Sports

In brief

Brown fired by Pistons, free to coach elsewhere

By wire services
Published July 20, 2005

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DETROIT - Larry Brown is out as coach of the Detroit Pistons.

Brown and the Pistons reached a settlement Tuesday on the final three years of his contract, said Pistons spokesman Matt Dobek, adding Brown is free to coach another team next season.

The team didn't want the Hall of Fame coach back and had offered a payoff, said Brown's agent, Joe Glass.

Team president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said the search for a new coach has begun. Brown is expected to be replaced by former Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders.

Brown had $18-million left on his contract but will get $6-million.

ELSEWHERE: Free-agent forward Donyell Marshall agreed to terms with the Cavs. ... Reserves Kyle Korver and Willie Green will return to the Sixers. ... Free-agent forward Stromile Swift has agreed to terms with the Rockets.

WNBA: Sheryl Swoopes scored 22 as the Comets beat Sacramento 58-54 for the first time in more than a year.... Vanessa Hayden scored all six of her points during a decisive 15-2 surge in the second half, and grabbed seven rebounds to help Minnesota beat Indiana 66-45. ... DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 15 against her former team, leading the Mystics to a 74-68 win over the Sparks. ... Katie Douglas scored 15 and league-best Connecticut closed with a 17-2 run and beat league-worst Charlotte 64-55. ... Iziane Castro Marques scored a career-high 20, helping Seattle beat New York 87-78.

TENNIS: Injured Serena withdraws

Seven-time major champion Serena Williams pulled out of next week's Bank of the West Classic because of the left-ankle injury that has hampered her since April.

ELSEWHERE: Martina Navratilova has settled her lawsuit against Do Tell Inc., the sponsor of a credit card directly marketed to gays and lesbians. ... Gustavo Kuerten's comeback from two hip operations faltered when American Hugo Armando beat the three-time French Open champion 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart, Germany.... Former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina can't stop a photographer from distributing topless pictures taken of her during a 2002 magazine photo session, a federal judge ruled.

OLYMPICS: Court to decide on gold

A Switzerland sports arbitration court will rule Thursday on whether the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team should lose its gold medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because of Jerome Young's earlier doping infraction.

ELSEWHERE: Alexandre Despatie gave host Canada its second gold medal in as many days at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal, winning the men's 3-meter springboard diving competition. USA's Troy Dumais took silver.... Gold medalist Dominique Moceanu withdrew from this weekend's U.S. Classic because of an Achilles' injury. The competition was to be her first since 2000. GOLF: Tour overhaul in works

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is contemplating a massive overhaul of the tour schedule that would shorten the season and bring more attention to the sport during football season.

ELSEWHERE: Former Nationwide Tour player Peter Morgan of Apollo Beach shot 5 under 67 to lead the first round of the Sunshine State Club Professional Championship in Melbourne.... Sam Saunders , Arnold Palmer 's grandson, shot 5-under 65 to take the second-round lead at the U.S. Junior Amateur in Longmeadow, Mass.

ET CETERA

AUTOS: Attorneys for Kasey Kahne asked a federal judge to throw out Ford's breach-of-contract lawsuit against the NASCAR driver. Ford sued Kahne in Wayne County (Mich.) Circuit Court in July 2004, claiming he signed a contract that obligated him to drive Fords.

CYCLING: Australian rider Amy Gillett was killed and five teammates injured when a car crashed into the group during a training ride in Gera, Germany. Competing under her maiden name, Amy Safe, Gillett was on the rowing team that was fifth at the '96 Atlanta Games.

HORSES: Jockey Omar Camejo was seriously injured after being thrown from his mount and trampled by another horse at a Farmington, N.Y. track. SOCCER: Argentine coach Ruben Omar Romano of the Cruz Azul team was attacked and feared kidnapped as he left a Mexico practice facility.

[Last modified July 20, 2005, 00:58:13]

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