FOOTBALL

Musburger moves to SEC

ESPN said Brent Musburger will be the lead play-by-play announcer for its new SEC Network, with former Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer as analyst. Musburger’s move to the SEC Network opens the play-by-play spot on ESPN’s Saturday prime-time game. ESPN has not announced who will take that job, though there has been speculation Chris Fowler, the host of Game Day whose contract with ESPN is expiring, will move into that play-by-play role alongside analyst Kirk Herbstreit. The SEC Network launches next season. The first football game on the network will be Texas A&M at South Carolina on Thursday, Aug. 28. Musburger and Palmer will call that game and a game every Saturday on the SEC Network.

BASKETBALL

Anthony: Jackson coming

Carmelo Anthony said he has heard that 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson will be “coming on board” in a leadership capacity with the New York Knicks, although he cautioned that nothing is yet official. Anthony made the comments Wednesday to reporters in Boston, where the Knicks are playing the Celtics. Anthony said he has not spoken with Jackson about what his role will be or his plans for the Knicks, but he said team officials told him in the past couple days that they were pursuing Jackson to oversee their basketball operations. Neither the Knicks nor Jackson have made any public comment.

HOCKEY

Faceoff changes possible

The NHL may make two small changes to how it handles face offs. The league’s general managers ended three days of meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., on Wednesday with recommendations for a few minor tweaks to be taken to the competition committee in June for consideration. Players who would have been ejected for a face off violation now may just have to take a step back. The league also may move hash marks out to five feet to prevent fighting on the sides of the circle. In overtime, the general managers suggested making teams defend the net that is farther away from their bench.

Rich Peverley, 31, will not play again this season after the Dallas Stars forward collapsed on the bench during a game. One of Peverley’s doctors said at a news conference Wednesday that Peverley will undergo a procedure that was originally planned for after the season. He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in training camp. Dr. Robert Dimeff said Peverley’s playing status beyond this season is unknown. Peverley missed a game last week before going down in the first period Monday against Columbus, stunning players and fans. Peverley was stabilized by doctors at American Airlines Center and taken to a Dallas hospital, where he was in stable condition and undergoing tests. The game was postponed.

TENNIS

Raonic’s serve tops Murray

Milos Raonic rode his big serve to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Andy Murray in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., on Wednesday, giving the Canadian his first victory over a top-10 player since September. Raonic fired 15 aces and held triple match point when he ripped a cross court forehand to close out the victory after breaking Murray three times in the final set. Murray, ranked sixth in the world, struggled in all three of his matches. He rallied from a set down to beat Lukas Rosol and Jiri Vesely, but couldn’t overcome Raonic’s power. Raonic, 23, ranked 11th in the world, advanced to the quarterfinals against Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who beat Fabio Fognini of Italy, 6-2, 6-4.

SOCCER Germany beats Japan

A flurry of goals to the start the second half helped Germany to a 3-0 victory over world champion Japan in the final of the Algarve Cup at Faro, Portugal, on Wednesday. The United States beat North Korea 3-0 for seventh place. Substitute Nadine Kessler’s first touch was a goal from the edge of the penalty area in the 46th minute. Anja Mittag doubled the advantage for the European champions four minutes later by back heeling teammate Fatmire Alushi’s pass into the net. Dzsenifer Marozsan completed the rout against a dazed Japan in the 61st minute with a shot from 20 yards as the German women secured their third title in the competition. Iceland scored two first-half goals and hung on to beat Sweden 2-1 in the third-place game at the annual competition.

BASKETBALL Lakers’ Bryant out remainder of season

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers said Wednesday that Kobe Byrant will not play for the rest of this season.

Bryant was examined Wednesday by Dr. Steve Lombardo, and the orthopedic specialist said Bryant’s left knee fracture still had not healed, the team said.

The NBA regular season ends April 16.

“With Kobe’s injury still not healed, the amount of time he’d need to rehab and be ready to play, and the amount of time remaining in the season, we’ve simply run out of time for him to return,” Lakers trainer Gary Vitti said in a statement. “However, Kobe will have the entire off season to heal … and we look forward to him being 100 percent for the start of next season.”

Bryant, 35, has played only six games this season because of two injuries - a torn left Achilles’ tendon that kept him sidelined the first 19 games and a fractured knee in the same leg that has kept him out since December.

“Obviously this has been a frustrating and disappointing season,” Bryant said in a released statement, “but I appreciate all the support I’ve received from the Lakers and the fans, and look forward to being back and ready for the start of training camp.”

It makes sense that Bryant would sit out the Lakers’ final 18 games because the team is nowhere near playoff contention. They have been at or near the bottom of the Western Conference standings and are 22-42 heading into a two-game road trip at Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

Bryant initially wanted to return for at least a handful of games because he hoped to get a feel for what he needed to work on during the off-season.

The six games he played were up and down. He made only 2 of 9 shots in his debut against Toronto but looked better nine days later against Memphis, scoring 21 points on 9-for-18 shooting with 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 33 minutes. It turned out to be his final game of 2013-14.

Sports, Pages 20 on 03/13/2014