Biopsy Performed on Tomjanovich
Houston Rocket Coach Rudy Tomjanovich remained hospitalized Monday following a 30-minute biopsy of his bladder lining.
Test results were not expected until today, the team said Monday. Team physician Dr. James Muntz said Tomjanovich was resting comfortably and would remain in a Houston hospital overnight as a precaution.
Assistant Larry Smith is to coach the team in Tomjanovich’s absence. The Rockets left for a game tonight at Seattle and are to be in Portland on Wednesday, followed by stops at Golden State, Sacramento and Los Angeles (for the Clippers).
Tomjanovich, the coach since 1992, was expected to rejoin the team during its five-game trip. He said this will be his first absence from the Rockets’ bench in a regular-season game.
“I just got to get through this,” he said. “There are a lot of emotions coming through me right now. Fear is one of them. But I do feel grateful that I went in [for follow-up testing].”
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Swingman Ricky Davis will not be fined by Cleveland Cavalier Coach Keith Smart, who said that embarrassment is punishment enough for his stunt against the Utah Jazz.
“The deed is done,” Smart said. “What good would it do to slap him on the wrist? He has to live with what he did. Wherever he goes, people will remember it.”
Davis tried to pad his statistics during a 122-95 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday. To get his first career triple-double in the final seconds, Davis purposely missed a shot at the wrong basket and grabbed the rebound, thinking it was his 10th.
Davis, the team’s scoring leader, was fouled hard by the Jazz’s DeShawn Stevenson, angered that his club was being mocked. Davis made the two free throws to finish with 28 points, 12 assists ane nine rebounds.
“No comment,” the usually exuberant Davis said as he left practice.
Davis apparently did not know that his stunt backfired even without Stevenson fouling him. The rulebook states: “It is a violation for a player to attempt a field goal at an opponent’s basket. The opposing team gets the ball.”
Davis did not get a shot attempt or his rebound.
“I talked with Ricky after the game,” Smart said. “The thing is, one tiny moment ruined the team’s most successful game. Ricky had his finest game as far as blending in with his teammates. None of that will be remembered, but what he did will follow him always.”
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San Antonio center Tim Duncan’s sprained ankle might keep him out of the Spurs’ home game against the New York Knicks tonight, but tests showed the injury was not serious.
The All-Star center, listed as questionable, was hurt in a victory over the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night. X-rays and an MRI test were negative, a team spokesman said.
Duncan was driving for a layup toward the end of the game when Donyell Marshall fouled him and stepped on his right foot.
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Orlando’s Grant Hill will have surgery on his left ankle for a fourth time today in hopes this operation will relieve his chronic leg problems.
The six-time All-Star forward will have his ankle realigned and his heel reshaped, team officials said. James Nunley, an orthopedic surgeon at Duke University Medical Center, will operate.
Hill was placed on the injured list in January after playing 29 games. He has missed nearly 200 games since signing a $93-million contract with the Magic three years ago, most of them because of his left ankle.