NBA – Deng delivers

CHICAGO (NBA) - Luol Deng and Great Britain won't know until the middle of March if they will have an automatic spot at the London Games.
 
On the weekend of March 12-13, FIBA will announce at their Central Board meeting in Lyon, France, if the British teams will be granted automatic qualification for London 2012.

The Chicago Bulls star is right now giving everyone a glimpse of what he would do for Team GB at the Olympics if they do compete at the Games.
 
The 25-year-old had 26 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals on Tuesday as the Bulls won 106-88 at the Los Angeles Clippers.
 
Deng hardly put a foot wrong as the Bulls improved to 34-14.
 
They are second in the Eastern Conference with Miami, also 34-14, in third.
 
Deng made nine of 17 shots from the floor, including three of six from long range, and also sank all five of his attempts from the free-throw line.
 
A potential teammate of Deng in the GB side, Ben Gordon, had 20 points but couldn't prevent his Detroit Pistons (17-32) from falling to a 97-87 defeat at home to the Charlotte Bobcats (21-27).
 
Philadelphia (22-26) claimed a 106-92 victory at New Jersey (15-35) to remain in seventh place in the Eastern Conference ahead of eighth-place Charlotte.
 
The Atlanta Hawks are 31-18 after 100-87 home triumph over the Toronto Raptors (13-37), who lost for the 13th game in a row.
 
The Hawks are fourth in the Eastern Conference, though fifth-place Orlando are also 31-18.
 
Sixth-place New York (25-23) suffered a 113-97 home setback against the Dallas Mavericks, despite getting 27 points from Italy's Danilo Gallinari.
 
Dallas are third in the Western Conference with 33 wins and 15 defeats.
 
The Memphis Grizzlies (26-24) are hot.
 
They claimed a fourth consecutive victory, rolling to a 102-84 triumph at Minnesota (11-37).
 
Oklahoma City improved  to 31-17 with a 104-93 win at New Orleans (32-19).
 
The result allowed the Thunder to leapfrog New Orleans into fourth in the Western Conference.
 
Denver (29-20), Utah (29-21) and Portland (26-23) are sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
 
Denver won big at home over Portland, 109-90 and Utah fell at home to Houston, 97-96.
 
Houston are now 23-28 and 10th in the Western Conference.
 
Phoenix (23-24) are in ninth.
 
They took an early lead against Milwaukee (19-28) and won 92-77 with Poland international Marcin Gortat's 19 points, 11 boards and two blocks leading the way.
 
FIBA