Sports Betting Headlines, News, Odds, And More!

Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your J&B.

Celtics Insider, Boston Herald: "Rasheed Wallace said [Tuesday] he believes the Tim Donaghy scandal will eventually get deeper. He predicted a major problem for the NBA when all the facts come to light. 'I always said to myself and had the thing that there's no way that the things that he did he could do them by himself,' Wallace said. 'I always said that. It's virtually impossible. The things that he's been accused of, there's no way, to me, in my opinion, he could have done those things by himself.' Asked if he thinks other officials were betting, Wallace said, 'Possibly. I mean, I'm not sure if they were betting or whatever. But I know it's going to be, to me, once all this stuff comes out, it's going to be like — what year was that? — I want to say, was it the ‘32 New York City basketball scandal?'" [Note: It was the CCNY scandal of the '50s.]

Jeff McDonald, S.A. Express-News: "Eighteen games into his first season in San Antonio, [Richard] Jefferson — a scoring star whose offseason arrival heralded the Spurs' seriousness about challenging the Lakers in the West — is still struggling to find his niche in a new town. He is averaging 12.8 points per game, little more than Michael Finley(notes) provided the Spurs at small forward last season. In his past five games, Jefferson has reached 10 points just once. 'It's not about what my numbers should be,' said Jefferson, who owns a career scoring average of 17.6 points. 'I've been on teams where I've averaged 20 points and not made the playoffs. For me to take a step back and find my groove on a team that's getting wins, I'd much rather have that.' Right now, Jefferson is getting the worst of both worlds. The Spurs have lost three in a row, spiraling to 9-9 in advance of tonight's game against Sacramento. And Jefferson is still in search of his elusive groove."

Howard Beck, The New York Times: "For the first time since early last season, the Knicks are showing signs of respectability and, not coincidentally, stability. Benching [Nate] Robinson, whose immaturity and self-glorification grated on the team, was only one step. The winning trend began when D'Antoni shortened his rotation, downshifted his offense and empowered his most seasoned veterans. [...] [Nate] is on a one-year, $4 million contract, which the Knicks can simply let expire next July. Unlike Stephon Marbury(notes), who was benched and then banished last year, Robinson is not a corrosive influence in the locker room. There is little risk to keeping him around as an insurance policy. The Knicks are open to trading Robinson, but as a player on a one-year deal, he would have veto rights. It might also be tough to find a trade partner; no team offered Robinson a contract over the summer, when he was a restricted free agent. D'Antoni cringed when fans chanted for Robinson on Sunday. He joked about it on Monday when asked if Robinson would play that night. 'Depends,' D'Antoni said, 'if people want him to or not.'"

Doug Smith, Toronto Star: "Antoine Wright had hoisted 41 three-pointers over the course of this NBA season and had made just 11 when he found himself open in the corner of the Air Canada Centre court Tuesday night, his Raptors clinging to a two-point lead with about 63 seconds left in the game. There was almost an audible gasp from the crowd as he let fly, and cheers a split second later. In one of those classic, 'No, no, no ... yes!' moments that pop up during the course of a season, Wright, a guy employed primarily for his defensive skills, had the game's biggest basket as the Raptors went on to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-88 in a game that was at times gruesomely ugly. Or not. 'I think it's beautiful,' coach Jay Triano said while perusing a boxscore that will never be included in memorable moments in franchise history."

Ronald Tillery, MCA: "Mike Conley never doubted himself. And the Grizzlies point guard's confident dribble-drive to the basket for a game-winning layup with 3 seconds left Tuesday night epitomized his team's attitude the entire second half. After appearing intimidated and lacking poise to start, the Grizzlies emerged from halftime with enough moxie to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 111-109, in an overtime affair in FedExForum. An announced crowd of 16,325 celebrated when the game ended after Cleveland's LeBron James(notes) launched a 3-point attempt that bounced off the front of the rim as time expired. The Griz overcame a 16-point first-half deficit for their third straight victory, and largest comeback win of the season. 'In the first half we were a little tentative,' Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. 'We were watching them play. ... I didn't think we competed as hard as we could. In the second half we came out and we battled.'"

Dallas Morning News: "While the Mavericks wait to find out exactly what they look like with a healthy roster, don't start wondering about Roddy Beaubois' future just yet. It's not in Albuquerque, N.M. Though playing time has been virtually non-existent in the last two games, and with Josh Howard(notes) looking much sharper now than a month ago, it appears that the rookie guard will be the odd man out when it comes to playing time — for now. But that doesn't mean the Mavericks have plans to get him a spot in the NBDL so that he can work on his game. Not yet anyway. 'We haven't even talked about that,' president Donnie Nelson said. The Mavericks still value Beaubois' ability to play good defense and provide athleticism and scoring that still could come in quite handy from time to time."

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald: "It's now official. The Celtics are in a rebounding slump. Two games after giving up 20 offensive boards to San Antonio, the Celtics were out-rebounded last night by a 44-35 margin. 'Our bigs are doing a great job, putting a body on their big men,' said captain Paul Pierce(notes). ‘It's a problem with the guards. We have to do a better job of coming back and helping the bigs, especially on the long rebounds. That's where we get beat the most, on the long rebound issue.'"

Marcus Thompson II, San Jose Mercury News: "The Warriors got [Anthony] Morrow back but may lose [Anthony] Randolph for today's game. The second-year forward knew about the emergency before Monday's loss at Oklahoma City, which at least one teammate said affected his performance. But Randolph didn't inform the team until after the game. He stayed back in Oklahoma and flew to Arkansas on Tuesday morning. A team official said the Warriors hope Randolph will rejoin the team at some point in the next couple days, but his return has not been set. Randolph's bad news made it bittersweet that Morrow is back. After two games without him, it's clear the Warriors missed Morrow. Center Ronny Turiaf(notes) had his left knee checked out Tuesday by Dr. David Altchek in New York. He was cleared to increase his level of activity. The Warriors are targeting a return for Turiaf two weeks from now. ... Center Andris Biedrins(notes) is also about two weeks from coming back. He is in week five of his recovery from osteitis pubis, a strain of the muscles that connect the groin and abdomen."

Dave D'Alessandro, The Star-Ledger: "Terrence Williams was benched for the first time this season Tuesday night, and the Nets say it was merely a coincidence. It had nothing to do with his Twitter fixation — specifically, one he filed Monday about how he regrets being drafted by the Nets and wonders how his rookie season would have turned out in Toronto or Charlotte. It has nothing to do with his being warned three times this season about what he shares with his breathless public. And it has nothing to do with the fact that Rod Thorn even admitted before the game that his rookie wing would 'probably' be fined for violating the Twitter rules."

Alex Raskin, HOOPSWORLD: "[Jerryd] Bayless has scored in double figures in three of the last four games and is shooting over 50% from the field for the season. 'Right now Jerryd is a young player, but he is able to give us a boost and change of rhythm of a game,' said Demopoulos. 'He's a very aggressive guy. He goes all out all the time. Many times you need a game-changer like that in certain situations.' Of course, when those situations are few and far between, players can get a little annoyed. 'Yeah, it's gotten frustrating because I think I'm able and capable of helping this team,' said Bayless. 'Sometimes I just haven't gotten the opportunity.' Part of the problem for Bayless may be the perception that he's not a pass-first point guard. 'He's more of a score-first guard,' Blake said. 'He's very good at drawing fouls and getting to the basket — more of a set-up guy — someone who can spot up off the ball.' But that's an opinion that Bayless — who is rumored to have requested a trade out of Portland — disputes. His assist rate (16.0) may be well below that of Blake (30.9) and Miller (27.1), but he did get the chance to run the Blazers' offense during December and January of his rookie season as more of a traditional point guard."

Bob Cooney, Philadelphia Daily News: "His first game with the Sixers provided [Allen] Iverson with the clues to where he is physically after not playing an NBA game in more than a month and only fourth this season. He talked after the game of his mind wanting to do certain things, but his body forbidding it. Yesterday at his first postgame practice in his second era with the team, Iverson didn't just go through the motions, but was mindful of the work needed to bring his body back to where he wants it. 'I was sore when I first got here [to practice], but after I ran around and did a couple drills, it kind of went away,' Iverson said. 'I know it's something that I'll probably have to deal with for a little while in the morning, but the most important thing is, once I get sore and stiff, I can run around and loosen up and I can get right. I was really going at my own pace, trying to do a little bit more. Obviously, we had a game [Monday], so coach [Eddie Jordan] probably didn't want to put the guys through a whole lot, so I just did a little extra work afterward just to try to get my stamina right and get my legs stronger.'"

AP: "Injured forward Luke Walton(notes)(notes) is trading his Los Angeles Lakers jersey for a seat behind the microphone. Walton will fill in for radio color commentator Mychal Thompson when the Lakers play Friday against Minnesota and Saturday at Utah. Thompson will miss those games because of a death in his family, the team said Tuesday. Television color commentator Stu Lantz will miss six Lakers' games from Dec. 11-20 while his wife recovers from surgery. 'Hot' Rod Hundley, a former Lakers color commentator alongside Chick Hearn and a former player on the team, will replace Lantz. Hundley retired from full-time broadcasting after the Utah Jazz lost to the Lakers in the first round of last spring's playoffs. He had been the play-by-play voice of the Jazz on radio and TV for 31 seasons."