Blazers clinch playoff spot despite loss
NBA: David Lee had 29 points and a season-high 20 rebounds and the Golden State Warriors beat the Trail Blazers 108-87 on Tuesday night in Portland, tempering the celebration as Portland secured a playoff spot.
Monta Ellis added 30 points for the Warriors, who led by as many as 26 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, who saw their eight-game winning streak at the Rose Garden end.
The Blazers clinched a spot in the playoffs just before the half when the Houston Rockets lost 104-101 to Sacramento.
It will be Portland’s third straight trip to the postseason. Last year the Blazers were eliminated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, and the year before they were bumped in the opening round by the Rockets.
The Blazers were sitting in the sixth spot in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of New Orleans and a game up on Memphis.
The Blazers had a scary moment late in the first quarter when Marcus Camby stumbled awkwardly over Golden State’s David Lee. The team said Camby sustained a neck strain and was questionable to return, although he did not.
• Bulls inch closer to top seed in East: Derrick Rose finished with 19 points and the Bulls closed in on the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 97-94 win over Phoenix at Chicago.
The Bulls lead Miami and Boston by three games, with the Celtics visiting Thursday.
Wizards ailing: Coach Flip Saunders said that the six injured players on Washington’s roster will not return for the final half-dozen games.
Several of the six have been out for a while already. Nick Young has a bone bruise in his left knee. Josh Howard has nagging tendinitis in his left knee. Rashard Lewis has nagging soreness in his right knee. Trevor Booker has a broken bone in his right foot.
Capitals clinch Southeast title
NHL: After earning their fourth straight Southeast Division title, the Washington Capitals have their sights set on finishing first in the Eastern Conference.
Mike Knuble scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lift Washington to a 3-2 victory at Toronto, after the Maple Leafs were eliminated from playoff contention.
“We want to be in first everywhere, so it’s nice,” Capitals star Alex Ovechkin said of sewing up the Southeast.
• Slumping Flyers drop another: Another losing trip to Canada’s capital cost the Philadelphia Flyers first-place in the Eastern Conference.
Jason Spezza had a goal and three assists to lead the Senators to a 5-2 victory over the slumping Flyers at Ottawa.
NFLPA takes to court to challenge lockout
NFL: The NFL lockout is about to head to court.
With the lockout at three weeks and no end in sight, attorneys for the NFL and its locked-out players will go before a federal judge on today in the first round of their fight over the future of the $9 billion business – including the 2011 season.
The players – with stars like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees among the plaintiffs and retirees and yet-to-play rookies joining them in support – are asking for an immediate end to the lockout on the basis of “irreparable harm” to their careers. The injunction request accompanies the antitrust lawsuit filed against the league after labor talks broke down on March 11.
Defense rests case, recording disallowed
Miscellany: Prosecutors rested their case against Barry Bonds in San Francisco, as the judge turned down their late bid to get a newly discovered audio tape of two key witnesses heard by the jury.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston refused to let the panel listen to a tape recording of a conversation between Bonds’ orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Arthur Ting, and his former business partner, Steve Hoskins.
Prosecutors had hoped to use the recording to win back some of the momentum they lost last week when Ting directly contradicted Hoskins, who was a star witness and claimed the pair had repeatedly discussed the home run king and steroids.
Illston, however, said much of the tape was inaudible, and what could be heard was irrelevant and inadmissible.
The former baseball star is charged with three counts of lying during that court appearance when he denied knowingly taking steroids and human growth hormone. He is also charged with one count of lying when he testified that only Ting has ever injected him with any substance and one count of obstruction.