Kevin Garnett

* at Boston 87, Minnesota 86: In his first regular-season game against his former team, Kevin Garnett poked the ball away from Sebastian Telfair in the final seconds to preserve the victory. He finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds despite leaving the game for four minutes late in the fourth quarter because of an abdominal strain.

* at Denver 124, Boston 118: Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points, Allen Iverson added 28 and the Nuggets spoiled the return of Kevin Garnett (four points and eight rebounds) from an abdominal strain. Boston had won five in a row. * Orlando 103, at Detroit 85: The Magic, the last to beat the Pistons on Jan. 21, ended Detroit's 10-game winning streak behind six double-figure scorers. Orlando outscored Detroit, 63-37, over the second and third quarters.

at Boston 96, Chicago 80: Kevin Garnett had 18 points and 10 rebounds three days after a mediocre season opener and became the youngest player in NBA history to play in 1,000 regular-season games. Garnett -- at 32 years 165 days old -- broke the record of Shawn Kemp, who reached the milestone on Dec. 20, 2002, when he was 33 years 24 days old. Kobe Bryant is two years and three months younger than Garnett and already has played 868 games.

All-Star forward Kevin Garnett was suspended for one game for hitting Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut in the face near the end of the Boston Celtics' overtime victory over the Bucks on Saturday, the NBA announced Monday. Garnett will sit out tonight when the Celtics play host to the New York Knicks. Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal was fined $25,000 for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court quickly after being ejected Sunday night against Detroit. O'Neal fined Etc.

Boston 95, at Minnesota 78: Kevin Garnett, in his first game at the Target Center since Minnesota traded him in July 2007, had 17 points for the Celtics, who outscored the Timberwolves, 35-10, in the third quarter. at Dallas 91, Memphis 76: The Mavericks got their first home victory after losing their first four games at American Airlines Center. Dirk Nowitzki had 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett was suspended one game by the NBA on Sunday for throwing a punch at Detroit's Antonio McDyess. Garnett, who leads Minnesota in scoring at 22.2 points and rebounding at 12.8, didn't play in Sunday's 131-102 loss to the Phoenix Suns. With 5:18 left in the fourth quarter of the Pistons' double-overtime victory over the Timberwolves on Friday night, McDyess knocked Minnesota's Mark Madsen to the floor with a forearm shove.

The hard-driving Phoenix Suns had been blowing through the NBA in January, piling up points, highlights and victories at breakneck speed. They finished the month only one win away from perfection after crashing into a 6-foot-11 road block named Kevin Garnett. Garnett almost single-handedly ended the Suns' 17-game winning streak, scoring 44 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in Minnesota's 121-112 victory on Monday night at Minneapolis.

In Lakerdom, times aren't merely good or bad, they're more like heaven and hell. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant are either feuding or posing for pictures with the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Kobe is either scoring 81 or bringing down some calamity on his head. Now, the team is either getting Kevin Garnett and going back to being the Lakers, or not and staring into the abyss. Anyone got a match? This may not have been the worst four weeks the Lakers ever went through, but it's up there.

If Monday brought expectation and exhilaration to Lakers fans, Tuesday delivered silence. Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor met with team officials in Minneapolis and then left for a honeymoon in China without signing off on a deal to send Kevin Garnett to the Lakers for a package including Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom, which put the Garnett-to-L.A. scenarios back where they were a week ago -- remote territory.

Accept it: Kevin Garnett is not coming to the Lakers. Definitely not in the four-team trade that would have involved the Lakers, Minnesota, Indiana and Boston. And, it became apparent Wednesday, not in the possible Lakers-Timberwolves trade that emerged as an alternative when the stars didn't align for the bigger deal. The Timberwolves want draft picks and young players and figured they could do better than the Lakers' offer of Lamar Odom -- and his $27.