The Mavericks are happy to welcome Amar’e Stoudemire to town but they haven’t forgotten about the way he dominated them in the 2005 playoffs, Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes. “They had a tough team to guard,” said Dirk Nowitzki, remembering the Mavericks’ six-game loss to the Suns in the second round of the playoffs. “And Amar’e was amazing rolling right down the middle, finishing above the rim. Nobody could get to him. He was, for a 6-10 guy, as explosive as this league has probably seen. He could just take off from outside the charge circle and dunk on everybody. He was a beast.” More from the Southwest Division..
- Good news for Anthony Davis and the Pelicans, as tests revealed there was no structural damage to his shoulder, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The big man is now expected to be out for 1-2 weeks.
- Unfortunately, Ryan Anderson figures to be out a little while longer. The Pelicans announced that the forward has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his right knee and he’s expected to miss 2-4 weeks of action. Anderson suffered the injury in the second quarter of Saturday night’s contest against the Heat.
- The Grizzlies announced that they have re-assigned forward/center Jarnell Stokes and guard Russ Smith to the their D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy. This marks the fifth assignment to Iowa for Stokes and the second for Smith, who had three prior stints this season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Stokes, a University of Tennessee product, spoke with Hoops Rumors prior to the 2014 draft.