfort zone, my sweet spot," Crawford told reporters. "I felt pretty good getting there. "I thought I got a good look, and it just happened to go down for me."

Al Horford gave the Hawks the lead at 85-84 with 46.6 seconds left.

Atlanta led for much of the game, but the lead changed four times over the final two minutes following an altercation which led to the ejection of Atlanta's Zaza Pachulia and Orlando's Jason Richardson.

"I thought we played with much more energy in the second half, and that got us back into it," said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy. "But this is the playoffs and you can't play 24 minutes of defense."

Joe Johnson scored 21 points for Atlanta and Dwight Howard led the Magic with 21 points and 15 rebounds.

In New Orleans, the Lakers pounced on the Hornets in the opening quarter and pulled away in the final period to regain home-court advantage.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points and Pau Gasol recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Carl Landry led the Hornets with 23 points and Chris Paul 22.

In New York, the Celtics sprinted to a 22-5 lead eight minutes into the game and led comfortably from start to finish to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

Boston will attempt to complete the sweep Sunday.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 38 points, Ray Allen hit eight three-pointers among his 32 points and Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and a Celtics franchise playoff record 20 assists.

The Knicks bench outscored the starters led by Shawne Williams 17 points. Carmelo Anthony scored 15 points on just 4-for-16 shooting from the field.

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Lakers and Spurs even series 1-1, Thunder up 2-0

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Lakers came alive following their disappointing playoff opener to grind out an 87-78 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday and level their best-of-seven series 1-1.

The San Antonio Spurs also tied up their first round series 1-1 with the Memphis Grizzlies while the Oklahoma Thunder went 2-0 up over Denver.

The defending champion Lakers were shocked in their series opening loss on Sunday when New Orleans point guard Chris Paul ran riot, but they returned with a strong defensive effort and now head to New Orleans for Game Three on Friday.

Andrew Bynum led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Lamar Odom added 16 to offset poor performances from Kobe Bryant (11 points) and Pau Gasol (eight).

"I was just trying to be aggressive defensively," Bynum told reporters. "If I play hard defensively, sometimes we get some stops, some good luck and get transition baskets."

Los Angeles established a six-point halftime lead and were up seven after three quarters before stretching their lead to 15 in the fourth where they held off the Hornets.

New Orleans was limited to just 39 percent shooting. Trevor Ariza scored 22 and Paul had 20 for the visitors.

The Spurs, top-seed in the Western Conference, had to once again fight to earn their 93-87 triumph.

They trailed by three points at half-time but were inspired by Argentine shooting guard Manu Ginobli who missed the opening game of the series through injury but returned with 17 points.

But San Antonio kept their cool and George Hill made sure of the win with four points with free throws.

Sam Young top scored for the Grizzlies with 17 points.

The Thunder comfortably took a 2-0 lead in their series against the Denver Nuggets with Kevin Durant scoring 23 points and Russell Westbrook scoring 21 in the 106-89 win.

The Thunder took charge from the outset and had a 26-point lead early in the second quarter as they secured their second win before the series moves to Denver on Saturday for Game Three.

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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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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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