By Eric M. Johnson (Reuters) - The owners of the Sacramento Kings basketball franchise have struck a tentative deal to sell the California team to local investors after the National Basketball Association denied a proposal to move the team to Seattle, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said on Friday. The deal by an investor group led by tech developer and philanthropist Vivek Ranadive followed months of bitter wrangling between Seattle investors, who wanted the team to replace a beloved franchise the Pacific Northwest city lost in 2008, and California investors, who wanted it to stay put. ...

By Larry Fine NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carmelo Anthony's scoring prowess has powered the New York Knicks all season but he may need someone to fill the role of sidekick in order to stave off playoff elimination against the Indiana Pacers. With defensive-minded Indiana focused on stopping Anthony, a potent second option could swing the balance as the Knicks seek a win on Saturday that would extend the Eastern Conference semi-finals to a decisive seventh game on Monday in New York. J.R. ...

(Reuters) - The San Antonio Spurs advanced to the Western Conference finals after closing out the Golden State Warriors 94-82 in Game Six of their semi-final series on Thursday. Led by Tim Duncan's 19 points, the second-seeded Spurs claimed victory on the road in Oakland to seal a 4-2 triumph in the best-of-seven series and set up a showdown against the fifth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. All five Spurs starters contributed to the victory by registering double figure scores to help overcome unusually subdued performances from Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli. ...

By Larry Fine NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill will miss Thursday's Game Five of the NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals against the New York Knicks because of a concussion, the team said. The Pacers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can advance to the conference finals against the defending NBA champion Miami Heat with another win against the Knicks. "He (Hill) had the test this afternoon," Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters before the game at New York's Madison Square Garden. ...

(Reuters) - The Oklahoma City Thunder hope the pain of a disappointing end to what was shaping up as a phenomenal season proves a necessary step toward reaching their ultimate goal. With their title hopes dashed for at least another year after falling to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference semi-finals on Wednesday, the young and talented Thunder are ready to learn from the heartache. "Everything is a process and you have to go through some tough times to get to where you want to get to," Thunder forward Kevin Durant told reporters on Thursday. ...

By Simon Evans MIAMI (Reuters) - The Miami Heat reached their third straight Eastern Conference final after a 94-91 win over Chicago on Wednesday secured a 4-1 series victory for the defending NBA champions. Miami will face the winners of the series between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers. Indiana currently lead 3-1 going into Thursday's Game Five in New York. A series that began with a Chicago upset win in Miami and included some fierce, physical encounters, ended with a strange game as Miami blew an 18-point first quarter lead but somehow managed to claw their way back to victory. ...

By Marice Richter and Suzanne Hurt DALLAS (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association denied a proposal on Wednesday to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle following months of bitter wrangling among potential suitors, and strongly urged the team's owners to negotiate with a group fighting to keep the team in Sacramento. The decision, announced by NBA Commissioner David Stern, appears to put an end to a deal to sell the team to the Seattle group that would have valued the Kings at $625 million, a huge amount for an NBA team. ...

By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Rutgers University picked a woman to head its athletic programs on Wednesday, as New Jersey's largest public college looks to move on from a scandal that saw several top sports officials resign. Julie Hermann, 49, who was a senior executive atheletic director at the University of Louisville, will be the first woman to hold the post of athletic director at Rutgers. Her predecessor, Tim Pernetti, resigned in early April after ESPN aired video showing the school's then-head men's basketball coach abusing players and berating them with homophobic ...

(Reuters) - The San Antonio Spurs routed visiting Golden State 109-91 on Tuesday to grab a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference second round series. The Spurs had squandered an eight-point advantage in the fourth quarter of Game Four to let the Warriors even the series, but they much more clinical back at home in the AT&T Center where they only briefly trailed in the first quarter. Tony Parker recorded 25 points and 10 assists while Tim Duncan had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who will try to close out the series in Game Six on Thursday at Golden State. ...

(Reuters) - Indiana grabbed a 3-1 lead over the New York Knicks in their Eastern Conference second round series on Tuesday, the Pacers suffocating the Knicks on defense and winning the battle of the boards en route to a 93-82 victory. Game Five is in New York on Thursday when the Knicks will have to win to stay alive in the series, while the Pacers can reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The Knicks, who scored just 71 points in an 11-point loss on Saturday, failed to show much sign of urgency on Tuesday and trailed by 14 at halftime. ...