Sports Briefs January 29, 2013
Basketball
Kyrie Irving was rewarded for a week he'll have trouble topping.
Cleveland's second-year guard was named the Eastern Conference's player of the week on Monday after leading the NBA in scoring and carrying the Cavs to three straight wins. In the three games, Irving averaged 35.7 points, scored 40 points in a win over Boston, had 35 against Milwaukee and hit a game-winning 3-pointer in the final second on Saturday night as the Cavs beat Toronto.
Those performances came in the same week that Irving was selected to his first All-Star team and named Cleveland's top professional athlete of 2012, when he was voted NBA Rookie of the Year.
- A person with knowledge of the situation said coach Rick Adelman returned to the Minnesota Timberwolves after spending the last three weeks with his ailing wife.
Adelman is hoping to coach against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
Warriors 114, Raptors 102: David Lee had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead Golden State at Toronto.
Kings 96, Wizards 94: Isaiah Thomas made a floater with a second to play to lead Sacramento at Washington.
Nets 97, Magic 77: At New York, Deron Williams had 20 points and host Brooklyn beat Orlando.
Grizzlies 103, 76ers 100: Marc Gasol scored a season-high 27 points to lead Memphis at Philadelphia.
Rockets 125, Jazz 80: At Salt Lake City, James Harden scored 25 points and Houston rolled by Utah.
Bulls 93, Bobcats 85: Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 19 points to lead host Chicago over Charlotte.
Nuggets 102, Pacers 101: Andre Iguodala's free throw with 0.4 seconds lifted host Denver past Indiana.
- Top 25 men
Michigan is No. 1 in The Associated Press' college basketball poll for the first time since its Fab Five days 20 years ago.
For the second straight week the No. 1 team lost. This time it was Duke, which was routed 90-63 by Miami in the third-worst defeat by a top-ranked team.
Gonzaga (19-2) moved to the No. 7 spot after wins over BYU and San Francisco last week.
No. 2 Kansas 61, West Virginia 56: At Morgantown, W.Va., Travis Releford scored 15 points and the Jayhawks (19-1, 7-0 Big 12) beat the Mountaineers (9-11, 2-5).
No. 12 Louisville 64, Pittsburgh 61: At Louisville, Ky., Russ Smith and Gorgui Dieng combined for 34 points and the Cardinals (17-4, 5-3 Big East) beat the Panthers (17-5, 5-4).
No. 25 Marquette 63, South Florida 50: At Milwaukee, Vander Blue scored 30 points to lead the Golden Eagles (15-4, 6-1 Big East) over South Florida (10-10, 1-7).
- BIG SKY
Eastern Washington 76, Portland St. 65: At Cheney, Venky Jois had 20 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead the Eagles (5-15, 3-7 Big Sky) over the Vikings (5-12, 3-7).
Parker Kelly scored 17 points - going 5 for 8 from 3-point range - while Martin Seiferth had 13 points and Kevin Winford scored 12 as EWU ended a four-game losing streak.
Blue Jackets 2, Stars 1: At Columbus, Ohio, Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves to lead Columbus past Dallas.
Bruins 5, Hurricanes 3: At Raleigh, N.C., David Krejci scored a tiebreaking goal with 1:50 left and Boston beat Carolina.
Coyotes 4, Predators 0: At Glendale, Ariz., Chad Johnson had 22 saves to lead Phoenix past Nashville.
Oilers 4, Avalanche 1: Semyon Varlamov stopped 23 shots to help host Edmonton over Colorado.
Kings 3, Canucks 2, SO: Jeff Carter scored the only goal in the shootout, and host Los Angeles beat Vancouver.
- The Associated Press