Stephon Marbury attended the Knicks' home opener on Saturday night and was asked to leave a courtside seat when ushers examined his ticket and determined he was sitting in the wrong spot.

Marbury left the arena just as the first quarter was ending.

Marbury pulled out a video camera shortly after arriving and began shooting the live action.

The Denver Nuggets have exercised the fourth-year option on guard Arron Afflalo?s contract, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today.

In his first two games with Denver, he has averaged 1.5 ppg and 1.0 apg in 18.5 minutes.

The Denver Nuggets have signed forward Renaldo Balkman to a contract extension, team Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien announced today. Per league policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Last season, Balkman averaged a career-high 5.0 ppg and 3.8 rpg while shooting a career-high .558 from the field in 53 games with the Nuggets.

Nuggets coach George Karl says that star Carmelo Anthony is looking to play at an MVP-type level this season.

Anthony has 71 points through the season's first two games.

"(He is) trying to move into the level where you're talking about him as an MVP candidate," Karl told the Denver Post.

Karl added that he talked to Anthony about becoming more efficient this year.

"We've talked about extending his efficiency and minutes. I would rather see him have his best assist year, his best assist-to-turnover ratio, his best free-throw year. ... If we have the year I think we're capable of, I'm hoping that maybe 20 to 25 games he doesn't play in the fourth quarter, so I think it makes it difficult, compared to guys who aren't going to have as many blowouts.

"Also, I don't think a scoring title is on my list of importance. My importance would be ? can he have his most triple-doubles and a commitment to be a dominant player in all aspects?"

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reiterated on Friday night that he's glad to see Ron Artest with the Lakers.

Cuban generated some headlines this summer when he told the media he was happy to see the combustible forward in Los Angeles.

"History repeats itself," Cuban told the Orange County Register. "I'm not saying something you guys haven't considered, right? That's just the risk. Every team has to deal with chemistry and the impact of the chemistry on the team. Normally, you try to minimize that.

"Ron is an amazing talent, he's a great guy. I don't really know him, but the way he's handled this is phenomenal. I give him a ton of credit. But it is what it is."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers says that the Bulls are a better team this season.

Last April, Chicago pushed higher-seeded Boston to seven games in the first round of the postseason.

"I think they're a better team," Rivers told the Daily Herald. "I think they're longer, I think they're a better defensive team. I think they fit. That's taking nothing from Ben, he was phenomenal in the playoffs last year. But so was Ray (Allen). We thought they had a UConn deal going to get each other off (scoring).

"I think now their team does fit. (John) Salmons is at two, probably what he is. (Luol) Deng gives them more length at three. (Kirk) Hinrich is playing one and two. I just think they're a better fit.

"And the fact that they had (Brad) Miller and Salmons this year in training camp. I thought that was lost on a lot of people last year. They had to kind of learn on the run. This year, they had the ability to work on things."

The Grizzlies have restarted talks with Rudy Gay about a possible contract extension, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Gay's agent, Jeff Austin of Octagon, traveled to Memphis on Friday to meet with Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace.

Austin wrote in an email to Yahoo! Sports that it's "too early to tell if anything will come of it."

League sources have indicated that Gay is looking for a five-year contract in the $50-60 million range.

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor says that the club is negotiating a contract extension with coach Jerry Sloan.

O'Connor is hopeful that an agreement will be reached.

"I'd like to think we can get something done at some point," O'Connor told the Deseret News this week. "But there's no urgency to it."

Sloan, who has signed one-year extensions heading into each of the last two seasons, is coaching the Jazz for the 22nd season.

Pau Gasol has admitted that he's worried about his injured hamstring.

He hasn't practiced or played in nearly two weeks because of the injury.

"I'm concerned about it, definitely," Gasol told the Los Angeles Times. "There's no set time to return, no set date. I just don't want it to turn into something long-term."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson has said publicly that he's not concerned about the injury. Gasol has missed two regular-season games after missing the team's last six exhibition contests.

Pistons guard Richard Hamilton will miss his second consecutive game on Saturday night.

Hamilton sat out Friday's contest against the Thunder with a sprained right ankle and will miss Saturday's game against the Bucks as well.

He suffered the injury late in Detroit's season-opening win over the Grizzlies.

Postgame X-rays on the ankle were negative.