Portland, Ore. – Trail Blazers center Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this summer, will undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery this week because of pain in his right knee.
An MRI taken last week showed Oden may have some cartilage problems, Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said Monday.
A timetable for Oden’s return will be set following the surgery, which will take place Thursday in Vancouver, Wash. The Trail Blazers open training camp in three weeks, and the regular season starts Oct. 30.
This is Oden’s second health problem since the Trail Blazers drafted him in June. He had a tonsillectomy in July after struggling in two Las Vegas summer league games. Oden recovered from that operation and was working out in the Portland area when he felt pain in his knee. The MRI was taken Thursday and Oden refrained from working out over the weekend.
BASKETBALL
Parker, France fall to Lithuania
Lithuania limited Tony Parker to 11 points and defeated three-time champion France 88-73 in Madrid, Spain, to remain one of two unbeaten teams at the European Basketball Championship tournament.
Sarunas Jasikevicius had 14 points and seven assists for Lithuania and set up Ramunas Siskauskas and Darius Songaila for key baskets.
“They were stronger than us, that’s it,” said Parker, who was held 14 points below his tournament average.
Also in Group F, Marco Belinelli scored six of his 17 points in overtime to help Italy eliminate Turkey 84-75.
Toronto Raptors center Andrea Bargnani scored five of his 12 points in the extra period as Italy overcame an early 15-point deficit.
Like Lithuania, Slovenia is 5-0 after routing Germany 77-47 – a result that qualified France for the quarterfinals.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien died at his home in Willoughby Hills near Cleveland. He was 82.
TENNIS
U.S. Open title ratings drop
The overnight TV ratings for both U.S. Open singles finals dropped from last year.
The men’s final, in which Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic, drew a 4.2 overnight rating on CBS on Sunday, down from a 5.1 figure for Federer against Andy Roddick in 2006.
The women’s final, in which Justine Henin defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, got a 2.6 overnight rating on CBS on Saturday night.
That’s a decline from the 3.2 figure CBS had in 2006, when Henin lost to Maria Sharapova.
The overnight ratings measure the 55 biggest television markets, covering about 70 percent of the country.
FOOTNOTES
Back surgery postpones comeback
Former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has postponed his planned comeback against Jameel McCline after undergoing an emergency back operation in Frankfurt, Germany.
The fight was scheduled for Sept. 22 in Munich.
Klitschko suffered the injury in training Saturday and underwent surgery the same night in a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria. He will need six weeks to recover.
The damaged greens of East Lake in Atlanta have improved enough to allow the 30 players at the Tour Championship to practice on all but three holes for two days before the opening round, PGA Tour officials said. It was a small step toward restoring credibility to the final event of the FedEx Cup. The tour previously said players would not be allowed to hit balls on the greens or walk on them until Thursday because of severe heat that all but killed the strain of grass.
Cyclist Denis Menchov won the 10th stage in Vallnord, Andorra, and retained the overall lead of the Spanish Vuelta.
Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long will replace Frank Broyles in the same position at Arkansas.
Mike Dunham ended his 10-year playing career to become the goaltending coach of the NHL’s New York Islanders.
