Kevin Love

Two-time all-star Kevin Love broke his right hand Wednesday in a morning workout with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Love broke the third and fourth metacarpals in his shooting hand. It is a crushing blow to the Timberwolves, who already will be without star point guard Ricky Rubio for what is expected to be at least the first six weeks of the regular season while he recovers from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The 76ers will face one of the hottest players in the NBA, the master of the double-double, when Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Wells Fargo Center on Friday. Love has recorded double figures in points and rebounds in 48 consecutive games and is nearing the 51 recorded by Moses Malone. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the record of consecutive double-doubles is 227 by Wilt Chamberlain from Dec. 11, 1964, to Nov. 17, 1967. Malone had a streak of 50 consecutive double-doubles to end the 1978-79 season and another in the first game of 1979-80.

76ers Notes In addition to being a walking double-double, Minnesota Timberwolves forward-center Kevin Love provided some indirect inspiration to the 76ers. Love has 49 consecutive games of double figures in points and rebounds after doing it again Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. But he also served as an example in a speech that coach Doug Collins gave the team when the Sixers were at their low point this season. The Sixers were 3-13, and Collins told the players how disappointed he was in the start.

The Celtics' Paul Pierce scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge that paced host Boston over the Los Angeles Lakers, 116-95, Thursday night. The Celtics improved to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a knee injury. Kobe Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who suffered their worst loss of the season despite the return of Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder. Williams' knee surgery Atlanta Hawks guard Lou Williams had reconstructive knee surgery Thursday and will now begin a long rehabilitation period that could leave his status in question for the start of next season.

CARMELO ANTHONY scored 23 points, J.R. Smith kept up his surge with 20 and the New York Knicks snapped the San Antonio Spurs' seven-game winning streak with a 100-83 victory Thursday night. Steve Novak added 15 points and Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks. The Spurs' Stephen Jackson played just three minutes off the bench before spraining his right ankle when he took a shot then fell back into a waitress working the sideline in front of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Utah's Jeremy Evans won the slam dunk contest at the NBA's All-Star Saturday night festivities in Orlando. Evans, who got into the competition as a replacement for injured New York guard Iman Shumpert, earned 29 percent of three million text message votes cast by fans. This was the first year that fans had total control of voting. Evans earned the win over Houston's Chase Budinger, Indiana's Paul George, and Minnesota's Derrick Williams. Evans dunked with a camera on his head, dunked two basketballs while jumping over a seated assistant, and then donned a Karl Malone jersey while dunking over mailman-dressed comedian Kevin Hart.

Even as Kevin Love emerged as an all-star last season and the best rebounder in the NBA, there were always murmurs about his limitations. Love couldn't create his own shot, the whispers went, and he struggled on the defensive end. Even the first 30-point, 30-rebound game since 1982 and 53 double-doubles in a row were qualified by doubters as good numbers on a bad team. So one of the big questions surrounding the Minnesota Timberwolves this season was whether Love was worthy of a maximum salary extension.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has named NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a global cultural ambassador. Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time scoring leader, will promote the importance of education, social and racial tolerance, cultural understanding, and using sports as a means of empowerment. "It's a great honor and I'm thrilled that they see me as the person that could get this done," he said in an interview. Assistant Secretary of State Ann Stock said Abdul-Jabbar will attempt to engage a generation of young people to help promote diplomacy.

The Los Angeles Lakers have surpassed the New York Knicks as the NBA's most valuable team, according to Forbes' annual report. The magazine said Wednesday that the value of the Lakers, who won NBA titles in 2009 and 2010, soared 40 percent from last year due to a 20-year television deal with Time Warner Cable. The Lakers are comfortably above the second-place Knicks, whose value rose 19 percent to $780 million, largely with a boost from the renovation of Madison Square Garden.

LONDON - The U.S. men's Olympic basketball team needed a while but eventually put on the show fans came to see, beating Tunisia, 110-63, Tuesday night. Finally pulling away when coach Mike Krzyzewski started the reserves to open the second half, the Americans had six players in double figures and improved to 2-0 in the tournament. Krzyzewski insists he planned to start the second unit even before a lackluster first half, and said there was nothing bad about the Americans' performance.

Devin Harris scored 17 points, Ivan Johnson hit a key basket, and the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks shook off a 20-point third quarter by Kobe Bryant, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 96-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night in Atlanta. Bryant finished with 31 points, but made just 11 of 33 shots. He drove the baseline with a chance to force overtime, but he missed a jumper with three seconds remaining.   Garnett, Pierce star Kevin Garnett scored 12 points, passing Jerry West for 15th on the NBA's career scoring list, and Paul Pierce joined him among the top 20 scorers in league history with 15 points as the Boston Celtics beat the visiting Toronto Raptors, 112-88.

THE LAKERS' push for the playoffs might be without Kobe Bryant for a while. The Los Angeles star severely sprained his left ankle Wednesday night after missing a game-tying shot in the closing seconds of a loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Lakers spokesman John Black said Bryant is out indefinitely, just as a team that underachieved much of the season is playing its best basketball. The 96-92 loss in Atlanta snapped a four-game winning streak and was just Los Angeles' third loss in the last 12 games.

The Celtics' Paul Pierce scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge that paced host Boston over the Los Angeles Lakers, 116-95, Thursday night. The Celtics improved to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a knee injury. Kobe Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who suffered their worst loss of the season despite the return of Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder. Williams' knee surgery Atlanta Hawks guard Lou Williams had reconstructive knee surgery Thursday and will now begin a long rehabilitation period that could leave his status in question for the start of next season.

PAUL PIERCE scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge as the Boston Celtics routed the visiting Lakers, 116-95, on Thursday night, improving to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a torn knee ligament. The Lakers had cut a 58-44 halftime deficit to 72-61 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Then the Celtics went on a 23-8 run and led 95-69 going into the fourth. Pierce started the surge with a three-point play and ended it with a three-pointer with 41 seconds left, giving him 12 points in the period.

PAUL PIERCE scored 23 points, and the visiting Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks, 102-96, on Monday night in a heated first meeting of the season between the Atlantic Division rivals. Kevin Garnett added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who even without suspended guard Rajon Rondo won their third straight. New York's Carmelo Anthony had 20 points but shot 6-for- 26 while battling his temper, Garnett and foul trouble. J.R. Smith led the Knicks with 24 points. Boston led by four with 9:03 remaining in the game when Anthony and Garnett became extra physical with each other on a Boston possession that ended with a turnover.

Carmelo Anthony scored 16 of his game-high 40 points in the fourth quarter, helping the New York Knicks outlast the host Orlando Magic, 114-106, on Saturday night. J.R. Smith added 18 points off the bench, and Tyson Chandler had 14 points and 12 rebounds. Elsewhere: Brook Lopez scored 18 points in 17 minutes, and the Brooklyn Nets got a nice effort from their reserves in beating the visiting Sacramento Kings, 113-93, for their third straight victory. . . . Rajon Rondo had 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, and the Boston Celtics rallied to beat the host Atlanta Hawks, 89-81.

CARMELO ANTHONY scored 23 points, J.R. Smith kept up his surge with 20 and the New York Knicks snapped the San Antonio Spurs' seven-game winning streak with a 100-83 victory Thursday night. Steve Novak added 15 points and Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks. The Spurs' Stephen Jackson played just three minutes off the bench before spraining his right ankle when he took a shot then fell back into a waitress working the sideline in front of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

I still say that the best-case scenario for the Sixers is for banged-up center Andrew Bynum to get healthy, return to his All-Star form and prove he can stay on the court. If the Sixers can be relatively sure Bynum can play 65 to 70 games in the regular season and playoffs, I'd roll the dice again and sign him long term. It would be worth the risk. Under those parameters, the Sixers would have a solid, 5-year window in which to win an NBA championship. But if the Bynum's murky status doesn't clear up soon, the Sixers must make a proactive move instead becoming trapped to a reactive one. They'll need stop looking at Bynum as a player and instead view him as a $16.3 million expiring contract.

J.J. Barea scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Minnesota Timberwolves ended the Oklahoma City Thunder's 12-game winning streak with a 99-93 win Thursday night in Minneapolis. Kevin Love had 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, and Nikola Pekovic had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota as it held off the team with the NBA's best record. Kevin Durant had 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, and Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists for the Thunder, who had not lost a game since Nov. 23 at Boston.

MINNESOTA'S J.J. Barea scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves defeated visiting Oklahoma City, 99-93, to end the Thunder's 12-game winning streak. Kevin Love had 28 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists and Nikola Pekovic had 24 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota. But it was Barea who was the key, scoring 12 straight at one point for the Wolves to hold off the team with the best record in the league. Kevin Durant had 33 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the Thunder (21-5)