Stern suffers brain hemorrhage
Former NBA commissioner David Stern suffered a sudden brain hemorrhage Thursday in New York and had emergency surgery.
Stern, 77, served exactly 30 years as the NBA’s longest-tenured commissioner before Adam Silver replaced him on Feb. 1, 2014. Stern has remained affiliated with the league with the title of commissioner emeritus and has remained active in his other interests, such as sports technology.
♦ Joel Embiid responded to criticism from Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley with a season-high 38 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and 13 rebounds to lead the 76ers to a 115-109 victory against the host Celtics. He made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26 seconds and had a key block with 15 seconds left.
On Tuesday night, Barkley said Embiid is the toughest matchup in the league but he doesn’t take advantage of it. O’Neal said on the TNT broadcast that Embiid shouldn’t settle for 22 points a game, his current average, but should aim for more like 28 or 30.
Embiid’s response: “They’re right.”
♦ Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, the No. 1 overall pick, has yet to return to practice even as he nears the end of the original eightweek timeline after his Oct. 21 surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in his right knee.
“I don’t have any idea [when he will return],” coach Alvin Gentry said. “We’re not going to rush anything with him.’’
The Pelicans are 6-19 and have lost 10 consecutive games.
♦ Luka Doncic scored 41 points and posted his eighth triple-double of the season in the Mavericks’ 122-111 victory against the Pistons in Mexico City.
COLLEGES Burrow wins major awards
Quarterback Joe Burrow was named the AP player of the year, making him the first LSU player to win the 21-year-old award. Burrow received 51 of the 54 first-place votes. Ohio State’s Chase Young and Justin Fields were second and third. Only five times has the winner not gone on to win the Heisman, most recently in 2015, when Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey won the AP award but Alabama running back Derrick Henry won the Heisman.
Burrow also won the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Year Award and the Maxwell Award.
Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor won the Doak Walker Award as the top running back for the second consecutive season, joining Texas’ Ricky Williams and Arkansas’ Darren McFadden as two-time winners.
GOLF Americans still trailing
Trailing 4-1 entering the day, the Americans and Internationals each won two alternate-shot matches and halved the fifth at the Presidents Cup in Melbourne. The team of Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas beat Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An 1 up. Woods tied Phil Mickelson for the record by winning his 26th match in nine Cup appearances. Mickelson played in 12.