AP Sports Roundup

NBA-SCHEDULE

Hawks continue their West dominance

UNDATED (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks continue to own the NBA's best record after improving to 17-4 against Western Conference opponents.

Jeff Teague scored 25 points and helped the Hawks rally from an 18-point deficit in a 104-96 victory over Houston. Al Horford added 18 points to Atlanta's fifth consecutive win.

Rockets guard and NBA scoring leader James Harden missed the game due to a one-game suspension for kicking Cleveland's LeBron James near the groin on Sunday. Jason Terry had a team-high 21 points for the Rockets, who ended a five-game winning streak.

The Hawks are one full game ahead of Golden State at 48-12, although the Warriors have two games in hand. Atlanta's lead in the Eastern Conference is now 10 games over Toronto.

In other NBA action:

— Utah surprised the Grizzlies 93-82 in Memphis as Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors scored 21 points apiece. Rudy Gobert added 15 points and a career-best 24 rebounds for the Jazz, who sent the Grizzlies to their third loss in four games.

— Cleveland ripped Boston 110-79 as LeBron James scored 27 points to move into 21st place on the NBA's career list. Kyrie Irving scored 18 points in his return after missing two games with a shoulder injury.

— Nikola Mirotic scored 23 points to lead Chicago to a 97-92 win over Washington. Aaron Brooks had 22 points while Pau Gasol had 20 and 10 rebounds as the Bulls kept their half-game lead over second-place Cleveland in the Central Division.

— Denver's six-game losing streak is over after Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 26 points and Kenneth Faried had 14 points and 14 rebounds in a 106-95 victory over Milwaukee. Guard Ty Lawson had 16 points and 10 assists in the Nuggets' first home win since Jan. 14.

— Al Jefferson and Mo Williams had double-doubles in Charlotte's third win in four games, 104-103 against the Los Angeles Lakers. Jefferson had 21 points and 16 rebounds, while Williams added 20 points and 13 assists.

— Sacramento had three players score at least 20 points in handing the Knicks their worst loss of the season, a 124-86 laugher in New York. Rudy Gay scored 25 points, DeMarcus Cousins had 22 and Ben McLemore finished with 20 in the 38-point rout.

NBA-NUGGETS

Denver dumps coach

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets have fired coach Brian Shaw after 1½ seasons and replaced him with assistant coach Melvin Hunt on an interim basis. Shaw went 56-85 after replacing George Karl, who was ousted after Denver won a franchise-record 57 games in 2012-13.

Karl got the Nuggets into the playoffs in each of his 8 ½ seasons with the team. Denver currently is 21-39 this season.

NBA-KINGS

A veteran returns

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — One of the real stars of the Sacramento Kings has rejoined the club. Former fan favorite Vlade Divac has been named vice president of basketball and franchise operations, a job that will include advising the front office and coaching staff.

Divac retired from basketball in 2007 and served as president of the Serbian Olympic Committee two years later.

TOP 25 MEN'S BASKETBALL-SCHEDULE

Kentucky rallies to stay perfect

UNDATED (AP) — Top-ranked Kentucky still has a chance to post the first perfect season in Division I men's basketball in 39 years, but they had to rally Tuesday to remain unbeaten.

The Wildcats trailed by nine with nine minutes remaining before pulling out a 72-64 triumph at Georgia. Karl-Anthony Towns had a team-high 19 points for Kentucky and was a beast in the paint during the comeback.

Aaron Harrison finished with 16 points as the Wildcats improved to 30-0 overall and 17-0 in the SEC.

Also in top-25 finals:

— Ryan Arcidiacono converted a three-point play in the final minute before grabbing the game's final rebound to help fourth-ranked Villanova beat Creighton 76-72 in Omaha. Arcidiacono finished with 23 points and Dylan Ennis matched his career high with 19 in the Wildcats' 11th straight win.

— Frank Mason III capped one of the biggest comebacks in Allen Fieldhouse history by scoring the last eight points in overtime to lead No. 9 Kansas past No. 20 West Virginia 76-69. The Jayhawks erased an 18-point deficit in clinching their 11th consecutive Big 12 title, but they finished the game without leading scorer Perry Ellis due to an apparent knee injury.

— Dez Wells delivered 20 points and 10 rebounds as 10th-ranked Maryland earned its sixth consecutive win, 60-50 at Rutgers. Wells scored six straight points after Rutgers tied the game late in the second half.

— Joel Berry had a career-high 15 points and Justin Jackson added 13 as No. 19 North Carolina hammered Georgia Tech 81-49. The Tar Heels have their first winning streak since January heading into Saturday's rematch with third-ranked Duke.

— D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 16 points to help Georgetown beat No. 21 Butler 60-54 at Indianapolis. The Hoyas went on a 19-4 run bridging the two halves to take a 34-24 lead.

NFL-EAGLES/BILLS TRADE

Bills get McCoy from Eagles

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills new head coach Rex Ryan has said he wants his offense to rely heavily on a running attack. That attack now includes a former rushing champion.

A person familiar with the deal has confirmed to The Associated Press that the Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to trade star running back LeSean McCoy to the Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso. ESPN first reported that the Bills were acquiring McCoy, who had an inconsistent season last year after leading the NFL with 1,607 yards rushing in 2013.

Buffalo is expected to lose running back C.J. Spiller to free agency next week.

Alonso played college football in Oregon under Eagles coach Chip Kelly.

The Eagles also released cornerback Cary Williams, who started all 32 games after signing with Philadelphia in 2013. The move will save the Eagles about $6.5 million against the salary cap.

NHL-SCHEDULE

Preds' skid reaches four games

UNDATED (AP) — The Nashville Predators now have company atop the NHL's Western Conference after they extended their season-high losing streak.

Cory Schneider stopped 33 shots and New Jersey dealt the Predators their fourth straight loss by downing Nashville 3-1. Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas scored first-period goals for the Devils, who are seven points out of an Eastern conference playoff berth.

Mike Fisher had the lone goal for the Predators, who fell into a tie with Anaheim for the West lead.

The Ducks were 4-1 winners at Arizona as Andrew Cogliano scored twice and Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots. Cogliano and Ryan Kesler each had short-handed goals to push Anaheim to its third straight win.

Elsewhere on NHL ice:

— Cody Eakin scored at 2:18 of overtime to complete the Stars' 3-2 win over the New York Islanders in Dallas. Anders Lee forced overtime by scoring on a deflection with 1.1 seconds left in regulation, allowing the Islanders to regain the Metropolitan Division lead by one point over the Rangers.

— Tampa Bay rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy claimed his first NHL shutout by handling 28 shots in a 3-0 win over Buffalo. Steven Stamkos opened the scoring in the first period before Ryan Callahan and Victor Hedman added power-play goals 1:36 apart to help the Lightning climb within three points of the Atlantic Division-leading Canadiens.

— Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL with 43 goals after netting two more in Washington's 5-3 triumph at Columbus. Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Chimera each had two assists as the Capitals won their second straight since a three-game skid.

— Matt Dumba scored twice in the second period before the Minnesota Wild tallied three times in a shootout to beat Ottawa 3-2. Charlie Coyle's shootout goal keeps the Wild three points ahead of Los Angeles and San Jose for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

— Trevor Lewis and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and two assists as the Kings beat Edmonton 5-2 to end a three-game losing streak. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and Jeff Carter scored a short-handed goal that put Los Angeles ahead 3-0 early in the second period.

Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Logan Couture scored to put the Sharks ahead 3-0 just eight minutes into a 6-2 verdict over Vancouver. Henrik Sedin (seh-DEEN') added a pair of second-period goals for San Jose.

— Toronto ended a 16-game road losing streak by getting goals by Nazem Kadri and Peter Holland in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the third period to beat the Panthers 3-2 in Florida. The Panthers remain two points behind the Bruins for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.

— Calgary beat Philadelphia 3-2 on Jiri Hudler's goal 83 seconds into overtime. Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund scored the game's first two goals, but the Flames blew a 2-0 lead before winning for just the second time in six games.

NHL-AVS

League fines 2 Colorado players

NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL has fined two members of the Colorado Avalanche for their actions in the final seconds of a 3-1 loss to the Wild on Saturday. Captain Gabriel Landeskog (LAND'-ehs-kahg) and forward Cody McLeod were fined $5,000 and $3,091.40 respectively.

MLB-BASEBALL ON THE CLOCK

Let's go, fellas!

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) — With large, glowing red numbers, the timer on the center-field wall at Goodyear Ballpark ticked down, counting off seconds and ushering in change.

Baseball, the timeless game of endless summers, went on the clock Tuesday.

Major League Baseball introduced its new pace of play initiatives during five exhibition games in Arizona and Florida. As expected, there were a few minor glitches as players, managers, umpires and fans adjusted to the "rules" designed to make games shorter, more appealing to TV viewers and perhaps lure the next generation of fans to a sport fighting for attention.

Under the pace of play provisions, hitters are required to keep one foot in the batter's box after taking a pitch.

MLB is using the spring training schedule and regular-season games in April to break everyone in. But starting May 1, offenders will face discipline — most likely fines.

Last year the average time of a major league game was three hours, two minutes.

MLB-CUBS

Another loss for the Cubs

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs' scramble to get as much of a massive renovation of Wrigley Field done before next month's opening day hit a bump when Mayor Rahm Emanuel dashed the team's hopes of winning city approval to keep construction crews working around the clock.

Emanuel says city building ordinances don't allow construction crews working around the clock. The announcement is a blow to a Chicago Cubs team that says it needs to quicken construction to get the iconic ballpark ready for next month's opening day.

The Cubs say the brutal winter has put construction work behind schedule and they need additional hours to do things like erect a massive video board in left field.

MLB-DODGERS

Now leading off...

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — L.A. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is set at the top of his batting order with newcomer Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies on Dec. 19 for four minor league pitchers. He will open the Cactus League schedule Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback in the leadoff spot.

AUTO RACING

Alonso to miss season opening race

LONDON (AP) — Two-time world driving champion Fernando Alonso will not race in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.

Team McLaren made the decision to avoid the chance of Alonso having another concussion, something called second-impact syndrome, following the accident in Spain last month. Alonso was injured in a crash during Formula One testing, causing him to spend three days in a hospital.

McLaren expects Alonso to be back racing again for the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 29.

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