NBAFullCourt - Basketball Daily

Once they saw the Milwaukee Bucks were getting tired, C.J. Miles and the Utah Jazz really put on the pressure. "Coach (Jerry Sloan) wanted us to run and be aggressive late in the game. They started getting on their heels and we took it to them," said Miles, who scored a season-high 25 points in Utah's 104-94 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Chauncey Billups made big shots and the Denver Nuggets got plenty of key stops. Billups scored 22 points, Carmelo Anthony added 21 and the surging Nuggets cruised to a 91-81 victory Wednesday night over the injury-riddled San Antonio Spurs. Kenyon Martin added 18 points and Nene had 16 to round out a balanced attack by the Nuggets (8-4), who have won four straight and seven of eight overall since...

The way Jason Terry was shooting, the Dallas Mavericks hardly needed Josh Howard on Wednesday night. The Houston Rockets, meanwhile, sorely missed Yao Ming. Terry scored 31 points, and Dirk Nowitzki added 24 points and 12 rebounds in the Mavericks' 96-86 victory over the Rockets. Howard, the Mavs' second-leading scorer, was inactive because of a left ankle injury.

For three quarters, Bobby Jackson did nothing to make the New Orleans Hornets pay for trading him last February. Then he showed them exactly what they were missing in the fourth. John Salmons scored 29 points, and Jackson had all eight of his points in the final 5:10 to help the injury-depleted Sacramento Kings surprise the New Orleans Hornets 105-96 on Wednesday night.

It's been three long weeks since the Minnesota Timberwolves last won a basketball game. "It seems like 1,000 years," forward Craig Smith said. Not anymore, thanks to Smith's superb effort off the bench and Al Jefferson's refusal to let his Timberwolves collapse in the fourth quarter again. Jefferson scored six of his 25 points in the final 3 1/2 minutes to lift Minnesota to a 102-96 victory over the...

The Los Angeles Clippers turned in exactly the sort of performance Oklahoma City coach P.J. Carlesimo feared. Carlesimo spoke before the game Wednesday night about the Clippers' talent and the challenges that come with meshing so many new players as they are trying to do. "There's no question what they're capable of doing," he said.

The Detroit Pistons are starting to show their potential with Allen Iverson, beating two of the NBA's best teams in less than a week. Iverson scored 23 points, and Rasheed Wallace had 10 of his 21 points during a fourth-quarter surge that gave Detroit a 96-89 victory over Cleveland on Wednesday night that ended the Cavaliers' eight-game winning streak.

Dwyane Wade did something the NBA hadn't seen in more than 31 years. It still wasn't enough to take down the sharpshooting Toronto Raptors. Andrea Bargnani scored a season-high 25 points, Jermaine O'Neal added 16 points and 17 rebounds, and the Raptors were 8-for-8 on 3-pointers in the second half to overcome Wade's huge effort and beat the Miami Heat 101-95 on Wednesday night.

Injuries to Josh Smith and Al Horford left Marvin Williams as the only healthy starter on Atlanta's front line. Williams moved from small forward to power forward and showed he can play big when needed. Williams hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 26 seconds left and matched his career high with 14 rebounds, and the Hawks overcame Caron Butler's 32-point effort to beat the Washington Wizards 91-87 on...

Dallas guard Josh Howard was inactive for the Mavericks' game Wednesday night against Houston because of a left ankle injury. Howard, averaging 20.3 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds, was injured during the Mavs' 100-83 win in Charlotte on Tuesday night. Howard did not leave the game and scored 21 points in 35 minutes.

The Charlotte Bobcats waived little-used forwards Andre Brown and Linton Johnson and were on the verge of signing center Dwayne Jones on Wednesday. The Bobcats were also one of several teams pursuing forward Antonio McDyess as the Bobcats look for ways to boost a thin front line. General manager Rod Higgins said the 6-foot-11 Jones would likely sign on Thursday.

Hawks center Al Horford was held out of Wednesday night's game against the Washington Wizards with a sprained right ankle. The decision was made after Horford tested the ankle in pregame warmups. "If I can't go at the level I try to play every night, I won't go because I won't be helping the team," Horford said.

The Los Angeles Lakers went to their inside game against the smaller Chicago Bulls. The strategy worked to perfection. Pau Gasol scored 24 of his season-high 34 points in the first half, Andrew Bynum added 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, and the Lakers rebounded from their first loss of the season with a 116-109 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday night.

Greg Oden and Anthony Morrow have almost nothing in common, yet Portland's earthshaking center and Golden State's smooth shooting guard both took graceful steps forward in their young careers during the same ragtag game. Stephen Jackson scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Warriors overcame Oden's 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 111-106 victory over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday...

With free agency awaiting him in 2010, LeBron James put on a show for the New York metropolitan area and its deep-pocket teams highlighted by length-of-the court sprint to block a dunk by Devin Harris. James had 31 points, eight rebounds and four assists in another dominating performance and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to their eighth straight win with a 106-82 decision over the New Jersey Nets...