(WNBA) In response to the events at Tuesday's game between the Detroit Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks, WNBA President Donna Orender issued the following statement: "The WNBA and its players represent all that is good about sports: passion, hard work and sacrifice. On a nightly basis our players display extraordinary skill, athleticism and competitive fire. The events Tuesday, however, were inexcusable and in no way indicative of what the league stands for. We hold our players to a very high standard and these suspensions should serve notice that the behavior exhibited at the end of Tuesday’s game will not be tolerated. ” As is league policy, in order to enable the Shock and Sparks to dress the minimum number of players (eight) for games affected by the penalties, the dates on which players will begin serving their suspensions will be staggered.  More...

(nydn) Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two officials fixed the outcome of a playoff series - and that refs were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales. The bombshell allegations are in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy's lawyer that describes how NBA execs allegedly used referees to manipulate games. Donaghy has pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to betting on games he worked. According to the document, he told FBI agents, "League officials would tell referees they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings. " Donaghy claims he was told two refs who were "company men" acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.  More...

(clevelandleader) LeBron James has been taking his lumps in this seasons the 2008 NBA Playoffs. His mother wanted to come to his aid after Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics pulled a move straight out of the WWE. The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar didn't want his mothers aid and told her to "sit her a-- down" Like a good son that King James knew he did wrong and apologized after the game saying: "I told her to sit down, in some language I shouldn't have used," James said. "Thank God today wasn't Mother's Day. All I could think about is her.  More...

(nydn) Donnie Walsh was hired Wednesday as president of the New York Knicks, and said he would wait a few days before deciding on Isiah Thomas' future with the organization. The Knicks hired the longtime Indiana Pacers executive and gave him complete power to oversee basketball operations of a team finishing its seventh straight losing season. "His mandate is clear - do whatever is necessary to turn this team around," Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan said. New York hasn't won a playoff game under Thomas, its president since December 2003. He became coach in June 2006.  More...

(espn) C. Vivian Stringer, who has coached at Cheyney, Iowa and Rutgers, on Wednesday became the eighth Division I men's or women's basketball coach to win 800 games. . . .  More...

(dailypress) Bethel High School graduate Jonathan Mason-Davis died last night after collapsing during a practice at Ohio University-Chillicothe. Mason-Davis, a 20-year-old sophomore, collapsed around 6:30 p. m. during a practice at the Shoemaker Center on the school's campus. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.  More...

(bloomberg) Bob Knight, whose 902 victories are the most in Division I men's college basketball history, quit as Texas Tech University's coach. Knight stepped down effective immediately, Athletic Director Gerald Myers said in a statement. Knight's son Pat, an assistant coach, will take over the job. The 67-year-old Knight, who won three national championships at Indiana University, became the first men's coach to record 900 career wins at college basketball's highest level on Jan. 19.  More...

(nydn) Here's the fed-up Knicks fan who got kicked out of Madison Square Garden for simply holding up a sign that declared, "FIRE ISIAH. " For all the Knicks fans who feel the same way as Jason Silverstein, consider the sign on page 3 of Wednesday's Daily News our holiday gift. Save your voices and still let the world know how you feel: Raise the sign at Wednesday's game. Fire Isiah. Infuriated by the way Isiah Thomas has run the Knicks, Silverstein displayed his opinion of Thomas at Monday night's tilt against the Pacers.  More...

(nydn) Don Marbury, the patriarch of one of New York's most famous basketball families, died of an apparent heart attack while attending Sunday night's Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. Stephon Marbury, the sixth of Don's seven children, learned of his father's death immediately after the game and quickly left the arena without comments. Don suffered chest pains during the game and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he later died. The news was a devastating blow to Marbury, whose fifth season in New York has been filled with controversy and tragedy. On Nov.  More...

(nydn) Scott Layden never knew what hit him four years ago when Madison Square Garden president Steve Mills, working behind the scenes for weeks to find Layden's successor, informed the Knicks president that he was being fired. Isiah Thomas inherited Layden's job and would be wise to remember that he, too, could vanish at any moment. Thomas' future with the Knicks has been on shaky ground since the day he was found liable in the Anucha Browne Sanders sexual harassment case, and that shakiness has been accelerated in recent days by the Knicks' losing record - they lost their sixth straight game last night in Denver - and the Stephon Marbury fiasco. Thomas could go at any moment. But the bigger questions are who replaces Thomas and who does the hiring? According to several league sources, the NBA is hoping to have some influence on Garden chairman James Dolan, and perhaps even Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, regarding such important matters.  More...

(fox) Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury contacted The Post late this afternoon and in two text messages said he got permission from Isiah Thomas to leave the team in Phoenix this morning. Marbury had bolted in a huff, flying for home amid an apparent feud with Thomas over his starting role, leaving his future as a Knick in serious doubt. Marbury landed in New York about 4 p. m. and said in the message to The Post, "I have one thing to say, and that's I got permission to leave.  More...