NBAFullCourt - Basketball Daily

Wally Szczerbiak missed Cleveland's game against Minnesota on Friday night to be with his wife, Shannon, who is expecting the couple's third child. Szczerbiak was acquired on Feb. 21 in an 11-player trade that also included Chicago and Seattle. In three games with the Cavaliers, he is averaging 11.7 points.

Toronto star Chris Bosh left the Raptors' game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night late in the first quarter with a sore right knee. Team officials said Bosh would not return to the game and will undergo further examination. The forward went to the locker room during a Raptors timeout with 2:23 left in the quarter.

Mike Woodson apparently will have the chance to finish out the season with the Atlanta Hawks despite reported efforts by general manager Billy Knight to fire the coach. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on its Web site Friday that Hawks general manager Billy Knight wanted to fire Woodson after Knight traded for point guard Mike Bibby on Feb.

SuperSonics center Robert Swift is headed for another knee surgery and is likely out for the season after playing in just eight games. The 7-footer, who had been slow to recover from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that cost him all of last season, will undergo surgery March 4 to repair a torn lateral meniscus in the same knee.

The Detroit Pistons are expected to add center Theo Ratliff next week, a person familiar with the upcoming transaction told The Associated Press on Friday. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal couldn't yet be completed, said the move will be made on Tuesday. The Minnesota Timberwolves requested waivers on Ratliff after reaching an agreement on a buyout of his contract.

Guard Gordan Giricek was released by the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, allowing the veteran a chance to be eligible for the postseason if he signs with another team. Giricek barely played for the Sixers since he was acquired in the late December trade that sent Kyle Korver to the Utah Jazz. He averaged only 3.1 points and 9.2 minutes in 12 games.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat both traded Shaquille O'Neal after winning NBA titles with the "Big Aristotle." The Lakers have rebuilt themselves into a championship-caliber team, while the Heat are faced with a long climb from the bottom of the standings. Jordan Farmar scored a career-high 24 points, Kobe Bryant added 21 and the Lakers extended their winning streak to a season-best 10...

Against a team that has a new look and new marquee player, the San Antonio Spurs kept up their winning ways Thursday by sticking to basics -- namely, their own franchise player. Tim Duncan, called the "backbone" of the team by coach Gregg Popovich, led the Spurs with 31 points and 15 rebounds in a 97-94 victory over the made-over Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

It took Devin Harris only nine minutes to turn around the New Jersey Nets and make Jason Kidd seem like a distant memory. Stepping on the court for the first time since being acquired last week in an eight-player trade for Kidd, Harris scored 16 of his 21 points in a spectacular game-changing early spurt that carried New Jersey to a 120-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night.

The last-place Clippers waived injury-prone Sam Cassell on Thursday, clearing the way for him to join another team, possibly the Boston Celtics. Cassell has missed four straight games with a sprained right wrist. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.7 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 25.7 minutes in 38 games. Earlier in the season, the 38-year-old point guard missed 12 games with a strained left calf.

As he rose from the witness chair, the commissioner of the NBA got a pat on the back from the head of the players' union. "David gave it to 'em," Billy Hunter, executive director of the NBA Players' Association, said with a smile. Certainly, David Stern gave as good as he got when he and his fellow commissioners from the NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball were summoned back to Capitol Hill to...

The Portland Trail Blazers blew a lead of 14 or more points for the third straight game. This time, they wouldn't be denied a win. Jarrett Jack tied a season high with 21 points, scoring 13 of them in the fourth quarter and leading the Trail Blazers to an 82-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Midway through the fourth quarter Allen Iverson unlaced his white and light blue sneakers and found a child in the stands to send home with a little gift. Wednesday night was that easy, and record-setting, for Iverson and the Denver Nuggets. Iverson scored 31 points, and the Nuggets were nearly flawless, scoring the most points in the NBA this season in a 138-96 rout of the Seattle SuperSonics.

Utah's streak of wins over Detroit appeared to be ending. The Pistons put up 30 points in the first quarter and had a 15-point lead with about 5 minutes left in the third, then self-destructed against the Jazz -- again. The Jazz rallied to beat the Pistons 103-95 Wednesday night, extending Utah's winning streak over Detroit to six games in a row.

At this rate, the New Orleans Hornets can only hope to meet the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs. Chris Paul had 25 points, 15 assists and three steals to help the Hornets end a three-game losing streak with a 120-103 victory over Phoenix on Wednesday night. "Enough is enough," Paul said. "We were on a losing streak and we came out with a different mentality, but we've got to come out with that...