NBA Negotiations to Resume

Facing the possibility of the first shortened season in NBA history, owners and players resume labor talks today in New York with few expectations of progress.

“We’re ready to sit there and talk all day and all night and maybe someone will come up with something,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik said. “Often that’s how it happens, but I have no reason to be optimistic.”

The bargaining session will be the second between the sides since the lockout was imposed July 1.

The owners and players have only a couple of days to come up with a deal that will save an 82-game season, and such a breakthrough seems unlikely with the sides far apart on the main economic issues.

“I hope it’s going to be substantive,” said Billy Hunter, players’ union director. “I’m going to tell David [Stern, the commissioner] what we don’t like about their last proposal, and then suggest that we really talk about something that’s going to create some movement on both sides.”

The last time owners and players were together in the same room was Aug. 6, when the players made a proposal and the owners walked out of the room.

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Three weeks after being hired as Sacramento King coach, Rick Adelman put together his new staff, naming Byron Scott, Steve Fisher, John Wetzel and Pete Carril his assistant coaches.

Scott, 37, is making his coaching debut after playing 14 seasons in the NBA, 11 with the Lakers.

Tennis

Martina Hingis of Switzerland survived a scare against Anna Kournikova of Russia at the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany, and held on to her No. 1 ranking, at least temporarily, with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Lindsay Davenport, who trails Hingis by 26 points, defeated Mary Pierce of France, 6-1, 6-3, in another second-round match.

Top-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and second-seeded Michael Chang easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Open. Ivanisevic defeated Justin Gimelstob, 6-1, 6-4. Chang beat Laurence Tieleman of Italy, 6-3, 6-3.

Ivanisevic next faces seventh-seeded Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, who beat Steve Campbell, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Chang will face eighth-seeded Todd Woodbridge of Australia, who beat France’s Lionel Roux, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Baseball

The Oakland Athletics extended the contract of Manager Art Howe through next season, with a club option for 2000.

Howe has a 217-269 record in three years with Oakland. Although the A’s finished last in the American League West in consecutive seasons for the first time since moving to Oakland in 1968, their 74-88 record was a nine-game improvement from 1997.

The Dodgers announced that relief pitcher Sean Maloney underwent shoulder surgery at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Reliever Darren Hall will undergo rotator cuff surgery today.

Names in the News

Mike Tyson petitioned the Nevada Supreme Court in an effort to keep results of recent psychological tests hidden from the public.

Tyson’s emergency petition asks for a stay of a lower court’s refusal on Monday to reconsider an order allowing the records to be made public upon their release to the Nevada Athletic Commission.

More than a year after Marv Albert pleaded guilty to assault and battery in connection with a sexual encounter, his case goes back Friday to an Arlington, Va., judge, who will probably dismiss it.

The Black Sports Agents Assn. will prsent the Florence Griffith Joyner Trailblazer Award to sprinter Marian Jones at its second annual awards dinner Saturday night at the Airport Sheraton Gateway Hotel.

Miscellany

Providence College will drop baseball and men’s golf and tennis at the end of the school year to meet federal requirements demanding an equal mix of male and female athletes. The school ruled out other options, such as adding women’s teams.

Brian Voss won the PBA’s National Finance Championship at Virginia Beach, Va., beating top-seeded Walter Ray Williams Jr., 265-257, for his 20th career win.