Dirk Nowitzki was suspended without pay for one game by the NBA on Wednesday for his hard foul on Utah's Andrei Kirilenko.

Nowitzki will miss the Dallas Mavericks' next game, at home tonight against the divisional rival Houston Rockets, who recently passed them in the tight Western Conference standings.

Nowitzki received a flagrant-1 when he hit Kirilenko midway through the first quarter of a 116-110 loss to Utah on Monday. However, the league reviewed the play and decided to upgrade it to a flagrant-2. Had it been ruled a flagrant-2 at the time he would've been ejected.

Kirilenko injured his right hip in the fall and stayed down for several minutes before getting up gingerly. He made both foul shots before being helped to the locker room. He was taken for X-rays, which showed no break.

City Council declares Derek Fisher Day in Los Angeles: The City Council celebrated Derek Fisher Day in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Lakers point guard who likes to shoot from downtown was honored downtown at a City Hall ceremony where he was praised both as a player and a role model.

"I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas," Fisher told the council. "I moved here at the age of 21 and so everything that I am at the core of me is an Arkansan.

"But from the age of 21 to now 33 I've primarily been a resident of the city of Los Angeles and the state of California and the biggest part of who I am as an adult male, as a person, the things that I believe in, the things that I've come to believe in, and support and want to fight for have been because of this city."

Fisher said he thought he could call himself "a Los Angeleno, a Californian."

"I have a California driver's license. I pay my taxes," he said to cheers from the council.

Kevin Johnson running for mayor of Sacramento: Former NBA star Kevin Johnson jumped into the Sacramento mayor's race, announcing he will challenge three-term incumbent Heather Fargo in the municipal election in June.

The 42-year-old Johnson made the announcement at a news conference at the Guild Theater in the low-income Sacramento neighborhood of Oak Park where he grew up and where he has devoted himself to urban renewal projects after retiring from the NBA.

Chris Andersen rejoins Hornets after 2 years out of NBA: The New Orleans Hornets formally welcomed back Chris "Birdman" Andersen after he spent more than two years sidelined because of a drug suspension.

Andersen was kicked out of the NBA on Jan. 27, 2006, for violating the league's drug policy.

The NBA reinstated him on Tuesday, when Andersen was in New Orleans for a physical.