League’s coronavirus advice: avoid high fives
The NBA has told teams avoid high-fiving fans and strangers and avoid taking any item for autographs, the league’s latest response in its ongoing monitoring of the coronavirus crisis that has spread to most corners of the planet.
The league, in a memo sent to teams on Sunday and obtained Monday by The Associated Press, offered 10 recommendations to players with hopes of decreasing risks of getting the virus — among them, not taking items such as pens, markers, balls and jerseys from autograph-seekers.
The NBA also told teams that it is consulting “with infectious disease experts, including the Centers for Disease Control” and infectious disease researchers at Columbia University in New York.
“We are also in regular communication with each other, NBA teams including team physicians and athletic trainers, other professional sports leagues, and of course, many of you,” the league wrote in its memo to teams, their physicians and athletic training staffs. ESPN first reported on the contents of the memo.
HEAT 105, BUCKS 89 >> Miami stands alone, the first team to beat the Milwaukee Bucks twice this season.
Jae Crowder and Jimmy Butler each scored 18 points, Goran Dragic added 15 and the Heat beat the Bucks, moving to 2-0 against the NBA’s best team.
TRAIL BLAZERS 130, MAGIC 107 >> C.J. McCollum scored 41 points and Gary Trent Jr. added 24 to help Portland run away from Orlando.
Hassan Whiteside had 16 points and 13 rebounds and Trevor Ariza scored 11 as the Blazers ended a 3-game losing streak by outscoring Orlando 38-19 in the final period.
JAZZ 126, CAVALIERS 113 >> Bojan Bogdanovic scored 28 points, Rudy Gobert added 20 and Utah began a four-game trip against
Eastern Conference teams with a victory over shorthanded Cleveland, which dressed only nine players and used just seven. KNICKS 125, ROCKETS 123 >> Rookie guard RJ Barrett tied his season high with 27 points and New York held on to beat Houston, snapping the Rockets’ sixgame winning streak. GRIZZLIES 127, HAWKS 88 >> Gorgui Dieng had 17 points and 10 rebounds, leading nine Memphis scorers in double figures, and the Grizzlies pulled away in the second half.
BULLS 109, MAVERICKS 107 >> Coby White scored 19 points, Otto Porter Jr. added 18 in his return from a broken left foot and Chicago hung on to beat Dallas when Luka Doncic’s desperation heave bounced off the rim.
Denzel Valentine added a season-high 17 points and the Bulls won for just the second time in 12 games. PACERS 116, SPURS 111 >> Malcolm Brogdon scored 26 points, T.J. Warren added 23 and Indiana rallied to beat San Antonio after blowing a 15-point lead.