MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Manu Ginobili returned from his offseason left ankle surgery, and the San Antonio Spurs celebrated with a victory.

Ginobili, who missed San Antonio's first 12 games, scored 12 points to help the Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 94-81, last night.

"I felt pretty good about it," said Ginobili, who played 11 minutes in his first outing. "I didn't rush it a lot. I took my time, found the open seam, made a couple of shots. I wasn't thinking about a great game on my first one, so I'm happy with what I did."

Rookie George Hill scored 20 points and Roger Mason added 18 to lead the Spurs. Tim Duncan added 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for San Antonio, which has won five of its past six games.

O.J. Mayo scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half to lead Memphis, which has dropped seven of its past eight. Rudy Gay scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Darko Milicic had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Ginobili entered the game with 5:34 left in the first quarter and promptly made his first two shots, the first from outside the arc with the shot clock running down, and the second on a dunk.

"I didn't want to take a quick one because I'm kind of rusty," Ginobili said of the 3-pointer he hit 1:27 after entering the game. "In that situation, you don't have any other options with the shot clock winding down, so, I took it. It was good for my confidence that it went in."

BULLS 101, JAZZ 100

SALT LAKE CITY — Larry Hughes hit a 22-foot jumper as time expired to give Chicago a win over Utah, handing the Jazz their first home loss of the season. Hughes got the rebound after Derrick Rose missed inside with Utah leading 100-99 and got off the winning shot in time.

ROCKETS 107, HEAT 98

MIAMI — Yao Ming scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Ron Artest scored 20 as Houston finished off a perfect three-game road trip against the Eastern Conference with a win over Miami.

MAGIC 108, BUCKS 101

ORLANDO, Fla. — Dwight Howard had 24 points and 13 rebounds to help Orlando beat Milwaukee. Richard Jefferson scored 25 points to lead Milwaukee, which lost Andrew Bogut to a left knee bruise in the third quarter. The Magic saw point guard Jameer Nelson leave with a groin strain.

BLAZERS 91, KINGS 90

PORTLAND — Brandon Roy scored a season-high 28 points as Portland rallied during the final six minutes to beat Sacramento. Greg Oden made his first start for Portland since returning from a foot injury Nov. 12. He had three points, six rebounds and four turnovers in 19 minutes.

HORNETS 99, CLIPPERS 87

LOS ANGELES — David West scored 27 points as New Orleans beat Los Angeles. Peja Stojakovic had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets,

BOBCATS 93, 76ERS 84

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — D.J. Augustin scored 25 points and added a career-high 11 assists and backcourt mate Raymond Felton added 23 points as Charlotte beat Philadelphia.

ELSEWHERE

Wizards: Eddie Jordan was fired as coach of Washington yesterday after opening the season 1-10 without injured starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood. "That's an unacceptable record, obviously," team president Ernie Grunfeld said at a news conference to introduce director of player development Ed Tapscott as interim coach.

Heat: Forward Dorell Wright will have debris removed from his surgically repaired left knee today, which will further delay his comeback plans. The team said last night that Wright is not having anything repaired in the joint, but that team doctors believe "loose bodies" within the knee are disrupting his rehabilitation and recovery.

Magic: Backup guard Keith Bogans will be out from four to six weeks because of a broken thumb on his non-shooting hand. Bogans was injured during the Magic's game against Houston on Saturday.