Florida Sentinel Bulletin

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods limped off the golf course and into a future that is murkier than ever Thursday when he withdrew with leg injuries after his worst nine holes at The Players Championship.

“I’m having a hard time walking,” he said.

Woods shot a 42 on the front nine of the TPC Sawgrass, including a triple bogey on the fourth hole when he didn’t clear a water hazard 30 yards in front of him. He constantly walked some 20 yards behind his playing partner, holding his golf club for support, limping noticeably after each hole.

Not only did the Dallas Mavericks embarrass the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, they embarrassed a couple of former Lakers stars.

After the Mavericks finished off the sweep, Magic Johnson said that the Lakers “embarrassed the organization” and called the fouls on Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum “classless.”

Ex-Lakers star and general manager Jerry West said that he “was a little bit embarrassed.”

“Not with the loss,” West said. “But some of the things I saw on the floor which I thought were really just not something that a person that wears a Laker uniform should do.”

In the fourth quarter of Game 4, Dallas’ J.J. Barea drove to the basket and Bynum leveled him with an elbow to the ribs. The Lakers center was immediately ejected and escorted off the floor.

Odom was ejected moments earlier for a flagrant foul against Dirk Nowitzki.

Receiver Steve Smith says he hasn’t demanded a trade but has asked the Carolina Panthers to be “in a competitive situation.”

“These people that keep writing these articles, none of them have even spoken to me. What I want to do is be classy and not tip my cards, be respectful to the [Panthers] organization;”

“It’s not me saying, ‘Yes, I want a trade.’ It’s still a family matter, and when my family feels it’s the appropriate time, our actions will show how we feel.”

LAS VEGAS — Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. is facing new misdemeanor harassment charges accusing him of threatening two homeowner association security guards outside his Las Vegas home.

The charges filed Thursday in Las Vegas stem from an October dispute over parking with guards in the gated community where the undefeated prizefighter lives.

Mayweather already faces a September trial on a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from allegations that he poked a 21-year-old guard in the face during a separate argument over parking tickets in November. He also faces unrelated felony charges in a domestic argument with his ex-girlfriend and two of their children last year.

The new charges allege Mayweather threatened the guards after they cited several of his vehicles parked on the street in violation of association rules.

According to a police report, guard Miguel Burgos told police that Mayweather approached him and co-worker Aaron Ryan after they cited the cars and told them not to touch his vehicles.

WASHINGTON — Nearly 40 percent of NFL players last season wore a helmet model that got the second-lowest rating for reducing the risk of concussions in a study by Virginia Tech researchers.

Riddell’s VSR-4 helmet received just one star in a study of football helmets led by Virginia Tech professor of biomedical engineering, Stefan Duma and released Tuesday.

Another Riddell model — the Revolution Speed — was the only helmet that earned five stars, the top rating.

Five models — two made by Riddell, two by Schutt and one by Xenith — received four stars.

According to Riddell, 38 percent of NFL players wore the low-rated VSR-4 in 2010. The company also said 39 percent wore one of the various models that fall under the Riddell Revolution name or the new Riddell 360.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Robert Traylor, the former NBA and University of Michigan big man nicknamed “Tractor” because of his hulking frame, has died. He was 34.

Described as a “gentle giant” with a generous smile, Traylor played seven years in the NBA. He is perhaps most remembered, however, for his career at Michigan, where he was a standout for three seasons but, became embroiled in a major scandal involving a booster.

Police in San Juan said Traylor was found dead Wednesday on the bedroom floor of his oceanfront apartment. Police and Traylor’s team, the Bayamon Cowboys, said he had been missing for a few days and apparently died from a heart attack.

“He was a leader of the team,” said Jose Carlos Perez, the Cowboys’ manager. “He was very, very friendly. He got along very well with everyone. The fans loved him, idolized him.”

Perez said that Traylor had been talking by phone to his wife in Chicago when the connection was suddenly cut off. She called team officials Wednesday and they checked on him, Perez said.

The 6-foot-8, 300-pound Traylor was injured and had not been playing, the team said.

Traylor was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the sixth pick in 1998, but they traded his rights to Milwaukee in a major deal that sent Dirk Nowitzki to Dallas.

Traylor played for the Bucks in the first two seasons of an NBA career that included stops in Cleveland, Charlotte and New Orleans.

MIAMI — For LeBron James, Game 5 last season against Boston was horrific.

A year later, Game 5 was humbling.

And he and the Miami Heat are halfway to an NBA championship, having finally found a way to vanquish the Celtics.

Dwyane Wade scored 34 points, James added 33 – including the game’s last 10 in a spectacular closing flourish, part of Miami’s 16-0 run over the final 4:15 – and the Heat beat the Celtics 97-87 on Wednesday night to win their Eastern Conference semifinal series in five games.

When it was over, James knelt on the court, oblivious to the photographers who quickly surrounded him in Miami’s celebration.

“Everything went through my mind at that point,” James said. “Finally getting over this hump against this team. Everything I went through this summer, with ‘The Decision’ and deciding to come down here to be a part of this team … because I knew how important team is to this sport … and all the backlash I got from it.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Lakers center Andrew Bynum has been suspended for the first five games of next season for his flagrant foul on Dallas guard J.J. Barea in Los Angeles’ final playoff game.

The NBA announced the suspension Tuesday, two days after Bynum was ejected for the foul in the two-time defending champions’ 36-point loss to the Mavericks in Game 4.

The NBA also fined Bynum $25,000 for “removing his jersey and the manner in which he left the court.” The infraction will cost him $702,272 overall, including the fine.

Bynum expressed remorse for his actions Tuesday, saying his actions were terrible and unacceptable.

“My actions … don’t represent me, my upbringing, this franchise or any of the Laker fans out there that want to watch us and want us to succeed,” Bynum said.

“Furthermore, and more importantly, I want to actually apologize to J.J. Barea for doing that. I’m just glad that he wasn’t seriously injured in the event and all I can say is, I’ve looked at [the replay], it’s terrible and it definitely won’t be happening again.

Charles Barkley stated the suspension is outrageous. “They y should have suspended him 2 games at the most.”

Tiger Woods returns to competition Thursday in THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He has been idle since the Masters last month, when he tied for fourth despite playing with a left knee sprain and mild sprain of his left Achilles tendon in the final round.

Following doctor’s orders, Woods has rested his left leg, taken anti-inflammatories, used ice and had soft tissue massage. He said is feeling much improved. However, his nine-hole round Tuesday on the back nine of the Stadium Course was his first since the final round of the Masters.