Associated Press
NEW YORK ó Former NBA star Jayson Williams was zapped with a stun gun by police in his swank hotel suite Monday after the reportedly suicidal athlete resisted attempts by officers to take him to a hospital.
Police were called to the hotel in lower Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood around 4 a.m. when a female friend reported that the former New Jersey Nets player, who was convicted in 2004 of trying to cover up a shooting at his home and whose wife recently filed for divorce, was acting suicidal.
When officers arrived, the 6-foot-10, 325-pound Williams appeared drunk and agitated, police said. There were empty bottles of prescription drugs strewn around his disheveled hotel suite and several suicide notes.
NBA PLAYOFFS
MIAMI ó Zaza Pachulia had 12 points and 18 rebounds, and the Atlanta Hawks raced out to a huge first-half lead and frustrated Dwyane Wade endlessly in beating the Miami Heat 81-71 Monday night to tie the first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two games apiece.
Mike Bibby scored 15 points, Joe Johnson added 14 and Josh Smith 13 for the Hawks.
NFL
NEW YORK ó Detroit Lions top pick Matthew Stafford appeared on Monday night’s Late Show with David Letterman, reading the Top Ten list.
The quarterback will try and help the Lions overcome the first 0-16 season in NFL history.
“If the Lions win one game this year, I’m a hero,” Stafford joked on the show.
– ASHBURN, Va. ó Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, a former Heisman Trophy finalist who wasn’t chosen in the NFL draft, agreed to terms with the Washington Redskins.
Daniel had 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and finished fourth in the Heisman balloting as a junior in 2007. This year, he had 39 touchdowns and 18 interceptionds.
– CINCINNATI ó Running back Chris Perry was released Monday by the Cincinnati Bengals. Perry was the 26th overall pick out of Michigan in 2004, but he started only three games, spending a lot of time recovering from a hernia, a hamstring injury, knee and ankle problems and a broken lower leg.
– CLEVELAND ó After going undrafted, Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell has agreed to attend Cleveland’s rookie minicamp this weekend.
TRUCKS
KANSAS CITY, Kan. ó Strong winds, rain and hail, even tornadoes weren’t enough to stop Mike Skinner from giving football star Randy Moss his first win as a NASCAR truck owner.
Waiting through two days, a pair of weather delays and a tornado scare, Skinner won the rain-shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 trucks race at Kansas Speedway on Monday ó the first victory for Randy Moss Motorsports.
PREP CUTS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. ó High school athletes in Florida will play fewer games for the next two years under a new rule approved by the Florida High School Athletic Association that is designed to save money during tough economic times.
The group’s board of directors voted 9-6 Monday to cut the number of varsity games by 20 percent and all other play by 40 percent through the 2010-11 school year. The policy applies to all sports except for football.