Spurs conquer Mavs
Tim Duncan had 31 points and 15 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 97-94 on Thursday night at San Antonio for their seventh straight win.
Manu Ginobili added 17 points for San Antonio and Michael Finley scored 16.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points for the Mavericks and Josh Howard and reserve Brandon Bass each added 16.
Nets 120, Bucks 106: At East Rutherford, N.J., Devin Harris scored 16 of his 21 points in a game-changing early spurt that carried New Jersey to a victory over Milwaukee.
Lakers 106, Heat 88: At Los Angeles, Jordan Farmar scored a career-high 24 points, Kobe Bryant added 21 and the Lakers extended their winning streak to a season-best 10 games with a victory over Miami.
Pacers get bad attention
The Indiana Pacers are facing another wave of unwanted attention with the arrest of a murder suspect after he had been at the home of one player and a reported rape at the home of another.
While police say forward Shawne Williams and guard Marquis Daniels were not involved in either case, both have been in recent legal trouble and the incidents frustrate a team trying to improve its tarnished image.
Williams left the team’s game Wednesday night after learning a man had been arrested on a Tennessee murder warrant soon after leaving his Indianapolis home. Williams did not practice with the team on Thursday and will not travel with the Pacers to their game at Toronto today.
Officers arrested 20-year-old Gary Bohanon of Memphis, Tenn., for a fatal shooting last October at a Memphis auto repair shop. He was spotted at Williams’ home Wednesday evening and arrested after he left as a passenger in a truck registered to Williams, federal marshals said.
Happy Walters, Williams’ agent, said that his client was unaware Bohanon had been at his home.
“He’s going to take the next day or two and get it all straightened out and get back with the team when they get back from Toronto,” Walters said.
The arrest of Bohanon came just days after a woman told police that she had been raped early Sunday during a small gathering at Daniels’ suburban Carmel home.
Daniels is not a suspect in the rape, but a man who was there could face charges pending the results of evidence tests in the coming weeks, said Vicky Dunbar, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County sheriff’s department.
Around the league
The last-place Los Angeles Clippers waived injury-prone Sam Cassell, clearing the way for him to join another team, possibly the Boston Celtics. … A re-examination of Washington Wizards All-Star forward Caron Butler’s hip revealed a small labral tear of the left joint. Butler will be re-examined next week.