DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks waived Derek Fisher on Saturday at the request of the veteran guard, who said he was having a difficult time being away from his family in Los Angeles.
Mavs waive Derek Fisher
at veteran guard’s request
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks waived Derek Fisher on Saturday at the request of the veteran guard, who said he was having a difficult time being away from his family in Los Angeles.
The Mavericks announced the move four days after the 38-year-old Fisher strained a tendon in his right knee in a game against Philadelphia.
Fisher, a 16-year veteran who won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, was a free agent when the Mavericks signed him because of injuries, a lack of depth and spotty play at point guard.
He started his first game with Dallas a day after his first practice and averaged 8.6 points and 3.6 assists in nine games.
In a statement, Fisher said the recovery time on the knee strain would be about two weeks, and he wanted to return home. Fisher thanked Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for granting the request.
“I have made decisions in the past, leaving money and opportunity on the table, and I will need to do that again,” Fisher said. “My family is my priority and that is where I choose to be.”
Darren Collison started the first 16 games at point guard before Dallas signed Fisher. Dominique Jones had a season high in minutes the past two games, topped by 32 in Friday’s 92-82 loss to Memphis. Jones tied his career high with 13 points against the Grizzlies.
Rodrigue Beaubois is the third point guard for Dallas.
Point guard was one of the biggest questions for the Mavericks entering the season after Deron Williams chose to stay with the Brooklyn Nets and Jason Kidd signed with the New York Knicks after saying he planned to rejoin Dallas. Kidd helped lead the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title.
Kings suspend C DeMarcus Cousins indefinitely
DeMarcus Cousins was suspended indefinitely by the Sacramento Kings on Saturday for “unprofessional behavior and conduct detrimental to the team.”
Cousins and Kings coach Keith Smart exchanged words in the locker room during halftime of Sacramento’s 97-85 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night. Smart benched Cousins for the entire second half and ordered him to remain in the locker room.
Cousins also was suspended one game without pay by the NBA for striking O.J. Mayo in the groin during a loss at Dallas on Dec. 10. Following a loss at San Antonio on Nov. 9, the league suspended Cousins two games without pay for confronting Spurs announcer Sean Elliott in a “hostile manner.”
“We’re trying to set a standard here, and when guys move below that standard, things are going to take place,” Smart said after the game in Los Angeles. “We’ll just move on to the next game and I’ll make some decisions from there.”
Cousins, drafted fifth overall in 2010, took responsibility for the incident after the game. The 22-year-old center is averaging a team-high 16.6 points and 9.5 rebounds to go with 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game this season.
NHL and union speak, but
no new meetings scheduled
NEW YORK — NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr spoke on the telephone but still haven’t made plans to meet face to face.
There has been very little contact this week between the sides. Daly and Fehr held a conversation Saturday, the 98th day of the lockout that is threatening to wipe out the entire hockey season.
All games through Jan. 14 have already been called off, and if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached by then, the remainder of the schedule could be canceled, too. So far, 625 games — more than 50 percent of the schedule — have been wiped out, along with the Winter Classic and the All-Star game.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says he doesn’t want a season shorter than 48 games per team, the amount played after a lockout ended in 1995. The full 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout.
Tomasz Adamek outpoints Steve Cunningham
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Tomasz Adamek, his nose swollen and eyes circled with a little purple, seemed satisfied and relieved after he outpointed Steve Cunningham in a split decision Saturday in their IBF heavyweight title eliminator at the Sands Bethlehem Events Center.
Adamek (48-2) received winning scores of 115-112 from judge Debra Barnes and 116-112 from Dave Greer, while Tom Miller scored it 115-113 for Cunningham (25-5). After six rounds, Miller and Greer had the fight even, and Barnes had Adamek up by two rounds. Greer and Miller gave Adamek three of the last four rounds.
The fight was a rematch of a 2008 cruiserweight bout that Adamek also won. Cunningham got up from knockdowns three times in the first fight. But that time, Adamek weighed 198 to Cunningham’s 197. This time, Adamek weighed in at 223, and Cunningham 203 1/2.
Cunningham outlanded Adamek in total punches, 209-169, and used an effective jab, landing 129 of 349. But Adamek hit Cunningham with more power punches, 120-80.
Messi ends year with 91 goals; Casillas benched
BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi polished off his record year with his 91st and final goal of 2012 in Barcelona’s 3-1 win at Valladolid on Saturday night, while Jose Mourinho’s decision to bench goalkeeper Iker Casillas backfired as Real Madrid lost 3-2 at Malaga and fell 16 points off the pace in the Spanish league.
Messi fed Jordi Alba, who crossed to Xavi Hernandez for the first goal in the 43rd minute, and Messi dribbled between a defender’s legs before scoring in the 59th, his 35th goal of the 2012-13 season.
Expected to win his fourth FIFA Player of the Year award next month, Messi finished 2012 with 79 goals for Barcelona: 59 in the Spanish league, 13 in the Champions League, five in the Copa del Rey and two in the Spanish Super Cup. He had 12 for Argentina: five in World Cup qualifiers and seven in exhibition games.
Messi broke Gerd Mueller’s 40-year-old record of 85 goals for Bayern Munich and Germany.
Players from both teams wore T-shirts before the game with messages of support for Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, who had throat surgery Thursday for the second time in two years to remove a second tumor from a saliva gland.
Barcelona (16-0-1) holds a nine-point lead over second-place Atletico Madrid (13-3-1) and dropped defending champion Real Madrid (10-4-3) to its biggest deficit in more than a decade.
At Malaga, Mourinho made the startling decision to bench Casillas, voted best goalkeeper in the world by players in each of the last four seasons, and start Adan Garrido. Madrid’s captain, Casillas had started 53 of Real’s last 54 league games, all but the finale last season after the title had been clinched.
Casillas’ mood in Madrid’s dugout at La Rosaleda stadium went from glum to nervous and finally anguished. At one point he zipped his sweat shirt up to hide half his face.
Francisco “Isco” Alarcon put fourth-place Malaga (9-4-4) ahead in the 49th, and Madrid tied the score on Sergio Sanchez’s own goal in the 66th. Substitute Roque Santa Cruz scored in the 72nd and 76th minutes, the first goal a tap-in after Adan failed to stop a cross. Karim Benzema scored for Madrid in the 82nd.
By wire sources