Denver at Portland (10 p.m. EST). Carmelo Anthony leads the Nuggets against Rasheed Wallace and the Blazers.

STARS

Wednesday

_Quentin Richardson, Clippers, had a career-high 44 points and 10 rebounds in Los Angeles' 120-104 victory over the Nuggets.

_Jason Kidd, finished with 23 points and seven assists and New Jersey beat the Warriors 88-70.

_Baron Davis, Hornets, had 29 points and 10 assists in Charlotte's 96-94 win over the Celtics.

_Ben Wallace, Pistons, grabbed 15 rebounds in Detroit's 78-71 win over the Blazers.

HURTING

Lakers forward Karl Malone is probably headed to the injured list for the first time in his 19-year career. Malone, the NBA's second-leading career scorer behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Dec. 21 in the first quarter against Phoenix and hasn't played since.

FORTY

Quentin Richardson scored a career-high 44 points in the Clippers' 120-104 victory over the Nuggets on Wednesday night. Richardson became the first Clippers player to reach 40 points since Dominique Wilkins had 42 against the Lakers on April 16, 1994, at the L.A. Sports Arena.

STRONG IN DEFEAT

Portland's Zach Randolph had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the Trail Blazers' 78-71 loss to Detroit on Wednesday night. ... Andre Miller had 18 points and nine assists, but Denver fell to the Clippers 120-104.

SIDELINED

Utah Jazz center Ben Handlogten will miss the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his left knee. Handlogten twisted the knee going after an offensive rebound Friday night against Toronto. He averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 17 games this season.

SPEAKING

``Just to go up there and be around him, I'm sure he'll come down and show me some things. He's one of my favorite point guards of all time.'' _ Moochie Norris, who was acquired by the Knicks from Houston on Wednesday, on the opportunity to work with Hall of Fame point guard and New York president Isiah Thomas.