DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle collapsed at practice Friday and was hospitalized briefly.
“I’m fine,” Carlisle said via text message.
Carlisle, 50, will not travel to the Mavericks’ outdoor exhibition game today in California against Phoenix, team president Donnie Nelson said. Carlisle is expected to return to the sideline for a preseason game Monday in Dallas.
“He got lightheaded and fainted,” Nelson said. “I don’t know if he didn’t put enough sugar on his Wheaties this morning or what. But he’s fine now.”
• Portland Trail Blazers forward Jeff Pendergraph will have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right knee. A timetable for his return was not set by the Blazers, but Pendergraph, who averaged 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 39 games as a rookie last season, used Twitter to tell fans he was done for the season.
• Houston Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry is day to day with a bone bruise in his right knee.
McMurray takes Fontana pole
FONTANA, Calif. — Jamie McMurray and Elliott Sadler will start up front in California after a rough day of qualifying for several Chase contenders.
McMurray had a fast lap of 185.285 mph at Auto Club Speedway’s 2-mile oval, just ahead of Sadler, another nonqualifier in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. It’s McMurray’s fourth pole this season.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start eighth Sunday, while fellow Chasers Matt Kenseth (third) and Greg Biffle (seventh) also made it into the top 10.
Denny Hamlin, who trails Johnson by eight points, will start 34th and Kurt Busch 38th.
• Matt Hagan topped funny car qualifying in the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Mohnton, Pa., with a Maple Grove Raceway-record run of 4.011 seconds at 311.56 mph.
Cory McClenathan (top fuel), Allen Johnson (pro stock) and Eddie Krawiec (pro stock motorcycle) also led their categories in the fourth of six playoff events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Countdown to the Championship.
Footnotes.
Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador threatened to sue unspecified media and websites for defamation after reports that his urine sample showed indications of possible blood doping.
• American soccer forward Charlie Davies, who nearly died in a car crash last year, was caught speeding at 125 mph Sunday, according to a French newspaper.
• Peter Lowry and Brian McBride scored goals to lead the Chicago Fire to a 2-0 MLS victory over the Columbus Crew in Bridgeview, Ill.
• Wickedly Perfect, ridden by Rafael Bejarano, earned a spot in next month’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by winning the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
• South Carolina baseball coach Ray Tanner received a two-year contract extension and a raise less than three months after leading the Gamecocks to the College World Series title.
