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UPI NewsTrack Sports

NFL playoffs begin Saturday

HOUSTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The chase for the Vince Lombardi Trophy begins Saturday with the Houston Texans appearing in the NFL playoffs for the first time in team history.

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Houston, New Orleans, Denver and the New York Giants will host wild-card games on the opening weekend of the playoffs, which -- for only the second time in history -- will include six teams with at least 12 regular-season wins.

This will also be the 16th consecutive season that at least five teams will be a part of the Super Bowl chase that were not involved in the playoffs the year before.

Two of those teams -- Cincinnati and Houston -- will meet in the post-season opener, which kicks off at 4:30 p.m. EST Saturday. The Bengals, led by rookie quarterback Andy Dalton, are making only their second playoff appearance since 1990.

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Houston won the AFC South title for the first time since joining the league as an expansion franchise in 2002. The Texans closed the regular season with three straight losses after quarterback Matt Schaub was knocked out for the season.

Saturday's other game will send Detroit to New Orleans, where the Saints hope to begin their bid for a second Super Bowl title in three years. New Orleans (13-3) joins Green Bay (15-1), New England (13-3), San Francisco (13-3), Baltimore (12-4) and Pittsburgh (12-4) in the group of teams that have at least a dozen wins this season.

That ties a record set in 2003.

On Sunday, Atlanta will be at New York and Pittsburgh will travel to Denver. New England, Baltimore, Green Bay and San Francisco will all host a game the following weekend.

Both Denver and Houston went from last place in their division to first place this season. This is the fifth time in the last nine years that at least two teams have pulled off that accomplishment.

Six of this year's playoff teams have won a Super Bowl crown since the turn of the century. Green Bay is trying to become the ninth defending champion to repeat as Super Bowl winner. The Packers hope to join Pittsburgh as the only club to have done so twice.

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Wizards lose lead, remain winless

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Carmelo Anthony gave New York the lead with 15.5 seconds remaining Friday and the Knicks held on for a 99-96 win over Washington.

The Wizards remained winless in seven games this season, their worst start in franchise history, and are the only team in the NBA without a victory.

They appeared ready to break through when they built a 15-point lead in the second period, but New York cut its deficit to a single point at intermission and the Knicks led for much of the second half.

A layup by John Wall with 48 seconds to go inched the Wizards in front by one, but Anthony's 3-point shot off a pass from Amare Stoudemire put the Knicks ahead to stay.

Wall then missed a 3-point try with 10 seconds remaining and New York's Iman Shumpert hit 1-of-2 foul shots with 5 seconds left.

After a timeout, Washington's Nick Young failed on a 3-point attempt that would have forced overtime. New York had lost its previous two games.

Anthony scored 37 points and Stoudemire had 23 points and 12 rebounds. They combined to take 54 shots from the field and they made 25 of them.

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Young led Washington with 24 points, hitting four from 3-point range.


NHL abandons realignment

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- NHL officials said Friday the league's players would not agree to a realignment plan and the current six divisions will remain in place next season.

The league's board of governors had previously voted to set up a new alignment next season that would have divided the teams into four conferences. League officials then began meeting with the players to try to sell the plan, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

A union statement released Friday said the NHL never properly addressed concerns by the players after submitting the plan for their approval.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement that the league believes the players' union "acted unreasonably in violation of the league's rights." He said the league would evaluate its legal options.

"It is unfortunate that the players have unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support, and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community," Daly said.

"We have now spent the better part of four weeks attempting to satisfy the union's purported concerns with the plan with no success. Because we have already been forced to delay, and as a result are already late in beginning the process of preparing next season's schedule, we have no choice but to abandon our intention to implement the realignment plan and modified playoff format for next season."

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The board of governors voted on the realignment plan Dec. 5.

"In order to evaluate the effect on travel of the proposed new structure, we requested a draft or sample 2012-13 schedule, showing travel per team," the union said in its statement. "We were advised it was not possible for the league to do that.

"The travel estimation data we received from the league indicates that many of the current Pacific and Central teams that have demanding travel schedules under the current format could see their travel become even more difficult.

"We continue to be ready and willing to have further discussions."

A move to realign the league was made after the franchise that had been in Atlanta moved this season to Winnipeg. The Winnipeg Jets remained in the Southeast Division with Florida, Washington, Tampa Bay and Carolina for the 2011-12 season, thus creating a travel burden.


Byrd seeks second straight win in Hawaii

KAPALUA, Hawaii, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Jonathan Byrd ran off six straight birdies on the front nine Friday and took a one-shot lead after one round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Byrd, trying to win this event for the second year in a row, shot a 6-under 67 in gusty breezes on the first day of the PGA Tour season at the Kapalua Resort Plantation Course.

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He made putts ranging from 4 feet to 29 feet on the third through eighth holes and then had his run stopped with a bogey at the relatively easy par-5 ninth.

Michael Bradley, Martin Laird, Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker shared second place at 68 while current PGA champion Keegan Bradley was alone in sixth after firing a 69.

Byrd was 24-under par for four rounds in winning last year. He did not have another victory in 2011, although he lost in a playoff to Lucas Glover at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C.

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