HEAT-HORNETS
Hornets snap 16-game losing streak to Heat, 96-89
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β Al Jefferson scored a season-high 28 points and added 10 rebounds, and the Charlotte Hornets beat Miami 96-89 Wednesday night to snap a 16-game, regular-season losing streak against the Heat.
Charlotte was winless against the Heat in the LeBron James era, including getting swept in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs by Miami last season.
Kemba Walker had 16 points and seven assists, and Cody Zeller turned in another solid game off the bench with 13 points and eight rebounds for the Hornets (2-3), who won for the first time since the season opener.
Chris Bosh had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Miami (3-2). It was Bosh’s fifth straight 20-point game to open the season.
NASCAR-HENDRICK-FINES PAID
Hendrick to pay $185,000 in fines for crew members
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β Hendrick Motorsports will pay the $185,000 in fines levied against six crew members for their role in a post-race fight at Texas between Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski.
NASCAR fined and suspended four Hendrick team members, while the crew chiefs for Gordon and Kasey Kahne were also fined.
Hendrick Motorsports general manager Doug Duchardt said Wednesday on Sirius XM that the organization would cover all the fines.
NASCAR fined Kahne crew member Jeremy Fuller and Gordon crew members Dwayne Doucette and Jason Ingle $25,000 each. All three were also suspended for six races.
Gordon crew member Dean Mozingo was fined $10,000 and suspended three races. Crew chiefs Alan Gustafson and Kenny Francis were fined $50,000 each.
T25-CLEMSON-WAKE FOREST
No. 19 Clemson visits struggling Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) β For No. 19 Clemson to play its way back to the Orange Bowl, the Tigers can’t afford any more slip-ups.
Coach Dabo Swinney’s team always seems to avoid those against Wake Forest.
Clemson looks to extend its recent dominance of the Demon Deacons on Thursday night while staying on track for another major bowl berth.
The selection committee ranks the Tigers (6-2, 5-1, No. 21 CFP) as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s second-best team. If they maintain that position and No. 2 Florida State makes the playoff, they will earn their third Orange Bowl berth in four years.
Coach Dabo Swinney says, “If we want to have a great November, we’ve got to go win on the road.”
The Tigers haven’t lost to Wake Forest (2-6, 0-4) since 2008.
JORDAN & OBAMA
Obama’s counter jab: MJ should focus on Hornets
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β President Barack Obama says Michael Jordan should focus on running his NBA franchise rather than criticizing his golf game.
Obama responded Monday to Jordan’s comments that he was a bad golfer by telling Wisconsin radio station WJMR the former NBA star “wasn’t very well informed about this.”
Obama says Jordan is a better golfer but added, “of course, if I was playing twice a day for the last 15 years, then that might not be the case.”
Jordan, who says he’s never played with Obama, recently told Back9Network he’d be willing to play with the president but “he’s a hack. Man, I’d be all day playing with him.”
In the radio interview, Obama quipped Jordan “might want to spend more time thinking about the Bobcats β or maybe the Hornets.”
S CAROLINA-SPURRIER
Spurrier: Lattimore can return to South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) β South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has let former Gamecocks running back Marcus Lattimore know that there’s a position for him at the university.
Lattimore, who suffered two major knee injuries with the Gamecocks, informed the San Francisco 49ers Wednesday that he will retire from the NFL. Spurrier said Lattimore’s surgically repaired knee was not responding the way everyone hoped.
The 23-year-old Lattimore suffered was drafted by the 49ers in 2013 and sat out last season. He hasn’t played this year.
Spurrier says either he, athletic director Ray Tanner or University President Harris Pastides could find a position for Lattimore after football. The coach says Lattimore was among South Carolina’s most popular and well-respected players ever. Lattimore, who majored in public health, has not graduated.
