Florida Sentinel Bulletin

DALLAS — The Mavericks will take this matchup every time. A one-eyed Chris Bosh gets a single shot to win Game 3, after which Dirk Nowitzki is given two chances to reply. That Miami won 88-86 to take a 2-1 lead in the Finals is why this series has a chance to become one of the best in modern times. Little is predictable, and nothing is without drama.

Bosh had made 15 of 52 field goals in these Finals, and all of them meant less than the 16-footer that came in the final minute Sunday. Never mind that the winner of Game 3 in these situations had gone on to win all 11 NBA Finals under the current 2-3-2 format. Neither Bosh nor LeBron James was thinking about any of the back-story numbers as the shot went up from the left elbow as if Bosh had made a career of enthusiastically mimicking Kobe Bryant.

“I don’t care if he missed 15 in a row, he was wide open and that’s his sweet spot,” James said. “It’s the trust we have in each other’s ability, no matter what point of the game is at.”

PRINCETON, New Jersey – Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron can add an honorary degree from Princeton University to his trophy case.

The former home run record-holder was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities for making America a better place with his “imperishable example of grace under pressure.”

The university cited how he kept his cool while pursuing Babe Ruth’s home run record nearly 40 years ago.

Princeton keeps its list of honorary degree recipients secret until the commencement ceremony. University President Shirley Tilghman gave the address, as she usually does.

Pictured: Former home run record-holder and Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron waves during commencement for the class of 2011.

NASHVILLE, N.C. – The father of Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers has lost his law enforcement job after being charged in North Carolina with felony possession of cocaine.

The State Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that 50-year-old George Thomas Kurney was arrested following a joint state-local investigation.

Nash County Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Joyner said Kurney was dismissed from his sheriff’s deputy job after his arrest Wednesday. Kurney was taken to the Wilson County jail shortly after 11 p.m. and released about an hour later on $1,000 bond.

Kurney had been a deputy for 10 years. He could not be reached for comment.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Kurney has an attorney. Peppers played for the Bears last year after eight seasons with the Carolina Panthers.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The lawyer for Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor has questioned the facts in a Sports Illustrated special report on the Buckeyes’ NCAA problems, saying the story is “90-percent wrong.”

Columbus attorney Larry James also said there is nothing out of the ordinary about the cars Pryor has driven or purchased.

“I think there’s a misperception about Terrelle, there’s a misperception about the overall program as brought about in part by the Sports Illustrated article that everybody’s just taken to the bank,” James said Thursday.

In a lengthy cover story in this week’s Sports Illustrated, released on Monday just hours after coach Jim Tressel’s forced resignation, investigative reporter George Dohrmann writes that there was a country-club atmosphere at a local tattoo shop for Buckeyes players and that at least 28 of them are either known or alleged to have traded or sold memorabilia in violation of NCAA rules.

Ohio State has suspended five players — including Pryor — for the first five games this fall, with another player suspended for one game.

NEW YORK — Locked up for 20 months for illegally carrying and firing a gun at a Manhattan nightclub, Plaxico Burress is ready to walk out of prison and face another grim reality, a lockout that could jeopardize the resumption of his football career.

The former New York Giants receiver who caught the game-winning pass in the 2008 Super Bowl is set to leave the Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York on Monday. Burress, who turns 34 in August, plans to return to his Florida home to spend time with his wife, son and a daughter born while he was in jail.

Unlike Michael Vick, released in 2009 from a federal term for dogfighting, Burress doesn’t have a league waiting to bid on his services.

But “he will play in the NFL this year,” Drew Rosenhaus, Burress’ agent, said in an email to The Associated Press. “Many teams want him. He will be a top free agent. He is healthy and ready to go. He will be signed shortly after the lockout ends.”

Burress’ release caps a more than three-year saga that saw yet another athlete put behind bars, separated from family and friends and losing the riches and lifestyle most only dream about.

“You go from being the absolute hero to finding yourself in jail for a mistake in judgment,” Peter M. Frankel, Burress’ attorney, told the AP in an interview. “It’s really a tragic story.”

Burress was at the pinnacle of his career when everything went south.

The lanky 6-foot-5 receiver seemingly had a career-defining moment when he caught a 13-yard pass from Eli Manning with 35 seconds to play to give the Giants a stunning 17-14 win over the undefeated New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl.

TRACY, Calif. — Hall of Fame running back John Henry Johnson died Friday. He was 81.

The San Francisco 49ers said in a release Saturday that Johnson, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 after a 14-season NFL career, died in Tracy.

A member of the “Million Dollar Backfield,” Johnson played three seasons for the 49ers (1954-56). A four-time Pro Bowler (1954, 1962-64), Johnson’s 6,803 career yards rushing trailed only Jim Brown, Jim Taylor and former 49er Joe Perry upon his retirement in 1966. Johnson was also a productive receiver, catching 186 passes for 1,478 yards. He scored 55 touchdowns during his career.

Johnson also played one season in the CFL before joining San Francisco.

“I was deeply saddened to hear of John Henry Johnson’s passing,” said 49ers owner John York. “He was a good friend, not only to my family and me, but the entire 49ers organization. As a member of the “Million Dollar Backfield” he holds a cherished place in both 49ers and NFL history. His contributions to the game of football will be forever celebrated.

A day after coach Jim Tressel’s forced resignation for lying about Ohio State players receiving improper benefits, the focus has shifted to the investigation of star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and his succession of used cars.

The salesman who put Pryor behind the wheel of several vehicles said in a sworn affidavit released by Ohio State on Tuesday that he didn’t offer any special deals to Buckeyes.

“The deals that I did for Ohio State student-athletes were no different than any of the other 10,000-plus deals that I’ve done for all my other customers,’’ Aaron Kniffin said in the statement.

Tressel’s 10-year reign as coach of the Buckeyes ended in disgrace Monday as he was forced to step down for breaking NCAA rules. He knew players received cash and tattoos for autographs, championship rings and equipment and did not tell anyone at Ohio State or the NCAA what he knew for more than nine months. NCAA rules – and Tressel’s contract – specify that he must disclose any and all information about possible violations.

Pryor, the highest profile recruit of Tressel’s 25-year coaching career, is one of five Buckeyes who have already been suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season for taking money and tattoos from local tattoo-parlor owner Edward Rife, who pleaded guilty last week to federal drug trafficking and money-laundering charges.

It looks like Jason Terry’s tattoo of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy is either going to be a great story about how he believed in his team from the beginning or a painful story, both literally and figuratively.

Terry told reporters on Sunday that he will get the tattoo removed from his right biceps if his Dallas Mavericks lose to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals

Magic superstar Dwight Howard said Monday he has no ambition to follow the lead of Shaquille O’Neal by heading to another contender and would rather make his own path in Orlando.

There has been increasing speculation Howard would move to a larger market like Los Angeles, or New York with the Knicks, when he becomes a free agent next year.

But in an interview, the 6-foot-11 center said he does not want to go anywhere.

“I’m not trying to run behind nobody like Shaq or be behind somebody else,” Howard said, referring to O’Neal’s move from the Magic to the Lakers after the 1995-96 season.

“I want to have my own path, and I want to start that here in Orlando. But I can’t do it alone. Not only do I need the right teammates, but I need the city behind me.

Howard is contracted to the Magic through to the end of the 2012-13 season, but has the option of becoming a free agent in the summer of 2012. He said he has never discussed leaving with the franchise.