Lakers' Jordan Hill charged

HOUSTON -- Los Angeles Lakers forward Jordan Hill faces a felony assault charge after an incident with his girlfriend in Houston.
Hill is charged with allegedly shoving and choking 28-year-old Darlene Luna, about 1 p.m. on Feb. 29 at his Houston apartment. Luna told police that the two had been dating for about two years. He was charged by Harris County prosecutors in March.
Hill will have to make an appearance in Houston to face the charge -- third-degree felony for assault on a family member by choking -- the Houston district attorney's office said.
The district attorney's office said that Hill faces a sentence of two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. After paperwork is complete, a warrant for his arrest will be issued.
The Lakers have an off day in their first-round playoff series against the Nuggets before hosting Denver Tuesday.

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Hill was part of the trade that sent Derek Fisher to Houston March 15. The Rockets had a game the date of the incident but Hill did not dress for that game.
As word of the charge began to spread, two messages were posted on Hill's Twitter account: "Wowwwww," and "Unbelievable!!!!!!!!"
Hill later issued a statement.
"I'm saddened to learn of the accusations that were filed against me today," he said. "At this time I cannot comment further other than to say that my attorneys are working to gather all of the facts and evidence and I plan to cooperate completely with the authorities.
"I'd like to apologize to the Lakers organization and to all of their fans for the untimeliness of these accusations. I promise to keep my focus and attention on the playoffs during this time and to helping my team win another championship."
The Lakers also issued a statement later Monday.
"We are aware of the media reports alleging an incident involving Jordan Hill from two months ago when he was a member of the Houston Rockets," the statement read. "We do not have any details regarding these reports and therefore, as well as due to the personal and legal aspects, it would not be appropriate for us to comment. Any further inquiries regarding this should be directed to Jordan's representative."
Hill participated in Lakers practice Monday after meeting with Lakers coach Mike Brown and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak to discuss the allegations.
"It's not that we were worried about his mental focus, we just told him we're behind him and let the legal process handle it however it needs to be handled," Brown said.
Brown said that, from his understanding, Hill would be available to play in Game 2 and did not anticipate Hill's role as the first big man off the bench in the Lakers' rotation changing moving forward.
Both Hill and Brown said they did not expect Hill to be absent from any games or practices as the case unfolds.
"But again, it's something that's not in my control and if he has to miss, then he has to miss," Brown said.
Hill is in his third year in the league out of Arizona. He has career averages of 5.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per

Durant's game-winner helps Thunder shake off Mavericks

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Kevin Durant was determined to not let the Oklahoma City Thunder lose another playoff game at home to Dallas.

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He scored 25 points and hit the winning jumper from the foul line with 1.5 seconds left to give the Thunder a 99-98 victory over the Mavericks on Saturday night in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series — a rematch of last year's Western Conference finals.

The Thunder trailed by seven with 2½ minutes left before rallying to take the first step toward avenging a 4-1 series loss a year ago.

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"It's the playoffs," Durant said. "No matter how it gets done, you've got to do it."

With his team trailing by one late in the fourth quarter, he forced his way toward the lane and found himself with defenders closing in and the clock winding down.

Durant maneuvered to the free throw line and got off a high-arcing shot over Shawn Marion that hit off the front of the rim and then off the backboard before falling through the net.

The defending NBA champion Mavericks, who were out of timeouts, could not get a shot off before the buzzer.

"If you have a timeout, you can move the ball (to half-court) and maybe have a look at it," said Dirk Nowitzki, who had hit two free throws with 9 seconds left to put Dallas ahead. "But if you don't have a timeout, that's definitely a buzzer-beater."

Nowitzki scored 11 of his 25 points in the final 5 minutes, going on a personal 7-1 run that made it 92-85 with 3:23 to go.

He then answered Russell Westbrook's layup with a foul line jumper to restore the seven-point advantage, but it didn't prove to be enough.

"It's tough. This is definitely as tough of a loss as you can get," Nowitzki said. "But if a team can recover it, it's an experienced one and we definitely have a lot of older guys who have been through a lot."

Westbrook led the Thunder with 28 points and Serge Ibaka had 22 points and five blocks. James Harden scored 19 points in his first game since sustaining a concussion when the Los Angeles Lakers' Metta World Peace hit him with an elbow last Sunday and earned a seven-game suspension.

Dallas' Jason Terry added 20 points — but none in the fourth quarter — and Marion had 17.

"We're going to keep coming at these guys. Trust me, we're going to keep going at 'em," coach Rick Carlisle said. "We have a tough-minded team. We have a locker room full of champions."

The second-seeded Thunder played catch-up most of the night, and Durant led the charge on the final push of seven straight Oklahoma City points before his right-handed slam tied it at 94 with 1:27 remaining.

Dallas went back ahead with an out-of-control possession, with Harden knocking the ball away from Jason Kidd and then Nowitzki losing it, too, before Vince Carter missed a desperation baseline jumper. Ian Mahinmi rebounded the miss and got fouled, stepping to the line to hit two free throws with 1:03 to play.

Durant drove to set up Ibaka's three-point play at the other end, bumping the Thunder ahead 97-96. Nowitzki committed his second turnover of the final 3 minutes and Durant missed along the baseline before the two All-Stars came through in the clutch — with Durant getting the last chance.

"It was a great shot," Harden said. "It saved the game for us. I don't think we played well … but he saved us at the end."

Back in December, Durant hit the third buzzer-beater of his career — and the most recent until Saturday night — on a 3-pointer to beat Dallas 104-102 in the fourth game of the regular season.

"I was all over him. He couldn't even get a look at the rim," Marion said. "He just threw it up there and got a nice little bounce and it went in."

Afterward, Carlisle second-guessed his decision not to double-team Durant but he was more focused on the series of mistakes that allowed the lead to slip away — including Nowitzki's turnovers and the defense that allowed Ibaka's two three-point plays 53 seconds apart.

"We made mistakes you can't make down the stretch. The last shot always gets magnified, but we made some uncharacteristic mistakes that we're not going to make any more in this series," Carlisle said. "We can't."

Nowitzki had dominated last year's West finals, averaging 32.2 points and 11.8 in the fourth quarter. Dallas won both games in Oklahoma City a season ago and overcame fourth-quarter deficits of 15 and eight points in the final two games.

This time, the roles were reversed.

"I thought we had our chances, and we've got to create our own breaks. It felt like all season long, for some reason, the other teams were making one more play, one more bounce," Nowitzki said. "We've got to come up and grab them.

"We were right there. The game was there for the taking. We needed one more play that we didn't come up with."

Notes: A shot originally ruled a 3-pointer by Terry in the final minute of the first quarter was corrected to a 2 when instant replay showed his left foot was on the line. … Oklahoma City won three of the four regular-season games between the teams. … Backup center Nazr Mohammed was dropped from the Thunder rotation. He played in 63 of 66 regular-season games but didn't play in the final two games against Dallas despite being healthy. … Dallas' biggest lead was eight on multiple occasions. Oklahoma City never led by more than four.

Kevin Durant embracing closer role

OKLAHOMA CITY -- They are a couple of the most freakishly gifted, hard-to-guard scorers in NBA history, but they both had to figure out how to do their job in those moments when the stakes and pressure are maximized.
It took Dirk Nowitzki several years, the Dallas Mavericks superstar acknowledges, but he developed into one of the NBA's elite closers and has a 10-month-old Finals MVP trophy to prove it.

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Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant, a 23-year-old kid fresh off his third consecutive NBA scoring title, admits he's developing as a go-to guy with the game on the line.
Consider Durant's sky-high-degree-of-difficulty jumper with 1.5 ticks left in Saturday's classic Game 1 a quantum leap in that process.
Durant's off-the-dribble 15-footer gave the young Thunder a 99-98 victory over the Mavericks. Dallas defensive stopper Shawn Marion was all over him, sure that Durant didn't even see the rim, but the ball splashed through to deliver Oklahoma City a 1-0 series lead over the defending NBA champions, who dismissed the Thunder in a five-game West finals last season.
"It was a great shot," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "It was contested, but great players make tough shots. That's what he has to do."
That's what Durant has struggled to do throughout his otherwise-spectacular career. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Durant is 4-of-18 on potential go-ahead shots in the final five seconds over the past two years.
Nowitzki readily admits he didn't want the role early in his career, happy to stand in the corner as a floor-spacer while former teammates Michael Finley and Steve Nash took the shots that mattered most. It wasn't until Finley and Nash were gone that Nowitzki embraced the role, and that was because he basically had no choice.
Durant has never shied away from taking those big shots. He just settled for jacking up long jumpers far too often instead of attacking the defense.
"I'm still growing, I'm still growing," Durant said after scoring 25 points on a not-so-efficient 10-of-27 shooting Saturday. "I know that I'll take my bumps and bruises, but it's just a matter of me being confident to just go in there and do it.
"I've been learning ever since I've been in this league. I got thrown into the fire. In fourth quarters, my teammates expect me to make plays, and I just try to do it no matter how the night's gone before that. It takes a lot of misses for me to finally get it."

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This shot, or more specifically, the moments leading up to the game winner, proves that Durant gets it.
The play was designed for Durant to come off a screen and get the ball on the baseline, ideally after a big man switched onto him. He couldn't get open initially, forcing him to catch the ball by the 3-point arc on the left wing. Durant dribbled across the floor before going into attack mode, crossing over Marion to get to one of his favorite spots and then pulling up by the free throw line.
Marion's "great defense," as "The Matrix" called it, didn't matter. Unlike the long 3-pointer Marion blocked to ensure overtime in the toughest loss in Oklahoma City history, Durant got this shot off and watched it go down.
"Durant made a great shot," said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, whose team lost here in December when Durant hit a 28-footer at the buzzer. "The only other thing we could have done was double-teamed and got the ball out of his hands. And we should have done that, obviously, so that's on me and I take responsibility for that."
Added Brooks, whose team fought back after trailing by seven with 3:23 remaining: "At that point in the game, they're going to crowd you, they're going to put you out of your comfort zone, but he did not stop. He showed some toughness."
Durant showed that the OKC kids are ready to rumble in crunch time against the Mavericks, who ruined the party-like atmosphere at the previous playoff game in Oklahoma by roaring back from a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation en route to a Game 4 overtime win, a Dirk-dominated rally that was the most critical juncture of that series.
With Marion locking down Durant in that game last year, the Thunder managed to score only two points after Durant prematurely celebrated a 3-pointer that seemed like a dagger with 5:06 remaining by busting out an imaginary championship belt, a la Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.