Associated Press
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio ó LeBron James has raised his fashion game.
“You look good, you play good,” James said Monday after practice. “I was brought up that way.”
James, who takes great pride in his wardrobe and tries to stay ahead of the style curve, will appear on the February cover of GQ Magazine ó another first for the NBA superstar whose career has been defined by firsts.
Posing in a slate gray suit, pink shirt and gray tie, James added the GQ cover to his run of magazine fronts from Sports Illustrated to Fortune to Vogue, in which he was the first black male to appear on the cover in the influential fashion magazine’s 116-year history.
“It’s great,” he said of his GQ cover. “It shows that I’m fashionable. I never thought I would be on the cover of GQ. But I’ve done some things I never thought I would do.”
NBA
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ó Rookie Brook Lopez scored a career-high 31 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 103-99 overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
Knicks 101, Hornets 95
NEW ORLEANS ó David Lee scored 24 points and the New York Knicks ended a three-game losing streak with a 101-95 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
Celtics 115, Raptors 109, OT
BOSTON ó Paul Pierce scored nine of his season-high 39 points in overtime and the Boston Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors for the second consecutive day, 115-109.
Bucks 97, Wizards 91
WASHINGTON ó Michael Redd scored 29 points, a healthy Andrew Bogut added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied to beat the no-lead-is-safe Washington Wizards 97-91.
UTAH BLOGGING
SALT LAKE CITY ó Utah’s attorney general is using his personal blog to answer criticism that he’s wasting state resources by investigating whether the Bowl Championship Series violates federal antitrust laws.
Mark Shurtleff contends the BCS unfairly puts Utah, and schools in other conferences like the Mountain West that don’t get an automatic bid to a BCS bowl, at a competitive and financial disadvantage. For the second time in five years, Utah finished the season undefeated and was shut out of playing in the BCS national title game, which was won by Florida.
Utah finished the season ranked No. 2 in The Associated Press poll after upsetting Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl.
Shurtleff’s staff plans to review the Sherman Antitrust Act to see if a lawsuit can be filed. To succeed, Shurtleff would have to prove a conspiracy exists that creates a monopoly.
NHL
DALLAS ó Trevor Daley knocked his own rebound into the goal 1:51 into overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory over Detroit on Monday, ending the Red Wings’ six-game winning streak.
In a flurry of activity in front of Detroit goalie Chris Osgood, Daley took a shot that got knocked down but was still on the ice when he followed up for his fourth goal of the season.
The Stars, at one time, trailed 3-1.
– NEW YORK ó Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien will be behind the Eastern Conference bench and San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan will guide the Western Conference squad at the NHL All-Star game in Montreal.
TENNIS
SYDNEY, Australia ó Maria Sharapova’s shoulder injury will keep her out of another big event ó the Australian Open.
Sharapova told the tournament Sunday she will not be able to defend her title at Melbourne Park beginning Jan. 19.