Fast Break

NBA

Nash skipping All-Star Game

Steve Nash withdrew from Sunday’s All-Star Game because of lingering inflammation in his right shoulder.

The league’s two-time defending MVP has missed the last 3 1/2 games because of the injury. The Phoenix Suns said Monday he won’t play at Seattle on Wednesday night, the club’s last game before the All-Star break.

The decision means Nash will have had two weeks to rest and treat the shoulder before the Suns play their first post-All Star contest Feb. 20 against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

NFL

Tiki takes game to NBC

Tiki Barber will work for NBC next year after spending most of the 2006 NFL season entertaining bids from various networks for jobs in both news and sports.

The New York Giants’ Pro Bowl running back will be introduced today at a network news conference, according to a person familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not directly involved in the contract.

Barber will work both on the “Today” show and on the network’s Sunday night football show. It is unlikely he would be in the broadcast booth with the longtime team of Al Michaels and John Madden.

The 31-year-old Barber announced in October that 2006 would be his final season after 10 years with the Giants.

Cycling

Landis’ book due in June

Floyd Landis will have a new book out in time for the upcoming Tour de France.

“Positively False” is scheduled for publication in late June, ahead of the start of the famed cycling race.

Landis agreed last week not to race again in France until 2008. His urine sample after a 17th-stage win in last year’s Tour de France was found to contain elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels. He risks being the first rider in the 104-year history of the race to be stripped of his title.

The book, published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment, tells his life story and includes details of growing up in a Pennsylvania Mennonite family and his passion for cycling.