SACRAMENTO — Authorities are investigating allegations that SacramentoKings player Justin Williams sexually assaulted a female acquaintance, aSacramento Police Department spokesman said Thursday.

Team spokesman Troy Hanson said Williams has been given an indefinite leaveof absence and returned to Sacramento from a road trip to New Mexico to obtain alawyer, a step recommended by team officials.

Hanson would not say whether the team planned to suspend Williams.

“We recently became aware of a complaint involving Justin Williams thatapparently is being investigated by the Sacramento police,” Hanson said. “Weare currently in the process of evaluating any additional information thatbecomes available to us.”

Criminal investigators searched Williams’ home Wednesday night, leaving withsome items that police are evaluating, police Sgt. Matt Young said during a newsconference.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rookie Al Horford scored a career-high 22 points and theAtlanta Hawks held off a second-half rally to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 104-98Thursday in an exhibition game.

Horford, who led Florida to back-to-back NCAA titles before becoming thethird pick in the draft, added 12 rebounds for the Hawks.

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MACAU — Carlos Arroyo scored 25 points to lead the Orlando Magic past theChina all-Stars 116-92 in an exhibition game Thursday at the casino city ofMacau.

The game might have been closer if China’s roster included the country’s twobiggest stars: Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and Yi Jianlian, a 7-foot powerforward with the Milwaukee Bucks.

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BOSTON — Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen made their Boston debuts, and holdoverPaul Pierce scored 22 points to lead the Celtics to a 101-61 victory over theNew York Knicks on Wednesday night.

Brought in to revive the sagging Celtics after their second consecutiveplayoff absence, Garnett had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Allen scored 14points before sitting out the fourth quarter. The New Big Three had seven pointsapiece in the first quarter as Boston opened a double-digit lead.

Zach Randolph had nine points and 12 rebounds for New York, and StephonMarbury scored nine for the Knicks, who did not have a player score in doublefigures. Allan Houston, attempting a comeback after two years off, missed hisonly shot while playing six minutes.

A 10-time All-Star acquired in an unprecedented 7-for-1 trade over thesummer, Garnett teamed with second-year point guard Rajon Rondo for the formerNBA MVP’s first highlight in Boston. Taking an entry pass under the basket,Garnett dished it behind his back to Rondo for the layup.

The basket gave the Celtics a 7-5 lead three minutes into the game, and theynever trailed again.

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics’ new highlight video isn’t a collection ofgreat plays from their NBA-record 16 championships.

Not a series of clips from their more recent, forgettable seasons, either.

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NEW YORK — A woman has accused NBA star Jason Kidd of harassing andgroping her this month at a trendy Manhattan nightspot.

Kidd spokesman Scott Miranda said the accusation was “a completefabrication and it is sad that someone would make something like this up.”

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MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks waived Samaki Walker on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old Walker signed a free-agent contract with Milwaukee threeweeks ago, but did not appear in a game during the preseason.

Walker, a 10-year veteran and former first-round pick by Dallas, has alsoplayed for San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami, Washington and Indiana.The 6-foot-9 forward has started 143 games and averaged 5.3 points and 4.7rebounds in his career. He did not play professionally last season.

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Jason Terry made a 3-pointer with four seconds left tolead the Dallas Mavericks to a 101-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings in apreseason game on Tuesday night.

Sacramento led for much of the night, but the Mavericks were 9-of-17 fromthe field in the fourth quarter and got 11 points from forward Dirk Nowitzki topull out the win. Nowitzki led the Mavericks (2-2) with 23 points and Terryadded 15. Jerry Stackhouse finished with 17 points and Devin Harris had 11.

The game featured the return of former New Mexico State men’s coach ReggieTheus, who went 41-23 during his two years in Las Cruces and led the Aggies tothe NCAA tournament this past March before signing on with the Kings.

Mavericks All-Star Josh Howard was ejected after delivering a forearm to theback of Sacramento center Brad Miller’s neck. He also pushed Miller, who hadshoved Dallas guard Devin Harris to the ground.

Sacramento took a 99-98 lead with 11 seconds left on two free throws by JohnSalmons after three lead changes and six ties in the final quarter.

“We did some good things tonight,” Terry said. “We’re still trying to getthe kinks out and get some new people involved in what we are doing. But we madesome strides tonight.”

Dallas outrebounded Sacramento 44-29 and was 31-of-37 from the free throwline. Sacramento missed 14-of-42 from the line.

Mike Bibby scored 21 points to lead five Kings in double figures. ForwardRon Artest added 19 points, Kevin Martin had 17, Brad Miller 16 and Salmonschipped in 10.

“We did some good things and we can build on those,” Theus said. “We werethe worst rebounding team in the NBA last year and got beat tonight. We alsoneed to hit our free throws. This was a good game for us. We got people someneeded work and they responded.”

Sacramento led 25-18 after the first quarter and 46-44 at halftime. TheKings shot 55 percent in the first quarter and got 11 points from Martin and 10from Bibby to lead the way in the opening 24 minutes.

SHANGHAI, China — The NBA took another step toward expanding its presencein China on Wednesday, with the Orlando Magic defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers90-86 in an exhibition game behind Dwight Howard’s 31 points and 14 rebounds.

The game, featuring LeBron James and attended by NBA commissioner DavidStern, was played at Qizhong Arena on the outskirts of Shanghai. The teams playagain Saturday in the former Portuguese territory of Macau. On Thursday inMacau, the Magic face a Chinese all-star team, part of the NBA’s “ChinaGames.”

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Allen Iverson scored 22 points to lead the Denver Nuggetsto a 104-78 exhibition victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night atGreen Bay’s Resch Center.

Carmelo Anthony added 16 points for the Nuggets, who never trailed. Denverled 55-50 early in the third quarter before going on a 15-0 run.

Charlie Bell led Milwaukee with 17 points, all in the first half.

Bucks rookie first-round draft choice Yi Jianlian of China finished withnine points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

Yi played the entire first quarter and saw only eight minutes of action therest of the way, despite the crowd’s chants of “We want Yi!”