Tapscott's debut boosts Wizards
Coaching his first game of any sort since a spot on the bench in his daughter's youth league in 1993 - "We won, but she complained about playing time," he said - Ed Tapscott juggled a few things and guided the Wizards to a 124-100 blowout of visiting Golden State last night, breaking Washington's five-game losing streak and avoiding the worst 12-game start in franchise history.
Caron Butler scored a season-high 35 points, Andray Blatche had season highs with 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Antawn Jamison added 25 points and 11 rebounds as the Wizards improved to 2-10 with their best scoring output of the season.
Their 124 points topped any number achieved in the first 11 games under Eddie Jordan, who was fired Monday and replaced by Tapscott, who had been the team's director of player development.
Cavaliers 119, Knicks 101 - LeBron James might never have an easier night at Madison Square Garden, whether he plays for the Knicks or not.
James scored 26 points before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Cavaliers quickly took a charged-up New York crowd out of the game.
Delonte West added 16 points and Wally Szczerbiak had 15 for the Cavaliers, who rang up their highest point total of the season.
Lakers 120, Nets 93 - Pau Gasol had 26 points and eight rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the host Lakers overcame a poor shooting night by Kobe Bryant with a strong fourth quarter to rout New Jersey and improve the NBA's best record to 12-1.
Bryant had difficulty most of the game with Vince Carter's defense, going 5 for 17 from the field in 28 minutes and finishing with 12 points in the Lakers' fifth straight victory.
Mavericks 109, Pacers 106 - Jason Terry scored 29 points and combined with Jason Kidd to key a fourth-quarter run that carried host Dallas past Indiana for its fifth straight victory.
Suns 99, Thunder 98 - Matt Barnes hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 25.7 seconds left to complete a fourth-quarter rally for Phoenix and spoil Scott Brooks's home debut as Oklahoma City's head coach. 