Timberwolves take new direction with McHale as coach

When Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor fired Randy Wittman on Monday and asked Kevin McHale to step in, he didn’t just make a coaching change.

Taylor changed the entire complexion of an organizational structure that has featured McHale at the top of the totem pole for the past 13 years.

Not only did Taylor ask McHale to take over as coach of a young, confidence-strapped team, but he also relieved McHale of the vice president of basketball operations title he has held since 1995.

“There are a few people in this league who have taken on roles where they’ve been coaches and general managers, but I think that’s a very difficult thing,” Taylor said. “I just want it to be very clear when I said to Kevin that I am offering him the coaching job, that this is a full-time coaching job. He is to concentrate on it 100 percent. That’s the commitment he gave me and I’m confident that’s what’s best for this team.”

McHale said he sees the coaching job not on an interim basis but as a “long-term commitment.” General manager Jim Stack and assistant GMs Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock will take over his executive duties, meaning McHale will no longer have the final say on the personnel decisions.

•Wade keeps Heat hot: Dwyane Wade scored 41 points, 10 in the final 81/2 minutes to help the Miami Heat rally in the fourth quarter and beat the Charlotte Bobcats 100-96 in Miami.

•Warriors battle Thunder: Andris Biedrins has 17 points and 21 rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors ended their nine-game losing skid by holding off a late surge led by Kevin Durant to beat the Thunder 112-102 in Oklahoma City.

Hockey

Vanek rallies Sabres

Thomas Vanek’s go-ahead goal, his NHL-best 20th of the season, completed a rally from two goals down and gave the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

Derek Roy, Ales Kotalik and Daniel Paille also scored for the Sabres.

•Panthers win in overtime: Stephen Weiss scored with 9.1 seconds left in overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win over the Senators in Ottawa.

Weiss drove a shot from just over the blue line past Alex Auld.

•Crombeen lifts Blues: B.J. Crombeen scored three goals, including the game-winner with 3:43 to play as the Blues defeated the Nashville Predators 6-3 in St. Louis.

Top 25 men

Hoyas romp over Tigers

DaJuan Summers, Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman all had 14 points and Greg Monroe added 13 as No. 19 Georgetown romped over Savannah State 100-38 in Washington, D.C.

Georgetown (6-1) was simply dominant. The Hoyas shot 69.8 percent from the field (37 of 53) and held Savannah State (5-4) to 22.8 percent (16 of 53).

•Louisville tops Lamar: Freshman Samardo Samuels scored 15 points and Earl Clark added six points, six rebounds and five assists to lead No. 9 Louisville to a 78-56 victory over Lamar in the final game of the Marques Maybin Classic in Louisville, Ky.

•Cowboys drop forward: Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford has dismissed starting forward Ibrahima Thomas from the basketball team.

Ford says he had several conversations with the sophomore over the past week and determined that he lacked the commitment to make the program successful.

Top 25 women

Prince reaches 1,000

Junior guard Epiphanny Prince scored 14 points to become the sixth-fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 points and lead No. 14 Rutgers to a 45-34 victory over Georgia in the Jimmy V Classic in Piscataway, N.J.

Prince became the 28th player in Rutgers history to reach 1,000 points and she needed only 76 games to do it.

•Baylor defeats Lamar: Danielle Wilson had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 10 Baylor to an 83-36 victory over Lamar in Waco, Texas.

The Lady Bears (8-1) started the game with a 24-2 run over the first 12 minutes. The Lady Cardinals (5-2) didn’t hit their second field goal until 7:53 remained in the first half.

Baseball

Maddux ends career

After 355 wins and 23 major league seasons, Greg Maddux held a 30-minute news conference to announce his retirement on the opening day of the winter meetings – just minutes from his Las Vegas home.

“I really just came out here today to say thank you,” he said in a ballroom at the swanky Bellagio hotel. “I appreciate everything this game has given me. It’s going to be hard to walk away obviously, but it’s time. I have a family now that I need to spend some more time with. I still think I can play the game, but not as well as I would like to, so it’s time to say goodbye.”

Maddux ranks eighth on the career wins list, with one more victory than Roger Clemens.

•Tigers get down to business: The Detroit Tigers acquired catcher Gerald Laird from the Rangers in a trade that sends right-handed pitching prospects Guillermo Moscoso and Carlos Melo to Texas.

•Mets, Yankees require more money: The Yankees and Mets are asking the city of New York for $450 million more in public bonds to finance their new ballparks, on top of nearly $1.5 billion they were already granted, according to the city’s Economic Development Corp.

Miscellany

USATF raising bar

After a disappointing Beijing Olympics, USA Track & Field is setting its sights high by aiming for 30 medals at the 2012 London Games.

“We now will announce to the world that we are going to take our ‘A game’ to London in 2012. Our goal: 30 clean medals,” USATF CEO Doug Logan said at the group’s annual meeting.

How ambitious is that? It’s a total the United States hasn’t surpassed on the track at a non-boycotted Summer Games since winning 31 medals in 1956.

The United States earned 23 track and field medals in Beijing this summer – more than any other nation.

•Cowboys clean up at auction: Fans eager for a piece of Texas Stadium bid on lockers, flags, vehicles and even urinals from the soon-to-be-former home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

The Dallas Morning News, in its online edition, reported more than $245,000 was spent on memorabilia from the stadium. Bidding started Nov. 17 and ended Saturday, with more than 470 items sold.