BASKETBALL

WEBBER TRADED TO SIXERS IN BLOCKBUSTER DEAL

All-Star Chris Webber was traded from Sacramento to the Philadelphia 76ers late last night as part of a surprising six player deal. The Sixers sent Brian Skinner, Kenny Thomas, and Corliss Williamson to the Kings for Webber, Matt Barnes, and Michael Bradley.

The Sixers called a news conference just before midnight. The deal comes one day before the NBA trading deadline. Sixers president Billy King was looking to make a deal to improve the Sixers frontcourt as they make their playoff push. The Sixers are 26-27 and just a half game behind Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Kings general manager Geoff Petrie had been shopping Webber, who has three years about $62 million left on his contract. The Kings are 34-20 and 7 1/2 games behind Phoenix in the Pacific Division.

Thomas had fallen out of favor with first-year Sixers coach Jim O’Brien, while Skinner was a free-agent bust. Williamson was a valuable sixth man off the bench, but none of them have the pedigree of Webber.

O’NEAL SITS AS HEAT WAIT FOR DIAGNOSIS

Shaquille O’Neal won’t play before his injured knee is examined by doctors in Miami today.

“He’s taking an MRI tomorrow,” Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said before last night’s game at Indiana.

Van Gundy said the team trainer doesn’t think O’Neal’s injury is serious. Miami’s next game will be at home on Saturday against Orlando. Van Gundy wouldn’t speculate how long O’Neal might be out. O’Neal left the game against Chicago on Tuesday night after landing awkwardly early in the first quarter. He fell onto Bulls forward Othella Harrington, after going up for an alley-oop pass from Dwyane Wade, and stayed on the floor for several minutes – holding his knee. He was then helped off the floor and into the locker room.

BASEBALL

YANKS WILL WATCH SOX RECEIVE RINGS

The Boston Red Sox will ring in the home portion of their schedule by getting their World Series rings at their home opener April 11 before a full house of 35,000 fans – and the Yankees.

“I’m sure I’m not going to help them hand them out,” Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said to laughter at New York’s camp in Tampa. “But they deserve it. I’m sure they’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. So let them do it.”

Boston became the first major league team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series, doing it against their biggest rival in the AL championship series last October. The Red Sox then swept St. Louis in the World Series.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

COACH CHANEY SUSPENDS HIMSELF

Temple coach John Chaney suspended himself yesterday for one game and apologized for putting a player in against St. Joseph’s a day earlier for the sole purpose of rough play and quick fouls. Chaney will be replaced on the bench by assistant Dan Leibovitz for Saturday’s game against Massachusetts.

Upset by what he thought were illegal screens by Saint Joseph’s that were not being called by the officials, Chaney turned to seldom-used 6-foot-8,250-pound Nehemiah Ingram to “send a message.” Ingram started throwing his arms around, and tossing elbows, once connecting hard to the chin of Hawks center Dwayne Jones, and had a hard foul on John Bryant that left him sprawled on the court for several minutes. Ingram fouled out in 4 minutes.

Chaney’s only other suspension came in 1994.Temple suspended the Hall of Famer for one game after he publicly threatened to kill then-Massachusetts coach John Calipari.

WARRICK SCORES 35 IN SYRACUSE ROMP OVER ST. JOHN’S

Hakim Warrick emerged from a slight slump last night to score a career-high 35 points and no.15 Syracuse broke a two game losing streak with an 83-69 victory over St. John’s.

It was the 20th consecutive road loss for St. John’s (9-15, 3-11 Big East), which got a career-high 33 points from sophomore guard Daryll Hill.

Warrick was coming off two subpar games in which he scored a season low 12 points in each – losses to no. 3 Boston College and no. 18 Pittsburgh. He scored 14 points in the first half to help Syracuse (23-5, 10-4) build a double-digit lead.

GOLF

MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP TO START TODAY

Skies finally cleared over La Resort, making it likely the Match Play Championship will get started one day late today.

Heavy rain in San Diego County made La Costa such a swamp that the first round, originally scheduled for yesterday, was pushed back one day. That means the second and third rounds will be played tomorrow, with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Saturday. The 36-hole final will be Sunday.

Tiger Woods is the two-time defending champion of the tournament, and has a remarkable 20-3 record in five appearances at La Costa. Woods faces Nick Price, who is playing for only the fifth time on the PGA Tour since the British Open last year, which contributed to his slide in the world ranking.

FOOTBALL

DOLPHINS RELEASE FIEDLER

The Miami Dolphins released quarterback Jay Fiedler yesterday, ending his five-year run as the much-maligned successor to Dan Marino. Last season, Fiedler started just seven games for the Dolphins (4-12), going 1-6 while throwing for 1,186 yards, seven touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Fiedler spent much of the 2004 season on the injured list with a herniated disc.

SOCCER

BARCELONA BEATS CHELSEA IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Barcelona rallied with second-half goals from Maxi Lopez and Samuel Eto’o to beat undermanned Chelsea 2-1 before 90,000 at Camp Nou stadium yesterday in the Champions League round of 16.

Chelsea, which had little possession in the first half, was lucky to be leading after 45 minutes following an own-goal from Barca’s Juliano Belletti. Lopez scored in the 66th minute and Eto broke through in the 73rd following a controversial sending off in the 56th of Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.

It was a bad night for English clubs in the first leg of the round of 16. Manchester United lost 1-0 to AC Milan at Old Trafford on Hernan Crespo’s goal late in the second half. In yesterday’s other first-leg games, defending champion Porto rallied for a 1-1 draw at home against Inter Milan, and French league leader Lyon won 3-0 at Werder Bremen.

– Associated Press