A string of home games usually is considered a good opportunity for an NBA team to get on a roll. But for the Bulls, their just-concluded four-game homestand had the opposite effect. With a 132-108 loss Tuesday to the Utah Jazz at the United Center, the Bulls' transformation from a confident team to a reeling bunch was complete. The 132 points allowed were a season high, and the Bulls allowed at least 105 points in each game of the homestand.

After another dramatic chapter in their stormy relationship, All-Big Ten guard Demetri McCamey and Illinois coach Bruce Weber downplayed the incident Tuesday, saying they're focused on salvaging the Illini's sagging NCAA tournament hopes.

Ozzie Guillen slept a little better than usual Tuesday night. Then again, the idea of facing Jon Rauch in the ninth inning with the game on the line instead of Twins closer Joe Nathan, well, that's the best pillow Guillen could've asked for. ''If Rauch is the closer, I'll take my chances,'' Guillen said before the Cactus League game against the Giants.

What happens on the mound in spring games will determine who will comprise the Cubs' pitching staff when the regular season begins. But what is happening on the practice mounds, where left-hander Ted Lilly has begun throwing, might be more important for the whole season.

Injury-plagued running back Kevin Jones, who has been expendable since the signing of running back Chester Taylor away from Minnesota, was released by the Bears on Tuesday.

AP - President Barack Obama has chosen a suburban St. Louis high school to make his closing argument for a health care overhaul, pushing a new anti-fraud plan as he cranks up the pressure on skittish Democratic lawmakers to act fast.

AP - Israel's new plan to build 1,600 apartments for Jews in Palestinian-claimed east Jerusalem overshadowed Vice President Joe Biden's visit to the West Bank on Wednesday.

AP - It starts with a tip, a scrap of intelligence, a fingerprint lifted from a suspected terrorist's home.

AP - Before he called 911, James Sikes says he reached down with his hand to loosen the "stuck" accelerator on his 2008 Toyota Prius, his other hand on the steering wheel. The pedal didn't move.

AP - The Associated Press-GfK Poll on President Obama, the direction of the country and health care was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from March 3-8. It is based on landline and cell phone telephone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,002 adults. Interviews were conducted with 702 respondents on landline telephones and 300 on cellular phones.