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LOS ANGELES -- Point guard DAngelo Russell will miss the Los Angeles Lakers next two games to rest his sore knee.Coach Luke Walton says Russell will sit out of the Lakers home game against Oklahoma City on Tuesday night and their road game at Golden State on Wednesday.Russell missed his first game of the season last Friday against San Antonio. He returned Sunday against Chicago, but managed only eight points and seven assists while playing with little of his usual aggression.Russell is the Lakers second-leading scorer with 16.1 points per game, and the second-year pro leads the team with 4.8 assists.Jose Calderon started in Russells place against the Spurs, and he is likely to start the next two games as well, Walton says. . Dallas hasnt ruled out the star quarterback for Sunday nights game against Philadelphia, but all signs point to Romos back injury pushing Kyle Orton into the starting role after two years of limited play as the backup. Surely Ortons name isnt the first that comes to mind for fans wanting a change after years of damaging interceptions, fumbles or, most infamously, the field goal flub when Romo dropped the snap on a kick that could have won his first playoff game in 2006. . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. .5 seconds to play in the game, Kevin Love never stopped believing that they would come out of there with a win. . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Wednesday nights showdown between No. 6 Kentucky and No. 10 Louisville is sure to produce fireworks.Admiring the Wildcats up-tempo style, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said his Cardinals will play ping-pong with Kentucky Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET in Louisvilles KFC Yum! Center.We dont have the athletes that Kentucky has to play at that kind of pace, Pitino said Monday night. We have athletes. We have enough athletes to play our style. Our front-court doesnt run as fast as their front-court does, but our wings can run, so we will do a lot of running. Thats what the fans want to see so lets go play a ping-pong match.If Louisville (10-1) tries to match Kentuckys speed it could be an advantage for the Wildcats (10-1). The average Kentucky offensive possession lasts just 13.8 seconds and they average 95.2 points per game.We have nobody as fast as (DeAaron) Fox. We have nobody as fast as (Malik) Monk, Pitino said. ... We play fast, but not that fast.That doesnt mean the Wildcats are in for an easy time. Coach John Calipari views the game as a mighty treacherous contest.Playing a top 10 team on the road on their court, where are we on December 21? Calipari asked. Love to win it, but lets really learn about where are we right now.Heres what I said to them and Ill say it this game: You do not have to be perfect, you do not even have to be great, but you gotta play. Because this team plays hard, theyre competitive, theyre physical, theyre not afraid to bang. If you dont play you have no chance of winning.Kentucky owns a 34-15 edge in the series, including an 8-1 mark since coach Calipari took over the program. But Calipari contends none of that matters when rival reunite.I dont think any of the past games have any bearing on this game, Calipari said. When Im coaching against a guy that has won some games against me, Im not worried about the past. Im just saying, How do we win this game? I would say hes thinking the same way.Im happy when its over. Just get it done, Calipari said. Everybody makes it life or death and its not life or death ... its worse than that. Just play the game, lets see what happens and lets go. Weve got our league to deal with, hes got his league to deal with, lets just move on.The Cardinals only average 78.5 points per game and have not allowed more than 71 points to any team this season.ddddddddddddThe pace of Wednesday nights matchup is a chess game both Hall-of-Fame coaches will be monitoring closely.Im not playing zone, Calipari said at his pregame press conference. The he looked into the camera and dead-panned, I might in this game, Rick.Pitino said he didnt have a favorite moment in the series, but hes learning to put the game in better perspective.Pitino said Kentucky will be the most-talented team the Cardinals will face this season.Nobody has the athletes and the talent that Kentucky has, Pitino said. They have great talent. That doesnt mean you cant beat them, but you just have to know what you are going up against. ... It is going to be a great basketball game.The Wildcats won their first seven games, including a 69-48 drubbing of Michigan State, before losing to 97-92 to No. 2 UCLA on Dec. 3. Since then, Kentucky reeled off three more wins including Saturdays impressive 103-100 win over No. 8 North Carolina.Kentucky is led by guards Monk (21.9 points per game) and DeAaron Fox (15.9), both freshmen, and sophomore Isaiah Briscoe (15.9). The Wildcats also get 12.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game from freshman center Bam Adebayo.Monk is coming off a 47-point effort in Kentuckys 103-100 victory over No. 7 North Carolina in Las Vegas.Louisville started the season with five straight wins including a 62-52 win over Wichita State before falling 66-63 to No. 4 Baylor in the Battle 4 Atlantis final on Nov. 25. The Cardinals rebounded with a 71-64 win over No. 15 Purdue and have since won four straight games.With four players scoring between 9.5 and 11.7 points per game, the Cardinals are a very balanced attack. Sophomore guard Donovan Mitchell leads the way at 11.7 per game with junior point guard Quentin Snider (11.0) the only other Cardinal in double-figures. Louisvilles defense is rated No. 1 in the nation by Ken Pomeroy and the Cardinals only allowing 59.4 points per game.We are going up against a team that is extremely well-coached, a tough team and were playing them in a place where they just dont lose, Calipari said. It is going to be very tough. ' ' '
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