Ron Artest played imaginary catch with "friends" in the stands, making gestures like he was tossing a ball underhanded in different directions before his first game at The Palace since the brawl. The fans simply responded with boos and jeers. That sure beat his last game in suburban Detroit, when he was hit by a thrown cup and responded by charging into the stands to spark one of the worst brawls...

Utah coach Jerry Sloan was more interested in talking about his latest victory than his latest milestone. He isn't the type to wax poetic, so moving into fourth place on the NBA's career wins list didn't mean much to him. Winning the game Saturday night did. Mehmet Okur scored 21 points and Carlos Boozer added 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Jazz to a 95-85 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

The Atlanta Hawks thought they were headed in the right direction, riding a three-game winning streak and starting to get healthy. Two straight losses to the Charlotte Bobcats and Josh Smith's obscene gestures have dampened the optimism. Matt Carroll scored 22 points and Charlotte shot a team-record 65 percent in a 104-85 victory over Atlanta on Saturday night.

The Denver Nuggets have survived long enough without Carmelo Anthony. Now, they can't wait to see how their risky "experiment" works. Allen Iverson banked in a running 3-pointer in overtime and scored 36 points to rally Denver to a 121-113 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night in the Nuggets' final game without Anthony.

The fate of the Cleveland Cavaliers' road trip and the new Golden State Warriors' debut all hung on one last overtime 3-point shot by Stephen Jackson. It rattled in and out at the buzzer, sending LeBron James home with an improbable victory -- but the Warriors' exhilarated new players felt a bit like winners as well.

Eddie House has a typical mentality for a shooting guard: If the shots don't fall, keep putting them up until they do. After hitting only one shot in three quarters, House scored 15 of his 17 points in the fourth and the New Jersey Nets held Dwight Howard to a season-low one point in a 101-94 victory over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.

With tired legs and a comfortable lead against a short-handed opponent, the Washington Wizards starting playing horrible basketball. Missed free throws. Careless fouls. Bad defense. Soon the 21-point lead was gone, and the Boston Celtics had forced overtime. In the extra period, there was more excruciating stuff.

Not again, the New York Knicks thought as Danny Granger's shot went up. No way could they possibly lose in the closing seconds for the third straight game. Finally, luck fell their way. Granger shot an airball on a 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired, and New York held on for a 108-106 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.

The Pittsburgh Penguins had made it a goal to hold one of the Eastern Conference's eight playoff spots by the All-Star break. With an emphatic win in their final game before the five-day league layoff, the Penguins achieved just that. Mark Recchi scored three consecutive power-play goals and Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to lead the Penguins to an 8-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on...

A gritty come-from behind road victory over the Los Angeles Kings was worth the wait for the Phoenix Coyotes. Ladislav Nagy and Travis Roche scored in the third period and Josh Gratton scored his first of the season, leading the Coyotes to a 3-2 victory Saturday night and extending the Kings' losing streak to seven games.

Dallas goalie Marty Turco had to work hard for his milestone win, which capped a momentous week for the Stars to take into the All-Star break. Stu Barnes scored in the ninth round of the shootout, beating the Minnesota Wild 2-1 and making Turco the Stars' all-time leader in victories on Saturday night.

David Legwand would have a tough time topping his performance Saturday night. David Legwand scored three goals and assisted on another and the Nashville Predators beat Chicago 6-3 to send the Blackhawks into the All-Star break with a nine-game losing streak. Legwand completed his first career hat trick with an empty-net goal that also gave him the franchise lead with 97, passing Scott Walker.

Calgary headed into the All-Star break a first-place team after beating the rival Oilers. Not that grabbing a share of the Northwest Division lead mattered all that much to the Flames. "It's where you are at the end of the season that matters," forward Marcus Nilson said after Calgary defeated Edmonton 4-0 on Saturday night.

Manny Legace wasn't thinking shutout. That didn't stop him from blanking one of the NHL's best teams. Legace saved 31 shots as the St. Louis Blues defeated the San Jose Sharks 1-0 on Saturday night. It was Legace's third shutout of the season and 16th of his career. "I feel way better when we get a win then when I get a shutout," Legace said.

Alexander Perezhogin built up enough nerve to make a few rare comments in English after his big play helped send the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break on an upswing. Perezhogin set up Michael Ryder's go-ahead goal with 2:53 remaining in regulation and Montreal beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 on Saturday night, despite blowing a three-goal lead.

The Ottawa Senators seem to have solved the Boston Bruins. Dany Heatley scored his team-leading 29th and 30th goals, and Ray Emery stopped 18 shots for his fourth shutout to lead the Senators to 3-0 victory over the Bruins on Saturday night. Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa, winners of five straight road games and six of seven overall.

It wasn't that long ago that Peter Budaj was playing in the minors and had everyone in the Colorado Avalanche organization believing that someday he would become a No. 1 goalie. Now that he's gained confidence to go with those abilities, Budaj has reached that projection. Budaj kept Colorado in it with 27 saves and Andrew Brunette scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, helping the...