HOUSTON, April 20 -- NBA season ends, Barkley plays final game An overweight and out of shape Charles Barkley bid an emotional farewell to the NBA Wednesday night and then watched his Houston Rockets fall to the Vancouver Grizzlies, 96-92, on the final night of the regular season.
Barkley, who has been out of action since November with a knee injury, wanted to play in Houston's season finale Wednesday night, although he looked nothing like the superstar he has been througout his career.
Barkley fumbled the ball away twice, put up an airball and finally went back to the bench.
While Barkley was on the floor, the Grizzles went on a 16-4 run to open up a 48-35 lead with 2:08 to go in the first half as Shareef Abdur-Rahim connected on a hook shot. Houston (34-48) never regained the lead.
Barkley made the walk to the scorer's table with very little notice from the fans. but received a standing ovation when it was finally announced at 7:26 of the second quarter that he was entering the game. He scored two points, hit one of three from the field, collected one rebound and had one assist.
"I can't explain what tonight meant," Barkley said. "I did it for me. I've won and lost a lot of games, but the last memory I had was being carried off the court. I couldn't get over the mental block of being carried off the court. It was important psychologically to walk off the court on my own."
Like most games played in the NBA Wednesday night, the Vancouver-Houston contest had no bearing on the upcoming playoffs.
But in two games that did have an impact, Detroit downed Chicago, 112-91; and San Antonio, without Tim Duncan, defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime, 103-98.
Detroit thus wrapped up the No. 7 spot in the East, allowing the Pistons to avoid top-seeded Indiana in the opening round of the playoffs. San Antonio nailed down the No. 4 seed in the West, giving the Spurs the home-court advantage in their series with Phoenix.
The playoffs will begin this weekend with the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series finding Indiana meeting Milwaukee, Detroit taking on Miami, Philadelphia facing Charlotte and New York playing Toronto.
In the West, it will be Los Angeles against Sacramento, Seattle meeting Utah, Minnesota playing Portland and San Antonio tangling with Phoenix.
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Red Wings earn sweep, Blues deflated The Detroit Red Wings have earned an extra week's rest in the midst of the NHL playoffs while the St. Louis Blues are on the verge of having a much longer rest than they anticipated.
Detroit became the first team to advance to the conference semifinals of the Stanley Cup chase Wednesday night by finishing off a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings, 3-0.
But St. Louis, the team with the best record in the entire league during the regular season, suffered a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks and now trail in the series, 3-1.
In other playoff activity Wednesday night Ottawa evened its series with Toronto at 2-2 with a 2-1 win over the Maple Leafs, Washington avoided elimination against Pittsburgh with a 3-2 victory and Phoenix did the same against Colorado by downing the Avalanche, 3-2.
Detroit's Chris Osgood stopped 25 shots for his eighth career playoff shutout and Pat Verbeek and Larry Murphy scored power-play goals late in the second period to kep the Red Wings' victory.
Detroit recorded the 10th series sweep in team history and second in as many years.
In the only games on the schedule tonight, both in the East, Philadelphia will try to close out the defending conference champion Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey will attempt to do the same to Florida.
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Red Sox hit five homers in Detroit Trot Nixon's first career grand slam highlighted a five-homer assault Wednesday as the Boston Red Sox hammered their way to a 10-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers, who continue to struggle at the plate in their new state-of-the-art facility.
Just six homers were hit in the first seven games at Comerica Park before the Red Sox put on a batting practice-like display of power Wednesday night.
Jose Offerman led off the third inning by bashing a 2-2 offering from starter Hideo Nomo (1-1) over the wall in right to open the scoring. Troy O'Leary added a two-run shot in the fifth and Mike Stanley's solo blast in the sixth gave Boston a 4-0 cushion.
Nixon, who matched career highs with four hits and five RBI, stepped to the plate against reliever Jim Poole after Jason Varitek and Offerman walked and Manny Alexander reached on an infield single. The right fielder belted a 2-1 pitch over the fence in right to increase the margin to 8-0.
Elsewhere in the American League, Mariano Rivera blew his first save in 28 chances, but the New York Yankees won in 10 innings over Texas, 5-4; Chicago downed Seattle, 5-2; Cal Ripken hit a ninth-inning homer to give Baltimore a 3-2 decision over Tampa Bay; Oakland hit four home runs in a 10-5 decision over Cleveland; Toronto waltzed past Anaheim, 12-4; and Butch Huskey's two-out single in the ninth drove in the winning run in Minnesota's 7-6 win over Kansas City.
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Rob Bell records first major league win Rob Bell survived 5 2/3 rocky innings for his first major league victory Wednesday night and batterymate Benito Santiago hit a two-run homer as the Cincinnati Reds posted a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Bell (1-1) was called on after scheduled starter Pete Harnisch was scratched with a strained right forearm. The 23-year-old righthander allowed four runs and six hits and walked three.
The Reds' beleaguered bullpen picked up Bell as Scott Sullivan allowed two hits over 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Danny Graves held San Francisco in check over the final two frames for his third save.
San Francisco starter Shawn Estes (0-1) was tagged for five runs and six hits over five innings. He walked six and struck out two. Mark Gardner and Felix Rodriguez held the Reds scoreless over the final three innings but the Giants were unable to rally.
Santiago's first home run of the season was a two-run shot in Cincinnati's four-run second inning. The offense got a boost from the return of All-Star first baseman Sean Casey, who had two hits and a walk.
In other National League action, Pittsburgh downed Florida, 5-1; Montreal defeatedChicago, 7-3; New York bested Milwaukee, 3-1; Atlanta overwhelmed Philadelphia, 10-1; St. Louis nipped San Diego, 4-3; Arizona outfought Colorado, 8-7; and Houston blasted Los Angeles, 10-3.
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Alexei Zhitnik to miss Game 5 Buffalo Sabres defenseman Alexei Zhitnik will miss tonight's playoff meeting with the Philadelphia Flyers because he hit Flyers center Daymond Langkow in the side of the head with his stick.
The Sabres trail, 3-1 in the series and it could be their season finale.
At 12:44 of the second period, Zhitnik was falling backwards when he swung his stick with his left hand. It stuck Langkow in the left side of the helmet and drew Zhitnik a double-minor for high-sticking.
Stick infractions have been punished in a more harsh manner by executive vice president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell since the incident earlier this year involving Marty McSorley.
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Bruins keep coach Pat Burns Despite a turbulent season that was capped by a last-place finish, the Boston Bruins announced Wednesday that coach Pat Burns will return next season.
Beset by injuries to key players, the Bruins were last in the Northeast Division with 73 points and a 24-39-19 record. Owner Jeremy Jacobs criticized the coaching staff during the season for poor special teams' play, but Burns will be back for his fourth season in Boston.
"Ordinarily, an announcement of this type would not be made, however I felt it was necessary due to all of the speculation over the last few months regarding Pat's return," general manager Harry Sinden said.
Jacques Laperriere will return as one of Burns' assistants, but Ken Baumgartner is leaving the team after he was accepted to Harvard Business School, Sinden said.
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Cardinals send Alan Benes to Class AAA St. Louis Cardinals righthander Alan Benes, who has battled a shoulder injury for most of the last three years, was optioned Wednesday to Class AAA Memphis of the Pacific Coast League.
A victim of a crowded St. Louis' rotation, Benes made just one appearance this season, a 2 1/3-inning stint Friday against Colorado. But with Pat Hentgen, Garrett Stephenson, Rick Ankiel Darryl Kile and Benes' older brother Andy in the rotation, there was no room for Alan Benes to get consistent innings.
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Saints sign Steve Israel With a glaring hole at left cornerback following the departure of Ashley Ambrose, the New Orleans Saints Thursday signed free agent Steve Israel to a three-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but it was reported Israel will receive more than $4 million.
Israel, 31, started 13 games at left cornerback last season for the New England Patriots and had a career-high 56 tackles, one interception, 11 passes defensed, one sack and two fumble recoveries.
The Saints will likely move Israel into the left cornerback spot vacated by Ambrose, who signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons in February.
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McCallum moves from Ball State to Houston Ray McCallum, the only man to guide Ball State to seven straight winning seasons, Wednesday was named men's basketball coach at Houston, replacing Clyde Drexler.
McCallum, 39, was 126-76 at Ball State and his .624 winning percentage was the best in the first seven years of a coaching tenure in Mid-American Conference history. The Cardinals were 22-9 this past season, losing to UCLA in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Under McCallum, Ball State also reached the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and made the National Invitation Tournament in 1998. The Cardinals had an 84-15 home record during the tenure of McCallum, who leaves Ball State as the second-winningest coach in school history.
