Charlotte Bobcats

BOSTON - A day after a 45-point shellacking at the hands of the Chicago Bulls, you didn't expect to see many happy faces in the 76ers' locker room before last night's game against the blistering Boston Celtics. And there weren't, really, until one topic was brought up. Christmas. After last night's game, the players are off until Christmas Day. The players could choose to go back to Philadelphia and fly the team charter to Denver on Christmas and attend a 2-hour practice that night, or they could go wherever they wanted and meet up with the team in Denver in time for the 8 p.m. practice.

Who: Charlotte Bobcats (15-23) at Sixers (16-23) When: 2 o'clock Where: Wells Fargo Center TV: Comcast SportsNet Radio: WIP (610-AM)

Who: Sixers (17-24) at Charlotte Bobcats (16-24) When: 7 o'clock Where: Time Warner Cable Arena TV/Radio: Comcast Network/WIP (610-AM)  

NEWARK, N.J. - The Phoenix Suns drafted North Philadelphia's Markieff Morris with the 13th overall pick of Thursday's NBA draft at the Prudential Center. Five minutes later, Marcus Morris, Markieff's twin, went at No. 14 to the Houston Rockets. Markieff, a 6-foot-10, 245-pound power forward out of Kansas, became the highest draft pick from Southeastern Pennsylvania since the Charlotte Bobcats took Gerald Henderson at No. 12 in 2009. Markieff averaged 13.6 points to go with 8 rebounds while earning Associated Press honorable-mention all-America honors this past season.

Eddie Jordan, the former 76ers coach, surfaced yesterday at the Charlotte Bobcats' training camp practice. This would appear to be his first public appearance since being fired by the Sixers at the end of last season, although he interviewed for the coaching job at Rutgers. The Sixers were 27-55 in Jordan's only season. He left with two remaining guaranteed seasons on his contract, thought to be worth a total of $6 million. His attempt to install the Princeton offense never worked.

Former Villanova basketball star Dante Cunningham will not face charges for possession of marijuana, drug parapernalia and a loaded pellet gun. The charges were withdrawn yesterday in Radnor Township. Cunningham, a power forward for the Charlotte Bobcats, was arrested in early May after he was stopped on Lancaster Avenue and police allegedly detected the smell of marijuana inside his car. He also was charged with an equipment violation on his car and disorderly conduct because of unreasonable noise.

CHARLOTTE - Nikola Vucevic is going through a routine part of any rookie's season in the NBA. He appears to be lost on the offensive end, a step (or two) slow on the defensive side and is playing with all the aggressiveness of a pillow. No matter how much 76ers coach Doug Collins rides his rookie center, and he has done so frequently lately, he understands what Vucevic is going through. Every player has a certain amount of struggle time during his first season and Vucevic is going through it now. Including the Sixers' 105-80 win over the Bobcats last night, he has scored just 17 points in his last six games, making just six of his last 26 shots.

Jeff Capel is now an assistant coach with the 76ers. The Sixers issued a news release Tuesday announcing that coach Doug Collins had hired Capel. The announcement came one day after the National Basketball Players Association dissolved its union in favor of legal action against the NBA. Capel, 58, joins a staff that includes Collins, associate head coach Michael Curry, and assistants Brian James and Aaron McKie. With the league in a state of labor unrest, it's unclear when the Sixers' coaching staff will return to the sideline, or even if there will be a 2011-12 season.

Michael Beasley griped about some calls, tumbled after missing layups, then shook his head in disappointment after a rebound bounced off his outstretched hands. After his first summer league game drew raves, Beasley looked like a rookie in his second. One day after scoring 28 points in his much-hyped debut, Beasley returned to earth yesterday, finishing with only nine points in Miami's 90-81 summer league win over New Jersey in Orlando. The second overall pick in last month's draft was a mere mortal, missing all but one of his 13 shots from the field and collecting nearly as many fouls (seven; there's no automatic disqualification in summer league)

The Sixers have signed free-agent center Primoz Brezec to a 1-year contract worth $1.1 million. The 7-1 Brezec, who entered the league with the Indiana Pacers as a first-round draft choice in 2000 (No. 27 overall), is the fifth big man on the current roster, joining Dalembert, Elton Brand, Marreese Speights and Jason Smith. The signing was first reported last week in the Daily News. "We feel that Primoz will provide us with additional size and depth in the front court, but just as beneficial is the wealth of experience he brings to the team not only on the NBA level, but internationally as well," Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement.

ORLANDO SEEMS to be Rumor Central these days with names like Shaquille O'Neal and Jerry Sloan being tossed out there. O'Neal will meet with the Magic next week to discuss the general manager opening, multiple sources told ESPN. In his first season as an analyst for TNT, O'Neal spent the first four seasons of his career as the Magic's center starting with the 1992-93 season. He led the league in scoring with 29.3 points per game with Orlando in 1994-95. Sloan, meanwhile, has expressed interest in the open Charlotte Bobcats and Magic coaching positions.

DANNY GRANGER scored 25 points to help the Indiana Pacers defeat the visiting Orlando Magic, 105-87, on Tuesday night and clinch their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series 4-1. It was Indiana's first series win since 2005 and its first clincher on its home court since the first round of the 2000 playoffs. The Pacers will play Miami or New York in the second round. Miami leads that series 3-1, and as the final minutes ticked away, fans began chanting, "Beat the Heat.

THE WORST season in NBA history is over for the Charlotte Bobcats. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are looking ahead to the playoffs. The Bobcats couldn't even beat a Knicks team resting most of its starters, finishing with the lowest winning percentage in league history after a 104-84 loss Thursday. J.R. Smith scored 22 points for the Knicks, who pulled away in the second half to clinch the Eastern Conference's No. 7 seed and a first-round playoff matchup against No. 2 Miami beginning Saturday.

OKLAHOMA CITY Thunder forward James Harden underwent tests Monday following his concussion in the previous day's game against the Los Angeles Lakers and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday. Harden participated in limited activities on Monday but must go through additional steps under the NBA's concussion policy before he is cleared to play again. Harden dropped to the floor after taking a vicious backward elbow to the head from Metta World Peace after the Lakers' forward had dunked over two Thunder players late in the second quarter of Los Angeles' double-overtime win Sunday.

LeBron James scored Miami's final 17 points in a furious one-man rally, finishing with 37 as the Heat pulled out a 101-98 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night in Newark, N.J. In a game the Heat never led until the final 51 seconds, James willed them to their 10th straight victory over the Nets. With Dwyane Wade resting, James scored those 17 points over the last 4 minutes, 48 seconds.   Bobcats keep losing Greivis Vasquez scored 20 points and the New Orleans Hornets handed the Charlotte Bobcats a franchise-record 17th straight loss, 75-67.

GREIVIS VASQUEZ scored 20 points and the visiting New Orleans Hornets handed the Charlotte Bobcats a franchise-record 17th straight loss, 75-67, on Monday night. The Hornets, playing without leading scorers Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman, won despite shooting just 34 percent from the floor in the second-lowest scoring NBA game this season. Gordon was given the night off to rest, but no reason was given before the game as to why Kaman was held out of action. Carl Landry added 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Hornets, who found out Monday that New Orleans will host the 2014 All-Star Game.

LeBron James had 29 points and 10 rebounds and the Miami Heat beat the host New York Knicks, 93-85, on Sunday and clinched the Southeast Division title. Dwyane Wade - playing his 594th game with the Heat to break Alonzo Mourning's record - added 28 points. Chris Bosh finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Heat, who pulled away in the fourth quarter of a possible playoff preview. Miami is second in the Eastern Conference. New York, which came into the game tied for seventh, fell into eighth, a half-game behind the 76ers.

Paul Pierce scored 24 points to help the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers, 86-72, in Indianapolis Saturday night. Ray Allen added 19 points, Kevin Garnett scored 15, and Rajon Rondo had 12 assists for the Celtics. Boston snapped a two-game skid and are now two games ahead of the 76ers at the top of the Atlantic Division. Danny Granger scored 20 points and Roy Hibbert had 17 rebounds for Indiana. The Pacers shot 35 percent from the field, made just 5 of 22 three-pointers and committed 19 turnovers.

DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points before leaving with an injury, Andrea Bargnani had 21, and the Toronto Raptors routed the Knicks, 96-79, Friday night in Toronto, snapping New York's five-game winning streak. Gary Forbes scored 19 points and Jose Calderon had 10 assists as Toronto snapped a three-game skid and handed New York its first defeat under coach Mike Woodson.   Hawks 93, Nets 84 Josh Smith had 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead Atlanta over New Jersey in Atlanta.

CHARLOTTE - Nikola Vucevic is going through a routine part of any rookie's season in the NBA. He appears to be lost on the offensive end, a step (or two) slow on the defensive side and is playing with all the aggressiveness of a pillow. No matter how much 76ers coach Doug Collins rides his rookie center, and he has done so frequently lately, he understands what Vucevic is going through. Every player has a certain amount of struggle time during his first season and Vucevic is going through it now. Including the Sixers' 105-80 win over the Bobcats last night, he has scored just 17 points in his last six games, making just six of his last 26 shots.