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Sports Morning Headlines - Tuesday, 2/7/12

Written by MVPTexas Morning Sports Report

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 00:06

Wolves' Kevin Love suspended 2 games - Kevin Love's frustration with physical play and officiating have been apparent early and often this season. Emotion got the best of him on Saturday night against the Rockets, and now he and the Minnesota Timberwolves have to pay the price: Love, his team's leading scorer and rebounder, was suspended for two games by the NBA for "driving his foot into the upper body and face of the Rockets' Luis Scola as Scola was lying on the floor." The play happened in the third quarter of Saturday's victory over the Rockets after the two tangled while going for a rebound. As Love went to step over Scola, who a week earlier had thrown a ball off Love's groin while trying to save it from going out of bounds, he looked down at the Rockets forward and stepped on him as he headed back up the court. It marked the second time last week Love delivered a hard foul after not getting a call on the other end. He raked Pacers forward Danny Granger across the chest on Wednesday, touching off a small skirmish in a loss to Indiana.   READ MORE

ESPN: Knicks, Lakers inquire about Jonny Flynn - The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers have contacted the Houston Rockets about acquiring Jonny Flynn, according to league sources. "No deal is imminent with either team, but both clubs are in desperate need of a point guard and have Flynn on their radar. The Knicks have shown the most interest, sources say, and discussed a possible deal involving Renaldo Balkman and Mike Bibby. The Rockets were not interested." This was pretty surprising as Flynn is one of the worst players I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing in red and white. I wouldn’t take back Bibby–or anyone with future salary obligations–but if the Rockets could somehow bring back a second round draft pick from a deal like this, you’d have to count your blessings.   READ MORE

Parker Earns Player of the Week - After averaging 22.3 points and 8 assists in the Spurs' last four wins, including a 44-point blowout against the Thunder, Tony Parker has been named Western Conference Player of the Week. San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker today was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, Jan. 30, through Sunday, Feb. 5. This is Parker’s seventh time earning Western Conference Player of the Week honors. The Celtic’s Paul Pierce was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.   READ MORE

Spurs provide best scoring defense this season in fourth quarter - The Spurs needed all the defense they could get muster in the fourth quarter Monday night at Memphis. Memphis was limited to 20 percent shooting and scored only 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Spurs’ defense won the game down the stretch in a grinding 89-84 victory. It was the fewest points the Spurs have allowed in one quarter this season and was the primary reason.   READ MORE

Dirk Nowitzki improved, still wants more - Dirk Nowitzki has scored 54 points in the last two games and appears to be moving better than he has all season. That suggests that his slow start to the season is disappearing in the rear-view mirror. But he said Monday that he still doesn't feel like he's fully back to the Dirk-ness that he showed last season and for the better part of his 14-year career.   READ MORE

Online raffle for Terry's ring has started - Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry laid out the particulars of the replica 2011 NBA championship ring that he is raffling off. The raffle for the ring, valued at $36,000, started online at www.netraffle.org, on Monday and will last until Mar. 26. Tickets are $2 each with a minimum purchase of five tickets. All proceeds will go to the Jason Terry Foundation as he tries to raise funds to take his youth girls basketball team to China this summer.   READ MORE

Astros sign C Jair Fernandez - Hat tip to Jayne over at What the Heck, Bobby, who informed us that the Astros have signed minor league catcher Jair Fernandez. Jair has spent time with the Seattle and Minnesota organizations, where he's shown to be a light hitting catcher with an outstanding CS%.   READ MORE

Singleton, Springer among Astros' top prospects to receive non-roster invites - Infielders Jonathan Singleton, Delino DeShields and Jonathan Villar and outfielders George Springer and Jake Goebbert are among the top prospects in the Astros' farm system to receive non-roster invites to Major League Spring Training camp for 2012. Astros GM Jeff Luhnow made the announcement Monday. Singleton, a 20-year-old first baseman, was acquired by the Astros last July as part of the deal that sent Hunter Pence to the Phillies.   READ MORE

Arbitration hearings likely in Rangers' future - Agreements not yet reached with Andrus, Napoli, Cruz. The Rangers have put off contract negotiations with Josh Hamilton indefinitely, but they are still working to avoid their first arbitration hearing since 2000. Even so, the possibility appears to be increasing that they will have at least one arbitration hearing this month. The Rangers have yet to reach agreements with shortstop Elvis Andrus, catcher Mike Napoli and right fielder Nelson Cruz. Andrus' hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Tampa, Fla. Napoli's is scheduled for Feb. 15, to be followed by Cruz's on Feb. 17. "I'm always optimistic we can avoid a hearing, but I would be surprised if we avoided one with all three," assistant general manager Thad Levine said on Monday.   READ MORE

Joe Beimel, Conor Jackson Agree With Rangers - Left-handed reliever Joe Beimel and first baseman-outfielder Conor Jackson have agreed to minor league contracts with the Texas Rangers. Beimel went 1-1 with a 5.33 ERA in 35 games with Pittsburgh last year. Jackson hit .244 with five home runs and 43 RBIs in 114 games last season with Oakland and Boston, which acquired him at the trade deadline. Texas announced the agreements Monday.   READ MORE

Texans' 2012 Salary Cap Situation - This guy did a great job laying out the Texans' cap situation heading into this offseason. Here are the highlights: We paid Dan Orlovsky a ton of cap money this season to beat us, and we'll do it again (cap wise, not beat us [hopefully]) to the tune of $2.2M in dead money. Speaking of dead money, Tim will be glad to hear Amobi will cost us $3.6M in cap space, and he still isn't old enough to drink. He doesn't think the cap, which apparently will be released soon since the season ended yesterday, will increase. We get money to sign our rookies outside of the cap, but our pool is based on where we draft, and may not be enough to cover signing all of them (he estimates $4.5M for the whole class). That leaves us with a bottom line of $25.6M of cap space, without releasing anyone.   READ MORE

Flashing Forward – Looking at the Houston Texans 2012 Matchups - The 2011 NFL season is officially over with the crowning of the New York Giants as Super Bowl XVLI champs. Giants QB Eli Manning has helped ensure that the Manning dynasty lives on. Meanwhile, the wife of New England Patriots QB Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele, proves that most people cannot have both brains and beauty.   READ MORE

Dallas Cowboys Considering a Regular Season Game in Mexico – a Fan’s Take - With all the controversy concerning the NFL running a regular season game in London, Jerry Jones is now hinting that the Dallas Cowboys might be interested in playing a game in Mexico during the regular season. The London game is currently on hold while the St. Louis Rams' stadium filed a legal injunction, but with Jones owning Dallas Cowboys' stadium, that shouldn't be a problem. I have a slight problem with this as a fan because I feel bad for the season ticket holders. I almost guarantee they won't lower the price on season tickets but will eliminate one home game to make room for it. I am pretty sure that is the problem with the London game since it takes one game away from St. Louis, the town the team is supposed to represent.   READ MORE

Lucas Oil Stadium received good reviews; myths about Cowboys Stadium persist - It wasn't just Indianapolis getting good reviews as a Super Bowl city. People generally looked favorably on Lucas Oil Stadium (like Cowboys Stadium, it was also designed by Dallas-based HKS). The Indianapolis Business Journal quoted a guy who probably knows something about NFL stadiums. "Lucas Oil is the best stadium ever," Madden NFL Creative Director Michael Young raved in a post on Twitter. "Less than a minute wait for bathroom and food all night." "Lucas Oil is the best stadium ever," Madden NFL Creative Director Michael Young raved in a post on Twitter. "Less than a minute wait for bathroom and food all night.   READ MORE

Texas Stars Report - The past week -- The Texas Stars went 0-2-0-0 last week and are 20-22-1-2 on the season. They currently rank 15th in the AHL’s Western Conference, eight points out of the eighth and final playoff spot. The Stars lost 3-1 at Houston on Thursday. Ryan Garbutt scored the lone Texas goal and Andrew Raycroft stopped 32 of 34 shots. It was Texas’ third straight loss. On Saturday, the Stars saw their losing streak hit four games as they lost 4-3 to Charlotte at Cedar Park Center. Garbutt, Angelo Esposito and Travis Morin scored goals. Raycroft stopped 21 of 25 shots. READ MORE

Lehtonen Definitely Back to Old Self, Showing Strong Form - There’s officially no doubt about it, Kari Lehtonen is definitely back to his old, pre-injury self. The Finnish-born goaltender heads into Tuesday’s game with Phoenix fresh off a 34-save performance where he stopped all but one shot in a 2-1 win over the Wild on Saturday at American Airlines Center, but he also denied two of three Minnesota shootout attempts. His latest victory means he now has won his last three starts, a successful run that came after he dropped four straight before putting that streak to an abrupt halt with his first shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over Anaheim on Jan. 24, Dallas’ last game before the NHL All-Star break. READ MORE

---Staff and Wire Reports contributed to this story

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