Pro Sports
Email
Print
Sports Briefs: NBA starts preseason with replacement refs
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 2, 2009
Updated: 10/02/2009 12:40 am
With its regular referees locked out, the NBA said it is confident in its roster of replacements -- even the two it previously fired.
The NBA began preseason play last night with 62 referees. The league said more than half have officiated in the NBA Development League, and all but five have worked the summer league.
It also said the two with league experience, Michael Henderson and Robbie Robinson, were some of the best replacements available.
Realizing the scrutiny the backups face, the league reminded teams on Wednesday about its rules against publicly criticizing the officials.
Denver played Utah in the first game, and Tre Maddox, Deldre Carr and CJ Washington officiated. The replacements will be paid about $1,100 per game, same as a first-year officials and more than they were paid in the D-League or WNBA.
Only Henderson and Robinson have refereed NBA games, and their rehiring was a disappointment to the union. At the time of their firings, the NBA said their performance didn't measure up to regular referees.
More basketball
■ Fever 93, Mercury 84: Tamika Catchings fell one rebound shy of the first triple double in WNBA Finals history as visiting Indiana beat Phoenix last night to tie the best-of-5 series 1-1.
Catchings had 19 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to help the Fever steal home-court advantage in the series with the next two games in Indianapolis, beginning with Game 3 on Sunday.
■ The Miami Heat formally unveiled a five-year deal yesterday with Assist-Card, a travelers' insurance and assistance company, to be its presenting sponsor. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
Several NBA teams have recently struck deals for new revenue streams in response to the economy. The Heat recently had all basketball-operations employees accept pay cuts of as much as 20 percent, in return for no layoffs. Talks between Assist-Card and the Heat went on for about a year before a deal closed.
■ Delonte West worked out with his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates yesterday after missing the first two days of training camp.
"He had a great practice," said Coach Mike Brown, who said the absences were unexcused. "It was great to have him on the floor."
West declined to meet with reporters, as did General Manager Danny Ferry. A team spokesman said that Ferry will address West's situation Saturday at the team scrimmage at the University of Akron.
West could still face a league suspension after he was recently arrested for gun possession in Maryland.
■ Louis Orr signed a two-year contract extension with Bowling Green to remain its men's coach through the 2013-14 season.
Orr is entering his third year at Bowling Green. He led the Falcons to the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship last year and the school's first appearance in the NIT since 2002, and was honored as the league's coach of the year.
Orr spent five seasons coaching at Seton Hall before coming to Bowling Green.
■ Penn State gave Coach Ed DeChellis a three-year contract extension yesterday, rewarding him after the Nittany Lions won the NIT title last season.
DeChellis led the Nittany Lions to a school-record 27 wins last season, ending with the program's first national postseason tournament title. DeChellis is entering his seventh season at Penn State, his alma mater. The new deal runs through the 2013-14 season.
University policy is not to disclose terms of agreements. Records released by the school this spring showed DeChellis made more than $642,000 in base salary plus bonuses last year.
Golf
■ Two-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson will play in next month's Singapore Open.
Organizers say that Mickelson, who won the Tour Championship tournament last weekend by three shots over Tiger Woods, will join other major winners Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els in the $5 million tournament that starts Oct. 29.
The Singapore Open, co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours, will be the first of two tournaments that Mickelson will play in Asia in two weeks. He will join Woods at the World Golf Championship tournament in Shanghai, China, the following week.
■ State Farm Insurance renewed its contract to sponsor the LPGA's annual tour stop in Springfield, Ill. State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ill., will sponsor the LPGA State Farm Classic through 2011 and will maintain the $1.7 million purse, tournament officials said yesterday. Next year's tournament will be June 10-13 at Panther Creek Country Club.
State Farm has sponsored the tournament since 1993.
Miscellaneous
■ Ted Freshwater of Bermuda Run defeated Derrick Grantham of Asheboro to win the N.C. Senior Games title in racquetball in the 65-70 age division. It was the 15th consecutive Senior Games title for Freshwater, who qualified for the National Senior Olympics in Houston.
■ Defender Jimmy Conard and forward Kenny Cooper were picked for a largely unchanged U.S. roster for World Cup qualifiers at Honduras on Oct. 10 and against Costa Rica four days later at Washington, D.C.
Defenders Jay DeMerit (eye infection) and Chad Marshall (sprained left knee ligament) were dropped along with midfielder Kyle Beckerman and forward Robbie Findley (coach's decision).
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City), Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark), Stuart Holden (Houston), Robbie Rogers (Columbus), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico)
Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Hull, England), Conor Casey (Colorado), Brian Ching (Houston), Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich, Germany), Charlie Davies (Sochaux, France), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles)
■ World-record holder Paula Radcliffe will defend her title at next month's New York City Marathon, the New York Road Runners announced yesterday, and will be trying to win her fourth NYC Marathon title. Radcliffe won the New York City Half-Marathon in August but skipped the world championships in Berlin because she needed more time to recover from foot surgery in March. The 40th running of the New York Marathon will be Nov. 1.
Email
Print
