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Ewing retires after 17 seasons

NEW YORK -- Patrick Ewing retired Tuesday, ending the center's 17-year career and leaving him short of his repeated promise to win a championship.

Ewing, an 11-time All-Star who was chosen as one of the league's 50 best players, spent 15 years with the Knicks, averaging 22.8 points and 10.4 rebounds. He was traded to Seattle before 2000, then signed with Orlando last year.

The 40-year-old finishes with 24,815 points and 11,606 rebounds.

"Basketball has been very good to me," Ewing said. "I've made a lot of friends and some enemies. I felt it was time for me to move on. It was a great ride. It was a hard decision to make because I think I could still play. But it was time for me to go on to the next chapter of life."

Ewing has been hired as an assistant coach for the Wizards.

The No. 1 pick in the first lottery draft in 1985, the 7-foot Ewing came out of Georgetown to become the Knicks all-time leading scorer with 23,665 points, but he never won the championship he guaranteed.

Ewing helped Georgetown reach the NCAA championship game three times, winning the national title in 1984.

CAVS-SUNS TRADE: A week after trading for Mateen Cleaves, Cleveland sent the point guard back to Sacramento after he failed his physical. The Cavs traded a future second-round draft pick to Phoenix for guard Milt Palacio. Small forward Jumaine Jones, who was traded for Cleaves, will return.

CELTICS: Lawyers for three men accused of stabbing Paul Pierce said in opening statements the suspects were wrongly identified in the Boston nightclub fight Sept. 25, 2000. William Ragland, Anthony Hurston and Trevor Watson are charged with armed assault with intent to murder. Pierce was stabbed almost a dozen times, leaving him with a collapsed lung.

HAWKS: Forward DerMarr Johnson, who broke four bones in his neck in a car accident last week, plans to leave an Atlanta hospital today. Also, free-agent forward Darvin Ham, who played with Milwaukee last season, signed. Terms were not disclosed.

PACERS: Ron Artest's girlfriend was arrested and charged with hitting and scratching the forward. Kimisha Hatfield, 27, the mother of two of Artest's children, was arrested Sunday at their Carmel, Ind., home. Hatfield admitted striking Artest in the head with her hands, police said, but pleaded innocent in court Monday. A trial was scheduled for March 6.

SIXERS: Allen Iverson and his uncle, Gregory, were cleared of the remaining two misdemeanor charges. The guard was charged in July with barging into an apartment with a gun and threatening two men while looking for his wife.

DELE INVESTIGATION: Investigators searched the boat of former player Bison Dele after authorities in Papeete, Tahiti, opened a murder investigation into his disappearance. Investigators boarded the Hakuna Matata on Monday, more than two months after Dele, his girlfriend and the skipper disappeared. Officials refused to release the results.

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