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Wizards suspend Blatche, McGee after fight

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Washington Wizards front-court starters Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee have been suspended for one game, team President Ernie Grunfeld said Saturday.

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Grunfeld said the pair were suspended for the Wizards' game Sunday against San Antonio after an investigation into an alleged altercation outside a night club.

"After further investigation into an incident on Thursday night, we concluded that Andray and JaVale conducted themselves in an unprofessional manner. As a result, both players will be suspended for tomorrow's game at San Antonio," Grunfeld said in a released statement.

The Washington Post cited multiple unnamed sources saying the pair exchanged punches Friday outside the Shadow Room in Northwest Washington early Friday and that police had to be called in to break up the altercation.

No arrests were made in incident, a source said.

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Grunfeld, however, denied that Blatche and McGee had been in a fight, telling the newspaper that "only one push" was made as other disturbances were happening inside the club.

Blatche is the Wizards' leading scorer, averaging 16.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. McGee has averaged 9.2 points per game and is the team's top rebounder with 8.3 boards per contest.


Red Wings update Datsyuk, Modano status

DETROIT, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk will be out at least four weeks and Mike Modano is on target for a March return, General Manager Ken Holland says.

Datsyuk fell awkwardly during the Red Wings' overtime victory against Vancouver Wednesday, suffering breaks to small bones at the top of his right hand. Modano suffered a deep gash to his right wrist Nov. 26.

Holland told the Detroit Free Press this week that Datsyuk won't be back for at least a month.

"The doctor said four to six weeks," he said. "It's just wee little breaks on the bone, it's still together. It's as good as we could have hoped given the circumstances."

The update on Modano was positive, he added.

"Mike is right on schedule," Holland told the Free Press. "I told the doctor I was shooting for Mike to be back sometime in the middle of March, and the doctor thought that was reasonable."

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Heat pound Lakers in Christmas Day matchup

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- LeBron James and Chris Bosh combined for 51 points and the Miami Heat used a stifling defense Saturday to hand the Los Angeles Lakers a 96-80 loss.

James scored 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and distributed 10 assists for the Heat, with Bosh adding 24 points and 13 boards in the dominating win.

Miami held the NBA champs to 40.5 percent shooting and blew out the Lakers on their home court in a Christmas Day matchup.

Dwyane Wade, who returned to the lineup after missing Thursday's win at Phoenix, added 18 points and six assists as the Heat won for the 14th time in 15 games.

They also snapped a five-game losing streak to the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant was held to 6-of-16 shooting from the floor on his way to 17 points and Pau Gasol contributed 17 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles in the setback.


Florida State downs Baylor at Diamond Head

HONOLULU, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Chris Singleton's 3-pointer with less than 3 minutes left put Florida State ahead and the Seminoles went on to down No. 15 Baylor 68-61 Saturday.

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Singleton connected on a trey to make it 62-59 Florida State with 2:30 remaining and FSU (10-4) then clamped down on defense to pull off an upset of the Bears in the Diamond Head Classic third-place game.

Singleton ended with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Derwin Kitchen added a team-high 19 points and Bernard James chipped in with 15 and 10 rebounds for the victors, who outrebounded Baylor 41-27.

The Bears (8-3) got a game-high 23 points from LaceDarius Dunn but he went cold late in the game, missing a 3-point try with 1:22 and then blowing a pair of free throws in the closing minute.

Quincy Acy scored 16 points and A.J. Walton added 15 for Baylor.

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