Wizards fire Jordan, name Tapscott coach
Even without Gilbert Arenas and another injured starter, the Washington Wizards never imagined they would be as bad as the franchise ever has been.
So after opening 1-10 to match the worst start in team history, the Wizards fired coach Eddie Jordan and his top assistant Monday and gave director of player development Ed Tapscott his first NBA head coaching job.
“That’s an unacceptable record, obviously,” team president Ernie Grunfeld said. “We thought the change needed to be made. We needed to do things a little bit different.”
With that in mind, Grunfeld phoned Jordan and delivered the news – after the coach spent Monday morning distributing turkeys during a team charity event. Grunfeld then informed Tapscott – who was at the arena, watching tape and preparing to help Jordan at practice.
Instead, Tapscott wound up running the session.
“Surreal,” he said.
The coach at American University in the 1980s and an NBA front-office employee for years since, Tapscott will make his professional coaching debut tonight against the visiting Golden State Warriors.
•Bulls win with buzzer-beater: Larry Hughes hit a 22-foot jumper as time expired to give the Chicago Bulls a 101-100 win over Utah in Salt Lake City, giving the short-handed Jazz their first home loss of the season.
Hughes got the rebound after Derrick Rose missed inside with Utah leading 100-99 and got off the winning shot in time as the Jazz stood stunned on the floor, looking to see if it counted. The play was reviewed and the shot stood to give the Bulls their second road win of the season.
Rose finished with 25 points.
•Portland rallies past Kings: Brandon Roy scored a season-high 28 points and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied during the final six minutes to beat the Sacramento Kings 91-90 in Portland, Ore.
Greg Oden made his first start for Portland since returning from a foot injury on Nov. 12. Oden, the first pick of the 2007 NBA draft, added three points, six rebounds, and four turnovers in 19 minutes.
•Yao leads Rockets: Yao Ming scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Ron Artest scored 20 and the Houston Rockets finished off a perfect three-game road trip against the Eastern Conference with a 107-98 win over the Miami Heat.
•Ginobili returns, adds 12 points: Manu Ginobili scored 12 points in his first game of the season to help the San Antonio Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies 94-81 in Memphis. Tenn.
Ginobili missed San Antonio’s first 12 games after off-season ankle surgery.
Hockey
Knuble leads Flyers
Mike Knuble scored two goals, including the tiebreaker at 14:52 of the third period, and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Dallas Stars 4-3 for their fifth straight victory.
Simon Gagne set up the go-ahead goal by stealing the puck at the blue line and passing it to Mike Richards, who fed Knuble in the slot for a one-timer.
•Canadiens beat themselves: Ryan O’Byrne put the puck in his own net on a delayed penalty to send the game into overtime, and Bill Guerin scored the shootout clincher for the New York Islanders in a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal.
Guerin was credited with the tying goal on O’Byrne’s gaffe. Richard Park and Trent Hunter also scored for the surging Islanders, who won for the fifth time in six games.
•Rookie leads Wild: Cal Clutterbuck’s first two NHL goals gave Minnesota a badly needed offensive boost and sparked the Wild, who hung on against the injury-depleted and travel-weary Washington Capitals for a 4-3 victory in St. Paul, Minn.
Baseball
Bonds charges reduced
Three charges against Barry Bonds were dismissed by a federal judge in San Francisco who left intact most of the indictment alleging he lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds, baseball’s home run king, is scheduled for a March 2 trial. He had faced 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury investigating steroid use in sports and one count of obstruction of justice.
His lawyers had asked U.S. District Judge Susan Illston to dismiss 10 of the lying charges, claiming he was asked unclear questions in front of the grand jury in 2003. Illston ruled Monday to dismiss three charges and consolidate or rewrite another two.
Bonds has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
•Pirates sign reality show contestants: The Pittsburgh Pirates hope Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel really do have million-dollar arms.
The two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.
Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the “Million Dollar Arm” that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 mph or faster.
Swimming
D’Arcy pleads guilty
Nick D’Arcy pleaded guilty to assaulting a fellow swimmer in a nightclub, an attack that cost him a spot on Australia’s Olympic team.
D’Arcy was not in court, where his lawyer entered the guilty plea today. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
The 21-year-old D’Arcy was charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on former swimmer Simon Cowley in March, hours after D’Arcy won a place at the Beijing Games.
The attack led to him being dismissed from Australia’s Olympic squad.