Detroit at Cleveland (7:30 p.m. EST). LeBron James, the first pick in the 2003 draft, faces the Pistons and second overall pick Darko Milicic. James is leading the Cavaliers in scoring while Milicic is averaging only 2.4 minutes.

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 a while 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.