BASKETBALL
Magic hire Skiles
The Orlando Magic have hired former player Scott Skiles as their next head coach. General Manager Rob Hennigan announced the hiring Friday. Skiles, 51, becomes the 12th coach in franchise history. He follows Jacque Vaughn, who was fired in February. Skiles was a member of the Magic’s inaugural team in 1989-90 and played point guard for a total of five seasons in Orlando as part of his 10-year playing career. He is a 13-year veteran NBA coach, with stops in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee. He owns a 443-433 overall coaching record, with his best season coming with the Suns in 2000-01 when they went 51-31. The Magic’s front office was mostly mum during the coaching search, with Hennigan only acknowledging at the outset that they planned to interview interim coach James Borrego. Borrego led the Magic to a 10-20 record following Vaughn’s dismissal. It was clear that Magic were interested in hiring a more veteran coach to lead the next step of the Magic’s rebuilding process, following three consecutive seasons of 25 or fewer victories under Vaughn, a first-time coach. Though Skiles has only the lone 50-win season as a head coach, he did help the Bulls improve from 23 victories in 2003-04 to 47 victories in his first full season in Chicago. He went on to guide the Bulls to three consecutive playoff appearances, which ended a six-year postseason drought for Chicago. Skiles also has a reputation of being a no-nonsense presence in the locker room, an extension of his playing days in which he was known as an intense competitor. He inherits a young roster in Orlando, headlined by big man Nik Vucevic and guards Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton. That list also includes forward Tobias Harris, who previously played under Skiles in Milwaukee as a rookie and for part of his second year in the league.
Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has been diagnosed with a concussion and will not practice until he is symptom free. The Warriors announced the diagnosis Friday after Thompson went through neurological tests earlier in the day. The All-Star guard took a knee to the head from Houston’s Trevor Ariza in the fourth quarter of Golden State’s Western Conference finals clinching victory Wednesday night. Team doctors initially cleared Thompson to return to the game. He ended up not playing, and the team said he started developing symptoms after the game. The Warriors said Thompson will continue to be evaluated and will not be allowed back on the court until he clears the league’s concussion protocol guidelines. The NBA Finals start Thursday against Cleveland.
The NBA has upgraded a call on Houston’s Dwight Howard in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the Warriors to a flagrant 1, and the Rockets center will be suspended for one game without pay next season, the league announced Friday. The incident, originally ruled a common foul, occurred when Howard made what the league called unnecessary contact with his forearm to the neck area of Golden State’s Andre Iguodala with 3:35 left in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 104-90 close-out victory at Oracle Arena on Wednesday. The NBA made the change after a league office review of the play. Howard will serve his suspension in the first game of the 2015-16 regular season in which he is eligible and physically able to play. Additionally, technical fouls called on Howard and Warriors center Andrew Bogut with 3:19 left in the second quarter were rescinded.
MOTOR SPORTS
Power takes pole
Will Power set a track qualifying record at Belle Isle in Detroit, winning the pole Friday for the first of this weekend’s two IndyCar races. Power’s time of 1 minute, 16.0941 seconds bested the previous mark of 1:16.1371 by Takuma Sato last year. Helio Castroneves also beat that record Friday, finishing second to Power at 1:16.12. Power, Castroneves and Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya gave owner Roger Penske a sweep of the top three qualifying spots for today’s race. Penske has been a driving force behind this event, and his team has performed impressively of late in Detroit. Power and Castroneves won at Belle Isle in 2014. Sato was fourth in qualifying Friday. Simon Pagenaud was next, giving Penske four of the top five.
Denny Hamlin turned a lap of 160.121 mph Friday at Dover International Speedway to win his first pole of the season. Hamlin won the Dover pole for the third time in the last six races. Martin Truex Jr., who has one of his two career Sprint Cup victories at Dover, joins Hamlin on the front row. Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano round out the top five. Hendrick Motorsports failed to land a car in the final round of qualifying for the second consecutive race.
BASEBALL
Break 2 weeks old
Washington’s Jayson Werth is out indefinitely after another test found that he broke his left wrist two weeks ago. The outfielder was hit on the left wrist by a pitch from the Padres’ Odrisamer Despaigne on May 16 and has been unable to swing a bat. With the injury still bothering him, he went for a CT scan on Thursday — the team’s day off — and it detected two small fractures. Manager Matt Williams says there’s no timetable for his return. Werth was batting .208 with two home runs and 12 RBI when he got hurt. Williams plans to use several players in right field while he’s gone.
The Cincinnati Reds have moved struggling starter Jason Marquis to the bullpen, leaving them with three rookies in the starting rotation for now. Marquis signed with the Reds in the offseason, continuing his comeback from Tommy John surgery. He went 3-4 with a 6.46 ERA in nine starts, prompting Manager Bryan Price to rearrange his rotation for a series against the Washington Nationals on Friday. Marquis gave up four runs and 10 hits during 52/3 innings of a 5-4 loss on Monday to the Rockies. Johnny Cueto remains sidelined by inflammation in his pitching elbow, causing him to miss two starts so far. Price said the earliest he would return is a series in Philadelphia next week.
TENNIS
Federer cruises to second week in Paris
PARIS — Roger Federer kept his score sheet unblemished with a third consecutive victory in straight sets Friday as the second seed breezed into the second week of the French Open.
Federer dominated Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 while eighth-seeded Swiss compatriot Stan Wawrinka knocked off American Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Wawrinka next plays French 12th seed Gilles Simon, a winner over compatriot Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1. Federer will wait for the winner of Gael Monfils and Pablo Cuevas.
Tomas Berdych, seeded fourth, held off Benoit Paire of France 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 while Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori benefited from a walkover announced Thursday when intended opponent Benjamin Pecker withdrew with a shoulder problem.
Women’s title holder Maria Sharapova, fighting a virus, advanced over 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-4, winning her 15th match out of 17 played in the series.
Alize Cornet, the No. 29 from Nice who had never been past the third round in 10 previous attempts, booked a spot in the second week with a defeat of 33-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Richard Gasquet, born in Beziers near the Spanish border, finished off a second-round match interrupted the night before as he beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
The 2008 Paris champion and one-time No. 1 Ana Ivanovic defeated Croatian teenager Donna Vekic 6-0, 6-3 to move into the fourth round for the second time.
Flavia Pennetta knocked out Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-4.
Russian ninth seed Ekaterina Makarova beat compatriot Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4, Spain’s Garbine Muguruza upset German 11th seed Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 and Czech No. 12 Lucie Safarova put out Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).