NBA Today - April 21
By Associated Press
SCOREBOARD
Saturday, April 21
Utah at Houston, (9:30 p.m. EDT). Yao Ming and the Rockets take on the Jazz. Oddsmakers have listed Houston as 6-point favorites and the over/under is set at 186.
FIRED
Sacramento fired coach Eric Musselman on Friday after just one season. The Kings went 33-49 and missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. Sacramento, which fired Rick Adelman after eight winning seasons last summer, also posted its first losing home record (20-21) since 1993-94 at Arco Arena, where they have had 354 consecutive sold out games.
TIE-BREAKERS
Five ties for draft position were broken through random drawing by NBA executive vice president of operations Stu Jackson on Friday. Among those was Portland, which won a tiebreaker against Minnesota, meaning the Trail Blazers will pick one spot higher if neither gets a top-three selection through the draft lottery. The lottery will be held May 22 to determine the top three picks.
VIVA LAS VEGAS
NBA commissioner David Stern announced Friday he will appoint a committee of owners to study the proposal Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman submitted about how his city would handle a team. Stern, who has been opposed to playing in Las Vegas while there is gambling on the league, said that after subsequent discussions with city officials, the owners asked for the committee so there could be further study ''without prejudging anything.''
SPEAKING
''Am I concerned? Yeah. Knowing (Chicago coach) Scott Skiles, yeah. He'll be saying foul him, foul him hard.'' - Miami center Shaquille O'Neal on whether he expects rugged play from the Bulls on teammate Dwyane Wade, who missed 23 games with a dislocated left shoulder. The teams open their Eastern Conference first-round rematch in Chicago on Saturday. Miami defeated Chicago in six games last year.