CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After a rocky rookie year and offseason moves that tookhim out of the starting lineup, Adam Morrison has embraced his new role with theCharlotte Bobcats.

Gerald Wallace scored 20 points and Morrison added 15 off the bench Mondaynight in the Bobcats’ 96-86 exhibition victory over the New Jersey Nets.

Morrison had nine points in the third quarter when Charlotte outscored theNets 39-15. The No. 3 pick in the 2006 draft went 2-of-3 from 3-point range, hitall seven free throws and added two rebounds and an assist.

In four preseason games, Morrison is shooting 51 percent. He shot 38 percentas a rookie.

“Last year it was, ‘Are you going to win rookie of the year? Are you goingto do this? You need to score this,”‘ Morrison said. “This year I’m justtrying to have fun and I’m having fun playing again. Last year it was fun attimes and it wasn’t fun at times.”

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SHANGHAI, China — LeBron James looms large in Shanghai.

He hovers over a basket in billboards around the city leading to Wednesday’sNBA exhibition game between his Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic andanother game Saturday in the former Portuguese territory of Macau.

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MIAMI — Shaquille O’Neal walked off the Miami Heat practice floor slowly, abruised left quadriceps souring his mood.

“Terrible,” was his answer to a “How is it?” query as he departed,though O’Neal sent word later that he wasn’t being serious.

Still, there’s already cause for some serious concern around Heat camp — aseight of Miami’s 20 players were unable to practice Monday because of injuries.Bruised hips, sore shins, aching thighs, sprained ankles — all that and more arebeing treated by the Heat medical staff these days.

An 0-4 start to the preseason isn’t helping matters, either.

“It’s frustrating for me because I’d like to have all hands on deck and bepushing toward that goal of putting the team together,” Heat coach Pat Rileysaid. “But you have to deal with what you have.”

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SAN ANTONIO — Tim Duncan scored 20 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs toa 113-91 victory Saturday over Panathinaikos of Greece.

The reigning NBA champion Spurs never trailed against the Euroleaguechampions and were up by as many as 29 in the exhibition game.

Duncan played just over 21 minutes and sat out the fourth quarter, as didthe Spurs’ other starters.

Manu Ginobili added 15 points for San Antonio, including a highlight-worthydunk early in the third quarter and two 3-pointers. Brent Barry added 12 pointsfor the Spurs and was 3-of-6 from behind the arc in the team’s second preseasoncontest.

“It was a good chance to practice a lot of things,” Spurs coach GreggPopovich said. “Especially against a well-coached team and a successful team.We’re happy to have that opportunity.”

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MILWAUKEE — Ronnie Brewer scored 20 of his 28 points in the fourth quarterto lead the Utah Jazz to a 92-78 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturdaynight.

Milwaukee rookie Yi Jianlian started for the first time in the NBA andscored 13 points in 28 minutes. He also had eight of the Bucks’ 30 turnovers. MoWilliams, who signed a six-year, $51.5 million contract in the summer, led theBucks with 22 points.

Brewer only played in 56 of Utah’s 82 games as a rookie last season,averaging 4.6 points, but has led the Jazz in scoring in each of their threeexhibition games.

The 6-foot-7 guard scored Utah’s first seven points of the fourth quarter,then gave his team the lead for good at 74-73 on a pair of free throws with 6:47left. He then led a fast break that resulted in a three-point play for RonniePrice, extending the lead to 77-73.

Milwaukee managed only a field goal by Royal Ivey during Utah’s decisive18-2 fourth-quarter run.

Yi grabbed the opening tip from Andrew Bogut, but had four turnovers in thefirst quarter. He missed his first two field goal attempts, but then made fiveconsecutive shots.

Michael Redd, Milwaukee’s leading scorer last season, played 23 minutes andscored eight points.

Morris Almond, Utah’s first-round draft choice from Rice, also started hisfirst game in the NBA, but missed all six of his shots and was held scoreless in22 minutes.

The Bucks and Jazz have split a pair of preseason games.

Utah played without Carlos Boozer (personal reasons) and Matt Harpring(right knee, left ankle rehab). Milwaukee coach Larry Krystkowiak chose not toplay forward Bobby Simmons, who missed last season while undergoing two legsurgeries.

CLEVELAND — P.J. Carlesimo earned his first win as SuperSonics’ coach,96-90 over the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exhibition game Friday night.

Cavs All-Star forward LeBron James was forced out of action in the thirdquarter because of a right shoulder contusion. The injury doesn’t appear to beserious. He had 14 points for the Cavs.

Forward Chris Wilcox led all scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds forSeattle.

Guard Kevin Durant, a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, had15 points and seven rebounds. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft was just5-of-22 from the field.

Guard Wally Szczerbiak, acquired from Boston in the Ray Allen trade lastJune, added 14 points.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers have picked up the team options on DannyGranger, Ike Diogu and Shawne Williams.

Granger, in his third year, is expected to be a key player in new coach JimO’Brien’s offense. The small forward averaged 13.9 points and 4.6 rebounds lastseason.

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CLEVELAND — Standing alone at the foul line, Dwayne Jones had confidence.More than 15,000 others weren’t so certain.

Jones, a backup big man trying to make Cleveland’s roster, shook off fourstraight misses by dropping two free throws in the final second of regulation asthe Cavaliers rallied for a 96-90 overtime win against the Detroit Pistons onThursday night.

“I’ve been practicing all summer,” said Jones, who played in just fourgames for the Cavs last season. “It was good to be able to contribute.”

LeBron James witnessed quite a comeback.

James scored 17 points — all in the first half — but he watched from thebench while icing his knees as Cleveland’s reserves rallied in the second halfto beat the Pistons in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals.

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HONOLULU — Kelenna Azubuike scored 22 points and the Golden State Warriorsbeat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-106 on Thursday night, completing a sweep of theteams’ two-game exhibition series.

Marco Belinelli had 18 points, Mickael Pietrus added 17 and Troy Hudson 16for Golden State, which beat Los Angeles 111-110 on Tuesday night.

Derek Fisher and Vladimir Radmanovic had 12 points apiece for the Lakers,and Andrew Bynum, Chris Mihm and Kobe Bryant added 11 each.

The Warriors outscored the Lakers in each quarter and looked like theoffense that was second in the league with an average of 106.5 points per gamelast season.

Golden State used a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter that beganwith Belinelli’s three-point play to pull to 35-33. Pietrus made two free throwsand Hudson scored on a layup to give the Warriors a 37-35 lead.

Belinelli’s 3- pointer with just under 7 minutes left in the first half gaveGolden State the lead for good, and the Warriors led 63-56 at the break.

Pietrus was taken to the locker room in the third quarter with a strainedlower back. He did not return and is day-to-day.

Baron Davis, Andris Biedrins, Monta Ellis and Al Harrington did not play forthe Warriors. Davis was out for rest, Biedrins is nursing a sore left big toeand Ellis missed his second consecutive game due to a sprained neck.

Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom and Maurice Evans sat out for Los Angeles. Brown isrecovering from surgeries on his left ankle and right shoulder did not play,Odom has an injured left shoulder, and Evans strained his left hamstring inTuesday’s game.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Shawn Marion had 18 points and 12 rebounds for thePhoenix Suns as they opened the preseason with a convincing 110-99 victory overthe Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.

With Grant Hill getting 17 points and eight rebounds in his first game in aPhoenix uniform, the Suns were off and running from the start, outscoring theKings 29-18 in the first quarter and led the rest of the way.

Hill, who signed as a free agent in the offseason, appeared to have noproblem adjusting to the Suns’ uptempo pace, taking 11 first-half shots andscoring 13 points to help the Suns to a 55-46 lead.

Both Kevin Martin and Quincy Douby scored 17 points for the Kings (1-1).Mike Bibby had 10 points and led Sacramento with seven rebounds.

The Kings had trouble stopping the Suns and were also unsuccessful at thefree-throw line, converting 13 of 23 attempts.

Disgruntled in the offseason and in trade rumors for much of the summer,Marion looked as motivated as any Suns player, making 7-of-10 shots and addingfour assists and two blocks.

Leandro Barbosa scored 14 points and Sean Marks added 13 points and ninerebounds for Phoenix, which made 13 of 26 3-point shots. Raja Bell and MarcusBanks both scored 13 points and Boris Diaw had 10.

Seemingly content to look for teammates all game instead of shoot, SteveNash had 11 assists and scored three points, taking just three shots.

Last year’s leading scorer for Phoenix, Amare Stoudemire, recently hadarthroscopic knee surgery and watched the game in street clothes.