NBA short takes

New York's Kenyon Martin was nicknamed that long before a teammate started calling Timberwolves guard Kevin Martin the same years ago.

Apparently, the former No. 1 overall pick who's now just a mere shadow of himself isn't too fond of sharing.

After last week's victory at Madison Square Garden, Wolves star Kevin Love said, "Kenyon Martin was over there talking about the fake K-Mart. I said, 'Who?' He was 5-for-5 from three, had 30 points. Right now, that's the real K-Mart to me."

Said Kevin Martin himself: "Last time one of my teammates called me that, the other K-Mart got kind of mad. I guess I'm not K-Mart until I get back to Minnesota or wherever we're going next."

Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers played Thursday night for the first time since star Dwight Howard left what became another nighttime serial in L.A. last year and signed as a free agent with the Rockets.

And Howard and the Rockets lost at home to a Lakers team missing injured Kobe Bryant on Steve Blake's catch-and-shoot winner over Howard's outstretched arm with 1.3 seconds left.

"To be honest, when we came back into the locker room it wasn't a 'we beat Dwight' thing at all," Lakers guard Steve Nash told reporters afterward. "We've got a bunch of guys who never played with Dwight. We're just happy we won a close game."