Sports in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Red Wings take 2-0 lead in conference finals

DETROIT—For nearly 60 minutes, the story was the Detroit Red Wings winning without their hottest player.

The fracas in the final seconds that spilled into the postgame, though, will be what people are talking about and might lead to suspensions.

Darren Helm and Henrik Zetterberg scored first-period goals to help make up for the loss of Johan Franzen and Detroit held on for a 2-1 win Saturday night over the Dallas Stars and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

The game ended in ugly fashion as Chris Osgood used the handle of his stick to poke at Dallas' Mike Ribeiro when he skated past the net. Ribeiro then slashed Osgood across the chest from behind the net.

Following some scuffling, Ribeiro was called for a match penalty and Osgood wasn't penalized.

'Even if I did butt-end him, it was an accident,' Osgood said. 'I was trying to protect our best player, Nick Lidstrom, so he didn't get run.'

Ribeiro's equipment was in the dressing room after the game, but he wasn't around for interviews.

After watching a replay, Dallas coach Dave Tippett blamed Osgood for the fracas.

James, Cavaliers shoot down Celtics

CLEVELAND—The shots didn't drop again for LeBron James, and it hardly mattered. The rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers made most of theirs.

James scored 21 points on another off-shooting night, but Delonte West scored 21, Joe Smith had 17 and the Cavaliers raced to a large, early lead in Game 3 in a 108-84 victory Saturday night over the road-challenged Boston Celtics to pull within 2-1 in their playoff series.

West, who spent three seasons wearing Celtic green and white, carried the scoring load for the Cavaliers, who are attempting to become the 14th team in NBA history to come back from an 0-2 deficit and win a best-of-seven series.

They've had practice at it.

Last year, the Cavaliers lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals to Detroit before beating the Pistons four in a row to advance to the finals for the first time. After dropping Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Cleveland needed James (8-of-42 in the losses) to shoot his way out of a slump.

James was only 5-of-16 from the floor, but his teammates stepped it up, going a combined 32-of-54 (59 percent) to tighten the second-round series. Cleveland roared to a 32-13 lead after one quarter, led by 17 at half, 16 after three and easily withstood a few Boston counter punches.

The Celtics remain lost on the road, and Game 4 is Monday night in Cleveland.

Hamilton scores 32 as Pistons beat Magic

ORLANDO, Fla.—Richard Hamilton scored 32 points and Hedo Turkoglu missed a layup with time running out as the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 90-89 on Saturday to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Tayshaun Prince scored 17 for Detroit, including an 11-foot runner for the go-ahead basket with 8.9 seconds left. Rasheed Wallace had 16 points and eight rebounds.

Orlando squandered a 15-point lead in the third quarter. After Prince’s basket, Turkoglu’s layup from the left side of the lane was no good and didn’t draw a foul, and Dwight Howard’s putback was also off the mark.

The Pistons won despite playing without All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups, held out because of a strained hamstring suffered in Thursday’s game.

Turkoglu scored 20 for Orlando and three players added 15 points — Rashard Lewis, Maurice Evans and Jameer Nelson.

The Pistons held Howard in check all game, forcing several turnovers on Magic passes inside and largely preventing the All-Star from getting the ball near the rim. They double-teamed and banged him around but didn’t commit many fouls on the 59 percent free throw shooter. Howard shot only two free throws, making both. He finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.

Ex-manager says OJ Simpson confessed

LOS ANGELES—A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.

Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn’t fit the notorious bloody gloves.

Gilbert’s book, “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse” (Regnery Publishing, 232 pages, $27.95), is due in stores Monday. It was released to The Associated Press in advance.

He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson said he went to his ex-wife’s condominium, but did not bring a knife with him. Simpson told him Nicole Brown Simpson had one in her hand when she opened the door.

In a soft mumble, Simpson told him: “If she hadn’t opened that door with a knife in her hand ... she’d still be alive.”

“Nothing more needed to be said,” Gilbert writes. “O.J. had confessed to me. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death at the entrance to her condominium. The knife was never found.

Carlisle has verbal agreement with Mavericks

DALLAS—Rick Carlisle will be the new coach of the Dallas Mavericks, a decision expected for nearly a week but slowed by contract negotiations.

The papers aren’t signed yet, but team owner Mark Cuban confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Friday night that a verbal deal is in place.

The contract “will be signed tomorrow (Saturday),” with a news conference Wednesday because Cuban will be out of town until then.

Reached late Friday, Carlisle said: “Whatever Mark told you is what’s going on. I’m not going to make any comments about it right now.”

Carlisle was the only candidate the Mavericks interviewed after firing coach Avery Johnson the morning after their second straight first-round playoff exit.

Cuban had never fired a coach or hired a coach from outside the organization. While he and Donnie Nelson, the team’s president of basketball operations, considered other candidates, they settled on Carlisle pretty quickly. A few interviews later, they began working on the contract and things dragged on.

This is Carlisle’s third time as head coach and his first stint in the Western Conference, where having Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t guarantee making the playoffs. Carlisle went 281-211 over two seasons in Detroit, then four in Indiana. He made the playoffs his first five years, then lost his job with the Pacers after missing out in 2007. He spent this past year out of the NBA, but following it closely working for ESPN.

Wells out 6-8 weeks with broken wrist

CLEVELAND—Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks with a broken left wrist.

The two-time All-Star was injured while making a diving catch Friday night in the sixth inning of Toronto’s 6-1 loss to Cleveland. The Blue Jays placed Wells on the 15-day disabled list Saturday along with reliever Jeremy Accardo, who is experiencing tightness in his right forearm.

Toronto recalled infielder Joe Inglett and purchased the contract of right-hander Armando Benitez from Triple-A Syracuse.

Sorenstam takes 3-shot lead into final round

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—Annika Sorenstam knows there was speculation that her best days as a golfer were behind her, and that an injury-plagued 2007 was the beginning of the end.

That all just makes working her way back to the top more satisfying.

“I never wondered, but I know other people would wonder, ‘Is she ever going to get back?’” Sorenstam said Saturday after her 2-under 69 showed that she’s getting there quickly. “I know what I’m capable of.”

Rarely spectacular but remarkable for her consistency, Sorenstam shot her third consecutive nearly mistake-free round, and gave No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and Jeong Jang up-close evidence that she’s getting ever closer to finding the maddeningly steady game that made her the top female player in the world for so long, and it’s coming sooner rather than later.

“It’s been over a year and I’m finally starting to feel good again,” said Sorenstam, who opened with rounds of 64 and 68 and was 14 under overall.