Big Toe

Brian Urlacher walked into a meeting room yesterday with no limp, an encouraging sign for the Chicago Bears, still reeling from their first loss. An MRI exam showed the star linebacker has a sprained big toe on his left foot and not the major injury the team feared. "Brian means quite a bit to our football team, so that was cause for concern, but we feel a lot better about it now," coach Lovie Smith said. Whether Urlacher will be able to play this Sunday night against the Giants was undetermined.

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce has returned to the team's regular-season finale against the Milwaukee Bucks after going to the locker room with a sprained left big toe. The Celtics said Pierce was not likely to return to Thursday night's game, but he was back on the court late in the second quarter. Pierce, who leads the Celtics with 19.7 points per game, started and scored the first five points before leaving with the injury early in the first quarter.

Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce has returned to the team's regular-season finale against the Milwaukee Bucks after going to the locker room with a sprained left big toe. The Celtics said Pierce was not likely to return to Thursday night's game, but he was back on the court late in the second quarter. Pierce, who leads the Celtics with 19.7 points per game, started and scored the first five points before leaving with the injury early in the first quarter.

Final:Celtics 87-74 The Celtics cruised after the first quarter as all 13 players got minutes. Rajon Rondo had 15 assists in 25 minutes while Avery Bradley lead the balanced scoring effort with 14 points. The Celtics are likely headed to Atlanta for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round on Sunday. End of third quarter, Celtics 78-61: The benches have been cleared and the Celtics are cruising to a season-ending win. Avery Bradley has 14 points, Paul Pierce added 12 in just six minutes while Rajon Rondo has 15 assists to extend his streak of 10 or more to 24 games.

The New York Yankees have scratched catcher Russell Martin from the starting lineup because of a sore left big toe. Martin was originally slated to bat sixth against the Oakland Athletics on Monday. But the team announced about an hour before first pitch that he is hurt and will be replaced by Francisco Cervelli in the lineup. Martin has started 44 of New York’s first 51 games this season. He is hitting .253 with nine homers and 26 RBIs.

Final:Celtics 87-74 The Celtics cruised after the first quarter as all 13 players got minutes. Rajon Rondo had 15 assists in 25 minutes while Avery Bradley lead the balanced scoring effort with 14 points. The Celtics are likely headed to Atlanta for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first round on Sunday. End of third quarter, Celtics 78-61: The benches have been cleared and the Celtics are cruising to a season-ending win. Avery Bradley has 14 points, Paul Pierce added 12 in just six minutes while Rajon Rondo has 15 assists to extend his streak of 10 or more to 24 games.

Amare Stoudemire will miss the New York Knicks’ game at New Jersey on Friday because of a sprained left ankle. Chauncey Billups will start, despite leaving the Knicks’ victory at Philadelphia on Wednesday with a bruised right thigh. Billups bruised his left thigh in early March against Orlando and missed six games. Stoudemire was hurt against the 76ers when he stepped on Thaddeus Young’s foot while trying to chase him down late in the fourth quarter. He finished the game, but coach Mike D’Antoni said the ankle has since swelled up and the Knicks...

Jurgen Melzer capped his amazing run through the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships with a broken right big toe by beating Milos Raonic of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Sunday for his fourth career title and first since 2010. Melzer ran over and hugged his coach, Joakim Nystrom, in the front row after finishing off the victory. Back troubles knocked Melzer from eighth in the world last spring to 38th coming into Memphis. The Austrian broke his toe Feb. 16 when he caught his foot in a hotel bedspread in the middle of the night.

Hampered by a painful foot injury since last season, three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martínez threw on flat ground again yesterday wearing a special shoe designed to alleviate the persistent discomfort in his right big toe. With Mets trainer Ray Ramírez , pitching coach Rick Peterson , and bullpen coach Guy Conti watching closely, Martínez, who reported to spring training Tuesday -- early for the second straight...

Sidney Lowe had big moments at North Carolina State, from roaming the sideline in a striking red blazer for rivalry wins against Duke and North Carolina to a pair of surprising Atlantic Coast Conference tournament runs. He just never figured out how to sustain that momentum or make it to the NCAA Tournament. Ultimately, it led to his resignation yesterday as the Wolfpack’s coach. “After five years, wins and losses matter, and they matter a lot,’’ athletic director Debbie Yow said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rajon Rondo had 20 points and 16 assists to help the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Bobcats 94-82 Sunday night despite playing without three of their star players. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were given the night off to rest and did not make the trip to Charlotte, N.C. to face the NBA-worst Bobcats. But the Celtics won anyway as Aaron Bradley and Brandon Bass each scored 22 points. Greg Stiemsma started in place of Garnett and had six blocks, tying a career-high.

Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves don't appear to have much left in the tank. Golden State's Charles Jenkins is just getting warmed up. David Lee had 31 points and eight rebounds, and Jenkins scored seven of Golden State's final nine points to help the Warriors rally from a 20-point deficit to top the reeling Timberwolves 97-94 on Wednesday night. Jenkins finished with 19 points and seven assists and Richard Jefferson scored 13 of 5-of-7 shooting for the Warriors, who snapped a six-game losing streak.

Jurgen Melzer capped his amazing run through the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships with a broken right big toe by beating Milos Raonic of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Sunday for his fourth career title and first since 2010. Melzer ran over and hugged his coach, Joakim Nystrom, in the front row after finishing off the victory. Back troubles knocked Melzer from eighth in the world last spring to 38th coming into Memphis. The Austrian broke his toe Feb. 16 when he caught his foot in a hotel bedspread in the middle of the night.

Jurgen Melzer, playing with a broken big toe on his right foot, upset top-seeded John Isner 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. The Austrian who broke his toe Feb. 16 in his hotel room has won three straight matches at The Racquet Club to reach the semifinals. He will play Radek Stepanek, a 7-6 (5), 6-0 winner over American Sam Querrey. Milos Raonic of Canada beat Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Friday night and will play either Lukasz Kubot of Poland or Benjamin Becker of Germany.

Luol Deng came through with 23 points and a career-high 11 assists, and the Chicago Bulls escaped with a 121-115 victory over the Sacramento Kings after watching a 19-point, fourth-quarter lead dwindle to two. Joakim Noah added 22 points and 11 rebounds. Kyle Korver scored 18, hitting four free throws in the final 17.6 seconds. Carlos Boozer scored 16, Taj Gibson added 15 points, and the Bulls came away with the win — barely — even though Derrick Rose missed his third straight game with lower back spasms.

Glen Rice Jr. just never looked like himself Sunday. Georgia Tech's scoring leader struggled to just four points in the 93-81 loss at No. 7 North Carolina, robbing the Yellow Jackets of a reliable scorer who has turned in big performances against highly ranked Duke and against North Carolina State in the team's only win of the past month. Rice said he was bothered by the injury to his right big toe suffered during a recent practice. "I don't know what happened," Rice said.

LeBron James scored 33 points, Chris Bosh added 30, and the Heat used a huge third-quarter turnaround to erase a big deficit and beat San Antonio, 120-98, last night in Miami, snapping a three-game slide. Miami outscored San Antonio, 39-12, in the third quarter - the second-largest differential for any quarter in Heat history, and the second-worst differential for a period in Spurs history. The Heat trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, 52-35. Miami's Mike Miller made his season debut and shot 6 for 6 on 3-pointers, finishing with 18 points.

Derrick Rose's injured toe is better, just not good enough to risk playing on. The league's reigning MVP sat out his third straight game Friday night with a sprained left big toe, an injury he first sustained on Jan. 10 at Minnesota. Before the Bulls played the Cleveland Cavaliers without Rose, coach Tom Thibodeau said his star point guard has improved. "Each day he's moving in the right direction," Thibodeau said, "and when he's ready to go, he'll go. " Rose did not participate in the morning shootaround and he did not warm up with his teammates.

Derrick Rose and Richard Hamilton each scored 22 points to lead the banged-up Chicago Bulls to an easy 110-95 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday. Hamilton set season highs in points and assists (10). Rose added eight assists and hung with Deron Williams after missing four games with a sprained left big toe. Joakim Noah chipped in with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and the Bulls made it look easy, cruising to their fourth straight win even though they're hardly a picture of health at the moment.

Luol Deng scored 21 points, Carlos Boozer added 19 and 14 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls managed easily without superstar Derrick Rose, embarrassing the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-75 on Friday night. Rose missed his third straight game with a strained left big toe, but the Bulls barely missed the NBA's reigning MVP and handed the Cavs their worst home loss. Cleveland lost by 35 at home in 1990 and 2001. Chicago, which has the league's best record at 14-3, led by 42 points in the fourth quarter when all the Bulls' starters were lounging in sweats.