Hornets snap Nuggets' 15-game win streak

Denver Nuggets guard Andre Miller (24) and New Orleans Hornets forward Anthony Davis (23) battle for a loose ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Denver Nuggets guard Andre Miller (24) and New Orleans Hornets forward Anthony Davis (23) battle for a loose ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

New Orleans Hornets guard Brian Roberts (22) gets fouled by Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried (35) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

New Orleans Hornets forward Al-Farouq Aminu (0) and Denver Nuggets center Kosta Koufos (41) reach for a loose ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried (35) falls while reaching for a rebound in front of New Orleans Hornets center Robin Lopez (15) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Even Brian Roberts couldn't believe the performance he delivered to help end Denver's 15-game winning streak.

Starting for only the second time, the rookie doubled his season high with 18 assists, Ryan Anderson scored 23 points and the short-handed New Orleans Hornets beat the Nuggets 110-86 on Monday night.

"It's crazy to fathom, having 18 assists," Roberts said. "Guys play years and don't have that many assists. Somebody pointed out I had more assists than they had as a team. For me to come out in my second start and do that is just a testament to my teammates making shots."

And to Roberts' work ethic, too. He never had 10 assists in four years at the University of Dayton, where he was more of a scorer than a facilitator. Then he spent five years trying to make an NBA roster before hooking on with the Hornets last summer, re-working his game to become a pass-first player.

Eleven of those passes turned into assists in the first half alone against the Nuggets, who finished with four fewer assists than Roberts. He became the 20th rookie to have 18 assists or more and the first since Darren Collison did it for New Orleans in 2010.

"I've had to grind and just fight to be on the team just to make an opportunity for myself," Roberts said. "It's something I know I don't take for granted. But without my teammates making shots, it's not even a discussion."

Anderson was 5 of 11 on 3-pointers, and the Hornets sank 14-of-25 3s overall. Darius Miller, starting in place of injured shooting guard Eric Gordon, was 4 of 5 behind the arc and had 16 points as seven Hornets scored in double figures.

New Orleans won its third in a row and was in control all the way. The Hornets led by nine at the end of the first quarter, by 21 at the half and by 18 entering the fourth.

Danilo Gallinari had 24 points for the Nuggets, who were without starting point guard Ty Lawson (right heel injury) for the third consecutive game. Denver lost for the first time since Feb. 22 against Washington after matching its 1969-70 ABA team's record of 15 straight victories.

"We played a bad game and they played a great game," said Nuggets point guard Andre Miller, who had nine points and six assists. "We were constantly taking the ball out of the basket and getting frustrated. Our game plan was to trap the ball, and their point guard found the open man. They outplayed us and outworked us at both ends."

The Hornets answered every Nuggets run, the last of which closed the gap to 96-84 when Kenneth Faried hit a tough bank shot and was fouled with 6:07 left. New Orleans' Anthony Davis followed with two free throws, Darius Miller drained a face-up 3-pointer and Davis leaped high to jam in a rebound follow, extending the lead to 103-84.

The closest Denver came in the second half was 67-58 after a 16-4 spurt midway through the third quarter. But the Hornets' Roger Mason Jr. immediately hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and New Orleans was up by double digits the rest of the way.

This one was never close.

The Hornets went ahead 25-11 in the first quarter, getting back-to-back, wide-open 3-pointers from Anderson to cap the early run against the sluggish Nuggets. No one picked up Anderson, who led the NBA in 3-point baskets last season, when he shot from straightaway on the first one. Denver left him unguarded again as he made another 3 the next time down the court.

The Nuggets' winning streak was well on its way to ending.

"We didn't really talk about that too much," Roberts said. "We had a lot of stuff going on in here in this locker room, so we didn't want to worry about streak busting or anything like that. We just wanted to come out and play together."

Denver missed Lawson, who had averaged 21.8 points in his last 18 games, much more than New Orleans missed starting point guard Greivis Vasquez or Gordon.

"He's important to us because he makes everyone else fit," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "These last three games we were thinking we are better than we are. It's human nature."

Wilson Chandler returned for the Nuggets after missing two games with a left shoulder injury and finished with 11 points. Faried added 13 points.

Gordon, who is tied for the team lead with 16.5 points per game, sat out with a sore left ankle. Vasquez sat out with a sprained left ankle after starting the first 70 games.

Roberts, who added 13 points for his first double-double, and Miller, who was 6 of 7 from the floor, excelled in their absence.

"A lot of times this year we've let teams come back after we got ahead of them," Darius Miller said. "We didn't want to do that tonight. They went on a great run and had us on our heels a little bit, but we bounced back."

Most of Miller's baskets came off of passes from Roberts.

"It doesn't happen if he (Roberts) doesn't work hard," Hornets coach Monty Williams said. "He works his tail off."

NOTES: Nuggets reserve guard Julyan Stone left with a hyperextended right knee injury in the first half and did not return. . The Hornets started a big week of home games. They face the Los Angeles Clippers and former New Orleans point guard Chris Paul on Wednesday, and the Miami Heat on Friday. The Heat extended their winning streak to 27, beating Orlando on Monday. . A sign of the Nuggets' lack of aggressiveness: They picked up their first foul in the second quarter at the 3:49 mark and their first foul of the third quarter with 3:08 left.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-26-Nuggets-Hornets/id-f6f1153058fb41f9946d0603d0f9f5b1

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No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast stuns No. 2 seed Georgetown

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Florida Gulf Coast sure made an entrance at the NCAA tournament.

A school that hasn't even celebrated its first 20-year reunion busted a load of brackets with a 78-68 victory over second-seeded Georgetown on Friday night in the second round of the South Regional.

In just their second season of eligibility for Division I postseason, the Eagles used a 21-2 second-half run to pull away from the Hoyas and then held on in the final minute to become the seventh No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2.

Sherwood Brown scored 24 points and Bernard Thompson had 23 to lead Florida Gulf Coast, the champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference.

FGCU (25-10) will play the winner of the game between seventh-seeded San Diego State and No. 10 Oklahoma on Sunday.

"We didn't come here and have the attitude that we're just glad to be here," said FGCU point guard Brett Comer, who finished with 12 points,10 assists and just two turnovers. "We decided we can play with anybody and we did."

A night after America's oldest university, Harvard, pulled off a major upset over fourth-seeded New Mexico, one of its youngest ? FGCU's first student was admitted in 1997 ? got one that was even bigger.

The Eagles' monster run gave them a 52-33 lead with 12:28 to play. The Hoyas staged a furious rally to get within 72-68 with 52 seconds left but the Eagles went 6 of 10 from the free throw line to seal it.

"In the second half, we pushed the ball, we got out, we ran, we made shots, got some alley-oop dunks to energize the crowd. I'm very proud of our players," said coach Andy Enfield, whose wife ? supermodel Amanda Marcum ? was shown several times on the arena's big screen.

For those who don't know FCGU, and that was probably plenty of people as of Friday afternoon, Florida Gulf Coast is a state university in Fort Myers with an enrollment of about 12,000 students.

This is FGCU's first tournament and Georgetown's 29th, including the 1984 national championship. But the Eagles did beat Miami earlier this season.

It was another disappointing NCAA exit for the Hoyas (25-7), who have lost to a double-digit seed in their last four appearances. The last time they made it to the second weekend of the tournament was in 2007, when they reached the Final Four.

"I wish I could," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said when asked if he could figure out the losses to lower seeds. "Trust me, more than anyone on Earth, I've tried to analyze it. I don't know."

Markel Starks had 23 points for the Hoyas, a tri-champion of the Big East regular season and one of the top defensive teams in the nation.

That didn't seem to bother the Eagles much.

While Georgetown came in allowing 55.7 points per game, FGCU beat that number with 9:22 to play when it led 57-40. The Hoyas allowed opponents to shoot 37.6 percent from the field, fourth-best in the country. The Eagles shot 42.9 percent (21 of 49) and they held the Hoyas to 37.5 percent from the field (24 of 64).

The FGCU fans who made the trip to Philadelphia were loud all game. The rest of the crowd at Wells Fargo Center joined them during the big run and there's nothing to bring fans together like rooting against a heavy favorite.

"I don't think anybody on our team has ever played in front of that many people," said reserve forward Eddie Murray, who had nine points.

The Eagles charged at their fans when the game ended and ? after some of them shook hands with Hall of Famer and TV analyst Reggie Miller ? it was a celebration that could be felt all the way to back to campus.

Big East Player of the Year Otto Porter Jr. had 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting and 11 rebounds. On this night he couldn't match Brown, the A-Sun's player of the year.

"It feels really good to be in this position right now," Brown said after the game.

The Hoyas used an 8-0 run to take an 18-11 lead midway through the first half but that's where their offense went cold ? very cold.

The Eagles closed the half on a 13-4 run as Georgetown missed nine straight shots and committed five turnovers. FGCU took a 24-22 lead on two free throws by Eddie Murray with 26 seconds left. In another example of how out of synch Georgetown was offensively, the Hoyas passed the ball around as the halftime horn sounded, allowed the Eagles to keep their lead.

As the night wound down, one fan yelled at the Eagles to stick around Philly a couple of more days.

"Get a cheese steak, kid! Get a cheese steak!"

The crowd then paid Florida Gulf Coast the ultimate tribute: the E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles! chant reserved for their favorite NFL team.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/florida-gulf-coast-stuns-georgetown-78-68-012239570--spt.html

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Hate Speech, San Francisco Style (Powerlineblog)

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Wanna Z10 phone? It might just save BlackBerry.

BlackBerry will open pre-orders for its new Z10 smart phone today.

By Matthew Shaer / March 12, 2013

The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, pictured here, comes equipped with the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Reuters

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Today, BlackBerry ? the company formerly known as RIM ? will begin taking pre-orders for its Z10 smart phone.?

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The stakes are extremely high. In recent years, BlackBerry has watched as its competitors, including Apple and Samsung, take bigger and bigger bites of its once-substantial smart-phone market share. Meanwhile, layoffs have been rampant, corporate restructuring has been a regular occurrence, and products that should have helped bolster BlackBerry, such as the PlayBook, have turned instead to be incredibly costly flops.?

So yes, there's a lot riding on the Z10, which will actually hit shelves on March 22. The BlackBerry-10-equipped device is powerful and sleek and while it retains a lot of the business-first amenities of its predecessors ? lots of security, dynamic email, and messaging options ? it's also a phone that is clearly targeted at a wider array of users. Indeed, early hands-on reviews have stressed the accessibility of the device.?

"BB10 is all about swiping to navigate. You swipe up to wake the devices, swipe right to check out BlackBerry Hub and view your notifications, swipe left to access your currently running apps and the home screen, and swipe down to check out both system-wide and app-specific settings," one critic wrote. "Overall, while it?s different, it?s a?surprisingly?intuitive experience, and one that exceeds the tacked-on touch experience of BB OS 7 and earlier."?

BlackBerry, of course, faces the unenviable task of convincing consumers they'd be better off with a Z10 than, say, an iPhone 5 or the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S4.?

But early signs have not been particularly promising. According to the Financial Post, T. Michael Walkley, an analyst with?Canaccord Genuity, recently slashed his forecast of BB10 shipments in the current quarter to 300,000 units. He'd previously estimated that BlackBerry would unload 1.75 million units.?

"Our follow-up checks have indicated steady but modest sales levels," Walkley said in a report obtained by the Financial Post. "With new BB10 smartphones launching in the U.S. only in mid-March or later at subsidized prices no better than competing high-end Apple/Samsung smartphones? we are lowering our BB10 sales estimates for the February quarter and all of fiscal 2014."

For?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zYKSsrM-cIE/Wanna-Z10-phone-It-might-just-save-BlackBerry

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Mars rover sees key water indicator

12 March 2013 Last updated at 13:19 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

The US space agency (Nasa) has reported that its Curiosity rover has made another significant discovery on Mars.

The robot has drilled into a rock that contains clay minerals - an indication of formation in, or substantial alteration by, neutral water.

Scientists say the find is one more step towards showing conditions on the Red Planet in the distant past could have supported life.

Many rocks studied previously were probably deposited in acidic water.

While this would not have precluded the possibility of micro-organisms taking hold on Mars, it would have been more challenging, scientists believe.

Identifying clays shows there were at least some locations on the planet billions of years ago where environments would have been much more favourable.

"We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been there, you would have been able to drink it," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity's project scientist.

Michael Myer, Nasa's Mars exploration programme: "Right off the bat, we find evidence of water"

Ancient lake

The rover drilled a powdered sample from a mudstone at its exploration site in Gale Crater, a deep impact bowl on Mars' equator.

This was delivered to the two big onboard laboratories, Sam and Chemin, for analysis.

The rock sample was found to contain 20-30% smectite - a particular group of clay minerals.

Their high abundance and the relative lack of salt are strongly suggestive of a fresh-water environment for the mudstone's formation.

The presence of calcium sulphates, rather than the magnesium or iron sulphates seen in previous rock analyses at other locations on the planet, adds to the evidence that the sampled rock in Gale was deposited in a neutral to mildly alkaline pH environment.

Scientists think Curiosity probably drilled into an ancient lakebed.

Aqueous catalogue

The analysis also identified sulphur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon - some of the key chemical elements for life.

Additionally, it found compounds in a range of oxidised states, meaning there were electrons moving through the environment. Those could have been co-opted as an energy source by simple life-forms, if they ever existed in Gale.

"What we've learned in the last 20 years of modern microbiology is that very primitive organisms - they can derive energy just by feeding on rocks," explained Prof Grotzinger.

"Just like on [a] battery - you hook up the wires and it goes to a lightbulb and the lightbulb turns on. That's kind of what a micro-organism would have done in this environment, if life had ever evolved on Mars and it was present here."

The rover is assembling quite a catalogue of water evidence in the crater.

Already, it has seen the remains of an ancient riverbed system, where water once flowed perhaps a metre deep and quite vigorously.

The picture that seems to be emerging is one where sediments were transported downhill from the eroding crater rim into a network of streams that then flowed into the lake environment represented by the mudstone.

Quiet April

Curiosity is currently working in a small depression known as Yellowknife Bay, about half a kilometre from the location where it touched down last August.

Nasa's original mission plan was to head towards the big mountain that dominates the centre of Gale Crater, but the fascinating science at Yellowknife Bay has delayed this journey somewhat.

In recent days, operations have been slowed by a software glitch, requiring the vehicle to be run off its reserve computer.

There is also the imminent issue of solar conjunction, which will see Mars move behind the Sun as viewed from Earth, blocking communications.

All this means that Curiosity will be at Yellowknife Bay for a while yet.

"Basically, we can't talk to the rover and the rover [can't] talk to us for most of the month of April," said Michael Meyer, the lead scientist on Nasa's Mars exploration programme.

"We'll do some more science activities though the end of this month, [provided] the engineers confirm it's safe for us to do those operations. But we will not do a second drill hole until after solar conjunction."

When the rover does finally get to the mountain, known as Mount Sharp, the expectation, based on satellite imagery, is that it will again find clay minerals.

This will enable the robot to compare and contrast past environments.

The US space agency's Opportunity rover, which continues to work nine years on from its landing, is also believed to be sitting on top of clay-bearing rocks at its exploration site far to the west of Gale. Opportunity, however, does not have Curiosity's capability to assess those rocks.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21755976#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Sheryl Sandberg: On a mission to elevate women

Sheryl Sandberg is not backing down.

The Facebook chief operating officer's book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" goes on sale Monday amid criticism that she's too successful and rich to lead a movement. But Sandberg says her focus remains on spurring action and progress among women.

"The conversation, the debate is all good, because where we were before was stagnation ? and stagnation is bad," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And sometimes it takes real heated debate to wake people up and find a solution."

With "Lean In," Sandberg aims to arm women with the tools and guidance they need to keep moving forward in the workforce. The book's release is coupled with the launch of Sandberg's LeanIn.org a nonprofit that will receive all of the book's proceeds.

The book isn't just for women. It calls on men to lend support, both at home and in the office.

"This is about who we are as people," Sandberg says. "Who we can be as individuals and as a society."

In the book, Sandberg illuminates facts about the dearth of women in positions of power and offers real-world solutions. Women, Sandberg writes, make up only 14 percent of executive officers, 18 percent of elected congressional officials and 22 of 197 heads of state. What's worse, Sandberg says, is that women have not made true progress in corporate America over the past decade. Boardrooms are still as overwhelmingly male as they were 10 years ago.

"While women continue to outpace men in educational achievement, we have ceased making real progress at the top of any industry," she writes in "Lean In." ''This means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect our world, the voices of women are not heard equally."

Sandberg, 43, has worked at Facebook as its No. 2 executive since 2008. CEO Mark Zuckerberg lured her away from Google to help run what has since become a social networking powerhouse and formidable Google rival. Sandberg says it's only been in the last few years that she's started thinking seriously about the issues affecting working women. As recently as three years ago, Sandberg says, she would not have spoken the words "women in the workforce."

"You never say the word 'woman' as a working woman because if you do, the person on the other side of the table is going to say you are asking for special treatment," she says.

But seeing women stall in their quest for corporate success bothered her more and more. In 2010, she was asked to speak at the newly minted TEDWomen, an arm of the annual TED conference which showcases "ideas worth spreading."

Her speech was titled "Why we have too few women leaders." The video became wildly popular. It has been viewed more than 2 million times on TED's website. Yet before she gave speech, Sandberg says "a whole bunch of people told me not to." And although she'd given hundreds of talks on Facebook and social media and exactly one on women, after her speech people would ask her "is this your thing now?'"

"That was really the first time I spoke up," she says. Since then, Sandberg has come to call herself "a proud feminist."

Sandberg says it was the flood of responses that she received following the speech that got her thinking about writing a book. Some women wrote to her and said the speech encouraged them to ask for a raise. Others said it motivated them to ask for more family-friendly work hours.

LeanIn.org grew out of the book with the help of co-founder Gina Bianchini, who was inspired by a course she took at Stanford University's Clayman Institute for Gender Research called "Voice & Influence." Its mission ? "to empower women and men to be as effective as possible and to create organizations where all people can thrive" ? is at the core of LeanIn.org. LEanIn.org hopes to reach as many people as possible by offering materials and easy-to-replicate guidelines online, for free. Sandberg calls it a platform, which, in the technology world means something that others can take, change and make their own.

"We are a startup," Sandberg says. "We are going to see what happens, and what companies do with our platform."

___

Online:

www.leanin.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-11-US-TEC-Sheryl-Sandberg-Lean-In/id-859be5914800407b8f21a151eee2ae7e

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FCC approves T-Mobile-MetroPCS deal

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved the merger of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS Communications Inc., the No. 4 and No. 5 cellphone carriers in the country.

The Justice Department cleared the merger last week, meaning that the last hurdle will be a vote by MetroPCS shareholders, who convene in a month. Regulatory approval of the deal was expected. The FCC applied no significant conditions to its approval.

Under the deal, T-Mobile USA's parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, will hold a 74 percent stake in the combined company, while shareholders of Dallas-based MetroPCS will own the remainder. MetroPCS shareholders will also receive a special dividend totaling about $1.5 billion.

MetroPCS' largest shareholder, billionaire John Paulson, opposes the deal. He believes it would saddle the company with too much debt, and has said that Deutsche Telekom is getting a better deal than MetroPCS's shareholders.

On Tuesday, MetroPCS mailed a letter to shareholders defending the deal, saying it's the best strategic alternative for shareholders and the stake in the combined company is worth substantially more than the standalone company.

Last year, regulators blocked the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T Inc., the No. 2 wireless company, because it would have reduced competition in the industry. Regulators likely reasoned that the merger of two smaller players was less of a threat, particularly since both companies are losing subscribers. Together, they may be able to compete more effectively with larger companies.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-12-FCC-T-Mobile-MetroPCS/id-53b2cd126bea46e39b40e28d422f59d2

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