NBA
Surgery sidelines Westbrook until after the All-Star break
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook had arthroscopic knee surgery Friday and will be sidelined until after the All-Star break.
Westbrook will miss at least 27 games.
Reggie Jackson, who is averaging 12.5 points, will start. Jeremy Lamb will also see increased playing time in Westbrook’s absence.
The five-year NBA player is averaging 21.3 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Thunder, who entered Friday night’s game with a 23-5 record, a half-game behind the first-place Portland Trail Blazers in the Northwest Division.
NFL
Manning is 1 of 5 Broncos picked to the Pro Bowl
HONOLULU – Kansas City and San Francisco will have plenty of clout in Honolulu if they can’t make it to New Jersey for the Super Bowl.
The NFL revealed Friday the Chiefs and 49ers each had eight players voted into the Pro Bowl.
Denver quarterback Peyton Manning was selected to his 13th Pro Bowl after garnering the most votes among fans, 1.43 million. Manning was one of five players selected from Denver, which has a shot at putting up the most points of any team in NFL history.
The NFL combines votes from coaches, fans and players to determine 86 of 88 Pro Bowl players; the other two players are long-snappers selected by Pro Bowl coaches. Voting ended Thursday.
Under a new format this year, NFL greats Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders will divvy up the players in a two-day draft before the Jan. 26 game. Offensive and defensive players with the most votes who don’t make it past the divisional playoff round will serve as active player captains.
Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman received 552,600 votes by fans, the most for any defensive player.
Cowboys’ Romo has surgery and is out for Eagles’ finale
IRVING, Texas – Tony Romo’s season is over, and the Dallas Cowboys will have to win without their star quarterback in a third consecutive playoffs-or-bust finale.
Cowboys’ head coach Jason Garrett said Romo had back surgery Friday, and Kyle Orton will start when Dallas will play Philadelphia on Sunday night with the NFC East title and a postseason berth on the line.
Garrett said Romo underwent treatment all week in hopes of playing after injuring his back in a season-saving 24-23 victory against Washington. The winning touchdown came after the injury on Romo’s fourth-down pass to DeMarco Murray in the final 2 minutes.
Romo hurt himself when he tripped over his foot while trying to escape pressure earlier in the fourth quarter.
Dallas will have to win without its defensive quarterback, too.
Linebacker Sean Lee will miss his third consecutive game with a sprained neck. He’ll wind up sidelined for five of the last six regular-season games. He was out for two with a hamstring injury.
Tennis
Federer arrives in Australia with a new coach
BRISBANE, Australia – Roger Federer arrived in Australia on Saturday for the Brisbane International injury-free and with a refreshed attitude for 2014.
Federer will use the Brisbane event as his only warm-up tournament ahead of the Australian Open, which Federer has won four times. The first Grand Slam will start Jan. 13 in Melbourne.
Federer, owner of a record 17 Grand Slam titles, added six-time major champion Stefan Edberg to his team, part of a recent trend of top tennis players hiring ex-stars as coaches.
Severin Luthi will continue to work with Federer, too.
In October, Federer split with coach Paul Annacone after three seasons together.
Federer finished 2013 ranked No. 6. It’s the first season since 2002 he didn’t reach a major final.
The Edberg announcement came a little more than a week after Novak Djokovic hired Boris Becker as a coach. Andy Murray is working with Ivan Lendl.
Associated Press
