Grizzlies

DWYANE WADE'S role as captain of the Miami Heat comes with certain privileges. For example, he can occasionally shake off calls from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Wade and LeBron James each scored 22 points, Mike Miller added 14 off the bench, and the Heat rode the strength of a brilliant 18-minute run midway through the game to beat the visiting New Orleans Hornets, 109-95, last night. The Hornets finished with only 25 rebounds, the lowest total in the NBA this season. James had 11 rebounds - more than any two Hornets - and eight assists for Miami, which had six players in double figures and outscored New Orleans 54-23 from the midpoint of the second quarter through the end of the third.

NEW ORLEANS - It certainly wasn't the blockbuster trade 76ers fans may be longing for, but it was a significant move, nonetheless. Fourth-year forward Marreese Speights, drafted with the 16th overall pick out of Florida in 2008, was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a three-team deal that also involved the New Orleans Hornets. The Sixers will receive the Hornets' second-round pick in 2013 and a protected second-rounder from the Grizzlies in 2012. The only way the Sixers will not get the Memphis pick is if the Grizzlies finish in one of the top four draft spots.

The 76ers traded center Marreese Speights to the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday in exchange for a pair of second-round draft choices. The pick from the Grizzlies comes in the 2012 draft. The third team involved, the New Orleans Hornets, whom the Sixers play Wednesday night, will send a second-round pick in 2013. The Sixers will also get a $2.72 million trade exception - the equivalent to Speights' 2011-12 salary. "We wish Marreese all the best as he stars a new chapter in his career with Memphis," Sixers president of basketball operations Rod Thorn said.

Andrew Bynum had 29 points and 13 rebounds in his season debut after a four-game suspension that carried over from the playoffs, and the host Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets , 92-89, on Saturday. The 7-foot center was suspended without pay for the first four games of the season because of a flagrant foul against Dallas' J.J. Barea in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. The original ban was five games, but it was reduced on Dec. 23 as a result of a shortened schedule caused by the NBA lockout.

The Memphis Grizzlies traded guard Greivis Vasquez to the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday for guard/forward Quincy Pondexter, in a move designed to boost their depth with Darrell Arthur out for the season. Earlier in the day, the Grizzlies signed forward Dante Cunningham after the Charlotte Bobcats declined to match Memphis' offer to the restricted free agent. The 6-foot-6 Pondexter averaged 13 points and 8.5 rebounds in 33 minutes in two preseason games against Memphis.

To biologists, polar bears and grizzlies are distinct species - not only do they look different, but a grizzly could never survive in the polar bears' icy habitat, where swimming talent is required as well as the ability to hunt seals and whales. But don't tell that to the bears. New DNA evidence shows that polar bears carry genetic material that came from, of all places, Ireland, where grizzlies, a.k.a. brown bears, once roamed around 30,000 years ago. The finding, published in last week's Current Biology, could change our picture not only of polar bear evolution but of the role of cross-species breeding more generally in shaping the living world.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A grizzly bear killed a man who was hiking with his wife in Yellowstone National Park's backcountry after the couple apparently surprised the female bear and its cubs yesterday, park officials said. It was the park's first fatal grizzly mauling since 1986, but the third attack in the Yellowstone region in just over a year amid ever-growing numbers of grizzlies and tourists roaming the same wild landscape of scalding-hot geysers and sweeping mountain vistas. The attack yesterday morning happened just two days after the peak weekend for tourism in the park all year, on a trail close to Canyon Village near the middle of Yellowstone.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Zach Randolph had 30 points and 13 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies avoided elimination by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder, 95-83, Friday night to push their Western Conference semifinal to Game 7. The Grizzlies had never won a game before when facing elimination, but that was back in 2004, 2005 and 2006, when they were swept out of the postseason each of those years. These Grizzlies are having not only the best playoff run in franchise history, but they now have won more games this postseason than any other No. 8 seed from the West.

BOSTON - Rajon Rondo had six points and 11 assists despite playing the fourth quarter with a dislocated left elbow, and the Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, 97-81, on Saturday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Miami leads the best-of-seven series, two games to one, with Game 4 Monday night in Boston. Kevin Garnett had 28 points and 18 rebounds, and Paul Pierce scored 27 for the defending East champions, who managed to avoid a 3-0 hole that no NBA team has ever overcome.