Kevin Garnett scored 21 points, Ray Allen added 20 and the Boston Celtics won their fifth straight, beating the Toronto Raptors 101-82 on Sunday. Eddie House scored 10 of his 13 points in the fourth, while Rasheed Wallace, who sat out Boston's 106-90 victory over Toronto on Wednesday night because of a sore right ankle, returned to score five points.
NBA or Europe, regular referees or replacements, the rules are the same: Two technical fouls is an automatic ejection, and anyone ejected must leave the floor. Maccabi Tel Aviv wanted a pass on that rule Sunday. The New York Knicks' 106-91 victory over the Euroleague team featured a bizarre delay in the third quarter when the visiting coach refused to leave after he was ejected.
Alex Rodriguez is putting all those playoff failures behind him. The Los Angeles Angels are turning the AL championship series into a defensive debacle. Coming through under pressure once again, Rodriguez hit a tying homer in the 11th inning and the New York Yankees edged Los Angeles 4-3 Saturday night on Maicer Izturis' error in the 13th for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points before sitting out the final quarter and the Dallas Mavericks beat the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers 93-82 on Saturday night. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown held out starters LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal and Mo Williams on the second night of back-to-back preseason games after losing at San Antonio on Friday.
Blake Griffin scored 16 points in his second consecutive start and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 103-96 in a preseason game on Saturday night. Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman also had 16 points apiece for Los Angeles, which has won four straight since a seven-point loss at Golden State in its exhibition opener.
Chase Utley makes two costly throwing errors, and suddenly he's being mentioned with Steve Sax and Chuck Knoblauch. Utley's fielding gaffes were the talk of the town when the Philadelphia Phillies returned home Saturday after splitting the first two games of the NL championship series at Los Angeles.
The FBI says it investigated reported threats to former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards after he allegedly punched a man outside a downtown night club. FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson said on Saturday that the Browns contacted the Cleveland field office about the threats shortly after the Oct.
CC Sabathia heated up as the night went on, throwing fastballs past the Los Angeles Angels and pumping his fist for emphasis. On a blustery night more suited to bobsleds than baseballs, Sabathia pitched eight superb innings of four-hit ball to win his second straight postseason start, and the New York Yankees took advantage of a rare sloppy game by the Angels to win the AL championship series…
LeBron James isn't quite over the flu. He's not that far off. James scored 22 points in 19 minutes in his return to the Cleveland lineup after staying home sick for the last game, but the San Antonio Spurs beat the Cavaliers 105-98 on Friday night. Though not completely healthy, James said he still felt pretty good after going 7 of 14 from the field and grabbing six rebounds.
Kevin Love went up for a rebound as he always does but this time he banged his left hand. Now, the Minnesota Timberwolves' second-year forward will be watching from the bench for awhile. Love broke a bone in his hand and the NBA's leading rookie rebounder last season hopes to return in late November or early December.
A grounder off a fielder's glove. A bunt that slipped by two players. The Los Angeles Dodgers' latest postseason rally began in the weirdest, wackiest way. Another throwing error by Chase Utley, a pinch-hit single and two walks also were part of the Dodgers' crazy eighth inning that produced a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, tying the NL championship series at one…
The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded underachieving defensive end Gaines Adams to the Chicago Bears for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft. The deal Friday night came four days before the NFL trade deadline. Adams was the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft out of Clemson and had 13 1/2 sacks in two-plus seasons with the Bucs, failing to play up to expectations that he'd help revive a…
The NFL fined Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis $25,000 on Friday for two separate plays, including a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco. The Ravens said Lewis will appeal the fine. Both plays occurred in the fourth quarter of Baltimore's 17-14 loss on Sunday. The league deemed that Lewis "unnecessarily kicked the opponent" and later…
Brad Lidge has regained that nasty slider. Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz are stroking big hits. Cole Hamels is winning postseason games without his best stuff. Boy, this is looking real familiar for the Philadelphia Phillies. Ruiz and Raul Ibanez hit three-run homers, reliever Ryan Madson got a key out and Lidge finished off the Phillies' 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NL…
Mark Teixeira remembers calling Torii Hunter last winter. "After I signed with the Yankees, I said, `You know, good luck to you guys. Hopefully, we'll see you in the ALCS,"' Teixeira recalled. And then he repeated the message when Hunter reached first base during the first series between the teams in May.
A Bay Area animal rights group is planning a protest against Michael Vick before his game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. The group In Defense of Animals says it will protest outside Oakland Coliseum before Vick plays his first road game for the Philadelphia Eagles since being reinstated to the NFL following an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in a dogfighting ring.
LeBron James didn't get any sympathy from his teammates when he came back to work after spending two days sick in bed. They ran the other way. "You come back around and everyone is like, 'Ugh, you got the cooties,"' James said Thursday. "They don't want to be around you." James and two Cleveland teammates have tested positive for Influenza A, and are being treated…
Wizards forward Antawn Jamison will miss the rest of the team's exhibition games with a right shoulder injury. Jamison will be re-evaluated next week, after the swelling goes down. He had an MRI exam Thursday, a day after getting hurt while trying to block a shot by Zydrunas Ilgauskas in Washington's 109-104 preseason victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh lashed out at NFL union leader DeMaurice Smith, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the media a day after being dropped from a group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams. On his syndicated show Thursday, Limbaugh said he was approached by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts earlier this year about participating in a Rams bid.
LeBron James wasn't around. His shoes were present. Mike Miller, wearing a pair of James' signature sneakers, made 5-of-5 3-pointers and scored 24 points, Randy Foye scored 19 in the fourth quarter and the Wizards handed the James-less Cavs their first loss of the preseason, 109-104 on Wednesday night.
The Phillies and Dodgers are back in the National League championship series for the second straight year, making them the closest thing the NL has to a couple of dominant teams. They are the first repeat teams since Houston and St. Louis squared off in 2004 and '05, and only the third repeaters since Atlanta and Pittsburgh met in 1991 and '92.
Larry Brown became the first major target in the NBA's zero-tolerance policy toward criticizing its replacement referees. The Bobcats coach was hit with $60,000 in fines on Wednesday and the Charlotte organization was fined another $60,000 after Brown's ejection from an exhibition game. Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was also fined $25,000 for criticism after a game Monday, as the…
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a bid led by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts, but Checketts said in a statement Wednesday that Limbaugh's participation had complicated the effort.
John Lackey will start Friday night's Game 1 of the AL championship series against CC Sabathia and the Yankees, getting the nod from manager Mike Scioscia before the Angels traveled to New York on Wednesday. Lackey pitched 7 1-3 innings to lead Los Angeles to a 5-0 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the division series.
Peyton Manning's sore left knee is no longer an issue for the Indianapolis Colts. The three-time league MVP, who said he needed medical treatment on the knee Sunday night, gave himself a clean bill of health after finishing Wednesday's practice. "No concerns," he said. "It feels fine.
Joe Torre says he doesn't plan to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers after his contract expires. "I have one year on my contract and I don't anticipate it being more than that," he said Tuesday, two days before the Dodgers open the NLCS against Philadelphia. However, he noted, "I've said that before and my wife doesn't believe me at all." The 69-year-old manager is…
The NBA is making Gilbert Arenas — and the Washington Wizards — pay for his silence. Arenas and his team were fined $25,000 apiece Tuesday by the league because he has not been talking to the media during the preseason, including before and after exhibition games. The three-time All-Star point guard became one of the NBA's most popular players thanks in part to his engaging personality and a…
"Captain Jack" is no more. Disgruntled Golden State star Stephen Jackson asked to relinquish his captain title during a meeting Tuesday with Warriors coach Don Nelson and general manager Larry Riley. "Don't try to dig into it, that's just how I feel," Jackson said. "I don't want to be a role model.
The Yankees might go with a three-man rotation against the Los Angeles Angels in the AL championship series. CC Sabathia is scheduled to start Friday night's opener, with A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte as New York's other two primary starters. The shortened rotation would allow manager Joe Girardi to keep Joba Chamberlain and Chad Gaudin in the bullpen.
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith has a right shoulder injury that coach Mike Tomlin said "potentially could be significant." Smith, injured Sunday in Detroit, was being evaluated Tuesday. The Steelers are not yet certain how long one of their most reliable and productive players will be out, although they apparently are anticipating an extended absence.