The Cavaliers are applying full-court pressure to Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Several of the center’s former Cleveland teammates visited him in New York on Tuesday, hoping to persuade him to re-sign with the Cavs and help them make a run at an NBA title. Ilgauskas, who has a place in SoHo, was traded last month to Washington in the deal for forward Antawn Jamison.
The Chicago Bulls say center Joakim Noah will miss three weeks because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot that has kept him in and out of the rotation the past month. Noah missed seven straight games at one point in February and played limited minutes in his first three games back before getting 11 rebounds in 27 minutes against Portland on Friday.
The Philadelphia 76ers have said goodbye to A.I. Allen Iverson’s second stint with the team he once led to the NBA finals ended Tuesday when the Sixers announced he would not return for the rest of the season. Iverson has mostly been absent from the team for a month, returning to Atlanta to be with his family as they deal with an undisclosed illness of his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah.
Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal had surgery on his injured right thumb Monday and seems likely to miss the rest of the regular season. If he gets back for the playoffs, though, O’Neal is promising to make up for his time out. O’Neal will miss about eight weeks, the team said. He was examined Sunday by specialist Dr.
Boston Celtics captain Paul Pierce says he is ready to return after missing three games with a sprained right thumb. Pierce practiced with the team on Monday and said he expected to play Tuesday in Detroit against the Pistons. Boston is coming off back-to-back home losses to Cleveland — the top team in the Eastern Conference — and the New Jersey Nets, the NBA’s worst team with only six wins.
Shaquille O’Neal had surgery on his injured right thumb Monday and the Cleveland Cavaliers say he will be out up to 8 weeks. O’Neal was examined Sunday by specialist Dr. Thomas Graham at the National Hand Center in Baltimore. Graham performed the surgery. The recovery timeline means O’Neal may not be ready by the time the NBA playoffs start April 17.
One of Michael Jordan’s first acts since reaching a deal to buy the Charlotte Bobcats: losing two games of H-O-R-S-E to guard Gerald Henderson. A trash-talking Jordan attended the Bobcats’ shootaround Monday morning before their game against Dallas, challenging the rookie Henderson to a shooting competition after the workout.
Shaquille O’Neal’s regular season could be over. Now the Cavaliers hope the center they acquired for the postseason will be back in time for the playoffs. O’Neal will undergo surgery Monday to repair his injured right thumb. He was examined Sunday by Dr. Thomas Graham at the National Hand Center in Baltimore.
So much for all that confidence the Denver Nuggets had built up during their two impressive wins against the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this season. The defending NBA champions picked up on the playoff vibe inside Staples Center on Sunday and got things back to normal, despite a poor-shooting effort from Kobe Bryant.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 36 points, Caron Butler had 19 in his return to the Dallas lineup and the Mavericks held on for a 108-100 victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday night to extend their NBA-high winning streak to seven games. The Hornets had cut what had been a 25-point deficit to 101-97 after Darren Collison’s 3-pointer with 2:44 left capped the rookie’s stretch of eight…