Dallas at L.A. Lakers (10:30 p.m. EST). The Mavericks, who reached the Western Conference Finals last season, face Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers.

STARS

Wednesday

_Paul Pierce, Celtics, scored 36 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Boston to a 126-112 win over Seattle.

_Corey Maggette, Clippers, scored 30 points to lead the Clippers to a 100-99 win over Dallas.

_Earl Watson, Grizzlies, had 20 points and nine assists as Memphis beat Atlanta 103-90.

FIRED SUN

Frank Johnson was fired as coach of the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday after an 8-13 start to the season. The Suns promoted assistant Mike D'Antoni, who was coach of the Denver Nuggets in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season and had a 14-36 record. He joined the Suns as an assistant last season after coaching Benetton Treviso to the Italian championship. Johnson replaced Scott Skiles as the Suns' coach late in the 2001-02 season, going 11-20 the rest of the way. Last season, Johnson guided the team to a 44-38 record and a surprising playoff berth.

CAREER NIGHT

Three players set career highs for points in a game on Wednesday night in the Celtics' 126-112 win over the SuperSonics. Boston's Mike James set his personal best with 24 points, while Seattle's Ansu Sesay had 19 and Richie Frahm had 14. Boston had its highest-scoring night of the season.

BEWARE OF BEARS

The Memphis Grizzlies tied a franchise record with their sixth straight victory on Wednesday night, beating the Atlanta Hawks 103-90.

LAST TEAM STANDING

The Bucks beat the Warriors 94-89 in overtime on Wednesday night. Golden State was the last Western Conference team to lose to an Eastern Conference team.

SPEAKING

``It's been awhile since we've been on a streak on the winning side. I guess it took that 19-game losing streak for us to realize that we could be a pretty good team if we could all stay focused and execute on both ends of the court.'' _ Orlando's Tracy McGrady, after the Magic beat the Wizards 95-91 on Wednesday night. Orlando lost 19 straight games before winning its last two.