In Brief: Russell Westbrook gets 35, leads unbeaten Thunder past Clips 85-83
NBA: Russell Westbrook hit a jumper with 18.7 seconds left and finished with 35 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder remained unbeaten with an 85-83 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
Westbrook added six rebounds and five assists for the Thunder, who surged in the final minutes of a tight meeting between Western Conference contenders.
Westbrook had triple-doubles in the Thunder’s last two games, and was one assist shy of another in their opener. He mostly concentrated on scoring in his hometown, delivering a spectacular dunk in the third quarter while going 14 for 30 in 31 minutes.
Chris Paul had 15 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the Clippers, who hit just one shot in a 5 1/2-minute span late in the fourth quarter.
Thomas, Johnson Celtics beat Bulls: Isaiah Thomas had 23 points and 10 assists, and the host Boston Celtics handed the Chicago Bulls their first loss of the season, 107-100.
Amir Johnson also finished 23 points, including four 3-pointers, to help the Celtics avenge their lone loss of the season.
Boston played without center Al Horford, who was placed in the concussion protocol Tuesday after exhibiting concussive symptoms during practice.
Johnson helped pick up the slack without him, scoring 16 points in the third quarter. The Bulls managed just 18 points in the period, their lowest scoring quarter of the season.
The Bulls cut into what had been a 16-point Boston lead in the fourth quarter and tied it at 100 on two free throws by Nikola Mirotic. But Boston regained the lead 101-100, then went up five on a driving layup by Thomas and basket by Marcus Smart.
Jimmy Butler led Chicago with 23 points and nine rebounds.
Farmar rejoins Kings after being released: Guard Jordan Farmar is back with the Sacramento Kings, signing as a free agent nine days after being cut by the team.
In four preseason games for Sacramento, he averaged 6.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He scored 14 points against his former Lakers team.
The 29-year-old Farmar played in just 12 games last season for Memphis. He has averaged 7.7 points, 2.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds over nine NBA seasons.
Lakers’ Mozgov to miss game against Hawks: The Lakers were without injured center Timofey Mozgov for Los Angeles’ 123-116 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
Mozgov suffered a left eye contusion Tuesday night in a loss at Indiana.
Newton, Goodell have ‘great’ talk about hits
NFL: Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is hopeful his concerns over taking “illegal hits” from defensive players while in the pocket will be addressed on the field following a “great conversation” with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The two spoke Tuesday by phone, and Newton says that Goodell was receptive to his concerns.
“I got my point across. He got his point across. That’s it,” Newton said at his weekly press conference Wednesday.
Newton said after Sunday’s game he didn’t feel protected in the pocket after no flag was thrown when Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Calais Campbell crashed into his legs as he was releasing the football.
Asked if he thinks his concerns will be enforced on the field, Newton replied, “We’ll wait to see Sunday and moving forward.”
Jets sign Spiller, waive Davis: The New York Jets officially signed veteran running back C.J. Spiller and waived running back Knile Davis a day after claiming him off waivers.
Spiller joins a Jets backfield that includes Matt Forte and Bilal Powell, and he’s reunited with offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, who coached Spiller during some of his best seasons in Buffalo.
Spiller was released by Seattle last Wednesday after being signed Sept. 28. The one-time Pro Bowl selection caught an 8-yard touchdown pass in his first game with the Seahawks against the Jets on Oct. 2. He had just three carries for 9 yards and had five receptions for 43 yards with Seattle.
Roethlisberger hopes to play: Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger said there’s still pain two weeks after undergoing surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee, but he isn’t ruling himself out of Sunday’s game at Baltimore.
Roethlisberger took first-team snaps while practicing in a limited capacity on Wednesday. Roethlisberger said the decision on whether or not he can play will be made by coach Mike Tomlin. Swelling has not been an issue so far though Roethlisberger will continue to remain in contact with team physician Dr. James Bradley and monitor his knee as he ramps up his workload.
Huff expects to play despite gun and drug charges: Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Josh Huff is expected to play this week against the Giants despite his arrest on gun and drug charges. The team doesn’t plan any discipline yet.
Huff was charged Tuesday with possession of a 9 mm handgun without a permit and having a small amount of marijuana after he was pulled over for speeding on the New Jersey side of the Walt Whitman bridge. Huff was also cited for driving while intoxicated by the officer.
Huff says he carries a gun because he doesn’t trust people in his hometown of Houston and he has to protect his family.
Vikings’ Turner resigns: Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner abruptly resigned Wednesday, stunning the team two days after losing its second consecutive game with an offense nowhere to be found.
The Vikings have scored only 10 points in each loss after a 5-0 start to the season, with the offensive line’s performance the primary concern. Quarterback Sam Bradford, who was sacked 11 times over the last two games, said he had no problem with the scheme and that the players felt responsible for Turner’s departure.
“At this time I think it’s in the best interest of the team to step down,” said Turner, who told ESPN his decision stemmed from differing views with Coach Mike Zimmer about the offensive strategy.
Price makes 42 saves, Habs win 8th straight
NHL: Carey Price made 42 saves for his first shutout of the season and the host Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 to extend their winning streak to eight games.
Nathan Beaulieu, Torrey Mitchell and Alexander Radulov, into an empty net, scored for Montreal. At 9-0-1, the Canadiens are the only undefeated NHL team in regulation time this season. Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher each had two assists.
Ryan Miller made 19 saves for the Canucks. They are winless in five games and 4-5-1 overall.
Voracek scores in OT, lifts Flyers: Mark Streit tied it with 1:02 left in regulation and Jakub Voracek scored in overtime to give the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 comeback victory over the visiting Detroit Red Wings.
Chris VandeVelde and Roman Lyubimov also scored to help the Flyers run their regular-season home winning streak against the Red Wings to 12 games. The Red Wings last beat the Flyers in Philadelphia in the regular season on Jan. 25, 1997. Detroit did win the first two games of the 1997 Stanley Cup finals in Philadelphia on its way to sweeping the Flyers.
Penguins trade Condon to Senators: The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded goaltender Mike Condon to the Ottawa Senators for a 2017 fifth-round draft pick.
The deal comes as Stanley Cup-winning goalie Matt Murray returned to the ice for the Penguins after missing the start of the season with a broken hand suffered in the World Cup of Hockey.
Pittsburgh got value for Condon after claiming the 26-year-old off waivers from the Montreal Canadiens in October. He appeared in just one game in relief for the Penguins, stopping all seven shots he faced against Nashville on Oct. 22.
Schmetzer named Sounders head coach
Miscellany: The Seattle Sounders have taken away the interim tag and named Brian Schmetzer head coach.
Seattle made the announcement at its annual meeting with season-ticket holders Wednesday night.
Schmetzer took over as the interim head coach after Sigi Schmid was let go in late July. At the time, Seattle was in ninth place in the MLS Western Conference and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Schmetzer guided Seattle’s turnaround that resulted in an eighth straight playoff berth. The Sounders went 8-2-4 the rest of the regular season and finished fourth in the Western Conference. The Sounders beat Sporting Kansas City in the knockout round of the playoffs and will take a 3-0 lead into the second-leg of the conference semifinals against FC Dallas on Sunday.
WNBA scores A+ on race and gender report card: The WNBA continues to be the standard-bearer when it comes to hiring women and minorities in top-level positions.
The league earned a combined A-plus for its race and gender hiring practices in the report card by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES). For the year, the league received A-plus for race and an A for gender with an accumulative 95.5 points.
It’s the 12th straight year in the 20-year existence of the WNBA that the league has posted at least an A for its combined grade on the report issued by the University of Central Florida’s TIDES.
Djokovic beats Muller, starts bid for 4th straight win: Novak Djokovic began his quest for a fourth straight Paris Masters title with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round of the Paris Masters.
The top-ranked Serb broke Muller’s serve once in each set and sealed victory with an ace.
Second-ranked Andy Murray also reached the third round, but needed to scrap hard to beat Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5. It was Murray’s 12th win in 13 career matches against the Spaniard.