FIBA Basketball

    USA - Jackson, Belinelli lead Warriors past Zalgiris Kaunas

    OAKLAND (NBA) - Stephen Jackson scored 13 of his 20 points in the first quarter and Marco Belinelli weighed in with 19 for the game as the Golden State Warriors jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 107-88 win over Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas on Monday night. The Warriors' starting five included regulars Jackson and Matt Barnes at ...

    OAKLAND (NBA) - Stephen Jackson scored 13 of his 20 points in the first quarter and Marco Belinelli weighed in with 19 for the game as the Golden State Warriors jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 107-88 win over Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas on Monday night.

    The Warriors' starting five included regulars Jackson and Matt Barnes at forward with Baron Davis at point guard but also had rookies Belinelli and Serbian Kosta Perovic.

    "I thought I would give (Macro) a whole game, it was a good game to play our rookies," said Warriors coach Don Nelson. "They all got in there."

    Belinelli was seven of 17 from the floor while Davis scored all of his 11 points in the first quarter.

    Golden State used a 24-8 run to lead by as many as 16 points in the first quarter.  Zalgiris Kaunas fought its way back in the second quarter to trail by 10 before the Warriors took a 14-point half-time lead.

    It took 20 hours for Zalgiris Kaunas to fly to the United States from Lithuania, transferring in Amsterdam and arriving in San Francisco Saturday night.

    By the third quarter, Zalgiris was behind by 36 points after the Warriors went on a 32-10 run.

    They did have one section in the upper bowl of a few hundred boisterous fans cheering and displaying the country's flag.

    Marko Popovic, the Croatian national team star, scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter for Zalgiris, who used a 20-6 run to cut the deficit to 17 points with six minutes remaining.

    From there, the Warriors pushed their advantage to 19 points on a follow slam by rookie Brandan Wright.

    Jonas Maciulis had 13 points and former NBA draft pick Marcus Brown, who played collegiately at Murray State, added 11 for Zalgiris Kaunas.

    In Phoenix, Raja Bell scored 16 of his 24 points in the third quarter and Leandro Barbosa added 20 as the Suns pounded the Utah Jazz, 124-101.

    Shawn Marion contributed 16 points and Grant Hill chipped in with 14 for the Suns, who shot 16 of 25 from the arc.

    Turkey's Mehmet Okur had 12 and Russia's Andrei Kirilenko scored 11 for the Jazz.

    Carlos Boozer also had 10 points in his first pre-season game with the team.

    Boozer missed the first three contests to be with his 16-month-old son, Carmani, who received a bone-marrow transplant in late September.

    In New Orleans, Ike Diogu scored 19 points and Troy Murphy added 10 of his 14 in the third quarter as the Indiana Pacers coasted to a 117-104 pre-season victory over the Hornets.

    In Memphis, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Gay each scored 22 points to help the Memphis Grizzlies rally from a 16-point first-half deficit and earn a 101-93 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

    Gay and Navarro combined to score 21 fourth-quarter points and spark a 15-0 Memphis scoring run after Minnesota had led, 86-83, with 7:37 to play.

    Navarro, who partnered with Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol to help Spain win the 2006 FIBA World Championship, ignited the run with a layup in the lane.

    His back-to-back three-pointers earlier in the quarter had tied the game at 81-81.

    In Charlotte, Gerald Wallace scored 20 points and Adam Morrison and Matt Carroll each added 15 as the Bobcats erased a double-digit third-quarter deficit en route to a 96-86 win over the New Jersey Nets.

    Wallace, rookie Jermareo Davidson and Morrison each scored four points in the decisive run for the Bobcats, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the third.  

    FIBA