U.S. easily beats Iran at world basketball championships

The United States eased its way to a top seed in the knockout round of the world basketball championships, beating Iran, 88-51, Wednesday at Istanbul, Turkey.

The U.S. team, which downplayed the political aspect of the matchup, methodically pulled away in the first half, wearing down the Asian champions with its depth and athleticism.

Kevin Love scored 13 points and Kevin Durant had 12 for the Americans (4-0), who will meet the fourth-place team from Group A in the round of 16.

After playing his starters for most of the second half of a 70-68 victory over Brazil on Monday, U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski went to the bench early in this one, with the Americans shooting 58% and scoring 23 points off turnovers in the easy victory.

Hamed Haddadi scored 19 points for Iran (1-3) and Arsalan Kazemi had 14. …

The Boston Celtics signed guard Delonte West, who played his first three NBA seasons with Boston before he was traded to Seattle in 2007 in the Ray Allen deal. West must serve a 10-game suspension at the beginning of the season after he pleated guilty to weapons charges in Maryland. …

Cappie Pondexter scored 30 points, including a tiebreaking jumper with 28 seconds remaining, as the New York Liberty advanced to the WNBA’s Eastern Conference finals with a 77-74 victory over the Indiana Fever.

Big Ten announces football divisions

The Big Ten Conference announced its divisional breakdown for football, and Ohio State and Michigan will be in different six-team divisions when the league expands to 12 members in 2011.

Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern will be in one division; Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana are in the other. Neither division has been named.

Michigan and Ohio State will continue to play each other each year in the Big Ten regular-season finale, as they have since 1943. That means they could wind up meeting again for the conference championship a week or two later.

Big Ten teams will play eight conference games the next two seasons, but that number could increase in the future.

For now there are no plans for divisions in other sports.

Reports: Cardinals considering trading Leinart

Arizona Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt has yet to decide whether Matt Leinart or Derek Anderson will be the starting quarterback for the defending NFC West champions, but speculation has grown that Anderson is the front-runner and that Leinart could be on the trading block.

Whisenhunt and Leinart met Monday after the fifth-year quarterback made comments concerning the decision to start Anderson for the team’s last exhibition game. Leinart said he thought he had outplayed Anderson and indicated that the problems with Whisenhunt may include issues off the field.

“We touched base on where everything was,” Whisenhunt said Tuesday. “We’ve always said if players have an issue or a problem to come see me. We had communicated before about where we were, but obviously we needed to talk a little bit more, but it was a good talk.”

On Wednesday, ESPN and Fox Sports both reported that multiple teams were interested in the former Heisman Trophy winner. Leinart started 11 games in his rookie season and five more in 2007, but he sat most of the last two years behind Warner.

The Oakland Raiders, one of the teams mentioned in ESPN’s report, denied that they have had discussions about trading for Leinart, saying in a statement that they are “very happy” about their quarterback situation.

Whisenhunt on Tuesday said he thought that the Cardinals’ offense was better under Anderson in last week’s game against the Chicago Bears, prompting the coach’s decision to start Anderson against the Washington Redskins on Thursday.

“It’s my job as the head coach of this team to pick the best players for our squad,” he said. “I didn’t think, as the preseason progressed, that we were as efficient as we needed to be.” …

The NFL players’ union is looking into whether trades made by four teams this week are attempts to avoid paying money into a rookie pool, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the union has not made the investigations public, said the union is reviewing trades made by the Washington Redskins, St. Louis Rams, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals.

Deadline on Kovalchuk deal extended

The NHL and the NHL Players Assn. agreed to a two-day extension for the league’s deadline to approve the validity of Ilya Kovalchuk’s second contract with the New Jersey Devils. The NHL will rule by 2 p.m. PDT Friday whether the contract meets its vague guidelines for not circumventing the salary cap.

Kovalchuk’s first deal with New Jersey, which would have paid him $102 million over 17 years, was rejected by the league. The union filed a grievance but arbitrator Richard Bloch ruled in the league’s favor. The second deal has been reported to be worth $100 million over 15 years and has a less steep drop in its later years than the first contract.

The Kings, who had pursued him when free agency began July 1 and were willing to pay him $80 million over 15 years, were interested in talking to him again after Bloch’s ruling. However, Kovalchuk made it clear that he was focused on negotiating with the Devils and that he wanted $100 million, a number the Kings weren’t willing to go to because they believed they couldn’t keep their core players if they paid Kovalchuk that much.

— Helene Elliott

The San Jose Sharks are set to sign former Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi to a one-year, $2- million contract, according to multiple reports in both cities.

Agassi nominated for tennis Hall of Fame

Andre Agassi heads the list of 2011 nominees for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Owner of a career Grand Slam and an eight-time major champion, Agassi is the only nominee in the recent player category. He retired in 2006. Also on the 2010 ballot: Thelma Coyne Long and Christine Truman Janes in the master player category, and Mike Davies and Fern Lee “Peachy” Kellmeyer in the contributor category. The inductees will be announced early next year. …

Lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez has agreed to fight Michael Katsidis at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas on Nov. 27.