Grizzlies

Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook added 21 points and nine assists, and the host Oklahoma City Thunder beat Memphis, 106-89, Thursday night in the Grizzlies' first game since trading away leading-scorer Rudy Gay. Memphis struggled mightily in the first half and trailed by 26 in the third quarter before a mini-implosion by the Thunder that featured Westbrook's getting benched after a dustup with his teammates. It still didn't provide a big enough opening for the Grizzlies, who were playing shorthanded while waiting for trade acquisitions Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye, and Ed Davis to arrive and pass physicals.

The beauty of Marc Gasol is that when the 7-foot-1, 265-pound center for the Memphis Grizzlies has it going the way he did Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center, almost every asset of his multifaceted game stands out. He is hitting three-pointers that no one expects him to make. He is recording seven assists, pounding the boards and muscling in shots around the basket. Gasol scored 27 points and had seven rebounds as the Grizzlies beat the Sixers, 103-100. He also made the defensive play of the night.

IT DOESN'T matter that the Sixers were undone by a pair of last-minute offensive rebounds, or that they missed two good shots in the final moments. It doesn't matter that they blew a 17-point lead. What matters is that they emerged from the wilderness a bedraggled tribe, exhausted and starving for wins. Still, somehow, the promised land is in sight. The Sixers exited the toughest stretch of their fractured season barely breathing and hardly relevant. They went 7-19 after November until, in desperation, coach Doug Collins - a believer in bench balance - put all of his better scorers on the court at once.

THE MEMPHIS Grizzlies traded Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a future first-round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jon Leuer. The trade Tuesday is the first big move by the Grizzlies' new ownership and clears about $6 million in salary in getting Memphis under the luxury-tax threshold this season. The Grizzlies (26-14) rank fourth in the West and are 6-4 over their past 10 games. The deal gives the lottery-bound Cavs another first-round pick to improve a team that has won only 11 games this season.

The Memphis Grizzlies traded former Sixer Marreese Speights, Episcopal grad Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby, and a future first-round draft pick on Tuesday to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jon Leuer. The trade clears about $6 million in salary in getting Memphis under the luxury tax threshold this season. It also gives the lottery-bound Cavs another first-round pick. The 6-foot-10 Speights will help replace center Anderson Varejao, the NBA's leading rebounder, who will miss the remainder of the season after developing a blood clot in his right lung, and remains hospitalized at the Cleveland Clinic.

Marc Gasol scored 19 points and Zach Randolph had 13 points and 19 rebounds in Memphis' 85-82 overtime win Saturday night over host Chicago. The Grizzlies had to beat back the Bulls, who had fought back from a 17-point, third-quarter deficit to force the extra period. But Chicago, playing its third consecutive overtime game in four days, didn't have enough in overtime as Memphis scored the first six points of the extra period.   Spurs hold off Hawks   Tony Parker had 23 points and 12 assists as the San Antonio Spurs held off the shorthanded Hawks 98-93 on Saturday night in Atlanta for their fourth straight victory.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Before his team faced the powerful Memphis Grizzlies to begin its daunting seven-game Western road swing, 76ers coach Doug Collins had a hunch that Dorell Wright was the right man to inject into the starting lineup in place of the injured Jason Richardson. After Wright went for a season-high 28 points against one of the better defensive teams in the league to lead the Sixers (14-15) to a 99-89 victory at the FedEx Forum on Wednesday, it was clear he made the right choice.

BILLINGS, Mont. - With bear-human conflicts rising, wildlife managers in the northern Rockies are laying the groundwork for trophy hunts for the animals in anticipation that the government will lift their threatened-species status. It's expected to be two more years before about 600 bears around Yellowstone National Park lose federal protection, and possibly longer for about 1,000 bears in the region centered on Glacier National Park. Government officials say those populations have recovered to the point that limited hunting for small numbers of bears could occur after protections are lifted - and without harm to the species' decades-long recovery.

THE MEMPHIS Grizzlies will announce they have hired Sixers minority shareholder Jason Levien as the team's CEO and managing partner, according to reports. ESPN.com, citing sources, reported that new Grizzlies owner Robert Pera will make an announcement Monday. CBSSports.com and the Memphis Commerical Appeal also reported the story. Levien, according to ESPN.com, sold his stake in the Sixers and is expected to take over the Grizzlies' basketball operations and business department.

Barclays Center sits right above a major mass-transit hub, an ideal destination for fans throughout New York. Not right now, though. With those subways knocked out by Sandy and no way of knowing how fans would get there, the city's mayor decided this isn't the time for a game. So Michael Bloomberg asked the NBA to postpone Thursday night's highly anticipated opener between the Knicks and Nets, and the league agreed Wednesday. "It's a great stadium, it would have been a great game, but the bottom line is: There is not a lot of mass transit.