Odds & Ends: Rivers, Pierce, Grizzlies, Magic, Heat

The Hornets suffered a scare earlier this evening as rookie guard Austin Rivers injured his surgically-repaired right ankle in the first quarter of tonight's preseason game against the Mavericks.  The 20-year-old was helped off the floor and was unable to put weight on the right leg, writes Jimmy Smith of the Times-Picayune.  Thankfully, Rivers' postgame X-rays came back negative, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (via Twitter).  Here's more from around the league…

  • Celtics star Paul Pierce confessed to CSNNE's Mike Gorman that he considered moving on from Boston after last year's exit at the hands of the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Pierce now says that he has a hard time envisioning himself in another uniform.
  • Robert Pera's bid to own the Grizzlies will be on the agenda Wednesday at the NBA's Board of Governors meetings in New York City, sources familiar with the process told Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal.  To finalize the transaction, Pera will need to receive approval three-fourths of the league's majority owners.  Pera has already made waves with a celebrity cast of minority partners including Justin Timberlake and Ashley Manning, the wife of NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
  • Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel looks at the roster crunch facing the Magic as the deadline approaches.  Swingman Chris Johnson and point guard Armon Johnson are near locks to be cut in the coming days.  That leaves combo forward Justin Harper, power forward Josh McRoberts and swingmen Christian Eyenga, DeQuan Jones, and Quentin Richardson to battle for the final two spots on the roster.
  • Heat guard Dwyane Wade admitted that it's going to be a challenge to get all of the team's new talent to mesh, tweets Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida.  “We have a lot of guys that are so used to being kind of the main focus and not a lot of us are going to be the main focus now,’’ Wade said. “So that’s a challenge to see how we all can incorporate ourselves within our offense and keep each other happy.’’
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