Billups is back Former Timberwolves guard Chauncey Billups returned for the Clippers against his old team Wednesday after 10 months away because of a torn Achilles' tendon.

"It has been such a long road back," he told reporters afterward. "When I went down, I wasn't going to hear the word 'No' or 'He's done.' I wasn't going to listen to any of you who said that."

News doesn't wait Kevin Love didn't get a text message or call from Ricky Rubio on Wednesday. He read on the Internet, just like everyone else, that Rubio and his surgically repaired knee had been cleared for contact practices.

"I have a new iPad mini and I just read it," Love said. "I'm just glad he didn't hurt himself wrestling in a back yard somewhere."

Rubio's new Foot Locker commercial, a back yard-wrestling spoof, debuted last week.

Remembering Sasha The Rockets flew a 40-person traveling party from Houston to Oklahoma City for Wednesday's game via Minnesota on Tuesday night so players, coach and staff could comfort their coach, Kevin McHale, and his family before funeral services for McHale's daughter Sasha the next morning.

The team arrived at Shoreview's St. Odilia Catholic Church on Wednesday morning to offer their support, then left before the service to ensure its arrival for that night's game in Oklahoma. McHale's former Boston teammates Danny Ainge and Bill Walton and former TNT colleague Ernie Johnson also flew in to be with their friend.

The Rockets last week wore green ribbons on their uniforms to remember Sasha, 23, who died Nov. 24 from lupus-related complications.