George Karl was hired as head coach of the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, returning to the NBA after nearly two years out to take over a team that has failed to live up to lofty expectations.
Karl is expected to be on the bench for Friday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that fired him in 2003. Michael Cooper, the interim coach since Jeff Bzdelik was fired on Dec. 28, will stay on as an assistant.
"We are very excited to be adding a coach of George's stature to our organization," Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said in a statement. "He has won everywhere he has been and his track record speaks for itself. We also want to commend Michael for the job he did under difficult circumstances."
Karl has won 708 games in 16 NBA seasons -- 13th in league history -- and helped Seattle reach the playoffs in 1991-1992 after a 20-20 start. Karl also took the SuperSonics to the NBA Finals in 1996 and led them to at least 60 wins three times in five years. His coaching career includes stops in Golden State, Cleveland, and Spain.
Denver started the season as a favorite in the Western Conference after adding All-Star power forward Kenyon Martin to a team that was coming off its first playoff appearance in nine years.
The Nuggets still haven't lived up to that potential, entering Friday's game with a 17-25 record, and 12 1/2 games out of first place in the Northwest Division.
Karl has a reputation for clashing with some of his players, but an in-your-face style might be what the underachieving Nuggets need to break out of their doldrums.
Chauncey Billups scored 20 points and Tayshaun Prince had 16 points and seven rebounds as the Detroit Pistons used a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Indiana Pacers 88-76 Thursday.
It was the second meeting between the teams since Nov. 19, when Pacers players brawled with Pistons fans after Ben Wallace shoved Ron Artest.
Thursday's game was full of emotion, too.
Indiana fans booed loudly as the Pistons were introduced and booed again each time Wallace scored. The game also was marred by five technical fouls, and fans jawed with Pistons players, sometimes playfully, in the final minutes of the game.
Wallace finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Bulls 101, Bobcats 93
In Chicago, Jannero Pargo scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter and Andres Nocioni added 17 points off the bench as Chicago got 63 points from its reserves to beat Charlotte.
Eric Piatkowski added 16 points for Chicago, which extended its winning streak to five games. The Bulls have won 12 of their last 13 games and eight straight at home.
Spurs 90, Kings 80
In San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 25 points and Tim Duncan added 20 for San Antonio, which fended off a late rally from Sacramento.
Jarrett Jack's two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining in overtime lifted No. 22 Georgia Tech over fifth-ranked Wake Forest 102-101 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on Thursday.
Jack finished with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor to go along with eight rebounds and six assists, while Will Bynum netted a career-high 30 points for Georgia Tech (12-5, 3-3 ACC), which snapped a three-game slide. Isma'il Muhammad added 17 points and Anthony Marrow chipped in 11 in the win.
Eric Williams paced Wake Forest with a team-high 27 points and 12 rebounds. Justin Gray scored 22.
No. 11 Arizona 91,
No. 10 Washington 82
In Tucson, Arizona, Salim Stoudamire scored 25 points, and Arizona claimed sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 with a 91-82 victory over Washington at McKale Center.
Mustafa Shakur added 19 points and Channing Frye scored 14 of his 18 in the second half for the Wildcats (17-3, 7-1 Pac-10).
No. 15 Michigan St. 64,
Michigan 53
In East Lansing, Michigan, Maurice Ager had 18 points and six rebounds to lead Michigan State to a 64-53 win over Michigan at the Breslin Center.
Paul Davis added 12 points and Alan Anderson tallied 10 for the Spartans (13-3, 5-1 Big Ten).
Maryland 75, No. 2 Duke 66
Nik Caner-Medley poured in 25 points and Ekene Ibekwe added 15 as Maryland upended previously undefeated Duke 75-66 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
John Gilchrist finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Terrapins (11-6, 3-3 ACC).
No. 8 Boston College 78, Providence 75
In Providence, Rhode Island, Craig Smith and Jared Dudley scored 21 points apiece, as Boston College held on for 78-75 win over Providence.
Dudley also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, while Jermaine Watson chipped in 17 points for the Golden Eagles.
Northwestern 75, No. 23 Iowa
In Evanston, Illinois, Michael Jenkins drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift Northwestern to a 75-74 overtime victory over Iowa at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Vedran Vukusic poured in a career-high 32 points, including 24 after halftime, for the Wildcats (9-9, 2-4 Big Ten). T.J. Parker netted 12 points for Northwestern, which snapped a four-game losing streak.
Greg Brunner paced Iowa with a career-high 28 points. Pierre Pierce contributed 15 points for the Hawkeyes (14-5, 2-4).
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB