Celtics forward Garnett out vs. Pistons with hip flexor

BOSTON (AP) -- Celtics forward Kevin Garnett has been scratched from the lineup against Detroit with a hip flexor.
Garnett missed Tuesday's practice, but Boston coach Doc Rivers said before Wednesday night's game that his status wouldn't be decided until just before tipoff.
Rivers did say about an hour before the start of the game that Garnett had a great morning shootaround.
Chris Wilcox started in Garnett's place against the Pistons.

Clippers assistant coach Eisley fined $15,000

EW YORK -- Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Howard Eisley has been fined $15,000 for verbal abuse of an official, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred at the conclusion of the Clippers' 96-92 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, February 13.

 Howard Eisley (Middle)

Clippers' Billups has surgery on left Achilles tendon

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Clippers guard Chauncey Billups underwent a successful surgery in Colorado on Wednesday to repair his torn left Achilles tendon that cost him the remainder of his first season in Los Angeles.

The Clippers say Billups is expected to remain in Colorado for about four weeks before returning to Los Angeles to begin rehabilitation.
Billups was injured in a Feb. 6 game against Orlando when he turned to run up the court and buckled.
The five-time All-Star had been a huge addition for the club, which claimed Billups in December after he was waived by the New York Knicks under the league's new amnesty clause. He was averaging 14.9 points and four assists. But it was his impact in mentoring Chris Paul and Blake Griffin that made Billups invaluable.

Pregame concert added to official 2012 All-Star lineup

NEW YORK/ORLANDO -- The festivities for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 26, will tip off with performances by multiplatinum, alternative hip-hop band, Gym Class Heroes, Grammy®-nominated artist J. Cole, acappella sensation Pentatonix, and emerging star Kayla Brianna at the Sprint Pregame Concert at the Amway Center in Orlando. The 61st NBA All-Star Game will be televised live at 7 p.m. ET on TNT.
Live coverage of the Sprint Pregame Concert will begin airing at 5 p.m. on NBA TV and will lead into TNT's live coverage of the pregame show from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Concert performances will air live on NBA TV until 6 p.m. The TNT pregame show will begin at 6 p.m. and will provide viewers with live look-ins to the action on stage. The concert will end before TNT's All-Star Game coverage begins at 7 p.m.
TNT will broadcast Gym Class Heroes as they perform their new smash single "Get Yourself Back Home" featuring Neon Hitch. NBA TV will feature Grammy®-nominated artist J. Cole performing two songs, "Work Out" and "Can't Get Enough"; Pentatonix performing their mash-up of "Since You've Been Gone" and "Forget You"; and rising star Kayla Brianna performing her debut single "If You Love Me."
"We are extremely excited about the coming NBA All-Star week, our first as the official wireless service partner of the NBA," said Steve Gaffney, vice president-Corporate Marketing, Sprint. "Our presentation of the Sprint Pregame Concert, the Sprint All-Star Celebrity Game, and the introduction in December of our best-in-class Sprint NBA Mobile wireless application -- which is FREE to Sprint customers -- demonstrates our commitment to enhancing the NBA fan's experience."
"The Sprint Pregame Concert will provide our fans and guests with exciting entertainment prior to the 61st NBA All-Star Game in Orlando," said Mark Tatum, NBA Executive Vice President, Global Marketing Partnerships. "As our new wireless service partner, Sprint has been integral to enhancing the interactive experience for our fans and their customers, from developing the Sprint NBA Mobile app to driving NBA All-Star Balloting, and now enhancing our fans' live experience prior at the All-Star Game."
The Sprint Pregame Concert will cap a week of Sprint's All-Star activities in Orlando that begins on Friday, Feb. 17, for an NBA All-Star E-Recycling presented by Sprint event at the Sprint store in the Millenia Mall. Sprint will additionally serve as the title partner of the Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, which will be played at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, on Center Court of Jam Session at the Orange County Convention Center. The evening will feature celebrities from film, TV and music, as well as NBA Legends and WNBA players.
Sprint will also be an associate partner of NBA All-Star Jam Session and the presenting partner of NBA All-Star E-Recycling events. Sprint also was the presenting partner of NBA All-Star Balloting, which determined the starters for the 61 st NBA All-Star Game.
The Sprint Pregame Concert will be open to all fans with tickets for the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, for select promotional guests who participate in NBA All-Star E-Recycling presented by Sprint events and Sprint's Jam Session activities, and all members of the media with Game credentials.

From New York to Asia

NEW YORK(AP) -- Comparisons to the likes Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James are one thing, but nothing reflects Jeremy Lin's amazing impact on the NBA this season better than the fact that the New York Knicks are now being talked about as championship contenders.
Before Lin's extraordinary first week as a starter, the Knicks were 40-1 with bookmakers and being booed by their notoriously demanding fans. Five games later, they're 18-1 with Bovada.lv and the hype-o-meter is into the red zone, mostly thanks to the Taiwanese-American.

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The undrafted player from Harvard made a 3-pointer with half a second left Tuesday to give the Knicks a 90-87 victory at Toronto. The Knicks returned home Wednesday to host Sacramento, looking for a seventh straight victory that would get them back to .500 after an 8-15 start.
Lin joined the rotation only then, starting the last five games, so comparisons with Michael Jordan, Shaq or LeBron are more than a touch premature. But the Knicks have seen enough to believe this ride may last a while longer.
"I don't know when there's an ending. Maybe there won't," coach Mike D'Antoni said.

D.Rose

Billups lost for season with torn Achilles tendon

LOS ANGELES -- Clippers guard Chauncey Billups will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his left Achilles tendon during Los Angeles' 107-102 victory over the Magic in Orlando on Monday night.
The team says an MRI on Tuesday confirmed Billups' injury.
Billups will return to Los Angeles on Thursday for further evaluation. The Clippers say a date for surgery hasn't been determined.

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The five-time All-Star, whom the Clippers claimed off waivers in December, was averaging 14.9 points and 4.0 assists in 30.4 minutes per game this season.
Billups was having a huge night Monday, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter when he turned to run up the court and buckled to the ground with 5:48 left in the game. He was surrounded by trainers and teammates, but needed assistance on both sides to make it off the court.
Billups, who was selected third overall in the 1997 draft by the Boston Celtics, is playing for his seventh NBA club. One of them was the Denver Nuggets, who dealt him to New York with Carmelo Anthony as part of a three-team, 13-player trade with Minnesota last February.
The Clippers, according to a source, have no interest in signing free agent guard Gilbert Arenas. Arenas, who was waived by the Magic via the amnesty provision before the start of the season, is in California and having an open workout this week for teams that may be interested in signing him.
The Clippers will likely use the larger of their two traded-player exceptions, worth $3.8 million, to try and acquire a player to replace Billups. They can make a trade with a team in which Los Angeles sends that team a Draft pick in exchange for a player making up to $3.8 million in salary. However, since the Clippers are not a luxury tax-paying team this season, they can make deals in which the total amount of money in the deal is either 150 percent of the salaries of players being traded, or the salaries of players being traded plus $5 million, whichever is lower.
The Clippers have a second traded-player exception worth $2.75 million.
-- TNT analyst David Aldridge contributed to this story.