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Hornets trade Rooks to Orlando for WilliamsNEW ORLEANS (AP) The New Orleans Hornets acquired guard Shammond Williams from the Orlando Magic on Thursday in exchange for center Sean Rooks in a deal completed just before the NBA trading deadline.. Rooks, on the injured list since Feb. 10 with a sprained right ankle, has averaged 2.3 points a game in 35 appearances. He had been playing little for New Orleans because of the improved play of Robert Traylor and the emergence of rookie David West. Williams has played in 37 games this season, averaging 4.9 points and two assists per game. Earlier, the Magic sent Gordan Giricek to the Utah Jazz for DeShawn Stevenson in a trade of guards. . New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Williams swapped for RooksESPN's Marc Stein is reporting that the Orlando Magic have made their second deal of the day. This time they have dealt guard Shammond Williams to the New Orleans Hornets for center Sean Rooks. Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Magloire: `I'll be back'LOS ANGELES (AP) New Orleans center Jamaal Magloire was a surprise selection to his first NBA All-Star game. He had 19 points and eight rebounds in the East's 136-132 loss to the West. Magloire also took a team-high 16 shots, three more than Jermaine O'Neal. ``I felt in my heart that I am an All-Star. This won't be the last time I will be an All-Star,'' he said. ``I don't worry what the critics say. Every year there's going to be media or critics that have their opinion as far as who should be playing in the game and who shouldn't.'' A lot of NBA players who aren't chosen as All-Stars still show up to party and socialize during the weekend. Magloire had never previously allowed himself that pleasure. ``I always made a deal with myself that I wouldn't go to an All-Star game unless I was playing in it,'' he said. ___ WORKING WIFE:@ Shaquille O'Neal wasn't the only member of his family working at the All-Star game. His wife, Shaunie, was a special correspondent for ``Access Hollywood'' during the weekend. The gig allowed her access to a place she never could go as a wife: the locker room. Dressed in a black leather skirt and jacket, she carefully picked her way through the mobbed room in black spike-heeled shoes. Her segments will air on Monday's edition of the syndicated entertainment show. ___ SEXY, NOT SCANDALOUS:@ Beyonce put on a sexy, not scandalous halftime show. She danced provocatively in a deep V-neck halter dress, two weeks after Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl performance. While Beyonce sang her hit ``Crazy in Love'' in the dress that revealed side views of her breasts, the conservatively dressed Jackson sat courtside swaying to the music. Jackson's Super Bowl halftime performance created a ruckus that prompted TNT to use a seven-second delay during Sunday's All-Star game. Beyonce descended from the ceiling on a platform above a glittering disco ball and eventually made her way to a platform in the middle of the court. She gyrated suggestively in front of a wind machine. ``I'm feeling sexy when I hear you say my name,'' she sang. Her vigorous dancing nearly caused her thin, brightly colored halter top to expose her breasts. East head coach Rick Carlisle and his squad spent most of halftime on the court instead of in the locker room. ``Our players wanted to see Michael McDonald and Beyonce and I couldn't blame them, so we made our halftime meeting brief,'' he said. Accompanied by a drummer, Christina Aguilera performed a backbeat-filled national anthem reminiscent of Marvin Gaye's rendition before the 1983 All-Star game in Los Angeles. McDonald, the former Doobie Brothers lead singer, saluted Gaye with the late singer's hit ``What's Going On.'' ___ SHAQ AND HIS IDOL:@ Shaquille O'Neal dunked late in the game and the momentum carried his 360-pound body into equally imposing ``American Idol'' winner Ruben Studdard, who sat near the basket. ``I'm suing Ruben Studdard because when I dunked, I accidentally bumped him and he had his hand on my ... and he wouldn't let me go,'' O'Neal said. ``I'm suing.'' Then a smiling O'Neal clarified things. ``Ruben is a great guy and I was just having a little fun,'' he said. O'Neal's body was such an imposing threat that New Jersey's Jason Kidd simply stepped out of his way and let him go all the way for another dunk late in the game. ``I don't know if he has an anti-lock brake system, but I was just going to get out of the way,'' Kidd said. ``There's not too many times you're going to take a charge on a guy that size with the ball going that fast.'' ___ TRASH TALKING:@ What's an All-Star game without some trash talking to go with the streetball? Minnesota's Kevin Garnett jawed at Philadelphia's Allen Iverson on the free-throw line. Garnett was coy about the conversation. ``Just a little chat. Nothing I can really say on TV or to you guys,'' he told reporters. ``You can ask him. Maybe he'll give you the G-version. He almost airballed it.'' Orlando's Tracy McGrady made some shots over Garnett, then took a few verbal ones. ``He gave me a little graphic insight on what he just did,'' Garnett said. ``I'll let him give you the G-version of that, too.'' Garnett didn't get a break from the yapping of Timberwolves teammate Sam Cassell, either. ``Sam is going to talk a hundred miles an hour for 48 minutes while he's playing, and it wasn't any different,'' he said. ___ SHAQ TELLS ALL:@ Shaquille O'Neal was mobbed by reporters from all over the world at his locker before the game. But 10-year-old Alex Toschi edged his way through and got in a couple of questions as correspondent for ``Weekly Reader.'' O'Neal was sitting down when the fourth-grader from Phoenix asked how O'Neal's love of basketball began. Alex: ``How long did you have to practice to be an All-Star, and was it ever so hard that you didn't want to play the game?'' Shaq: ``Well, I practiced about four to five hours a day, and there was never a time I wanted to quit.'' Alex: ``When you were a kid, who was your favorite team and who did you look up to?'' Shaq: ``I'm still a kid, and my favorite team was Dr. J's team when I was little.'' After thanking O'Neal for his time, Alex walked away with a better understanding of what reporters do. ``It was really cool,'' he said. ``I was kind of freaked out at first, but after I got up there and talked to him, it wasn't so bad. It's just like talking to a regular person _ but when you get up really close, it's like, `Oh, God.''' ___ NOTES:@ The crowd of 19,662 was the 10th-largest in All-Star history. ... Los Angeles joined Philadelphia as the only cities to host the game in three different arenas: the Sports Arena, 1963 (14,838); the Forum in 1972 (17,214) and again in 1983 (17,505). ... Bryant's 20 points made him the active All-Star scoring leader ahead of Allen Iverson (18.8 points), who had just three points. ... The East and West combined to shoot .543, a record for highest combined field-goal percentage. The old record was .536 in the '83 game. ... The West's five free throws made were an All-Star low; the old mark was nine by the East in '92. The West also set a record for fewest free throws attempted with 10, surpassing the old mark of 12 by the East in '90. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Hornets Feb 2004 Archive
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