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NBA NEWS-Suns take 'interim' tag off coach Gentry's title

NBA NEWS
PHOENIX (AP) -- As expected, the Phoenix Suns are sticking with coach Alvin Gentry.

Suns NBA general manager Steve Kerr removed the interim tag from Gentry's title on Saturday, calling him "the right man to lead our team into the future."

Kerr said when the season ended that his first order of business was to re-sign Gentry, who took over the struggling Suns on Feb. 16 after coach Terry Porter was fired just four months into his first season with the club.

Gentry's contract is for two years with a third-year option.

Gentry returned the Suns to the freeform style of Porter's predecessor Mike D'Antoni, guiding the team to an 18-13 record despite the absence of injured All-Star Amare Stoudemire for all but one game.

Phoenix finished 46-36, the second-best record of any team that failed to make the playoffs since the field expanded to 16 teams 25 years ago.

Gentry joined the Suns as an assistant to D'Antoni in 2004 and stayed on when Porter was hired following the 2007-08 season.

This is his fourth stint as an NBA head coach. The others were with the Los Angeles Clippers (2000-03), Detroit (1997-200) and Miami (1995).

Gentry, 54, has been in coaching for 30 years, including jobs as an assistant to Larry Brown, Kevin Loughery and Doug Collins

NBA NEWS-Artest not suspended for Game 4, foul downgraded

HOUSTON (AP) -- The NBA downgraded a flagrant foul called against Ron Artest, determining Saturday that the play should not have been severe enough to warrant an ejection.

Artest was whistled for a flagrant foul penalty two, an automatic ejection, for his hard foul on Pau Gasol late in the Lakers' 108-94 victory over Houston on Friday in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

"It happened so fast. It's a bang-bang play. Nowadays, in our league, that's cause for a flagrant foul," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "The referees told me that he hit him in the head. But it was such a bang-bang play, I just didn't think there was any intention of hurting him or anything. They just reacted to the play, Gasol went down hard. I think [downgrading] it was a good call."

League spokesman Tim Frank confirmed Saturday the foul was downgraded. Artest will not face a suspension for Game 4 on Sunday.

"I think that they made more of that than it was. I didn't think that was a flagrant two," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It looked to me like it was a hard foul. There's a danger point right there where Pau goes down, and then I think they have to worry about it a little bit. But as far as malicious contact, I have to disagree. I think they overreacted a little bit on that."

Artest also had a point removed from his flagrant foul total. Players are suspended a game if they accumulate four flagrant foul points in the postseason.

"It don't mean nothing to me," Artest said of the league's decision. "It's not important. It doesn't matter to me."

The temperamental Artest was also thrown out of Game 2 in Los Angeles after a verbal confrontation with Kobe Bryant. Artest claimed that Bryant elbowed him in the neck, a blow that wasn't called by the officials.

The Lakers have a 2-1 lead in the series.

Yao questionable for Game 4 against Lakers

HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston Rockets are down 2-1 in their Western Conference semifinal series with the Los Angeles Lakers and may be down their best player for Game 4.