FOX 17 - National Sports

Last Update on February 04, 2012 05:49 GMT

NBA-LATEST SCORES

UNDATED (AP) -- New England fans looking for a good omen prior to Sunday's Super Bowl may have found one. The Boston Celtics rallied from 12 points down in the third quarter to beat the New York Knicks 91-89 in the opener of this weekend's big Boston-New York sports rivalry.

Paul Pierce led the way with 30. Ray Allen had nine of his 14 in the fourth quarter. Kevin Garnett finished with 15 points and eight boards for the Celtics, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

Carmelo Anthony scored 26, Tyson Chandler had 20 with 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who've lost 11 of 13.

In the rest of the NBA:

-- Kevin Durant scored 36 points and hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 101-94 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies in a rematch of their epic Western Conference playoff series. The Thunder have the best record in the NBA at 18-4.

--The Philadelphia 76ers' four-game win streak is over. Dwyane (dwayn) Wade and LeBron James made sure of that. Wade scored 26 points and James had 19 points and 12 rebounds in the Miami Heat's 99-79 win over the 76ers. Mario Chalmers scored 13 points and Chris Bosh had 12 to help the Heat go on a dominant late run that put away the pesky Sixers.

-- Paul George hit seven 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 30 points, and the Indiana Pacers won in Dallas for the first time in eight years, beating the Mavericks 98-87. That's Indiana's 10th road win, matching Miami for most in the NBA.

-- Dwight Howard scored 19 points, had 16 rebounds and blocked eight shots as the Orlando Magic outlasted the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94.

-- Luke Ridnour made the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:23 left, Nikola Pekovic scored a career-high 27 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the New Jersey Nets 108-105.

-- Kevin Martin scored 16 points, Kyle Lowry had eight rebounds and nine assists and the Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns 99-81. The Suns have lost five of seven.

-- Rookie Brandon Knight scored a season-high 26 points, holding his own against Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings and helping the Detroit Pistons snap a seven-game losing streak with an 88-80 victory over the Bucks. Jennings had 20, but only seven after the first quarter.

-- Leandro Barbosa shook off flulike symptoms to score 19 points, Amir Johnson had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Washington Wizards 106-89.

NBA-NEWS

UNDATED. (AP) -- Trail Blazers center Greg Oden is going to undergo an arthroscopic procedure to "remove debris" from his right knee. The team says this will be his fourth surgery since Portland selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft. The often-injured 7-footer had microfracture surgery on the same knee before the start of his rookie season, forcing him to postpone his NBA debut for a year.

Since then, Oden has appeared in just 82 career games for the Blazers, averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds. Oden hasn't appeared in a game for the Blazers in two years.

In other NBA news:

-- Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle have been fined by the NBA after they became upset with the officiating during a 95-86 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Carlisle was fined $35,000 for kicking a ball into the stands. Cuban was handed a $75,000 penalty for his critical remarks about the officiating following the home loss.

NHL-LATEST SCORES

UNDATED (AP) -- Jaroslav Halak (YAR'-oh-slav hah-LAHK') stopped 21 shots and Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the second period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Halak recorded his fifth shutout of the season and 21st of his career. He has four shutouts in his last seven starts. St. Louis has a league-best 10 shutouts.

In the rest of the NHL:

-- Mark Eaton scored 2:35 into overtime in his 600th NHL game to give the New York Islanders a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. That's his 24th career NHL goal --first since Nov. 28, 2009.

-- Sean Bergenheim scored a go-ahead goal in the second period and the Florida Panthers beat the Winnipeg Jets 2-1. It's the ninth straight time the Jets have lost playing the second half of back-to-back nights. The Jets have been shut out twice and outscored 36-7 in those games.

-- Jarome Iginla (juh-ROHM' ih-GIHN'-luh) had a goal and an assist to help Calgary Flames beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1.

NHL-NEWS

UNDATED (AP) -- The Minnesota Wild have traded forward Casey Wellman to the New York Rangers for center Erik Christensen and a conditional seventh-round draft choice. The 24-year-old Wellman has two goals and five assists in 14 games with the Wild this season. He has spent most of his time this year with the AHL affiliate in Houston, where he had 13 goals and 11 assists in 25 games.

Christensen should help the Wild's depth at center. The 28-year-old has one goal and four assists in 20 games with the Rangers.

In other NHL news:

----New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias (EHL'-ee-ahsh) has been fined $2,500, the maximum allowed under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for boarding Montreal Canadiens forward Mike Blunden during a 5-3 win on Thursday. The incident occurred at 18:54 of the first period. A minor penalty for boarding was assessed on the play.

----The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed center Joe Vitale to a two-year, $1.1 million contract extension, locking up a 26-year-old who has earned a regular spot in the lineup this season. Vitale has three goals and seven assists while dressing for 44 of Pittsburgh's 51 games.

SUPER BOWL-INJURY UPDATES

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick (BEHL'-ih-chik) says injured tight end Rob Gronkowski was listed as day to day after taking part in practice on Thursday. Following today's workout in which he was moving without a limp, the club said Gronkowski is now questionable.

Belichick says he "saw no setbacks. He's still making progress."

Giants coach Tom Coughlin (KAWF'-lihn) said his team is ready to face the Patriots and that he expects to have his full roster ready for the game. He also said it's been an enjoyable end to the season, with five straight wins after a 7-7 start.

Running back Ahmad Bradshaw missed the Giants practice today because of a sore right foot. But Coughlin says he expects Bradshaw, who has dealt with the foot problem for months, to play.

NFL-STATE OF THE NFL

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Commissioner Roger Goodell (guh-DEHL') says the NFL will continue its work toward preventing concussions and other injuries, saying what's been done so far is only a starting point. Goodell said at his state of the NFL news conference that the league has done "a great deal" to make the game safer for players. He said the league is "not done yet" and will keep trying to make the game less dangerous. The league is expanding its use of sideline TV replays to help doctors.

His comment came in response to an Associated Press story quoting a dozen former players who believe there was a culture of indifference toward concussions and other injuries in the NFL. Goodell noted that the league has set aside a lot of money to help retired players.

Among other things the commissioner said, there will be more Thursday night games for TV, there are no plans for expansion and he would like to see regular season games played in Mexico.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-CONNECTICUT

STORRS, Conn. (AP) -- University of Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun is taking an indefinite medical leave of absence for the third time in his career at UConn. The Hall of Fame coach, who turns 70 in May, has been suffering for several months from spinal stenosis, a lower back condition that causes him severe pain and hampers mobility.

The Big East school says that George Blaney, the team's associate head coach, will lead the team in Calhoun's absence.

Calhoun, who is in his 40th season as a head coach and 26th at UConn has a history of health problems that includes several bouts with cancer. He is No. 6 on the all-time wins list with 867.

He told The Associated Press that he has had back pain since last summer but thought physical therapy was helping him get through it. He says in the last week or so the pain was so bad he had trouble getting off a plane after a flight but he tried to hide it.

The Huskies, who are 14-7 overall and 4-5 in the Big East, have lost four games in a row, and host Seton Hall on Saturday.

MLB-RANGERS

ARLIGNTON, Texas (AP)-- Texas Rangers outfielder and recovering drug addict Josh Hamilton has admitted to having a relapse this week when he had "three or four" drinks earlier this week. At a news conference Hamilton apologized to fans, addicts and teammates for his actions and said his recovery is an on-going process.

Hamilton said he has not taken any drugs and had been tested twice since Monday, part of his normal routine. He said he expects to meet with Major League Baseball doctors in New York soon.

Hamilton was suspended for more than three years for drug and alcohol use while in the Tampa Bay organization. He missed the entire 2004 and 2005 seasons. He won the AL MVP in 2010.

MLB-HOT STOVE

UNDATED (AP) -- Pitcher Jeff Niemann lost his salary arbitration case with the Rays. That means he will earn $2.75 million instead of his requested $3.2 million. Niemann was 11-7 with a 4.06 ERA in 23 starts last season, when he didn't pitch between May 4 and June 20 because of a strained back. He made $903,000.

So far the clubs are 2-0 in arbitration cases this year.

In other baseball news:

-- The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Todd Coffey on a $1.3 million, one-year contract with a club option for 2013. Coffey was 5-1 with Washington last year and is 24-18 lifetime in seven big league seasons.

-- Right-hander Matt Garza has agreed to a $9.5 million, one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, just before the scheduled start of a salary arbitration hearing. The agreed upon amount is $725,000 below the midpoint between the $12.5 million the pitcher had asked for in arbitration last month and $7.95 million the Cubs had offered.Garza was acquired from Tampa Bay in January 2011 and went 10-10 with a 3.32 ERA in his first season with the Cubs.

-- Reliever Matt Belisle (BEHL'-eye-ul) and the Colorado Rockies have agreed to a two-year contract that includes a mutual option for 2014 and adds an additional $4.35 million. The 31-year-old was 10-4 with a 3.25 ERA last year with 58 strikeouts and 14 walks in 72 innings.

-- Pitcher Anibal Sanchez and the Miami Marlins have completed their salary arbitration hearing. The right-hander asked a three-person panel for a raise from $3.7 million to $8 million, and the Marlins argued he should be paid $6.9 million.

----First baseman Dan Johnson, whose dramatic home run on the final night of the regular season helped Tampa Bay reach last year's playoffs, has agreed to a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox. Johnson is a .235 hitter with 53 homers and 188 RBIs in six major league seasons.

CYCLING-ARMSTRONG

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lance Armstrong beat `em again. Like cancer and the Tour de France, the federal government turned out to be just another challenge to conquer.

Federal prosecutors say they are closing a criminal investigation of Armstrong and will not charge him over allegations the seven-time Tour de France winner used performance-enhancing drugs. In a press release, United States Attorney AndrT Birotte Jr. says the case has been closed but didn't disclose the reason for the decision.

Armstrong says he is looking forward to "continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction."

Investigators looked at whether a doping program was created to keep Armstrong and his teammates running at the head of the pack while, at least part of the time, they received government sponsorship from the U.S. Postal Service.

Armstrong won the Tour de France every year from 1999-2005 and has always fiercely denied doping.