In brief
PRO BASKETBALL
Garnett among three players
to officially re-sign with Celtics
The Boston Celtics made it official: Kevin Garnett is coming back as part of the team’s efforts to keep key pieces after losing Ray Allen to the Miami Heat.
More than a week after Garnett reportedly agreed to a three-year contract, the team announced Saturday that Garnett, forward Brandon Bass and center-forward Chris Wilcox had re-signed.
Forward Jeff Green, who missed all last season with an aortic aneurysm that required surgery, and free-agent guard Jason Terry still haven’t signed.
The deals for Green and Terry could be finalized this week.
Garnett is the most important player returning, especially after Allen’s decision to leave as a free agent broke up the Big Three of him, Garnett and Paul Pierce that won one championship in five seasons together.
Also: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving broke his right hand during a summer league practice in Las Vegas and could be sidelined two months. The NBA’s Rookie of the Year injured his hand slapping the padding on a wall.
Irving, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft, dazzled during workouts and scrimmages against the U.S. Olympic team over the past week.
Free-agent guard C.J. Watson, a former Bishop Gorman High School standout, agreed to a contract with Brooklyn, Nets general manager Billy King said.
Watson appeared in 49 games for Chicago last season, making 25 starts. He averaged 9.7 points and a career-high 4.1 assists in 23.7 minutes.
Raymond Felton is returning to New York, calling into question whether the Knicks plan to re-sign fellow point guard Jeremy Lin. Felton’s agent confirmed a Yahoo! Sports report that Felton would be signed and traded by Portland to New York.
The New Orleans Hornets said they matched the Phoenix Suns’ four-year, $58 million offer to restricted free-agent guard Eric Gordon.
Gordon, 23, was limited to nine games last season because of a bruised right knee that required minor surgery. He averaged a team-high 20.6 points, and New Orleans was 6-3 when he played.
The Charlotte Bobcats were awarded center Brendan Haywood off waivers from Dallas. Haywood was cut loose by the Mavericks using the amnesty clause.
BOXING/MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Haye posts fifth-round KO
against fellow Brit Chisora
David Haye knocked out Dereck Chisora in the fifth round of their all-British heavyweight grudge fight in London. Five months after they brawled in Munich at a news conference, Haye put Chisora down for good with a left hook, but Haye (26-2, 24 knockouts) was under severe pressure until the knockout in an exciting fight before 30,000 spectators.
The fight panned out as expected. Former world cruiserweight and heavyweight champ Haye had speed and a harder punch, while Chisora (15-4, nine KOs) used his extra 37 pounds to crowd Haye and land threatening blows.
No world titles were at stake in the 10-round fight, sanctioned by the Luxembourg federation because the British Boxing Board of Control wouldn’t license either fighter after their shameful antics in Munich.
Also: Luke Rockhold retained the Strikeforce middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Tim Kennedy in the main event of a card in Portland, Ore.
On the undercard, Nate Marquardt claimed the vacant welterweight title with a fourth-round knockout of Tyron Woodley.
TENNIS
Serena Williams rips Cirstea
to reach Bank of West final
Serena Williams overpowered Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 in the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif., to set up the first All-American WTA final on home soil in eight years.
Exactly a week after winning her fifth Wimbledon title, Williams cruised to another victory in 60 minutes. She will go for her second straight title at Stanford against Coco Vandeweghe, who reached her first WTA Tour final with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory against Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.
Also: Top seed and defending champion John Isner advanced to the final at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, beating fellow American Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-3 in Newport, R.I.
Isner, ranked 11th, will face Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in the title match. Hewitt beat American Rajeev Ram, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Jennifer Capriati, a teenage prodigy who was later sidetracked with off-court troubles before rebounding to become a three-time Grand Slam champion, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.
MISCELLANEOUS
German wins stage; Wiggins
maintains Tour de France lead
Bradley Wiggins finished the windy and flat 134.8-mile ride from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux to Le Cap d’Agde, France, with his top rivals to retain the yellow jersey for a seventh straight day in the Tour de France.
Germany’s Andre Greipel earned his third stage victory this Tour, in a photo finish showing he won by half a wheel’s length ahead of Slovakia’s Peter Sagan.
Overall, Wiggins leads second-place Sky teammate and fellow Briton Christopher Froome by 2 minutes, 5 seconds. Defending champion Cadel Evans of Australia is 3:19 back in fourth.
Also: Switch rallied in the stretch to win the $200,000 A Gleam Handicap by 1¾ lengths and earn a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, giving trainer John Sadler a sweep of the three graded stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.
One race earlier, Lady of Shamrock found an opening along the rail and drove through to win the $350,000 American Oaks by 1¼ lengths for Sadler. Sadler’s other victory came in the $150,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship with Scherer Magic.
In the Grade 2 Gleam, Switch ran seven furlongs on the synthetic Cushion Track in 1:24.37 under Garrett Gomez to end a 17-month victory drought.
The Oakland Raiders and safety Tyvon Branch agreed to a new four-year contract, a person familiar with the decision said, giving the team’s leading tackler the stability he has wanted.
CBS Sports, which first reported the deal, said the contract is worth $26.6 million, with $17.1 million guaranteed.
