LOS ANGELES — Derek Fisher said he has reached a buyout agreement with the Houston Rockets.
Derek Fisher confirms
Rockets bought him out
LOS ANGELES — Derek Fisher said he has reached a buyout agreement with the Houston Rockets.
Fisher’s business manager announced the move Sunday night but gave no indication about the 37-year-old point guard’s plans for the future.
The Los Angeles Lakers traded the five-time NBA champion guard to Houston on Thursday for backup big man Jordan Hill.
The Lakers made the move partly to clear playing time for Ramon Sessions, acquired earlier in the day from Cleveland.
The deal upset the Lakers’ veteran leaders, including Kobe Bryant. The guards were teammates for 13 of their 16 NBA seasons.
Fisher had started 371 consecutive games over the past five seasons for the Lakers, but the NBA players’ union leader was averaging just 5.9 points and 3.3 assists this year.
Keselowski dominates
to win at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski grabbed his first win of the season Sunday, holding off Matt Kenseth on a late restart to win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Keselowski led a career-best and race-high 231 laps but battled back and forth with Kenseth for the final third of the race. Kenseth beat him on an earlier restart, and Keselowski had to chase him down to reclaim the lead.
Then a late caution when Tony Stewart hit the wall put Keselowski’s win in jeopardy.
Crew chief Paul Wolfe left him on the track, where he had to again deal with Kenseth on a restart with 17 laps remaining.
Keselowski had no problems holding him off, choosing to restart on the outside, and he easily pulled away for the victory.
Federer, Azarenka win
titles in California desert
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Roger Federer defeated John Isner 7-6 (7), 6-3 to win his record fourth BNP Paribas Open title Sunday, avenging a loss to the American who beat him in Davis Cup play.
Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-3 for the women’s title in the WTA Tour’s first final between the No. 1 and No. 2 players since 2008.
Federer and Azarenka each earned $1 million, the richest winner’s checks in the tournament’s history. The runners-up earned $500,000 each.
Federer improved to 39-2 since last year’s U.S. Open, with his only losses to No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open and the 11th-ranked Isner, who won on the Swiss star’s home turf last month.
Federer, ranked third, avenged both those defeats in consecutive days at Indian Wells, putting away Nadal in the rain-delayed semifinals Saturday and then Isner.
Federer’s victory tied him with Nadal for most ATP World Tour Masters 1000 career titles at 19. Federer won three straight titles here from 2004-06 and his fourth snapped a tie with Jimmy Connors and Michael Chang.
Isner had a breakthrough two weeks in the desert, beating top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach his first Masters 1000 final. That assured him of entering the top 10 for the first time at No. 10 when the latest rankings come out today.
By wire sources