Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Suns face the Lakers in Los Angeles, the Cavaliers take the court in Houston, and Arizona State takes on Washington.
Sports headlines…
Anaheim Ducks traded Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi in a deal to Pittsburgh in which they get back Ryan Whitney…Jailbird Mike Vick has been approved for home confinement…More momentum in the gambling rights front. As reported in the gambling news section, PriceWaterhouseCoopers confirms $52 billion dollars would be put into the US economy simply be legalizing the honorable activity. Congressman Barney Frank is expected to re-introduce legislation to focus on returning gambling to the personal responsibility realm once favored by conservatives.
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Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The banged-up Suns will face a tough road test on Thursday night as they take on Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in Los Angeles. Phoenix got past Charlotte 112-102 on Tuesday night, but point guard Steve Nash suffered an ankle injury and had to miss part of the game; he could be limited on Thursday for a Suns team already missing Amare Stoudemire. The Lakers had no problem with the Thunder on Tuesday night, getting 36 points from Bryant in their 107-93 victory.
The NBA’s early game on Thursday has the Cavaliers travelling to Houston to meet the Rockets. Cleveland easily topped Memphis on Tuesday night, needing only 15 points from LeBron James in a 94-79 win. Daniel Gibson had a team-high 19 points. The Rockets are also coming off a victory, as they took care of Portland 98-94 on Tuesday. Ron Artest scored 21 points and added five assists.
The march toward Madness . . .
A ranked matchup between No. 14 Arizona State and No. 21 Washington at the Bank of America Arena highlights the Thursday college hoops schedule. The Sun Devils slipped past rival Arizona in a 70-68 victory on Sunday, with James Harden scoring 18 points. The Huskies smothered USC in a 60-51 win in their last outing on Saturday. Quincy Pondexter led the way with 22 points on that day.
No. 5 Memphis will be on the road to face UAB on Thursday, with N.C. State at No. 13 Wake Forest, and No. 16 Purdue at Michigan. As well, it’ll be No. 17 Gonzaga at Santa Clara, No. 19 Xavier at St. Joseph’s, Minnesota at No. 20 Illinois, No. 22 UCLA at Stanford, and also Youngstown State at No. 24 Butler. The Bulldogs rolled to a 75-63 win over Davidson in their meeting on Saturday.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Alexander Ovechkin and his Capitals faltered against the Flyers on Tuesday night, but they’ll try to bounce back on Thursday at home against the Thrashers. Washington took a 2-0 lead against Philly, but ended up losing 4-2. Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom provided the Caps goals, while Jose Theodore stopped 33 of 37 Philly shots. Atlanta got past Colorado by a score of 4-3 Tuesday night.
The Avalanche will be on the road in New Jersey in one of nine other games on the NHL’s schedule for Thursday night. As well, it’ll be Anaheim at Boston, Florida at the Rangers, Toronto at the Islanders, Buffalo at Carolina, San Jose at Ottawa, Phoenix at Nashville, Columbus at Edmonton, and St. Louis at Dallas. The Stars were held scoreless in a 1-0 loss to the Sharks in their Monday game.
Rounding out the Roundup . . .
Tiger Woods came roaring back to the PGA Tour on Wednesday afternoon, defeating Brandon Jones 3&2 in the opening round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Woods moves on to face Tim Clark in the second round on Thursday (2:02pm ET tee off); Clark got past Retief Goosen 3&2 on Wednesday.
Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson also won their first-round matchups on Wednesday, but both Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrington were the victims of upsets. Garcia lost to Charl Schwartzel, and Harrington was knocked off by Pat Perez. Other Wednesday winners included Anthony Kim, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Ernie Els, and Steve Stricker. Els and Stricker have a Thursday matchup.