A lot can happen between now and then, but the win gave Cleveland confidence it might be able to survive despite losing Williams, their All-Star point guard who will miss at least one month with a shoulder sprain. Williams scored a team-high 28 in Cleveland’s Dec. 25 win at Staples Center.

• J.J. Hickson grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and Anderson Varejao made three free throws in the final 20 seconds as Cleveland swept the season series between the league’s top two teams.
• Bryant surpassed 25,000 career points in the first half, but he was unable to match James in the fourth quarter as both teams turned to their superstars.
• James hit a 3-pointer from the left side with the score tied 80-all, and after a miss by Bryant, the reigning MVP dropped another jumper to put Cleveland ahead by five.
• Ron Artest hit a big 3 for the Lakers and Bryant made two free throws and a quick jumper to tie it 87-87 with 1:32 remaining.
• James blasted down the left side for a layup with 40.5 seconds to go, while the Quicken Loans crowd chants for “M-V-P”. After Gasol missed two free throws that would have tied it, the Cavs called a timeout.
• James and Bryant both hit jumpers in the final 1:33 of the quarter, which ended with Bryant and Gasol exchanging in a somewhat heated conversation as they returned to the bench. Bryant stayed seated for the first 6:37 of the fourth, and when he returned the Lakers trailed 83-80. Bryant went just 11 of 25 from the floor.
• Shaquille O’Neal scored 13 and Hickson, who had just two points in the first meeting with L.A., had 11 and was the difference inside.
• Bryant finished with 31 points but was only 4-of-15 in the second half as the Lakers lost the opener of an eight-game road trip. Pau Gasol scored 13 for Los Angeles.

Bryant is the 15th player to surpass 25,000 points. Up next for Bryant at No. 14 on the list is Lakers legend Jerry West (25,192). James was the leading vote getter in fan balloting for next month’s All-Star game. He received 2,549,693, becoming the first player get at least 2.5 million votes three times. Bryant was second with 2,456,224, pacing Western Conference players.

Six shooters will be competing for this year’s 3-point foot locker shootout. The contestants will be chosen from the previous years champions and the current seasons top 3-pointers. They will compete in a two-round competition. The three highest scorers from the first round will advance to the finals. Here are the rules:

• Order of Competition

The order in the final round will be by the inverse order of the first-round scores.

• Ball racks/points

Five shooting stations around the 3-point line, with four orange balls and one multi-colored “money” ball each. The orange balls are worth one point. The multi-colored “money” ball is worth two points. From each rack, the multi-colored “money” ball can be shot only after the four orange balls are shot.

• Time limit:

Each participant has one minute to shoot as many of the 25 balls as he can.

• Shooting line violation:

Players may not start on or over the 3-point line while shooting. A basket does not count if the line is violated.

• Tiebreakers:

In the event of a tie that determines the final-round participants, a 24-second shootout will take place to break the tie. This process will be repeated if necessary until the tie is broken. In the event of a tie in the final round, to determine a champion, a full 60-second shootout will take place. This process will be repeated if necessary until the tie is broken.

• Instant replay:

At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.

• LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points for the Trail Blazers. He played the second half without two-time All-Star guard Brandon Roy, who left with a strained right hamstring.
• Roy, who is averaging 23.4 points left after scoring 10. He grabbed his right thigh after banking in a 10-footer with 1:02 left in the second quarter and is listed as day-to-day.
• The Blazers overcame his loss thanks in part to Miller, who signed with Portland in the off-season.
• Sixers center Samuel Dalembert arrived at the Wachovia Center at 6:57 p.m. and started. He had 15 rebounds and 10 points. He had been on a two-day, goodwill mission to his native Haiti, which is recovering from a devastating earthquake.
• Portland led 90-83 with 3:12 to go, but the Sixers scored six straight points, and a steal and lay-up by Andre Iguodala cut it to 90-88 with 1:38 to go. Iguodala led the Sixers with 23 points.
• Miller then made two free throws, and after Elton Brand hit an 8-footer with 59 seconds left, Bayless and Aldridge each made two free three throws to grab the victory.

The proposal came up as a philanthropic act from O’Neal to help the earthquake victims of Haiti. He said that he would want a large price, with half of the money going to the earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The defending champ Nate Robinson stood up and supported Shaq’s philanthropic proposal and thought that it was a great idea to help the victims from Haiti.

• Carter, who won the contest in 2000, declined the offer and said Orlando teammate Dwight Howard, the 2008 champion, could do it.
• Miami’s Dwyane Wade heard about O’Neal’s idea and supports the effort to raise more money — he has already donated a one-game check of about $175,000 — but won’t dunk, either.
• James said he would consider dunking this year in Dallas. It seemed as if James was trying to get some of the league’s top players involved, but none of the game’s premier dunkers wanted in and James recently decided not to participate after hedging for months.
• Bryant was not able to give his perspective because the Lakers were traveling to Cleveland.

The league has announced last Monday the competitors for the All-Star dunk competition. Shannon brown of the Lakers, Charlottes Gerald Wallace and Robinson would take part on the said event. The fourth spot in the field will be determined in a dunk off between Toronto rookie DeMar DeRozan and the Clippers’ Eric Gordon.

This was one of the biggest games ever played in Fred Bramlage Coliseum and and the boisterous K-State crowd was rewarded. The win is significant for the Kansas State program, and it firmly announces the Wildcats as major players in the Big 12 title race. This was the third time in school history that Kansas State knocked off a No. 1 team.

• The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Jamar Samuels was among the ones not intimidated as he played arguably his best game of the season. He went toe-to-toe with Texas in the post and finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds on 8-for-13 shooting.
• Curtis Kelly was also formidable in the paint, putting up 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
• Kansas State shot 20-for-32 as Texas struggled, making just nine of 22 attempts from the line.
• The Longhorns struggled shooting the ball and committed too many turnovers. Both those issues are not issues that have been plaguing them all year, so they appear to be more of an isolated incident.
• Things will not get much easier for the Longhorns, however, as they will travel to Connecticut to face UConn on Saturday.
• The Texas loss also means that Kentucky is the last unbeaten team in the nation. Normally younger teams like Kentucky stumble early and mature as the year goes on. Well, John Calipari and John Wall and Co. firing on all cylinders early, and, barring any upsets, Kentucky will be next week’s No. 1.

• Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Tuesday night’s initial game hailed the Cavs victorious over the Raps, 100-108. The game started with a jump ball from O’Neal and Bosh. Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal added 16 points and became the fifth player in NBA history to surpass 28,000 in his career. With a layup in the opening minute, O’Neal joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) as the only players to reach the milestone.

• LeBron James scored 28 points and performed a few signature dunks. Mo Williams added 22 and the Cleveland Cavaliers began a long stretch of home games over the next month. James had11 assists and nine rebounds as the Cavs, who just returned from a long road trip, improved to 15-3 at Quicken Loans Arena, where they’ll play 10 of their next 12 before Feb. 19.
• Williams left briefly with a left shoulder strain but came back and hit the game’s biggest shot, a 3-pointer with 5:27 left that gave the Cavs a 98-94 lead. Williams added 10 assists for the Cavs, who have won 10 straight home games over the Raptors.
• James found a cutting Anderson Varejao for a basket to put the Cavs up by six and then James, who has so far turned down a chance to compete in the All-Star weekend dunk contest, slammed one to make it 102-94. During the second quarter, James delivered a dunk that probably would have earned a few “10s” from the judges. Williams drove the baseline and delivered a no-look bounce pass to a slashing James, who caught the ball and double clutched before pounding it through the rim. In the first half, the Raptors did almost anything they wanted on offense. They got easy shots and moved the ball with ease against Cleveland’s shoddy defense.
• Chris Bosh scored 21 for Toronto but was limited to just five after halftime by Cleveland’s defense, which allowed 60 points in the opening half. The Raptors only scored 17 in the fourth.
• Andrea Bargnani scored 19 for Toronto, which lost for just the fourth time in 14 games.
• O’Neal’s fourth personal flattened Jarrett Jack, who flopped to the floor and flung his arm to one side for dramatic effect. However, the rough fouls seemed to ignite Cleveland’s D and the Cavs began to separate in the third quarter. They outscored the Raptors 18-10 over the final six minutes to open a 91-83 lead entering the fourth.
• Raptors G Sonny Weems pulled a rib cage muscle in pre-game warm-ups and sat out.
• Toronto guard Marco Belinelli returned after missing two games with the flu and scored 14.
• The league denied Atlanta’s protest over a shot-clock error in a Dec. 30 loss to Cleveland.

James could have finished with a triple-double, but had a 10th rebound slip out of his hands with 29 seconds left. The Eastern Conference leaders will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

• Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat

The Miami Heat outscored the Indiana Pacers leaving the final score at 83-113 on their game held at the American Airlines Arena at Miami (7:30 ET). The Miami Heat had no chance of losing to Indiana, not when guard Dwayne Wade scored 18 points in the first quarter and Miami held a 17-point lead at the end of the period. It was no surprise that the Heat crushed the Pacers, but the big surprise was Wade ended with only 32 points, and that’s taking into account he didn’t play a minute in the fourth quarter.

• Wade went 12-for-20 from the field with most of the points coming against Brandon Rush. Wade’s first field goal was a 3-pointer, and that started the onslaught.
• The Heat built a 62-43 halftime lead by shooting 61 percent from the field and limiting the Pacers to 37.5 percent.
• The unguardable Wade ended with 25 first-half points, going 4-for-6 on 3-pointers, which tied his season best for 3-pointers in a game.
• The Heat, who holds the No. 5 playoff seed in the East, is locked in a tight battle with sixth-seeded Charlotte and seventh-seeded Toronto, with eighth-seeded Chicago not far behind. The Heat will visit Charlotte on Wednesday.

Although the Pacers are struggling mightily, it could be argued that Miami needed this game more. Indiana committed 12 first-half turnovers that Miami turned into 18 points. Miami has now defeated Indiana all three teams they’ve played this season, which represents quite a turnaround from how this series went last decade.

The Pacers have dominated the Heat since late in the 2001-02 seasons. But now, Indiana is nothing close to that squad. Indiana’s offensive trio of forwards Granger (eight points), Troy Murphy (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Mike Dunleavy (nine points) were 8-for-33 (.242) from the field for 28 points. Granger was 2-for-16 from the field, which greatly pleased Heat coach Erik Spoelstra as much as Indiana’s .365 field goal percentage.

Washington beat the Portland Trail Blazers, giving the team a two-game winning streak for only the fourth time this season. There was a blowout loss at Cleveland hours after Arenas’ suspension was announced Jan. 6, but since then the Wizards are 3-4 and haven’t dropped a game by more than 12 points. The team is two games into a six-game home stand, and they have a key component back in the lineup.

• Mike Miller, sidelined for all but two games since Nov. 21 because of a right calf injury, returned Monday and was a welcome spark plug with 13 points and 4s all over his stat line: 4 for 4 from the field, 4 for 4 from the line, four rebounds, four assists and four turnovers in 24 minutes.
• Randy Foye added 19 points and Caron Butler had 18 for the Wizards, who made 25 of 28 free throws and shot 52 percent from the field. Those are the kind of numbers Washington needs without Arenas, who was averaging 22.6 points and 7.2 assists.
• Jamison was 3 for 10 from the field at halftime, but he shot 7 of 11 in the second half in a game that was close throughout. Neither team led by more than 10, and there were six ties in the fourth quarter alone, but Portland didn’t make a field goal in the last four minutes, its final bucket coming on Martell Webster’s 3-pointer that put the Trail Blazers ahead 88-85.

Portland played again without leading scorer Brandon Roy, who sat out his second straight game with a sore right hamstring. Roy indicated before the game that he would play, but he wasn’t able to convince Coach Nate McMillan or trainer Jay Jensen.

• Andre Miller scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half before fouling out with 19 seconds to play.
• Marcus Aldridge also scored 22 points and had a season-high 15 rebounds, and Webster added 18 points for the Trail Blazers, who had a two-game winning streak snapped as they opened a four-game road trip with a game that started at 10 a.m. West Coast time.

The Wizards led 90-88 late when both teams went scoreless for nearly 1 1/2 minutes. Butler finally hit a 20-foot jumper with 1:09 to play to put the Wizards ahead by four. Bayless got to the line again and made one of two – ending a 13-for-13 run from the line for the Trail Blazers. Foye’s two free throws at the other end put Washington ahead by five with 19 seconds remaining, enough of a cushion to pull out the win.

Robinson did most of his damage in his 13-point second quarter from the perimeter, though he thrilled the crowd late in the period with a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Chris Duhon for a 12-point lead. The Knicks led 57-43 at the half.

• Rodney Stuckey scored 22 for the short-handed Pistons, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. They led after three quarters with a gutty effort but simply didn’t have enough firepower with four of their top six scorers out.
• The Pistons, already missing Ben Gordon (strained right groin), Tayshaun Prince (sore left knee) and Will Bynum (sprained left ankle), were even further weakened when Richard Hamilton came down with an upset stomach.
• Ben Wallace scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Austin Daye and Charlie Villanueva also had 16 points for the Pistons.
• Detroit turned it around by holding the Knicks to 11 points in the third, their worst quarter of the season, and led 70-68 going to the final period.
• The Pistons were down only one with 10 minutes left before Harrington, Danilo Gallinari and Robinson made 3-pointers in a 13-4 spurt that gave the Knicks an 88-78 lead, and they held on from there.
• Gallinari finished with 16 points and David Lee had 11 points and 15 rebounds for New York. The Knicks missed their first six shots in falling behind 7-0, made five of their next six to grab the lead, and it was tied at 23 after one.

The Knicks improved to 17-24 at the halfway point of their schedule, the same record they had last season before finishing 32-50.

New York Knicks’ Nate Robinson will try to defend his title and will attempt to be the first three-time winner of the Sprite Slam-Dunk competition on NBA All-Star Saturday Night, Feb. 13, at American Airlines Center (8pm ET on TNT) in Dallas. The participants were revealed last Monday Jan.18 at a special event at New York’s Pennsylvania Station. The artist Dan Dunn brought the player’s image to life in a speed painting display on giant canvases.

Here are the 2010 Sprite Slam-Dunk Competitors:

• Shannon Brown

The Los Angeles Lakers Guard is standing 6-4 in height and weighs 205lbs.

• Gerald Wallace

Charlotte Hornets Forward is standing 6-4 in height and weighs 220lbs.

• Nate Robinson

The Knicks Guard and the defending champion of this competition stand at 5-9 in height and weighs 180lbs.

• DeMar DeRozan

The Toronto Raptors guard is standing 6-7 and weighs 220lbs.

• Eric Gordon

L.A. Clippers Guard is standing 6-3 in height and weighs 222lbs.

The Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Gordon will compete in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk-In, a single-round slam dunk competition that will be held at halftime of the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam on Friday, Feb. 12. Fans will be able to vote via SMS text message and at NBA.com to determine who will advance to the Sprite Slam Dunk the following night.

The two dunkers with the highest first round scores will advance to the final round. The dunker with the lowest total score from the first round will compete first in the final round. Dunks then will alternate until each player has completed two. Time limit rules still apply. In the final round, fan voting polls will open via SMS TXT message and at NBA.com. The combined results from SMS TXT voting and NBA.com will determine the champion.

The Sprite Slam Dunk and T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam are all part of NBA All-Star 2010, which also includes the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk-In, Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout; Taco Bell Skills Challenge; Haier Shooting Stars; NBA All-Star Jam Session presented by adidas; and the 59th NBA All-Star Game.

And now, he has fulfilled what he promised himself that time. Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is the 34th player in NBA history to score 20,000 points. Nowitzki reached the milestone with a 14-foot fade away jumper from the left baseline with 10:57 left in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers. It actually gave him 20,001 points, and it pulled the Mavericks to 78-75.

• The 31-year-old Nowitzki is in his 12th season from Germany. This was the 876th game of his career.

• From the record books, one can see that Nowitzki has been an eight-time All-Star, a four-time All-NBA first team selection and was chosen the 2007 Most Valuable Player.

• From the video highlights, it’s easy to see an ambidextrous, multi-position player who is unique in combining his size with his shooting skills.

• He’s a 7-footer who is a career 47.2 percent shooter from the field and has canned more than 1,100 3-pointers while also grabbing 8.5 rebounds.

• Nowitzki is a deft ball-handler and nimble enough big man to spin around defenders and finish with slam dunks.