Page 31 - 3-27-15 Friday's Edition

Sports
Darren Sharper Pleads
Warriors Win, Clinch Division
STEPHEN CURRY
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The music was turned up in the locker room and the mood was festive, but Golden State didn't overdo the celebration of the team's first division title in 39 years.
These Warriors aren't done yet.
"We might be a little sub- dued, but I think everybody is proud of what we've done. We still have 11 games left to keep getting better so I think every- body is focused on that," Stephen Curry said. "But I think everybody is pretty happy right now."
Curry had 33 points and 10 assists, and the Warriors pulled away from the short- handed Trail Blazers in the second half for a 122-108 vic- tory Tuesday night. Andre Iguodala came off the bench to score 21 points for the War- riors, who won their seventh straight to push their record to an NBA-best 58-13.
Golden State hadn't won the Pacific Division crown since the 1975-76 season, the year after the team won the NBA championship.
Metta World Peace To Play In Italy
Guilty To Sexual Assault
LAS VEGAS -- Former NFL star Darren Sharper pleaded guilty Tuesday in Las Vegas to a reduced felony at- tempted sex assault charge, in the third part of a four-state plea deal that prosecutors say will put him in federal prison for about nine years.
Appearing by Internet hookup from a courtroom in Los Angeles, Sharper en- tered his plea before Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon, who scheduled sentencing for June 25.
A plea agreement calls for Sharper to serve 38 months to eight years in prison for the Nevada conviction, but at the same time as sentences from California, Arizona and Louisiana.
On Monday, the 39-year- old Sharper pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Arizona and no contest in Los Angeles to raping two women he drugged after meeting them in a West Hollywood bar.
He was sentenced to nine years in the Arizona case and will face 20 years in the Cali- fornia case when he's sen- tenced July 15. The California no-contest pleas have the same effect as a conviction, and state sentencing rules will have him serve about nine
DARREN SHARPER
years.
Sharper is due in federal
court April 6 in New Orleans, the city where he won a Super Bowl as a member of the NFL's Saints franchise. He's due in Louisiana state court 10 days later.
Sharper wore an orange jail uniform with "LA County" stamped over his chest pocket as he sat Tuesday in Los An- geles flanked by attorneys Blair Berk and Lisa Wayne.
The former All-Pro safety cleared his throat and said, "Guilty," when asked to enter his plea.
Sharper's other lawyer, David Chesnoff, issued a statement noting that Sharper took responsibility in the Las Vegas case.
Sharper could have faced 20 years to life in Nevada state prison on two sexual as- sault charges filed against him last week in Las Vegas.
CANTU, Italy -- Former NBA All-Star Metta World Peace has signed for Italian team Pallacanestro Cantu for the remainder of the sea- son.
After a series of teasing tweets from World Peace, Cantu has confirmed the news, calling it "the coup of the century."
World Peace, who changed his name from Ron Artest, was playing for the Sichuan Blue Whales in the Chinese Basketball Associa- tion after a long NBA career which included stints with the
METTA WORLD PEACE
Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. World Peace averaged
19 points and six rebounds in 15 games for Sichuan, but with the Chinese season over he has turned to Italy.
Cantu plays in Italy's Lega A, where it is currently 10th among 16 teams.
Whiteside Gets 10 Stitches In Hand
Love Endorses Westbrook As MVP
MILWAUKEE -- The Miami Heat not only suffered a stinging loss at the buzzer to the Milwaukee Bucks, but they may have also lost center Hassan Whiteside for some time.
Whiteside needed 10 stitches to his right hand after suffering a gash between the middle and ring fingers on his hand. He sliced his hand hit- ting the rim and had to leave the game with 5:41 remaining in the second quarter of the Heat's 89-88 loss to Milwau- kee at the Bradley Center.
Whiteside had his hand heavily bandaged and also said he got multiple shots to numb the pain in his hand. His availability for the Heat's game at Boston on Wednes- day seems doubtful.
HASSAN WHITESIDE
"I don't know if I am going to be able to play tomorrow," Whiteside said. "We are going to see how it feels, day to day."
"I can't feel my hand right now," Whiteside added. "I'll know tomorrow morning it will be throbbing and I will feel the pain a lot more."
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- LeBron James might not have received teammate Kevin Love's endorsement for MVP this season when the All-Star forward was asked to choose between James and former UCLA teammate Rus- sell Westbrook, but he isn't going to try to change Love's mind.
"I don't really think too much of it, really," James said after Cleveland Cavaliers prac- tice on Tuesday. "I don't really get involved in that. I think the voters are going to decide who the MVP is. I think what Russ has been doing; his numbers have been pretty crazy keeping those guys afloat in the West in his play. Stephen Curry can make a case, for sure, what he's been doing -- James Harden and myself, as well. So, Kevin has his own opinion of who he believes is the MVP. No one should fault him for that."
Love was a guest on "The Dan Patrick Show" on Mon- day and was put on the spot to pick either Oklahoma City's do-everything guard or Cleve- land's captain for the NBA's most prestigious individual award.
LeBron James says no one should fault his Cava- liers teammate Kevin Love for endorsing Russell West- brook for MVP.
"I would just say because of time spent on the court, you know LeBron took those few games off and those couple of weeks off. ... They're both hav- ing MVP-type seasons, but I'm going to go with Russell Westbrook because every single night you're looking at his stat sheet, they're fighting for a playoff spot even with Serge Ibaka going down now, Kevin Durant poten- tially being out the rest of the year and [Westbrook] still going out there and really fighting for his team and them winning and fighting for that seventh and eighth spot in the playoffs," Love told Patrick. "I think Russ is arguably hav- ing the better season."
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 15-A