Thunder strike down "crumbling" Lakers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With Kevin Durant in cruise control, the Oklahoma City Thunder overpowered the injury-hit Los Angeles Lakers in a 116-101 win on Friday, inflicting a rare sixth straight defeat on the home team.Sharp-shooting forward Durant scored a season-high 42 points and guard Russell Westbrook weighed in with 27 and 10 assists as the Thunder drew level with the Los Angeles Clippers at...

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Hill injury adds to mounting Lakers woes

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As if a sixth defeat on the bounce was not bad enough, the injury-hit Los Angeles Lakers faced further gloom on Friday with the news that back-up forward Jordan Hill will likely miss the rest of the season.Hill, the most impressive bench player for the Lakers in a surprisingly below-par campaign, sat out the 116-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with a left hip injury.The...

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Lakers star Kobe Bryant and wife reconcile, won't divorce

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, have reconciled and are no longer planning to divorce, the couple said in separate posts on social media sites.Bryant, widely considered one of the greatest players ever in the National Basketball Association, and his wife filed for divorce in December 2011 after 10 years of marriage.But they had been seen out together...

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Ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra sentenced in bankruptcy fraud case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lenny Dykstra, the 1980s World Series hero who pleaded guilty earlier this year to bankruptcy fraud, was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service.The 49-year-old former ballplayer - who is already serving time in state prison for grand theft auto, lewd conduct and assault with a deadly weapon - was also ordered...

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Giants agree deal to keep playoff hero Scutaro

(Reuters) - National League Championship Series MVP Marco Scutaro has agreed a $20 million three-year deal to stay with the San Francisco Giants, the World Series winners said on Tuesday.The 37-year-old second baseman was acquired by San Francisco in a mid-season trade with Colorado and he paid great dividends down the stretch as the Giants claimed their second World Series in three years.Scutaro...

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Reds land Korean Choo in trade with Indians, D-Backs

(Reuters) - The Cincinnati Reds acquired South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo from the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday in a three-team trade that involved nine players.The 30-year-old Choo, entering the final year of his contract, declined to sign an extension with the Indians and will now give the Reds a potential lead-off hitter who batted .283 with 16 home runs last season."He fills the one big...

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RG3 to have surgery on torn right knee ligament

WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert Griffin III is having surgery Wednesday on a torn ligament in his right knee — and to see if there's a second ligament that also needs to be repaired.Baylor coach Art Briles confirmed to USA Today and The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the Washington Redskins rookie has a torn lateral collateral ligament. He said the surgery also will determine whether Griffin has...

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Cowboys defensive coordinator Ryan not returning

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was fired Tuesday after his injury-depleted unit struggled in a pair of season-ending losses that kept the Cowboys out of the playoffs for a third straight year.Ryan was let go a day after running backs coach Skip Peete was fired, and less than a week after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said things were going to get "uncomfortable" at team...

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Timberwolves overcome lost Love to clip Hawks

(Reuters) - The Minnesota Timberwolves coped with the absence of head coach Rick Adelman and All Star forward Kevin Love to beat Atlanta 108-103 on Tuesday, ending a near seven-year winless run against the Hawks.Timberwolves coach Adelman missed the game for personal reasons, while Love is out indefinitely after reinjuring his right hand last week, but the home team still had enough beat the Hawks...

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Manning, Peterson, Pagano: 2012 a year to remember

From Peyton Manning overcoming four neck surgeries to Adrian Peterson's rebound from a shredded knee to Chuck Pagano's fight with leukemia, this has been the Year of the Comeback in the NFL.A season besmirched by tragedies, replacement officials and a bounty scandal also will go down as one in which some of the game's greats not only regained their old form but somehow surpassed it.There are always...

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Rondo leads Celtics past Nets 93-76

 Rajon Rondo lost his cool, and any chance at history, in the second quarter when Boston last met Brooklyn.This time, the second period featured some of the best basketball the Celtics have played this season.Rondo scored 19 points in his first full game against the Nets this season, and the Celtics won 93-76 on Tuesday in another game with some heated moments between the division rivals.Rondo,...

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Lakers beat Knicks 100-94 to get to .500

 The pieces of the puzzle that have been the Lakers' confounding season so far are starting to fall into place.Kobe Bryant engineered a second-half comeback, the defense stepped up, and Los Angeles beat the New York Knicks 100-94 on Tuesday, extending its winning streak to five games."We're .500," a smiling Dwight Howard said. "We did it on Christmas, too. I knew this day would come."Bryant scored...

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Former Braves player arrested on battery charge

Former Atlanta Braves star center fielder Andruw Jones was free on bond after being arrested in suburban Atlanta early Tuesday on a battery charge, according to jail records.Around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call for a domestic dispute between Jones and his wife in Duluth.Gwinnett County Detention Center records say Jones was booked into the jail around 3:45 a.m. and had been released...

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James leads Heat past Thunder in finals rematch

LeBron James scored 29 points and flirted with a triple-double as the Miami Heat claimed a 103-97 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in a rematch of last season's NBA finals on a Christmas Day schedule of five games.The Thunder, the NBA's top team and the Heat, the Eastern Conference leaders clashed in a physical contest that was thick with playoff intensity."We're two teams that have the same aspirations...

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AP Sources: Jets could trade QBs Sanchez, Tebow

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Mark Sanchez is no longer the face of the New York Jets. He could soon be a former member of the team.And Tim Tebow might even beat him out the door.A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday that the Jets will consider all of their options regarding the two quarterbacks during the offseason. That means both Sanchez and Tebow are in limbo...

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It's official, Andersen is new Wisconsin coach

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Several schools tried to lure Gary Andersen away from Utah State.Wisconsin finally got him.Andersen was officially hired as the Badgers' new coach Thursday, and will be formally introduced at a news conference Friday morning. He replaces Bret Bielema, who left the Badgers for Arkansas this month."I don't know if I can really have a word for how excited I am to be at Wisconsin...

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Canadian Football Hall of Famer Eagle Keys dies at 89; won three Grey Cups

VANCOUVER - Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee Eagle Keys has died at the age of 89.Keys played centre and linebacker for five years with the Montreal Alouettes (1949-51) and with the Edmonton Eskimos (1952-54), being named to three CFL all-star teams.He became a coach after retiring as a player, starting as an assistant in Edmonton in 1955. He became the Eskimos' head coach in 1959, a job he...

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Lebron shines brightest on every stage

(Reuters) - LeBron James finally captured an elusive National Basketball Association title to cap a year where he silenced his critics and shared the spotlight with some unlikely players."Linsanity" became one of the new buzzwords in the NBA while a collegiate player took a sledgehammer to the record books and the Los Angeles Lakers made a blockbuster trade that rekindled memories of the team's "Showtime"...

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New generation of QBs emerge but league faces threats

MIAMI (Reuters) - A new generation of talented quarterbacks emerged in 2012 but a refereeing fiasco, worries over concussions and player behavior all left their mark on the National Football League (NFL).The year was also a tantalizing tale of the Mannings with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning winning his second Super Bowl title in four years with a win over New England in the same stadium...

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