20 Clippers Sterling ‘will not pay’ NBA fine
guyanatimesGY.com
saturday, may 17, 2014
Donald Sterling
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os Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has said he will refuse to pay a $2.5m (£1.5m) fine from the league for racist comments, US media report. “We reject your demand for payment,” his lawyer said in a letter to the National Basketball Association (NBA), Sports Illustrated magazine reports. Mr Sterling is also reportedly threatening to sue
the league. He was banned from the National Basketball Association for life after he was recorded making racist remarks. Mr Sterling was heard asking a woman not to associate in public with black people nor bring them to games. On announcing the ban and fine, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Mr
Sterling’s “hateful opinions... simply have no place in the NBA”. In the letter, Maxwell Blecher also wrote that no punishment was warranted for Mr Sterling’s actions and that his rights for a fair investigation had been violated, according to the USA Today newspaper. The NBA recently appointed Dick Parsons, a businessman and lawyer, as new Clippers interim president while the league attempts to force a sale of the team. Amid the upheaval, the team was eliminated from the league play-offs on Thursday. Fans have demanded Sterling sell up Coach Doc Rivers told reporters after the game “the locker room was not good in a sad way. It felt like all the stuff they have gone through came out and they released all their emotions”. (BBC Sport)
Pacers ready to battle Heat after banishing Wizards
David West
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avid West delivered his strongest game of the playoffs with 29 points to help guide the Indiana Pacers into Eastern Conference finals with a series-clinching 93-80 Game Six win over the Washington Wizards on Thursday. The veteran power forward was in an aggressive mood from the opening tip-
off, taking 26 shots and sparking a fourth-quarter surge that helped the Pacers advance from the best-ofseven series with a 4-2 victory. The top-seeded Pacers’ next challenge starts on Sunday, with a home Game One encounter against the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat.
The Pacers will be hoping to make it third time lucky against the Heat after losing to Miami at the same stage in the last two seasons, with West confident of success this time around. “We’ve got home court (this time), which is a good start,” West told reporters. “We know who they are, they know who we are. It’s going to come down to the details.” Feeding off their home crowd, the Wizards threatened to force a Game Seven when they rallied to take a 74-73 lead with about eight minutes remaining but West calmly sank two straight jump shots and the Pacers closed the game with a 20-6 run. “David has a way of settling our young guys and riding the waves in a game,” Indiana coach Frank Vogel said. “He made a couple (big) buckets. We’re lucky to have David West.” Lance Stephenson added 17 points and eight assists for the visitors. (Reuters)
Durant wakes up to carry Thunder past Clippers Sepp Blatter ‘has drive to
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evin Durant shook off a cold start to score 39 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers 104-98 on Thursday to clinch a place in the Western Conference finals. League MVP Durant began the game with one-forseven shooting from the floor, but caught fire and added 16 rebounds and five assists in a Game Six road win that gave the Thunder a 4-2 best-of-seven series triumph. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Durant told reporters. “I just tried to stay with it, no matter what. My team mates did a great job screening for me.” Durant’s assured performance carried the Thunder to a third West final in four
continue’ as Fifa president
Kevin Durant
years, in which they will play the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs. It was far from easy going for Oklahoma City, however, as they had to rally from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter to muscle past the Clippers. In Game Five, the Thunder were down by 13 in the closing minutes of the
fourth but fought back to stun Los Angeles. The Clippers’ Chris Paul, who took most of the blame for that loss with several bad plays in the final few moments, had 25 points and 11 assists in their seasonending defeat. Blake Griffin added 22 points and eight rebounds. (Reuters)
Matches played by Auckland Aces in 2012 subject of ICC probe-New Zealand Cricket
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ew Zealand Cricket has confirmed matches played by an Auckland Twenty20 team in 2012 are the subject of an ICC investigation into match-fixing. Chief executive David White told a news conference that matches involving the Auckland Aces at the Champions Trophy in South Africa formed part of an ongoing investigation although he said no current New Zealand players are being investigated. The announcement followed a report in the Daily Telegraph that former New Zealand batsman Lou Vincent had provided the ICC’s anti-corruption unit
with evidence of match fixing in as many as five countries. White said: “We can confirm the following: No games played in New Zealand are being investigated by the ICC; no current Black Caps are being investigated. Investigation “No matches involving New Zealand national teams are being investigated, however, we have been informed by the ICC that some Auckland Aces matches in the Champions League in South Africa in 2012 are being investigated. “I would like to stress that we understand that this is very much an isolated incident. Match fixing is
a threat to cricket around the globe and we remain 100 percent behind the ICC in their focus on fighting corruption.” The Telegraph claims Vincent had provided the ICC with information on matches targeted for spot fixing and the names of players involved - these included matches played in England’s county competition and in four other countries. Vincent is reported to have provided the information as part of a plea bargain and in the hope of avoiding criminal investigation for his personal involvement in or knowledge of spot fixing between 2008 and 2012. (Skysports)
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Sepp Blatter
epp Blatter has given his clearest indication yet that he will stand for a fifth term as Fifa president in 2015. After retaining his post unopposed in June 2011, the 78-year-old Swiss, who has held the role since 1998, had said he would not contest the next election. But he told Swiss television station RTS: “Of course I want to continue. I have the drive to continue.” Last week, Blatter reportedly confirmed that he would certainly run again, but Fifa denied that was the case. Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb and former deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne have been tipped as successors to Blatter, but both have said they would not stand in opposition to the current in-
cumbent if he stood for election in Zurich in June 2015. “The path to the throne is not yet open,” Blatter added. “There are a lot of people who would like to take this position but they realise it is not a bed of roses.” Speculation that Uefa president Michel Platini, who has been a close ally of Blatter, might succeed the Swiss at the world governing body has cooled since the former France midfielder opted against running in 2011. Blatter appeared to dismiss the possibility that Platini could revive a bid for the sport’s top job, saying the Frenchman “is a man with a very deep character, he wouldn’t do it.” Blatter told the BBC in October that he had “a mission” to fulfil at Fifa , adding that he would support a
proposal to increase presidential terms from four to eight years. In his latest interview, Blatter also repeated his claim that awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar may have been a “mistake”. “Yes, it was a mistake,” he said. “We all make lots of mistakes in life. “The technical report from Qatar clearly indicated it was too hot in summer, but nevertheless, the executive committee, with a fairly large majority, decided that we would play in Qatar.” A subsequent Fifa statement stressed the point that Blatter was highlighting an oversight by the executive committee who voted for Qatar, rather than questioning the country’s ability to host the event.
(BBC Sport)