Roundup

Harrington out 4-to-8 weeks with sprained MCL

HOUSTON (AP) -- New York Knicks forward Othella Harrington sprained a ligament in his right knee and will need 4-to-8 weeks to recover.

Harrington was working out on Monday when he injured his medial collateral ligament, the Knicks said Wednesday. He averaged 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 74 games -- 64 starts -- last season.

The Knicks open the regular season on Oct. 29 at home against Orlando.

Celtics to retire Cornbread's No. 31

BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Celtics will retire Cedric Maxwell's No. 31 at halftime of their Dec. 15 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team announced Wednesday.

Maxwell, an analyst on Celtics radio broadcasts, will be the 22nd player to have his number retired by the Celtics. He spent eight seasons with Boston after being drafted in the first round in 1977. The 6-foot-8 forward was on championship teams in 1981 and 1984 and averaged 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in his Celtics' career.

The ceremony will feature tributes from Celtics players and management, and will be hosted by former Celtics player and coach Tom Heinsohn.

Maxwell finished his 11-year NBA career playing one season with the Los Angeles Clippers and two with the Houston Rockets.

Maxwell, still Boston's career leader with a field-goal percentage of 55.9, was named MVP of the NBA finals in 1981 and scored 24 points in the seventh-game victory in 1984 over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Raptors sign center Ken Johnson

TORONTO (AP) -- The Toronto Raptors signed free agent center Ken Johnson on Wednesday.

Johnson appeared in 16 games with the Miami Heat last season, averaging 2 points, 2 rebounds and 9.8 minutes per game. Johnson played overseas and in the CBA the year before.

The 6-foot-10 Johnson attended Ohio State, where he was the Big Ten defensive player of the year in both his junior and senior seasons.

Game 3 most-watched WNBA game on ESPN2

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Detroit Shock's victory over the Los Angeles Sparks in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Tuesday night produced the highest overnight rating ever for one of the league's games on ESPN2.

The 0.81 rating for Detroit's 83-78 win was almost double the previous high of 0.44, set on Aug. 27, 2001, when Los Angeles beat Sacramento 93-62, and tied earlier in this year's playoffs when Detroit defeated Cleveland 76-74. The network has broadcast a total of 55 WNBA games.

Each rating point for the cable network represents about 856,000 households. ESPN2 is carried in about 84.5 million homes -- about 2 million less than ESPN.

ESPN2 carried Games 1 and 3 of the finals, receiving an average rating of 0.59.

Game 2 was shown on ABC on Sunday. It received a 1.2 overnight rating. Overnight ratings for the broadcast networks measure the 55 largest TV markets in the United States, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use.

This was the first year the games shown by the cable network were aired exclusively on ESPN2. Before that, one game would be shown on ESPN2 and the other, if necessary, on ESPN.