Katie Smith had 29 points in Minnesota's last game of the season and set a WNBA record with a scoring average of 23.1, breaking the mark of 22.7 set by former Comet Cynthia Cooper in 1998.

NBA

MAGIC: Grant Hill is slowly working his way back to being an NBA player.

A broken ankle, twice repaired by surgery, created doubt whether he could come back.

"I've been feeling really good of late, but at first I was wondering if I was as fast as I used to be," said Hill, who played only four games for the Magic. "I wasn't jumping too well and I couldn't even dunk a few months ago. Slowly it started to come, but I really had to work at it.

"Now, I'm doing stuff I haven't done in a couple of years. I'm dunking, I'm high up on the rim and I'm sprinting really hard. I don't know if it's because I've been out a year, but I feel young and energized like I was three or four seasons ago."

Hill's first public game since the injury will be Aug. 24 in a charity game at Duke.

CAVALIERS: Free agent Bryant Stith, who has scored 10.7 points a game in nine NBA seasons, signed a contract. Details were not disclosed. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 9.7 points in 78 games with Boston last season.

HORNETS: Forward Matt Bullard signed. Terms were not released, but the Hornets had $4.5-million left in their midlevel salary cap exception. He averaged 5.8 points and 2.1 rebounds last season while shooting 40.8 percent on three-pointers in 61 games.

HEAT: Miami signed 7-foot center Ernest Brown. The Heat drafted Brown in the second round of the 2000 draft but waived him before last season.

KINGS: Surgeons inserted two screws in guard Bobby Jackson's left thumb. Though his thumb will be immobilized for nearly a month, Jackson can start conditioning after a week.

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