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D.C. United declined its contract option on midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, two years after he was the leading scorer and the most valuable player of Major League Soccer. In 2012, as captain, he had 7 goals and a club-high 12 assists to help United reach the playoffs for the first time since 2007. This season, De Rosario had three goals and two assists as United went a league-worst 3-24-7.
■ The former San Jose Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop was hired as the coach and director of soccer for the Chicago Fire. Yallop, 49, replaced Frank Klopas, who was fired Tuesday after the Fire were eliminated from the playoff race.
When the Atlanta Hawks try to defend their home court for the first time this season on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, the first-year Coach Mike Budenholzer will have a simple adjustment for players: Get back on defense and pick up the open man.
Offense was not an issue in Wednesday's season-opening 118-109 loss in Dallas. Defense was another story.
The Hawks too often left Dallas shooters unguarded in transition, and the Mavericks made them pay, hitting 44 of 77 shots (57.1 percent), including 11 of 24 3-pointers.
Atlanta's transition defense was terrible, largely because the Hawks spent too much time concerning themselves with sticking to the opponent they were assigned to defend.
Budenholzer's adjustment is simple. "If you sprint back, you've got to take care of the basket first, and then the ball," and then the most dangerous shooter, he said. "A lot of times if it truly is transition, you don't end up with your own man."
Still, there were bright spots in Dallas.
Point guard Jeff Teague had 24 points, 9 assists and 4 steals while doing a nice job triggering Budenholzer's new offense. The newcomer Paul Millsap scored 20 points from the power forward spot, and another newcomer, Cartier Martin, added 17 points off the bench.
But Atlanta's defense was dreadful.
Teague believes the correction figures to be elementary.
"We were running back to our own man; that's stuff you learn in second grade," Teague said. "They were getting easy baskets. We've got to get back in transition and match up. It doesn't matter who you guard.
"We made mistakes. We're learning. We're a new team. We'll get better."
Budenholzer suggested a few days ago that the Hawks were further ahead in learning his new defensive systems than the offense. It did not look that way against the Mavericks.
"For any team to be good, it starts with transition defense," he said. "We'll build from there. That's our priority looking at the film. It's new habits for some people, so we're going to keep pounding on that."
The Hawks are going to want to be better on the boards, too. They were outrebounded, 42-33, by Dallas as the two players most likely to lead them in rebounds, Millsap and center Al Horford, were limited to five each.
Horford — who had 11 points, 5 steals and 4 blocked shots against Dallas — expects Atlanta to play better. He averaged nearly 24 points and 11 rebounds against Toronto last season.
"It's always exciting to play at home in front of our fans, and get things on the right track," Horford said. "After looking at film, transition defense hurt us a lot. We saw our mistakes, and the things that we need to make adjustments on."
GRIZZLIES KEEP PONDEXTER The Memphis Grizzlies have signed Quincy Pondexter to a contract extension, beating a Thursday night deadline for players drafted in 2010. The Grizzlies did not disclose terms of the deal.
Pondexter, a 6-foot-6 guard-forward, led the Grizzlies with a career-high 39.5 percent shooting from 3-point range in 59 games last season. Pondexter, who hit a combined 40 3-pointers in his first two seasons, hit 60 3s last season.
He was even better during the playoffs, shooting 45.3 percent outside the arc. In the Western finals, Pondexter averaged 15.3 points, shooting 53.7 percent from the floor.
Pondexter was the 26th selection overall by Oklahoma City in 2010, which traded his rights to New Orleans. Memphis traded for him Dec. 24, 2011.
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Buffalo's Henrik Tallinder was checked into the boards by the Rangers' Taylor Pyatt on Thursday.
Henrik Lundqvist was at his busiest when the only thing really in doubt was whether he would skate off with a shutout.
The rest of the Rangers took care of beating the Buffalo Sabres up and down the ice.
Lundqvist made 29 saves in his 47th N.H.L. shutout, and Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider provided the offense in the Rangers' 2-0 win over the visiting Sabres on Thursday night as the Rangers (5-7) began a four-game home stand in workmanlike fashion.
"This is definitely a game we wanted to win and needed to win," said Lundqvist, who served as the backup when the Rangers beat the Islanders on Tuesday. "The way we started the game, we set the tone right away. We did so many good things. I thought we were all over them pretty much the whole game."
Ryan Miller shined in defeat as he turned aside 44 shots just to keep his struggling club in it.
Lundqvist was tested the most in the final few minutes. He stopped a shot with the top of his mask, deflecting the puck into the crowd, and then robbed Marcus Foligno with 1 minute 20 seconds remaining.
Brassard scored a power-play goal in the first period, and Kreider netted his second in two games in the second period to power Lundqvist's third win and second shutout this season.
Buffalo lost its third straight and is a league-worst 2-12-1.
Rangers center Dominic Moore will be sidelined for 7 to 10 days because of a strained oblique muscle sustained early in a game Tuesday against the Islanders.
Moore logged just over four minutes of ice time in the game, which the Rangers won, 3-2, and did not play in the final two periods.
BRUINS 3, DUCKS 2 Zdeno Chara scored the tying goal on a power play with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, and Jarome Iginla had the lone goal in a shootout for host Boston.
COLORADO GOALIE FREE TO TRAVEL Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov will be able to travel with the team while prosecutors consider whether he should be charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
On Thursday, a judge said Varlamov could be released if he posted $5,000 bond and could travel with the team, but she ordered Varlamov to stay away from his girlfriend.
Evgeniya Vavrinyuk, Varlamov's girlfriend, told investigators that he had kicked her in the chest, knocking her down, and stomped on her chest as she lay on the ground in her apartment Monday, according to an arrest affidavit.
Varlamov, 25, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree kidnapping and third-degree assault. He appeared briefly in Denver County Court before Judge Claudia Jordan on Thursday.
SABRES' SCOTT SUSPENDED Buffalo Sabres forward John Scott was suspended for seven games without pay by the N.H.L. on Thursday for his illegal check to Boston forward Loui Eriksson's head.
Scott was handed a match penalty for the hit in the Sabres' 5-2 home loss Oct. 23. Scott skated in from Eriksson's right and leveled him with a shoulder to the face. Ericksson sustained a concussion and is sidelined indefinitely.
CHICAGO — It was an impossible shot, or at least it looked that way to Carmelo Anthony.
Derrick Rose was searching for an angle to the basket as the final seconds evaporated Thursday night, and his options were limited. In fact, Rose, the Bulls' do-everything point guard, was left with only one as he took a final hard dribble along the baseline and elevated against Tyson Chandler, the Knicks' 7-foot-1 center.
With both arms extended, Chandler constructed a 10-foot wall, so Rose simply flicked the ball toward the rafters, into the haze that lingered from some pregame pyrotechnics. Over Chandler. Over the side of the backboard, from Anthony's vantage point. Over everyone and everything, before it finally fell through the hoop.
The shot lifted the Bulls to a dramatic 82-81 victory, Rose's game-winner coming with 5.7 seconds left in a tussle between two teams that have never been particularly fond of each other.
"Derrick Rose hit a phenomenal shot," Anthony said. "And we'll live with that."
Anthony, who labored his way to 22 points and 8-of-24 shooting, had one last opportunity of his own. After creating a bit of space between himself and the Bulls' Luol Deng, Anthony stepped back for a long jumper, but misfired. Chandler's tip-in attempt at the buzzer was also off the mark.
Chandler grabbed 19 rebounds, and Raymond Felton added 13 points in the loss. The Bulls outscored the Knicks by 46-24 in the paint.
"We competed," Coach Mike Woodson said. "It says a lot for our club. Now I just need to do a better job getting us through down the stretch."
Rose's theatrics spoiled a late surge by the Knicks (1-1), who scored 12 straight points in the fourth quarter, turning a 10-point deficit into a 2-point lead. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Felton connected on 3-pointers, and Anthony sank a pair of fadeaways, the second pushing the Knicks ahead by 78-76.
With the score tied at 80-80, Anthony misfired on a long field-goal attempt. In the scrum for the loose ball, the officials called a foul on the Bulls' Joakim Noah. With 10.8 seconds left, Chandler hit the second of two free-throw attempts to give the Knicks a lead — one that was short-lived, thanks to Rose.
"He showed a lot of toughness," said Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls' coach. "He had the courage to take and make that last play."
Rose's performance was a mixed bag in his first regular-season game at the United Center since he injured his left knee during the 2012 playoffs. Hindered after straining his neck in Tuesday's loss to the Miami Heat, Rose was 7 of 23 from the field and scored 18 points.
Thibodeau, whose larynx appeared to be in midseason form, was less than expansive about Rose's health about an hour before the game, acknowledging only that Rose's body was sore and that he had not determined whether Rose would play.
Rose missed 10 of his first 12 shots before hitting back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to give Chicago a 49-40 lead. He had a knack for big plays that maintained the Bulls' cushion for much of the second half, including a fast-break layup (61-51) and a double-clutch move under the basket (76-66).
Armed with red glow sticks, a capacity crowd serenaded Rose with M.V.P. chants before the game. The atmosphere was electric. The Bulls celebrated their home opener with an elaborate show that left some thick haze that hovered inside the arena throughout the first half.
As both teams struggled to piece together consistent stretches of offense, all that fog made for some easy metaphors. It was an ugly game, and perhaps neither team looked particularly proficient on offense because the players had trouble locating each other on the court.
The Bulls were clear in their intentions: get to the basket as often as possible, by any means necessary. Early on, that meant letting Deng use his length and quickness to maneuver past Iman Shumpert for three straight buckets inside.
The Knicks, meanwhile, could not find their rhythm. Each possession was more tortured than the last, and their shooting percentage dipped to 31.6 percent by the end of the first quarter. Even Amar'e Stoudemire's first appearance of the season failed to provide a jolt.
Still, the Knicks showed some resolve. As the third quarter turned into the fourth, they kept hanging around, jostling, competing.
The fog eventually lifted for them, but not soon enough.
REBOUNDS
Having declared his plan to opt out of his contract next summer and test free agency, Carmelo Anthony tried to clarify his position in an interview shown during TNT's broadcast, saying that he wants to stay in New York. "They pulled all the strings to get me here, and I wanted to be here," he said. "And I want to retire in New York." ... Andrea Bargnani, who was booed Wednesday by fans at Madison Square Garden in the Knicks' season-opening win over the Milwaukee Bucks, started Thursday and scored 9 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Cameron Wake sacked Andy Dalton for a safety with 6 minutes 38 seconds left in overtime, giving the host Miami Dolphins a 22-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.
On third-and-10 from the 8, Dalton retreated to the goal line and was tackled by Wake coming up the middle for the third overtime safety in N.F.L. history. The officials signaled a safety, and the call was upheld after a review.
Wake finished with three sacks.
Mike Nugent kicked a 54-yard field goal with 1:24 remaining in regulation to put the Bengals ahead, 20-17. Miami answered with a 50-yard drive, and Caleb Sturgis made a 44-yard field goal with 11 seconds left to force overtime.
Cincinnati committed four turnovers.
SHANAHAN HITS BACK Mike Shanahan sharply criticized the former Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth, saying he was lazy and had a "lack of passion" and a "lack of character."
Shanahan, the Washington coach, was responding to comments made this week by Haynesworth, who told Tennessee Sports Radio that Shanahan was "conniving" and self-centered and would run quarterback Robert Griffin III "into the ground."
Shanahan said: "When you don't get along with somebody as a head coach or an assistant coach, it usually falls into one of those areas — lazy, lack of passion, and a lot of times lack of character. And he fits all three."
Haynesworth signed a $100 million free-agent contract with the Redskins in 2009, but he and Shanahan clashed frequently after the coach arrived in Washington a year later. Haynesworth became an N.F.L. punch line when he needed 10 days to pass a conditioning test at the start of training camp and lost his starting job. He was eventually traded to New England for a fifth-round draft pick.
49ERS ACTIVATE SMITH The All-Pro 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith was activated to the 53-man roster from the nonfootball injury list, two days after he turned himself in to the authorities in Santa Clara County, Calif., while facing weapons charges.
Smith had been undergoing rehabilitation at an inpatient facility for substance abuse since late September and missed five games. He was charged Oct. 9 with three felony counts of illegal possession of an assault weapon, stemming from a party at his home in June 2012.
San Francisco Coach Jim Harbaugh said on his weekly radio show that Smith met with 49ers officials Wednesday at team headquarters.
MERIWEATHER OFFERS APOLOGY Washington safety Brandon Meriweather issued an apology by proxy as DeMaurice Smith, the head of the N.F.L. players union, released a statement saying that Meriweather was sorry for comments about targeting opponents' knees.
"I spoke to Brandon," Smith said in the statement. "He is passionate about the game, and I know he is sorry for what he said. He is concentrating on helping his team win the rest of the season. Brandon knows that all players have a responsibility to each other and to play within the rules of the game."
Meriweather has been penalized twice by the league this season for illegal hits targeting the helmet and neck of defenseless receivers. He returned Monday from a one-game suspension and said that he would now have to "take people's knees out," targeting their anterior cruciate ligaments.
"You've got to tear people's A.C.L.s and mess up people's knees now," he said Monday. "You can't hit them high anymore."
GONZALEZ SPARED A TRADE The N.F.L. trade deadline has passed, and Tony Gonzalez knows where he will finish his 17-year career.
Gonzalez will spend at least nine more weeks with the Falcons (2-5) before retiring, and he is not giving up on the playoffs.
If nothing else, he does not have to hear about a possible trade anymore. "I'm here. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season," Gonzalez said. "I'm glad it's over now. I'm ready to go out there and finish this season strong. Hopefully we can make a serious run here, because that's what it's going to take."
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina won his sixth straight Gold Glove award Tuesday, making him one of four players in the World Series rewarded for superior defense this season.
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and right fielder Shane Victorino also were honored, along with Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright. Boston has a 3-2 edge over St. Louis going into Game 6 on Wednesday night.
Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado became the first rookie to win a Gold Glove since Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons and Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado also were among the eight first-time recipients.
"It's pretty awesome," Simmons said in a brief interview on ESPN during the awards show.
The Orioles and Royals had three winners apiece, tied for the most of any team. Baltimore finished with the fewest errors in the majors (54) and set a big league record with a .991 fielding percentage.
Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon took his third Gold Glove in a row, while first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Salvador Perez each received their first.
"I've got a trophy case back in Lincoln, (Neb.), so this one won't be the chip-and-dip tray. This one will actually go up in the trophy case," Gordon said. "It means a lot. The first one was pretty special, just because it's the first one, but to be able to share it with two teammates makes this one the best one of all."
Baltimore shortstop J.J. Hardy and center fielder Adam Jones were repeat winners, as was Rockies left fielder Carlos Gonzalez.
His 22-year-old teammate, Arenado, became the 10th rookie to win.
"I'm still kind of in shock. I still can't believe it," he said on ESPN.
Center fielder Carlos Gomez became the first Gold Glove winner for Milwaukee since shortstop Robin Yount in 1982, ending the longest drought for any team in the 57-year history of the award.
Toronto knuckleballer R.A. Dickey was the winner among American League pitchers.
Arizona's Gerardo Parra won in right field after taking the National League honors in left two years ago. Other recipients in the NL were Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips, his fourth, and Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, his first.
"Pretty cool," said Goldschmidt, who also won the Hank Aaron Award as the NL's top hitter this season.
Now, a Gold Glove for Goldschmidt as well. Fits like a ... well ... you know.
"It's a huge honor to get recognized," he said. "There's so many great players around the league."
Since 1957, Rawlings has presented Gold Gloves to the finest fielders at their positions.
Managers and coaches vote for players in their league but cannot choose their own guys. For the first time this year, Rawlings added a sabermetric element to the balloting. The SABR Defensive Index made up about 25 percent of the process.
"Wow, hard work pays off," Phillips said. "I take pride in my defense and try to go out there to make the pitching staff feel comfortable while they're on the mound. I like being the pitcher's best friend. People overlook defense these days."
Six teams accounted for 14 of the 18 winners. Only two clubs had multiple winners last season, when the Orioles claimed three and the New York Yankees two.
"To win three Gold Gloves this year was very impressive I think for our team, for our organization," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "These young men who won these Gold Gloves have worked their tails off defensively, and the thing that impresses me so much is I think these kids are only going to get better and better defensively."
Rawlings announced three finalists at each position last week. Tampa Bay's entire infield was picked, but none of those four players won. Baltimore led all teams with six finalists, including first baseman Chris Davis, right fielder Nick Markakis and catcher Matt Wieters.
At perhaps the most competitive spot, the 21-year-old Machado supplanted Texas' Adrian Beltre and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, who combined to win the previous six AL Gold Gloves at third base. Machado became the first Orioles third baseman to win since Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson took the last of his 16 straight in 1975.
Gomez earned a $200,000 bonus, while Phillips gets $100,000, Hardy and Jones $75,000 each, and Gordon, Molina, Pedroia, Perez, Victorino and Wainwright $50,000 apiece. Gonzalez earns $25,000.
___
AP Sports Writers Dave Skretta in Kansas City, Mo., Joe Kay in Cincinnati and Ronald Blum in Boston contributed to this report.
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