Chad Johnson Talks Domestic Violence, Football Future

Chad Johnson initially had four words to describe his appearance on ESPN's "First Take" on Wednesday: "Stood tall. Transparent. Real."

Those words are a start but this appearance by the former NFL wide receiver was at turns confessional, inflammatory, angry, sad and confounding. A seemingly chastened Johnson threw himself to the First Take wolves -- Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith -- in an unexpectedly intense encounter.

JR Smith helps Knicks escape with a victory

J.R. Smith is normally the guy watching Carmelo Anthony hit the game-winning shot, not the one knocking it down.

But with Anthony nursing a lacerated finger, the New York Knicks turned to Smith for the last shot and the eight-year NBA veteran delivered.

Smith hit a fallaway jumper from the left wing as time expired to give the Knicks a 100-98 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.

The New York Knicks face the defending champions tonight on TNT

Belinelli leads Bulls to 95-85 victory over Cavs

Hours before Wednesday's tipoff, Marco Belinelli reclined on the Bulls' bench and lamented the difficult loss from the previous night.

Similar to what played out at Quicken Loans Arena in the Bulls' 95-85 victory over the Cavaliers, Belinelli proved on target.

The much-maligned shooting guard had fallen out of Tom Thibodeau's rotation as recently as four games ago. But starting his second game for the injured Richard Hamilton, Belinelli scored a game- and season-high 23 points to power the Bulls to their 10th straight victory in this series.

Next up on the two-game trip? The Pistons, whom the Bulls have defeated 15 straight times.

Belinelli also posted season-highs in minutes after playing 39 minutes, 39 seconds and shots with 15.

Bryant Eclipses 30,000, Lakers Beat Hornets 103-87

Kobe Bryant grinned and uttered the word "irony" as he considered the fact that the team that drafted him nearly 17 years ago was his opponent on the night he eclipsed a scoring milestone to join an exclusive club of NBA greats.

It's easy to forget that it was the Hornets who drafted and then traded Bryant away back in 1996.

In the years since, the Hornets have changed cities, from Charlotte to New Orleans, and Bryant has become one of five players in NBA history to score 30,000 points, surpassing the mark with a 29-point performance that helped the Lakers to a 103-87 triumph Wednesday night.