Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster falls to the ground after crossing the line in an attempt to catch Canada’s Perdita Felicien in the 100-meter hurdles. Foster took the silver medal.

Sanya Richards, right, held off Russia and Jamaica on the anchor leg to clinch the women’s 4×400-meter title for the United States.

After weeks of defending herself against doping allegations and trying to explain her subpar performances on the track, Marion Jones smiled and laughed as she poked a little fun at herself. An exhausted Jones pulled out of the 200 at the U.S. track and field trials to focus on the long jump and the relays — and perhaps even a spot in the 100.

“It’s extremely disappointing. I’m not going to candy coat anything,” she said. “My reasoning for pulling out of the 200 today is simply because of fatigue. There’s no other reason. After running my round yesterday I was simply tired, exhausted.”

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have acquired 11-time All-Star center Shaquille O�Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Caron Butler, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom and a future first-round draft pick. �Today the Miami HEAT took a giant step forward in our continued pursuit of an NBA championship for the city of Miami and this franchise,� said HEAT President Pat Riley.

Sources say the Heat may have also increased the value of the team as well. Adding Shaq to the roster has boosted the teams value $40+ million higher.

In other news:

Steve Nash may not be the only talented player the Suns land this summer. The club also agreed to a deal with restricted free agent swingman Quentin Richardson. An offer sheet has been signed and the Clippers, his current team, now have 14 days to match the offer and retain the four-year NBA veteran�s services, or decline and allow him to make his way to the Valley.

As the pool of available big men in free agency continues to shrink, the Heat was left Thursday to mull the possibilities of something truly gargantuan.

“It’s not a news bulletin that Shaq’s on the market,” Heat President Pat Riley said. “And we, like everybody else, are listening.”

Apparently, the Heat is listening intently, joined by the Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks as teams making the biggest pushes for Shaquille O’Neal.

With the Lakers’ center demanding a trade, the Heat apparently has pushed virtually all its chips to the center of the table — with the exception of guard Dwyane Wade, seemingly its lone untouchable.

Although he attempted to downplay such trade talks, Riley, making his first appearance at the Pepsi Pro Summer League, did not discount the possibility.

In fact, amid an already wild offseason that has seen guards Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis trade places in Orlando and Houston, respectively, and Vince Carter push for a trade from Toronto, Riley said no prospect should be disregarded.

“I mean, Tracy McGrady got traded. He was on the market,” Riley said. “I’ve heard three or four other great-name players that are on the market, Shaq being one of ’em.

“You’ve got to pursue ’em. You’re foolish if you don’t try to pursue ’em and at least listen.”

The question now is the intensity of that dialogue. For example, Dallas still is said to be reluctant to include forward Dirk Nowitzki in its bid, with Indiana having similar reservations with center Jermaine O’Neal.

I personally would not like this deal to happen. Although I dont like Eddie Jones and I have no problem shipping Grant out of town, I dont think the Heat (Or Miami) needs a media whore like Shaq around. Yes, Miami needs a big man in the middle, all he would have to do is grab rebounds and block shots – and REALLY hustle. Shaq has been taking nights off for the past 2 seasons. In addition to the Heat needing a center they also need a backup point guard. Why they picked that high school kid INSTEAD of Jameer Nelson I’ll never know. Now Austin signed with Toronto… Pat Riley WTF man?!?!

The much-anticipated Wimbledon quarterfinal between defending champion Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati fell far short of its billing Wednesday, as Williams raced to a 6-1, 6-1 victory in 45 minutes. Thousands of fans were still filing into Center Court when the match ended.

Capriati held serve the first game, but then Williams won eight straight games to go up 6-1, 2-0, and never looked back. She won on a stretch forehand volley, one of the few points in which she had to exert herself. Williams’ semifinal opponent is Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat Paola Suarez 6-0, 5-7, 6-1.

”When you play Jennifer, you’ve got to come out really strong,” said Williams, who had lost to Capriati their last two meetings. “Since I’ve been playing her, I’ve been trying to come out strong and I always seem to come out slow, so I wanted to come out smokin’.”

Capriati had no answers.

Capriati complained that she was distracted by the media hype surrounding the match.

Serena Williams waves to the crowd after defeating Spain’s Magui Serna in their Women’s Singles match on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, Sunday, June 27, 2004.

A few stats on Serena. Born Sep. 26, 1981 in Saginaw, MI. She is 5’9″ and 130 pounds. Plays right handed. She is currently ranked 10th in the ATP standings. Her sister Venus is currently ranked 8th.

The Rockets and Magic have finalized a deal to send Tracy McGrady to Houston — provided none of the other principal names in the multi-player trade are selected in Tuesday’s expansion draft, ESPN’s Jim Gray reports.

The trade also includes Juwan Howard to Houston, while Orlando will get Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato in return. Of those five players, McGrady and Francis are protected and cannot be drafted by the Bobcats. If Charlotte passes on Howard, Mobley and Cato, then the deal is done, Gray reports.

To make the trade work financially under the salary-cap rules, the Magic would also send Tyronn Lue to Houston, reports ESPN’s David Aldridge. Andrew DeClercq may also be shipped to Houston.

Jeff Fried, Francis’ agent, told the Houston Chronicle on Monday that Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson told him the trade was not complete but was close.

“I spoke to Carroll and it was not a done deal,” Fried told the paper. “It’s close. It’s subject to a few contingencies.”

The New York Times reported that the trade could not become official until July 15 due to a stipulation in Francis’ contract that makes him a base-year compensation player.

In the expansion draft (Tuesday, 7 ET), the Bobcats will select 14 players from existing NBA rosters. Few of those players are expected to wind up on Charlotte’s opening-night roster.

Joe Dumars built the team, Larry Brown coached it and Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Co. brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Detroit. Big Ben delivered 18 points, 22 rebounds and three blocks Tuesday as the Pistons routed the Lakers 100-87 in Game 5 to win The Finals, giving Motown its first NBA title since 1990.

The Lakers as we know them will no longer be. The futures of Malone, Fisher, Payton, Kobe are all in question. Phil Jackson said after the game that he might not be back either.

Congrats to Detriot!

Detriot bounced back from that disappointing lost by smacking L.A. with a 88-68 ass kicking. Detriot’s amazing defense held the Lakers to their smallest point output since the inception of the shotclock. Now thats what I call a beat down!

After taking an untimely brief break at the end of Game 2, the defense of the Detroit Pistons returned with a record-setting vengeance.

With a smothering effort that shut down both Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the Pistons shook off a loss and shackled the Los Angeles Lakers, 88-68, moving closer to an improbable NBA championship.

After Detroit’s Game 1 win, coach Larry Brown said he didn’t think his team could defend better. Back on their home court in front of a manic crowd, the Pistons proved him wrong as they stymied O’Neal and Bryant, the superstars who had combined for better than 60 points per game.

“This is as good as we can play,” said Brown, correcting himself.

O’Neal, who never had been held below 25 points in 21 career Finals games, was limited to 14 on 7-of-14 shooting and missed his only two free throws as he was harassed by two-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace and hampered by foul trouble.

NBA – THAT DAMN KOBE! Detriot had a chance to go up 0-2 on the Lakers and with 10.9 secs left in the game down 3. Lakers inbound the ball to Shaq AND THEY DIDNT FOUL HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next, Shaq hands off the pass to Kobe, and then you know the rest… Kobe drains the 3 like Liquid Plumber sending the game into overtime.

Once in overtime the Lakers outscored the Pistons 10-2… Im disappointed, but its still 1-1, Detriot got 1, but they should have gotten 2!

So who is it going to be? Judging by the voting alot of you think the Lakers are going to take it all. I think Detriot is going to give them all they can handle. Its going to take more than 2 Lakers to beat the Pistons. Rip, and the 2 Wallaces are going to be on point. The action starts on Sunday. Lets get ready to rumble fellas!

Those 2 traitors Malone & Payton better step it up or they will go down as a waste of money for Lakers management.

Tipoff: Sunday, 8:30pm EST – ABC