Trail Blazers clean house, fire McMillan, release Oden

PORTLAND, Oregon — The Portland Trail Blazers fired coach Nate McMillan on Thursday, one day after a 42-point loss to the New York Knicks.

Looking for help: New Orleans' Greivis Vasquez passes the ball against Washington's Kevin Seraphin in the first half on Thursday night. The Wizards beat the Hornets 99-89. AP

The Blazers have lost seven of their last 10 games to fall out of the Western Conference playoff race. Portland (20-23) is in 12th place in the West and last in the Northwest Division.

The firing was part of an overhaul that included releasing former No. 1 overall draft pick Greg Oden and trading veteran center Marcus Camby to the Houston Rockets and versatile forward Gerald Wallace to the New Jersey Nets.

"The moves that we made . . . today really set us up for this summer with the draft and with free agency to really be able to move in the direction that we want to move in and make this team better," Blazers president Larry Miller said in a news conference.

Assistant coach Kaleb Canales will be the interim head coach.

"Hard to see coach Nate go," All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge tweeted. "He was my coach since day one and I've grown a lot under his coaching."

McMillan went 266-269 in over six seasons as coach of the Blazers and led them to the playoffs in the previous three seasons. But the Blazers failed to make it out of the first round in each of those trips to the postseason, and the warning signs started to pop up early that this season was going to be rough.

General manager Rich Cho was abruptly fired in late May, just weeks before the NBA draft. Once the lockout was lifted in December, Brandon Roy, the heart and soul of the team, was forced to retire because of ongoing knee problems, Aldridge was slowed in camp by a heart condition and Oden had yet another season end early because of knee surgery.

The chemistry in the locker room, and on the court, seemed to disintegrate as well.

Portland traded Camby to the Rockets for center Hasheem Thabeet and point guard Jonny Flynn and Wallace to the Nets for center Mehmet Okur and forward Shawne Williams.

NEW ORLEANS — John Wall had 26 points and 12 assists, and the Washington Wizards won hours after making a multiplayer deal at the trade deadline, 99-89 over the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday night.

Earlier in the day, Washington traded guard Nick Young and centers JaVale McGee and Ronny Turiaf to Denver as part of a three-team deal.

Mavericks 101, Bobcats 96

In Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 27 points and the Mavericks rallied from 14 points down in the second quarter.

Thunder 103, Nuggets 90

In Denver, Kevin Durant scored 24 points, Russell Westbrook had 23 and Oklahoma City beat the short-handed Nuggets.

Jazz 111, T-Wolves 105 (OT)

In Salt Lake City, Gordon Hayward scored 18 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Paul Millsap made a flurry of key plays in the final minute to lead Utah past Minnesota.

Suns 91, Clippers 87

In Los Angeles, Shannon Brown scored a season-high 21 points, including four free throws in the final 1:33, to help short-handed Phoenix end a four-game road losing streak.

With the Suns playing the middle game in a stretch of three in three nights, coach Alvin Gentry had Steve Nash and Grant Hill both sit out in street clothes.

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Raiders ax Jackson as new GM McKenzie cleans house

ALAMEDA, California — Reggie McKenzie made clear on his first day as Raiders general manager that there's a new regime in Oakland.

All change: Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson was fired Tuesday after just one season in the job. AP

Soon after officially signing his contract to be the first general manager since longtime owner Al Davis' death, McKenzie fired coach Hue Jackson in a bold first move as he looks to give the organization a fresh start.

"There comes a time when change is necessary," McKenzie said Tuesday. "For the Raiders the time is now. The Raiders organization, with respect and deference for all its tradition and history, is about to embark on a new era."

The era will begin without Jackson, who was fired after going 8-8 in his first season as head coach. McKenzie wanted to bring in his "own guy" to rebuild the organization.

Finding that coach will be the first major task for McKenzie, who also must bulk up the personnel department and evaluate the roster in what promises to be a busy offseason.

Owner Mark Davis said McKenzie will decide on the new coach and the personnel decisions, with the coach ultimately reporting to the general manager.

That's a major change from how the organization was run before Davis' father, Al, died of heart failure on Oct. 8. Al Davis made all the major decisions when he was in charge of the team, with many of those now falling to McKenzie as Mark Davis focuses on finding a new stadium and other off-field issues.

"Change happened on Oct. 8," Davis said. "The one thing I know is what I don't know. The one thing I did know was I needed to bring the right people in here. . . . My feeling always has been that if my father wasn't here we needed someone to run that football side of the building. I needed to find the right person. I truly believe that Reggie McKenzie is the right man for this job."

McKenzie had spent the past 18 years in the front office of the Green Bay Packers, last serving as director of football operations. He was well-respected for his role in helping to build a Super Bowl championship team with the Packers and also had ties to the Raiders, having played linebacker for four years with the team in the 1980s.

Many of his former teammates were on hand at the news conference introducing him.

"Guys, this is where I came from. I'm back home now. I'm back home," he said. "As soon as Mark told me 'We want you for the job,' I couldn't, you know, I couldn't stop smiling."

Davis said he had targeted McKenzie as his desired general manager in the weeks after his father's death and noted it was awkward when he ran into him at the Raiders' game in Green Bay last month. About an hour after Oakland's season ended, Davis had the organization formally request permission from the Packers to interview McKenzie.

They sat down for a six-hour interview last Wednesday, with former Raiders coach John Madden assisting Davis. They quickly finalized the deal and McKenzie signed it Tuesday morning.

He then immediately fired Jackson, marking a rapid fall for the man who was in charge of personnel decisions and coaching after Davis' death.

Jackson made the trade for quarterback Carson Palmer after starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone, costing the Raiders a 2012 first-round draft pick and a conditional 2013 second-rounder.

While Palmer showed signs of giving the Raiders a big-time quarterback, he was unable to get Oakland to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, raising questions about how effective that trade was.

NEW YORK — Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III has decided to enter the NFL draft.

The exciting dual-threat quarterback is bypassing his senior season at Baylor and is projected to be one of the top picks in April.

The news came Tuesday, exactly a month after Griffin became the first Baylor player to win college football's highest individual honor.

ESPN, citing an anonymous family source, first reported that Griffin was going pro and in the final stages of picking an agent.

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Bonds avoids jail, given house arrest

SAN FRANCISCO — Eight years of being investigated for steroid allegations ended for baseball home run king Barry Bonds on Friday with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. No more — and maybe less.

Long saga ends: Barry Bonds was sentenced to two years of probation, 250 hours of community service and 30 days of house arrest by a federal judge on Friday in San Francisco. AP PHOTO

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston immediately delayed imposing the sentence while Bonds appeals his obstruction of justice conviction. The former star was found guilty not of using steroids, but of misleading grand jurors.

Even without prison time, the case has left its mark on the seven-time National League MVP. His 762 career home runs, and 73 homers in 2001, may forever be seen as tainted records, and his ticket to baseball's Hall of Fame is in doubt.

Bonds declined to speak in court. Well-wishers hugged the 47-year-old in the hallway courtroom after the hearing was over, and a smattering of fans cheered him as he left the courthouse. It was a marked departure from his initial court appearance four years ago, when guards had to clear a path for Bonds to get through dozens of onlookers to his SUV.

"Whatever he did or didn't do, we all lie," said Esther Picazo, a fan outside the courthouse. "We all make mistakes. But I don't think he should've gotten any kind of punishment at all."

Bonds was sentenced to two years of probation, 250 hours of community service, a $4,000 fine and 30 days of home confinement. It will take time to determine whether he serves any of it; his appellate specialist, Dennis Riordan, estimated it would take nearly a year and a half for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella called the sentence a "slap on the wrist" and the fine "almost laughable" for a superstar athlete who made more than $192 million for playing professional baseball.

Parrella had sought 15 months in prison and argued that home confinement wasn't punishment enough "for a man with a 1,390-sq. meter house with all the advantages." Bonds lives in a six-bedroom, 10-bath house with a gym and swimming pool.

"The defendant basically lived a double life for decades before this," Parrella said. He ripped Bonds not only over performance-enhancing drugs but over his personal life: "He had mistresses throughout his marriages."

Parrella said Bonds made lots of money due in part to his use of performance enhancers and that he has been "unrepentant" and "unapologetic" about it.

Illston said she agreed with a probation department report that called Bonds' conviction an "aberration" in his life. She said she received dozens of letters in support of Bonds, some discussing how he has given money and time "for decades" to charitable causes.

Bonds is the last — and highest-profile — defendant in the government's investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, a steroids distribution ring. The ex-slugger has long denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.

Illston said she was compelled to give Bonds a sentence similar to the two she meted out to other figures convicted after trial of lying to the grand jury and federal investigators about their connection to steroids.

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