Bad Ankle Sidelines Webber

All-Star forward Chris Webber will miss at least three more games for the Sacramento Kings because of a sprained left ankle.

X-rays on the ankle, which Webber injured during the final seconds of regulation Tuesday night in the Kings’ 97-94 overtime victory at Utah, did not show any broken bones.

The Kings said Webber, who missed Thursday night’s loss in Portland and will miss home games tonight against Denver, Sunday against Utah and Tuesday against Atlanta, will have his ankle reevaluated early next week.

“This is going to be big for us, just to see what we can do without him,” teammate Scot Pollard said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to get used to playing without him.”

Webber sprained the same ankle in a victory over Dallas on Nov. 12. The Kings defeated Orlando, then lost to the Lakers by two points.

“In the past, when we’ve lost Chris, we’ve played at home, and that’s a lot easier,” Coach Rick Adelman said.

“When you go home you can kind of rally the troops, but playing Portland [Thursday], Denver [tonight] and Utah [on Sunday] and going on the road again next week, it’s a much different situation.”

Adelman was asked about a possible replacement for Webber.

“I don’t have any idea right now,” he said. “I haven’t made that decision, [but it will be] one of our big guys. There’s not many guys, so you can put all the names down there. [Center] Vlade [Divac] is going to start, and you can pencil in the other guys.”

In other news, King guard Jon Barry is expected to return in mid-March after successfully undergoing surgery last week on his fractured left hand.

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Wesley Person, Cleveland’s best outside shooter, was activated from the injured list.

Person missed 26 games with a bruised nerve in his right elbow. In 11 games this season, Person averaged 4.6 points.

To make room for Person, the Cavaliers put guard Anthony Johnson on the injured list with tendinitis in his left knee.

Johnson, acquired in a Jan. 2 trade with Atlanta, averaged 3.1 points in 13 games for Cleveland.

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Harvey Pollack, the Philadelphia 76ers’ director of statistical information and a league historian, is recovering from heart surgery at Abington Memorial Hospital that included a single bypass and repair of the mitral valve.

“He was sitting up and talking when I left,” said Ron Pollack, who works with his father at 76ers’ home games. “He was angry that the hospital does not carry Comcast SportsNet. They do have TNT, but their telecast was blacked out in the area.”

Dr. V. Paul Addonizio, chief of cardiac and thoracic surgery at Abington, headed the surgical team.