NBA

Allen to leave Celtics for Heat

Guard Ray Allen told Miami Heat officials Friday night he intends to accept their contract offer and leave Boston after five seasons, even though the Celtics could pay him about twice as much as the reigning NBA champions will be able to next season.

Miami could only offer Allen, 36, the mini midlevel; he has a two-year, $6.3 million deal.

Allen, a former Sonic, has a league-record 2,718 three-point baskets in his career.

76ers will have different look

Goodbye, Elton Brand. See you later, Lou Williams.

Philadelphia won't have its leading scorers from each of the last two seasons.

Team president Rod Thorn said the 76ers will use the amnesty clause on Brand, a 33-year-old forward, and will get about $18 million in salary-cap relief for next season.

Williams, a 25-year-old guard, opted out of the final year of his contract that was worth $6.4 million.

Brand led the Sixers in scoring with a 15.0 average in the 2010-11 season and Williams was the leader last season at 14.9.

The Sixers and guard Nick Young agreed to a one-year deal for about $6 million.

Young, 27, ended last season with the Los Angeles Clippers. He had a 14.2 average, playing 40 games for the Washington Wizards and 22 for the Clippers.

NHL

Luongo predicts he will move

Goaltender Roberto Luongo said in a radio interview he expects to leave Vancouver.

The Canucks recently gave Cory Schneider, 26, a three-year, $12 million deal.

"I think it's really time to move on," said Luongo, 33, adding he and management understood "it was time for Cory to take over."

Auto racing

'Jerk' factor might be the key

The Coke Zero 400 Saturday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series restrictor-plate event, which changes the approach many drivers take.

"You need really be as selfish as you can be," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "Just be the biggest jerk you can be out there, and that is the way it's got to be if you want to get to victory lane."

Series leader Matt Kenseth earned the pole with a lap of 192.386 mph.

Kasey Kahne (192.291 mph) of Enumclaw will start in third and Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., will start in fourth. Earnhardt, who is second in the Cup standings, will start in 24th.

Tony Stewart had the second-fastest qualifying effort, but his time was disallowed because inspectors found an open cooling hose into his Chevrolet, the same violation that cost Austin Dillon the pole for Friday's Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeño 250.

Kurt Busch won the Nationwide race. Tayler Malsam of Seattle was 15th of 43.

Elsewhere

• Guard Chris Paul, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, was forced to leave the opening day of training camp for the U.S. Olympic basketball team in Las Vegas to get an X-ray after hurting his thumb. There are 15 players competing for 12 spots, and the Olympic roster is to be announced Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Spurs guard Tony Parker can play for European runner-up France in the Olympics after San Antonio's doctors agreed he has recovered from an eye injury. Parker had a scratched left cornea after he was struck by glass when he was a bystander during a nightclub melee in New York last month.

• In the WNBA, Sophia Young scored all 18 of her points in the second half to help visiting San Antonio beat Washington 78-73; Tina Charles had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead Connecticut to an 86-75 victory over host Tulsa; and Cappie Pondexter had 19 points as visiting New York won 64-59 over Chicago.

• Anthony Wayne Smith, a former defensive end for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders who already was awaiting retrial for a murder four years ago, was charged this week with three additional murders, including the slayings of two brothers who prosecutors said were kidnapped and robbed by men posing as police officers.

Smith, 45, retired from the NFL in 1998.

• Champion Anderson Silva (29-4) meets Chael Sonnen (28-11-1) for the world middleweight title in the main event at UFC 148 Saturday in Las Vegas.

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