BASKETBALL

Rookie center Daniel Theis likely will miss the rest of the season with a torn meniscus in his left knee.

Theis was hurt during the final minute Sunday of Boston’s 99-97 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Coach Brad Stevens said Monday that Theis is weighing his surgical options.

• Guard Marcus Smart of the Celtics suffered a torn tendon on his right thumb, according to nba.com, and plans to seek a second opinion. Smart will be out indefinitely.

• Atlanta Hawks guard Kent Bazemore will miss the remainder of the season with a bone bruise in his right knee.

• James Harden scored 16 of his 28 points in the third quarter to allow the Houston Rockets to build a huge lead and sail to an easy 109-93 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs.

• Russell Westbrook scored 17 points and notched his 20th triple-double of the season to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the visiting Sacramento Kings, 106-101.

• Khris Middleton scored 24 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo added 20 and the visiting Milwaukee Bucks sent the Memphis Grizzlies to their 18th consecutive loss, 121-103.

WNBA: The league draft will be held April 12 at New York.

SOCCER

U.S. HALL: Brad Friedel, Carlos Bocanegra and Thierry Henry are among first-year eligibles nominated for the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Also on the ballot for the first time are Juan Pablo Angel, Bobby Convey, Jay DeMerit, Stuart Holden, Eddie Johnson and Lori Lindsey.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher was suspended as an analyst by the Sky television network after being filmed spitting in the direction of a 14-year-old girl through his car window. In a video of the incident, the teenager’s father repeatedly mentioned Saturday’s score – Liverpool lost 2-1 at Manchester United – before Carragher spat.

GOLF

TELEVISION RATINGS: Tiger Woods was one shot away from a chance to win, and the PGA Tour had its largest television audience in five years.

NBC Sports Group said the final round of the Valspar Championship earned a 5.11 overnight rating, up 190 percent over the previous year and the highest-rated PGA Tour broadcast since Woods won The Players Championship in 2013. That doesn’t include the majors.

PRESIDENTS CUP: Tiger Woods and Ernie Els agreed to be captains for the 2019 matches in Melbourne, Australia.

FOOTBALL

SECURITY THEFT: Emitt Long, 46, will serve 20 months in prison for stealing gas masks and a bomb detector from law officers dealing with security during Super Bowl week in downtown Minneapolis.

Officers traced Long’s car registration and arrested him. He told police he threw everything away except for two gas masks, because he wanted to smoke marijuana out of them. All of the missing items were recovered.

GAMING

TOURNAMENT BETTING: America’s gambling industry predicts $10 billion will be bet on the NCAA college basketball tournament – nearly all of it illegally or off-the-books.

The American Gaming Association, which favors the full legalization and regulation of sports betting in the United States, found 54 million people – or about a quarter of the U.S. adult population – participated in a sports betting pool last year, spending $18 billion on entry fees. That includes 24 million who filled out basketball brackets pools and spent $2.6 billion on entry fees.

TENNIS

BNP PARIBAS OPEN: Roger Federer rolled past No. 25 seed Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-1 in pursuit of a record sixth title in the event at Indian Wells, California, and Sloane Stephens remained mired in a post-U.S. Open slump.

Stephens lost to Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-4, 6-3, and fell to 2-4 in matches this year.

– News service report

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