Josh Smith spent most of the fourth quarter cheering on his teammates from the bench. He was on the court, though, for the biggest play of the game. After sitting for all but 44 seconds of the final period because of foul trouble, Smith soared through the lane to drop in a missed shot with 0.7 seconds remaining and the Atlanta Hawks won their seventh in a row, beating the Houston Rockets 105-103...

Cleveland's offense was stagnant, and the Indiana Pacers had turned a five-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers went back to their tried-and-true formula -- LeBron, LeBron and more LeBron -- and it got the usual result. James scored 10 of his season-high 40 points in the final 7:07, and Cleveland beat the Pacers 105-95 on Friday night.

Kevin Garnett missed last season's playoff series against Orlando with a knee injury. Rasheed Wallace signed with Boston after it was over. But the Magic made a key offseason pickup of their own. Vince Carter scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, including a tiebreaking fadeaway jumper with 2:33 left to give Orlando an 83-78 victory over Boston on Friday night.

Jason Terry is accustomed to carrying the load for the Dallas bench. With the Mavericks missing three starters, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year got some much needed help from his fellow reserves Friday night. Terry scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, Dallas got 52 points from the bench and the Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings 104-102 for their fifth straight win.

The first player off the Los Angeles Clippers' bench led them in scoring, something that doesn't happen with this club except when there are injuries -- which is most of the time. Forward Rasual Butler had 27 points, Al Thornton added 18, and the Clippers withstood an early scoring spree from Carmelo Anthony to beat the Denver Nuggets 106-99 on Friday night.

Bucks coach Scott Skiles rarely gives glowing compliments. Even he's having a tough time containing his excitement for rookie Brandon Jennings. "You'd be hard pressed to find a rookie's first 10 games better than this," Skiles said. "Maybe somebody has, but he's had as good a 10-game start as anybody I've been aware of in my 20-plus years in the league."...