AROUND THE NBA | News and notes

A new low: For those who missed it, the Rockets and Spurs played the lowest-scoring first half in the NBA's post-shot clock era Thursday night. San Antonio led 30-25 at intermission. Was it an aberration or part of a trend? Teams were averaging only 91.9 points per game through Monday, a drop from 93.1 at the same juncture the previous three seasons. Part of the blame has been placed on zone defenses, with the theory being that they force teams to take too many low-percentage shots from the outside. But while average 3-point attempts have gone from 13.2 in 2001-02 -- the last season zones were illegal -- to 14.4 today, the leaguewide shooting percentage has stayed virtually identical: .343 at this point in '01-02 to .340 this season. There is, however, some evidence of a lack of layups: In two years, the leaguewide percentage for 2-point field goals has dropped from .459 to .449, and teams are taking 1.3 fewer free throws per game. So while the Rockets-Spurs game is part of a trend, it also was a bit of an aberration. There haven't been as many low-scoring games as there were over the first three weeks of the season, and there has been a discernible bump in the number of comparatively high-scoring games. Of the seven games played Wednesday, four of the winning teams broke 100 points -- including Boston's 126-112 victory over Seattle. Of the 10 games Tuesday night, four of the winners surpassed 100 points and 13 teams scored more than the leaguewide season average of 91.9. In games played Dec. 1-7, teams averaged 93.3 points -- a 21/2 point increase from the first two weeks of this season.
Odd man out: Coach Kevin O'Neill has gone to a seven-man rotation since Toronto made its six-player trade with Chicago. Two Raptors expected to play big roles have been benched during the team's resurgence. Backup point guard Milt Palacio has logged 11 minutes in two games while sitting out three others since the trade. He averaged 30 minutes over the first month of the season. Lamond Murray, who averaged 16.6 points two years ago in his final season with Cleveland, has played one minute and taken one shot since the trade. "I don't think I should be sitting at the end of the bench like I'm a scrubby player, like I can't contribute." General manager Glen Grunwald said Murray has not asked for a trade. There could still be a role for Murray if the Raptors trade Morris Peterson to acquire some size. "It's great for us to have that kind of depth, to have a really good player in Lamond available in case we need him," Grunwald said. "I think we just have to maintain a little perspective. Everyone is going to have an opportunity sooner or later. Hopefully, when their opportunity comes they'll be ready."
Pop-ing off: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had some funny tongue-in-cheek comments about making his team less boring. "We've changed our rules. If a player does not have some sort of altercation on or off the court once each month, we fine him. I've tried to get this to the press, but people just won't pay attention to me. The guys that are our top four scorers, each of them will be required once every two months to appear on MTV.
-- Associated Press