NBA Sunday

NBA Rankings

1. Los Angeles Lakers: Champs are one of just two teams still unbeaten at home.

2. Boston Celtics: Surprisingly, the Celtics have a better record on the road than at home.

3. Orlando Magic: Earned a nice Thanksgiving Day win over Southeast rival Hawks.

4. Denver Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony is playing better than he ever has before.

5. Phoenix Suns: Actually lead Lakers in the Pacific, but are they really as good as their record?

6. Dallas Mavericks: Big lead in the Southwest may not last with Spurs finally playing better.

7. Cleveland Cavaliers: Shaq's back, but the Cavs still lost — at home — to the Bobcats .

8. Atlanta Hawks: Snapped a two-game losing streak with a win in Philly on Friday night.

9. Portland Trail Blazers: Good record, but would like to get Friday's loss to Memphis back.

10. San Antonio Spurs: Don't look now, but Spurs have won four straight to get on track.

24 Second Clock Roundup

With a matchup against the world-champion Los Angeles Lakers on deck, it seemed as if the only way the New Jersey Nets could avoid matching an NBA record for futility to start a season was by winning in Sacramento on Friday.

So the Nets promptly came out and fell behind by 22 points in the first half on the way to their 16th straight loss to open the season, a 109-96 defeat to the Kings that left New Jersey one loss shy of tying the worst start ever.

"We cheated the game in the first half," coach Lawrence Frank said.

After losing to the team that had the worst record in the NBA a season ago, the Nets need to beat the Lakers today at Staples Center to avoid matching the record for futility held by the expansion Miami Heat (1988-89) and the Los Angeles Clippers (1999). The potential record-setter would come at home against Dallas on Wednesday. ...

A small fire kept Detroit Pistons fans from watching most of the second half of Friday's 104-96 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The fire filled a production truck with smoke during the second half, and the live feed was lost for the rest of the game. No one was hurt.