NBA Roundup 2010 NBA News

Cleveland's Shaquille O'Neal scored 16 points Tuesday night in a 108-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors and became the fifth player in NBA history to reach 28,000. With his first basket, O'Neal joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) as the only players to reach the milestone.

LeBron James scored 28 points to lead the Cavaliers.

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Heat 113, Pacers 83 — Dwyane Wade scored 18 of his 32 points in the first quarter as host Miami got on top of Indiana early.

James can leave Cleveland as a free agent after this season. Speculation has centered on him signing a long-term contract in a larger market.

"Looking at the fact that it is a business, I put that first," Brown said. "But having said that, I would love to see him be here. I think it's a terrific marriage."

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NBA Cavaliers past Raptors

LeBron James just missed the triple double and Shaquille O'Neal reached another milestone as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Toronto 108-100.

James finished with 28 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for Cleveland who are beginning long spell of home games at Quicken Loans Arena.

Mo Williams added 22 points and 10 assists as the Cavaliers boosted their record to 15-3 at home this season.

Cleveland's Shaquille O'Neal finished with 16 points and became the fifth player in National Basketball Association history to surpass 28,000 points in his career.

"There's no layups when Shaq is covering the glass," James said. "That's what he's about. He doesn't care about putting guys on the floor."

O'Neal reached the milestone with his opening basket in the first minute of the game. He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) as the only players to reach the milestone.

O'Neal assisted on two crucial baskets down the stretch and set the tone for Cleveland's defence in the second half with hard fouls on Raptor Demar DeRozan and Jarrett Jack.

"I'm happy being No. 5. There are some great names in front of me and some great names behind me," O'Neal said. "I've always been a player that only gets happy about the big picture. It's a great milestone but it's something I don't get too giddy about."

Chris Bosh scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Toronto but was held to just five points in the second half.

The Raptors were held scoreless in the final 3:15 of the third quarter to fall behind 91-83 heading into the final quarter.

James hit two crucial free throws with 1:21 left in the fourth and Bosh committed a turnover with 24 seconds left which iced the game for Cleveland.

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New Jersey Nets vs Atlanta Hawks NBA Predictions

Already with one of the best offenses in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks are starting to play better on the defensive end. That doesn't bode well for the New Jersey Nets.

The high-powered Hawks look to get another solid defensive effort and win for the fourth straight time Sunday against the lowly Nets.

With Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Josh Smith leading the way, Atlanta (16-6) is averaging 104.7 points. The Hawks are among the league leaders in points in the paint (49.4 per game) and fast break points (17.8), and have been getting contributions from the entire team.

After all 12 players scored in Wednesday's 118-83 win over Chicago, the bench scored 55 points -- one less than the starting five -- in Friday's 111-89 victory at Toronto.

"When our bench comes out and plays like that, we're a tough team to beat," said Johnson, who averages a team-high 21.0 points. "It makes us a lot more deadly, you can't really sit up and guard just one or two guys when you've got everybody rolling the way we were."

Although the offense has keyed the strong start, Atlanta's defensive play is a big reason for this three-game winning streak.

The Hawks are limiting opponents to 82.3 points on 40.8 percent shooting in the three victories after allowing an average of 114.5 points on 54.4 percent shooting in their previous two games.

That defensive turnaround is not a good sign for a New Jersey team that has trouble scoring.

The Nets (2-21), who took three of four from the Hawks last season, are averaging league lows of 88.5 points and 41.1 percent shooting, topping the 100-point mark just twice. They will likely have a difficult time trying to keep up with an Atlanta team that is averaging 123.7 points in its last three at home.

Atlanta, 9-2 at Philips Arena, also probably won't have much trouble getting its offense in gear against New Jersey, which is allowing an average of 105.3 points in its last eight games.

The Nets are coming off Friday's 107-91 loss to Indiana, dropping to 2/3 under coach Kiki Vandeweghe. New Jersey shot 36.3 percent from the field and made 3 of 13 shots from 3-point range.

"This was a tough one," Vandeweghe said. "We have to take a look at it and realize how they got ahead of us. (Friday) was a struggle for us shooting-wise."

Poor shooting has been an ongoing problem for the Nets, who have made less than 40.0 percent of their attempts in 10 games.

Brook Lopez had a rare bad shooting night Friday, missing 15 of 23 shots, but still finished with 25 points. Lopez, the league's highest-scoring center at 19.5 points per game, was shooting 60.0 percent from the floor in his previous four contests.

Devin Harris left Friday's game in the second half with a sprained left pinky finger, but returned to finish with 18 points. Harris was instrumental toNew Jersey's success against the Hawks last season, averaging 27.3 points in the four meetings.

New Jersey Nets vs Atlanta Hawks NBA Predictions

Already with one of the best offenses in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks are starting to play better on the defensive end. That doesn't bode well for the New Jersey Nets. The high-powered Hawks look to get another solid defensive effort and win for the fourth straight time Sunday against the lowly Nets. Watch the match Live at our Online Sportsbook TV

With Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Josh Smith leading the way, Atlanta (16-6) is averaging 104.7 points. The Hawks are among the league leaders in points in the paint (49.4 per game) and fast break points (17.8), and have been getting contributions from the entire team.

After all 12 players scored in Wednesday's 118-83 win over Chicago, the bench scored 55 points -- one less than the starting five -- in Friday's 111-89 victory at Toronto.

Toronto Raptors vs Orlando Magic Watch Online NBA Review

The Orlando Magic have used their depth to dominate the season series with the Toronto Raptors. Pulling off the sweep might not come easy, however, with Chris Bosh helping the Raptors play their best basketball of the season.

Orlando looks to beat Toronto for the fourth time in barely more than two months Wednesday night at Amway Arena, while the Raptors try to rideBosh to their seventh win in eight games overall. Many Online sportsbook and sports experts listed Raptors as Under dogs to consider.

Southeast Division-leading Orlando (24-10) has had little problem dispatching Toronto so far this season, winning the first three meetings by an average of 12.0 points. The Magic, who have four players scoring at least 10.0 points per game overall, have eight averaging in double figures against the Raptors.

Rashard Lewis was one of six Orlando players with at least 12 points in a 118-99 home victory over Toronto in the teams' last meeting Dec. 16. Lewis scored a game-high 21 and made five 3-pointers as the Magic shot a season-high 57.3 percent from the field.

Dwight Howard led the effort at the other end of the floor, finishing with eight blocks to go along with 18 points and 14 rebounds.

As convincing as that victory was, the Magic shouldn't necessarily expect another blowout against a Raptors team that has a chance to reach .500 for the first time since it was 5-5 on Nov. 15.

Bosh scored 22 points Sunday, passing current Magic guard Vince Carter as the Raptors' all-time leading scorer with 9,428 points and helping Toronto (17-18) defeat San Antonio 91-86 for its sixth win in seven games. The Raptors' only loss in that stretch came Saturday, when they fell 103-96 at Eastern Conference-leading Boston.

"I was thinking it would be really nice to set the record and everything, but I wanted to win, that was the main focus of the whole game," saidBosh, who added 15 rebounds against the Spurs for his 25th double-double in 35 games. "It makes it that much better."

San Antonio's Tim Duncan, limited to 8-for-22 shooting in part because of Bosh's defense, praised the seventh-year forward for reaching the milestone.

"He's been an All-Star for years and he's been a great player, too," Duncan said. "It's a great accomplishment for him and I know he's proud of that fact. He's had this team on his shoulders for a long time."

Bosh is averaging 23.7 points and 11.3 rebounds while shooting 51.9 percent in 2009-10 -- all career highs. He's averaging 26.3 points over his last four games, and shooting 58.1 percent during Toronto's 6-1 stretch.

While the Raptors are thriving, the Magic have dropped consecutive games to teams with losing records. After falling 101-93 at Chicago on Saturday, they shot 38.4 percent and committed 20 turnovers in a 97-90 loss at Indiana on Tuesday night. One of the famous sports betting site in their NBA Betting Picks listed Magics as hot side to gain money

"Look, we're just playing terrible, we really are," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Offensively, it's just really bad right now. We can't score, we can not score. I need to look at everything, playing different guys, I don't know. It's just not working in the least."

This will be the second game back in Orlando for Hedo Turkoglu, who signed with Toronto in the offseason after five seasons with the Magic. Turkoglu, averaging 15.0 points and shooting 41.9 percent in three total games against his former club, made his return toOrlando in December, getting a big ovation during introductions before boos drowned out the cheers for most of the game.

"Anybody who's booing him really can't be a Magic fan," said Van Gundy, whose team advanced to the NBA finals with Turkoglu last season. "We wouldn't have gotten to where we got to last year without him."