Celtics-Heat on NBA opening night
NEW YORK — Miami’s championship defense will begin where it won last season’s title, and the first game for the Brooklyn Nets will be at home against their now-crosstown rival.
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Heat will raise their title banner at home on Oct. 30 against the Boston Celtics as part of an opening-night tripleheader, meaning Ray Allen’s first game with Miami will come against his former club and in a rematch of last season’s seven-game Eastern Conference finals.
Also on opening night, Washington visits Cleveland (technically the season’s first game, starting an hour earlier than the Boston-Miami matchup) and Dallas plays at the Los Angeles Lakers in Steve Nash’s debut as Kobe Bryant’s teammate.
“We all know this season is a very important one. We’d like to get back on top as a team,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said Thursday in London, where he and the Spanish national team were wrapping up preparations for the start of the Olympics.
Bielema won’t recruit Penn State players
CHICAGO — Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said Thursday that he has no plans to recruit the players at Penn State, suggesting it would violate what he calls a Big Ten coaching brotherhood.
Other Big Ten coaches were not as quick to rule it out.
“We’re going to follow the rules and the rules allow you to recruit,” said Purdue coach Danny Hope, who acknowledged contact between his staff and some PSU players. “For us not to compete would be a disadvantage for our football program. Whether anything materializes out of it, I don’t know. If they’re available, we’re interested.”
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said he had a “problem” with recruiting at Penn State, but didn’t rule it out.
“I don’t know enough about the rules,” he said as the Big Ten’s football media days began. “If a player reaches out, says, ‘I want to leave here, I’m out of here, I’m gone,’ and reaches out to someone, the player has a right to choose, especially by the rules, to go where he wants. To actively go get a player on a team, I’m not sure. … I don’t really understand the rule, I’m going to look into it.”
Lynch enters not guilty plea in DUI case
Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has entered a not guilty plea following his arrest for investigation of driving under the influence in Northern California.
Lynch’s attorney, Ivan Golde, entered the plea on Lynch’s behalf in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday. Lynch’s arraignment was originally scheduled for mid-August, but Golde said he moved up the initial court hearing in order to get more access to the evidence.
Golde said Thursday he believes that unless the case is dismissed, it will not go to trial until after the 2012 NFL season is over.
Lynch was arrested on July 14. He was charged with two counts in Alameda County, Calif.: driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and driving while having a blood-alcohol level of .08 or higher.
Seattle signs Bryant to active roster
RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks added depth to its unproven wide receiver unit by signing veteran Antonio Bryant.
The team announced the signing on Thursday night. The Seahawks report for training camp on Friday with the first practice scheduled for Saturday morning.
Bryant had a tryout with the Seahawks during June’s minicamp. Coach Pete Carroll said he didn’t feel Bryant was in football shape then and wanted to see if the veteran could get himself ready in the month between the June tryout and training camp.
Bryant has not played since the 2009 season with Tampa Bay. He signed a four-year, $28 million contract with Cincinnati before the 2010 season, but was cut at the end of training camp and spent the past two seasons out of the NFL.
Bucs trade DT Brian Price to Bears
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have traded defensive tackle Brian Price to the Chicago Bears for a draft pick next year.
Price was a second-round pick (35th overall) out of UCLA by Tampa Bay in 2010. The 6-1, 303-pound Price has started 14 games over two seasons, with 27 tackles (23 solo) and three sacks.
He joins a team with big goals and some big question marks on the defensive line.
“Very explosive player off the ball, very reactive,” general manager Phil Emery said after the trade was announced on Thursday. “He has struggled some here in the last year. He’s had a tough go of it with family issues, obviously with his sister passing away.”
Malisse advances to Farmers Classic quarters
LOS ANGELES — Fifth-seeded Xavier Malisse advanced to the Farmers Classic quarterfinals Thursday, beating Matthew Ebden 6-4, 6-3 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The 32-year-old Malisse, from Belgium, will face two-time tournament champion Sam Querrey on Friday.
“I’ll try to put as many returns (as possible) in play, that’s the first thing,” Malisse said. “But I think I’ve just got to go out and look at my own game. Try to concentrate on what I’m doing, keep trying to hit serves like that and be aggressive.”
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded Nicolas Mahut beat Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 7-6 (7), sixth-seeded Marinko Matosevic topped Tobias Kamke 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, and Ricardas Berankis beat Igor Andreev 6-4, 7-5.
Kohlschreiber into Kitzbuehel semis
KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Top-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany won twice to reach his fifth semifinal of the season at the Bet-at-Home Cup on Thursday.
Kohlschreiber defeated Attila Balazs of Hungary 6-4, 6-1 in a second-round match that was suspended because of rain on Wednesday, with Balazs leading 3-0. The German then beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Kohlschreiber will play Filippo Volandri of Italy, who had consecutive 6-4, 6-4 wins over fourth-seeded Albert Ramos of Spain and Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil.
Defending champion Robin Haase also reached the semis and will play fifth-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia or Simone Bolelli of Italy.
Suh faces lawsuit over December car crash
DETROIT — Ndamukong Suh is being sued for just more than $1 million by a woman who claims she was injured in a December car crash in Oregon involving the Detroit Lions’ star.
Saadia Van Winkle accuses Suh of negligence, recklessness and intentional infliction of emotional distress in the suit, which her attorney says was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Police said Suh was not impaired and was cooperative with officers following the Dec. 3 accident.
Shannon to coach LBs at TCU
FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU has hired former Miami coach Randy Shannon as linebackers coach.
Shannon was one of the nation’s top defensive coordinators before taking over as head coach of the Hurricanes in 2007. He went 28-22 before getting fired at the end of the regular season in 2010.
From wire sources
