Ping-pong ball falls Bulls' way in lottery

Heat to pick second; Knicks in sixth spot

The Chicago Bulls won the NBA's draft lottery last night in Secaucus, N.J., giving them the right to choose between star freshmen Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose.

Coming off a miserable season and still without a coach, the Bulls vaulted from the No. 9 spot, where they had just a 1.7 percent chance of landing the top choice.

They will almost certainly choose between Beasley, the Kansas State forward who averaged 26.5 points and an NCAA-best 12.5 rebounds, and Rose, the point guard who carried Memphis within minutes of the national title.

"After this season, we needed a break and I think we just got one," said Steve Schanwald, the Bulls' executive vice president of business operations who represented them on the podium.

The Miami Heat, who had a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick thanks to their NBA-worst 15-67 record, fell to second. The Minnesota Timberwolves will go third.

The Seattle SuperSonics will pick fourth and the Memphis Grizzlies fifth, followed by New York, the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee, Charlotte, New Jersey, Indiana, Sacramento, Portland, and Golden State. The lottery settled the top three spots. The remainder of the first 14 picks are determined by inverse order of their record.

Donaghy points finger

Disgraced basketball referee Tim Donaghy told investigators in the NBA betting probe that relationships among officials, coaches, and players "affected the outcome of games," his attorney said. The league said the charges were unfounded.

Donaghy's attorney, John F. Lauro, made the assertions in a letter filed in US District Court in Brooklyn Monday, in which he argued that his client should be sentenced to probation because he fully cooperated with prosecutors and has been undergoing treatment for his gambling addiction.

The letter also suggested that Donaghy told investigators about the gambling activities of other NBA officials and about a referee who passed "confidential" information to an unidentified coach.

Lauro wrote that the US attorney's office for the Eastern District agreed to plea agreements with other defendants in the case, even though his client told investigators about NBA matters outside of the government's initial investigation. Lauro said the disparity in treatment could not be fully explained because prosecutors have "surrounded this case with a cone of silence."

In a footnote, Lauro suggested the NBA might have "pressured" the attorney's office "into shutting down this prosecution to avoid the disclosure of information unrelated to Tim's conduct."

Commissioner David Stern, at his annual news conference at the lottery, dismissed the comments.

"It seems that in an effort to cushion whatever sentence is coming, Mr. Donaghy's lawyer has taken on the US Attorney's office, the FBI, and the NBA," Stern said. "I think that all of the facts are out and are going to come out and those assertions will prove to be baseless."

Stern denied the league pressured the government to cut short its investigation.

"Not accurate," Stern said. "Untruthful."

He was just as certain Donaghy was the only NBA official taking payoffs and betting on games he officiated. He confirmed once again that other NBA officials violated NBA rules by betting in casinos.

Barkley antes up

Former NBA star Charles Barkley has retired his debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino that sued him after he failed to pay $400,000 in gambling loans. But the civil lawsuit remains open, and it's going to cost Sir Charles $40,000 more to get out of the legal doghouse. Barkley, an analyst for TNT, said in a statement he didn't know about the district attorney's $40,000 processing fee, but intends to pay it. "True to my word, I sent a $400,000 cashier's check overnight to Wynn Las Vegas, which they confirmed they received," Barkley said. "I was unaware of the additional 10 percent processing fee from the district attorney's office and will make restitution on that promptly." . . . Nuggets coach George Karl underwent left hip replacement surgery. Karl, who was treated for prostate cancer in 2005, is expected to resume walking without a cane in a week to 10 days . . . The NBA playoffs are drawing higher television ratings than last season. The 36 games on TNT through the first two rounds have averaged a 2.4 rating, up 14 percent from last year. Ratings are up 27 percent on ESPN, averaging a 2.8 over 16 games. Nine games on ABC have averaged a 3.7, a 28 percent increase.

Best of West

Game 1 of the Western Conference finals will be played tonight at Staples Center, where the Lakers are 6-0 in the postseason and winners of 12 straight overall, including a 106-85 victory over the Spurs in their next-to-last game of the regular season. The teams have combined to win seven of the last nine championships, with the Spurs prevailing in 1999, 2003, 2005, and 2007 and the Lakers doing so from 2000-02.