Pacquiao set for shoulder surgery
Controversy swirls over who knew about injury before fight
Don’t look for Manny Pacquiao to return to the ring until next year. But there’s a good chance he will find himself back in Las Vegas next month.
The boxing icon from the Philippines will have surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder later this week after reinjuring the joint during Saturday’s 12-round unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden. Pacquiao will have the surgery performed in Los Angeles and is expected to be out of action from eight to 10 months.
However, the Nevada Athletic Commission is concerned about the boxer’s prefight medical questionnaire that he filled out and signed the day before the fight. Pacquiao checked the “no” box to the question: “Have you had any injury to your shoulders, elbows or hands that needed evaluation or examination?”
Pacquiao,
his
trainer Freddie Roach and his promoter Bob Arum all admitted after the fight that Pacquiao had injured his shoulder in early April, was receiving treatment so he could make the date to face Mayweather and that they listed on the same questionnaire the drugs he was using to treat the shoulder. Those drugs were Lidocaine, Bupivocaine, Celestone, Paletet Rich Plasma and Toradol, and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which
NAC was aware of injury, his fight team says
The Rockets committed 23 turnovers, resulting in 34 points for the Clippers. Center Dwight Howard posted 22 points and 10 rebounds, while guard James Harden tallied 20 points and 12 assists. But Harden also had a game-high nine turnovers.
Houston forward Trevor Ariza scored 11 of his 17 points by the midpoint of the first quarter. Otherwise, Houston did little offensively.
What the Clippers missed in the first half they found in abundance in the third quarter, erasing a 50-46 halftime deficit by hitting all six of their 3-pointers in the period en route to an 83-77 lead entering the fourth.
Treys enabled the Clippers to apply pressure whenever the Rockets attempted to pull away, with Rivers and Barnes closing the deficit to one with 3-pointers. When Rivers drilled a 3-pointer with 3:56 left in the period, the Clippers led 69-68, their first lead since midway through the first.
The final six seconds of the third were damaging for the Rockets, with Crawford banking in a 3-pointer before Harden pushed Redick in the back battling for a rebound. Redick hit two free throws with 0.4 seconds left.
With eight turnovers in the third quarter, the Rockets continued a trend they established from the opening tip. The Clippers scored their first eight points off four turnovers and, even after Houston pushed to a 37-24 lead on a 3-pointer from guard Pablo Prigioni, the Rockets could not secure the ball well enough to maintain momentum.
By intermission, the Clippers had 17 points off 14 turnovers, kick-starting their comeback with a transition dunk from Griffin at the 6:39 mark of the second.
Griffin added a three-point play five minutes later to slice the deficit to four, and that was all the Clippers needed to keep it close, particularly given the Rockets’ sloppiness.
■ Bulls 99, Cavaliers 92 — At Chicago, guard Derrick Rose scored 25 points, Pau Gasol added 21 points and 10 rebounds, and the Bulls beat Cleveland in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Bulls led by as many as 16 points and never trailed. The Cavs tied the game twice in the third quarter, but the Bulls countered by scoring the next 15 points, leaving Cleveland to play catchup for most of the game.
The Cavs were within 94-90 in the final minute when Chicago guard Jimmy Butler banked in a jump shot over an outstretched center Tristan Thompson, essentially sealing the victory and immediately shifting home-court advantage to the Bulls.
Cavs guard Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 30 points and forward LeB-