Houston at Portland (5:30 p.m. Hawaii time). Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest and the Rockets try to rebound from their first loss of the season when they visit Brandon Roy and the Trail Blazers.

STARS

Wednesday

— Tony Parker, Spurs, scored a career-high 55 points, including a 20-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime in San Antonio's 129-125 victory over Minnesota. He also had 10 assists and seven rebounds.

— Amare Stoudemire, Suns, scored 49 points on 17-for-21 shooting and had 11 rebounds, six assists and five steals as Phoenix beat Indiana 113-103.

— LeBron James, Cavaliers, had a season-high 41 points, including 15 on free throws, in Cleveland's 107-93 win over Chicago.

— Nate Robinson, Knicks, scored all of his 24 points in the first half and the Knicks ruined former coach Larry Brown's return to New York with a 101-98 win over Charlotte.

— Kevin Martin, Kings, scored 33 points and tied coach Reggie Theus' franchise record for points in an opener on his final free throw with 14.3 seconds left to help Sacramento beat Memphis 100-95.

MILESTONE

With a 103-96 win over Portland, Jerry Sloan reached 999 victories as Utah's coach, the most ever by a coach with one NBA team. Sloan is the longest tenured coach in professional sports and will look to become the first coach to win 1,000 games with one team when the Jazz host Oklahoma City on Friday night.

FAST START

Atlanta hit 12 3-pointers and improved to 3-0 for the first time in 11 years after an 87-79 victory over New Orleans.

WELCOME BACK LARRY

Back in his hometown arena, Larry Brown was loudly booed at Madison Square Garden during pregame introductions. Brown was fired after going 23-59 with the Knicks in 2005-06, a bizarre season in which he publicly feuded with players, and was accused by management of violating MSG media policies and attempting to broker trades behind former team president Isiah Thomas' back.

THIEVERY

Miami rookie Mario Chalmers had a franchise-record nine steals in the Heat's 106-83 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Of Chalmers' nine steals, five were quickly turned into fast-break layups and Miami scored 15 points in all off those takeaways. He set the tone for Miami on defense, and the Heat forced 26 turnovers — the most in the NBA — for the second time in two home games this season.

GREAT COMPANY

Tony Parker joined elite company with his 55 points and 10 assists. According to STATS, Inc., the last NBA player to accomplish that feat was Michael Jordan. He had 57 points and 10 assists for Chicago against Washington in December 1992.

SPURT

The Los Angeles Lakers used a 22-0 run in the fourth quarter to beat the Clippers 106-88. Trailing 81-79 with 8:16 left, the Lakers took over. Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom each scored six points and Jordan Farmar added four during the decisive run. Al Thornton ended the spurt by making a 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining — the Clippers' first points in over 7 minutes.

POLITICS AS USUAL

Kevin Johnson, the longtime NBA point guard and Sacramento native, defeated two-term incumbent Heather Fargo on Tuesday night to become Sacramento's first black mayor. He got a rousing ovation from the crowd when Gavin Maloof presented him with a jersey during a first-quarter timeout of the Kings' 100-95 win over the Grizzlies.

SPEAKING

"I'm just ready to go. Hopefully everything gets taken care of ... and I'll be able to get on the court with my team and try to learn these plays as fast as possible."— Detroit's Allen Iverson, who sat out the Pistons' 100-93 victory over Toronto because Chauncey Billups, one of three players traded to Denver in exchange for Iverson, hadn't completed his physical with the Nuggets.