NBA playoffs start Saturday
NEW YORK, April 16 (UPI) -- The NBA playoffs begin Saturday with the defending champion Boston Celtics taking on the Chicago Bulls.
The Celtics easily won the Atlantic Division and had a 2-1 edge against the Bulls in the regular season, which ended Wednesday.
Boston will be seeded No. 2 in the Eastern Conference playoffs behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, who open post-season play against Detroit.
Cleveland, which finished the season with a record of 66-16, best in the league, beat the Pistons in three of four games this season.
Orlando goes against the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta meets Miami in Sunday games in the East.
In the Western Conference, the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who lost to the Celtics in the NBA finals last season, open their playoff run Sunday against the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers finished the regular schedule with a 65-17 mark.
In other Western matchups, it's Dallas vs. San Antonio and Houston vs. Portland Saturday and Denver against New Orleans Sunday.
Celtics' Garnett could miss playoffs
BOSTON, April 16 (UPI) -- Injured Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett may miss the NBA playoffs, Coach Doc Rivers said Thursday.
Rivers said Garnett is not ready to go, and could be out for the entire playoff run, the Boston Globe reported.
The coach said it was possible, but not likely that Garnett might be able to play later in the playoffs.
Garnett has been under treatment for an injury to his right knee.
The defending champion Celtics open the playoffs at home Saturday against the Chicago Bulls.
NBC says Madden leaving broadcasting
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 16 (UPI) -- Popular U.S. sports broadcaster John Madden is retiring from the world of broadcasting at the age of 73, NBC said Thursday.
The network announced on its Web sites for MSNBC and NBC Sports that the NFL Hall of Fame coach, who commentated for "Monday Night Football" and "NBC Sunday Night Football" during his long career, has officially retired, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News said.
"It's time. I'm 73 years old," Madden said in the online postings. "My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. I have two great sons and their families and my five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I'm home and, more importantly, when I'm not..."
Madden, a former NFL head coach who was paired with broadcaster Pat Summerall for most of his 1980s and '90s broadcasts, helped the Oakland Raiders win Super Bowl XI over the Minnesota Vikings.
Kansas prison welcomes back Michael Vick
LEAVENWORTH, Kan., April 16 (UPI) -- Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has returned to a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., prison records showed Thursday.
The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch said Vick is once again a residence of the medium-security U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, where he has been spending most of his 23-month sentence on dogfighting charges.
Vick had temporarily left the prison for a federal bankruptcy court hearing on April 2 and 3 in Newport News, Va.
During his travel to and from the Virginia court, Vick was imprisoned in federal penitentiaries in Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Petersburg, Va.
Vick was charged in relation to a dogfighting ring he operated in Surry County, Va., and is due to be released from federal custody on July 20, the Times-Dispatch said.
