CHICAGO -- The leadership of the National Basketball Coaches Association spoke out Wednesday about its "concern and level of disappointment" with the way the Minnesota Timberwolves went about their coaching change earlier this week.

The statement came from NBCA president Rick Carlisle of the Dallas Mavericks and NBCA executive director David Fogel.

"It's always bittersweet when one coach is fired and another is hired. But this is not about individual coaches," their statement read. "We would be remiss not to acknowledge a deeper concern and level of disappointment with the Minnesota head coach hiring process.

"The NBCA understands and respects each organization's right to hire and fire whomever and whenever it chooses. But it is also our responsibility to point out when an organization fails to conduct a thorough and transparent search of candidates from a wide range of diverse backgrounds."

The Timberwolves fired Ryan Saunders on Sunday night and struck a deal to hire Toronto assistant Chris Finch almost immediately. Finch was formally announced as the coach Monday morning.

"There were other candidates, minority candidates we considered at this time," Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas said. "Unfortunately when you're in the middle of a season, you're really at the mercy of teams in terms of who can become available and who's not available. That was a challenge for us as we went through the process."

Minnesota lost at Milwaukee on Tuesday night in Finch's first game. The Wolves were in Chicago to play on Wednesday night.

Timberwolves assistant David Vanterpool has support from several NBA players, many of whom expressed anger that he did not get the job or, at minimum, the appearance of being considered for the role. Vanterpool is Black; Finch is white.

"During this past offseason, we saw many NBA head coaching vacancies where teams led searches that were both diverse and transparent," Fogel and Carlisle wrote in their statement. "This must be the standard. We must establish a level playing field and equal access to opportunity for all coaching candidates."

They said they have been working with the league office "on a wide range of initiatives that will improve future coaching searches," but did not specify what any of those may include.

Finch interviewed for the Minnesota job in 2019, before Saunders was promoted from interim coach to the full-time role, so the organization was well aware of his style and credentials. He also has a long history with Rosas; they worked together in the Houston Rockets organization.

Rosas, who is Latino, is one of the few minorities in front-office roles around the league.

"Anybody that knows me knows how important diversity is to me and it's a big part of who I am and what I'm about," Rosas said. "Our staff and the diversity we have speaks for itself."

Vanterpool is one of three Black assistant coaches on the Timberwolves, along with Joseph Blair and Kevin Burleson. Star center Karl-Anthony Towns was one of the players who spoke out in favor of Vanterpool's future.

"I would not be doing justice to the world, to social justice, to the amount of amazing things that men of color are doing, by not mentioning that David Vanterpool is an amazing coach, with an amazing IQ, and he's going to have an amazing opportunity here soon," Towns said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The NBA released its schedule for the second half of the regular season live on ESPN's The Jump on Wednesday afternoon, laying out how it plans to have all 30 teams play 72 games despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The NBA unveiled only its first-half schedule in early December, allowing it flexibility to adjust as the pandemic inevitably wreaked havoc on its attempts to play games outside of the safe confines of a bubble like the one the league finished last season in. To try to make things as fair as possible, each team was scheduled to play either 37 or 38 games across the 73 days that first-half schedule was set to run.

Due to the pandemic, however, and the ongoing issues it has caused some teams, there is no such equity in the second-half schedule. It is no coincidence, for example, that the four teams playing on the first night back -- the Washington Wizards, who will be in Memphis to take on the Grizzlies, and the San Antonio Spurs, who will travel to Dallas to play the Mavericks -- all have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 in the first half of the season.

The Spurs and Grizzlies have the most games to be played, with each having to cram 40 games into a 68-day stretch of the calendar. On the other end of the spectrum are the LA Clippers, who will have only 34 games to be played in a 67-day period.

Although the NBA's goal is to have every team play its scheduled 72 games, sources said the league is cognizant of the fact that all 30 teams might not be able to reach that number. There is limited flexibility within the schedule to add games, or to add dates on the calendar, as the NBA wants to get the playoffs completed on time before the scheduled start of the Olympic Games in late July.

As a result, the second-half schedule will conclude on Sunday, May 16, setting up the NBA's first play-in tournament from May 18 to 21, which will feature the teams that finish from seventh through 10th in the Eastern and Western conferences playing for the final two playoff spots on each side of the bracket.

In the first games of the tournament, the seventh seed will host the eighth seed in each conference, with the winner of each conference's game getting one playoff spot. The losers of those first games will then host either the ninth or 10th seed in their respective conference -- depending which of the lowest seeds wins the games played between those two teams -- for the second playoff spot.

The NBA playoffs will then begin on Saturday, May 22.

There will be five ABC games over the second half of the schedule, all featuring marquee matchups of the league's top teams. Those are:

* The Clippers hosting their Staples Center co-tenants, the Los Angeles Lakers, on April 4.

* The Lakers traveling to Brooklyn to face the Nets on April 10.

* Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors traveling to Boston to play the Celtics on April 17.

* The Lakers playing Luka Doncic and the Mavericks in Dallas on April 24.

* And the Nets going to Milwaukee to face Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks on May 2.

As with the first-half schedule, the NBA has resumed using baseball-style scheduling in the second half, with teams playing two games in one city against the same opponent in order to minimize travel when possible. One prominent example of that is the league-leading Utah Jazz playing in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Saturday, April 17, and Monday, April 19, with both games being on ESPN.

After the two-game opening night featuring Wizards-Grizzlies and Spurs-Mavericks -- the latter being on NBA TV -- TNT opens the second half of the season on Thursday, March 11, with the Celtics playing the Nets in Brooklyn and the Clippers hosting the Warriors.

The opening ESPN broadcast of the second-half schedule has the Clippers traveling to New Orleans to face newly minted All-Star Zion Williamson and the Pelicans on Sunday, March 14 -- followed by the surprising New York Knicks going to Brooklyn and playing the Nets and the Lakers traveling to San Francisco to play the Warriors the next night.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A day after addressing his teammates, New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German publicly apologized for his actions that resulted in a suspension under baseball's domestic violence policy.

"I want to take this opportunity before answering questions to sincerely apologize to the Steinbrenner family, my teammates, the front office and those around me who love me," he said through an interpreter on a Zoom call. "I have made mistakes of which I am not proud of, and for that I want to apologize.

"I want to thank Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman for being so patient with me. They have always sincerely tried to help me when I was going through my worst moment."

German hasn't played since September 2019 after receiving an 81-game suspension from Major League Baseball. The 28-year-old was 18-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 2019 when he was put on administrative leave while MLB investigated alleged domestic violence involving his girlfriend, with whom he has at least one child.

The Yankees' first full-squad workout was Tuesday.

The right-hander missed the final nine games of the 2019 regular season and all nine of New York's postseason games. He was suspended for 81 games on Jan. 2 last year, a ban that had 63 games left and cost him the entire 2020 season and playoffs.

German made waves on his first day back with the Yankees on reporting day a week ago because of an Instagram post he wrote in Spanish that said "Everything is over." He deleted his posts, then wrote "I'm ready" in Spanish.

German said Wednesday that he has gone to mandatory counseling. He would not discuss the specifics of the event that led to his suspension.

"I think it was something that benefited me," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

LOS ANGELES — Bosch Motorsports and Dragon/Penske Autosport are partnering in long-term technology and engineering collaboration for the team’s cars in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The partnership will extend to both Dragon/Penske Autosports team headquarters in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom. As part of the program, Bosch will develop an electronic vehicle management system specially tailored to the requirements of the Formula E vehicle along with the corresponding hardware and software components required.

The system core is represented by the central MS 50.4P vehicle control unit. Apart from the motor functions and central energy management, the MS 50.4P also controls other vehicle functions such as brake energy recovery and the display in the driver cockpit.

“Collaboration with Dragon enhances our successful involvement as a series sponsor of Formula E,” said Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the board of management at Robert Bosch GmbH. “With this partnership, Bosch underscores its claim as a leading supplier of powertrain management solutions, both in electromobility for production vehicles and in electrified motorsports.”

Plans entail deploying the innovative vehicle management system in a race for the first time this Spring. Preparations are already underway. Bosch is also planning to develop an entire electric powertrain for Formula E season 9.

“We are very excited to embark on this journey with Bosch in Formula E,” said Jay Penske, owner and team principal of Dragon/Penske Autosport. “We are grateful for the support of Bosch Engineering and the entire Bosch Global board. Through our work together, we will provide Bosch with a platform to both showcase its capabilities as it develops Formula E specific technologies, while also using the team’s story-telling abilities to illustrate the role Bosch is playing as a leader in the electrification of the mobility industry. This long-term technical partnership marks a significant turning point for the team, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of our alliance on track this season when we introduce our new Penske Autosport package later this year.”

The central VCU, offered by Bosch, represents the heart of the vehicle electronics for the electric race cars of the team. Bosch has developed a bespoke vehicle wiring harness to provide optimum integration within the cars. Bosch also equips the development car with data loggers to improve the team’s research and testing capabilities. In order to optimally adapt the new vehicle electronics to the overall vehicle, Bosch provides its RaceConnect LTE cloud solution during development and test driving for transferring telemetric data and data analysis. This provides the race team engineers with all the important parameters and data on the vehicle, powertrain, and tires, enabling them to be analyzed and optimized swiftly and efficiently.

CONCORD, N.C. – For the first time since 2014, Steve Letarte will return atop the pit box for a NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Letarte, now an NBC Sports analyst and the team consultant for Spire Motorsports, will serve as crew chief during Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 for driver Corey LaJoie in the absence of Ryan Sparks, the regular crew chief for the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, Sparks will not participate in Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 and will not travel to Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Additionally, two other members of the No. 7 team will be inactive this weekend in adherence with the same directives.

Letarte earned 15 Cup Series victories during a 10-year tenure as a crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, including six with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon during a 2007 season where Gordon finished second in points to teammate Jimmie Johnson.

The 41-year-old native of Cornish, Maine, won the 2014 Daytona 500 with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.

The Dixie Vodka 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway will take the green flag Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

FRESNO, Calif. – Hall of Fame midget racer Don Meacham died on Feb. 22. He was 85 years old.

Meacham started his career driving stock cars at California’s Kearney Bowl Speedway in 1958 at age 22.

He soon switched to midgets and raced frequently with the Bay Cities Racing Ass’n, before moving to the Midwest where he began picking up rides in USAC midgets.

Meacham earned his first USAC triumph at Springfield (Ill.) Speedway and finished 10th in points in 1964.

Meacham raced only sparingly the following season but landed with car owner Myron Caves for the 1966 USAC campaign. Meacham drove the Caves entry to a USAC-best nine victories that season while finishing third in the standings behind Mike McGreevy and Mel Kenyon.

Meacham was fifth in the standings in 1967.

Following that campaign, he was invited to race in Australia and New Zealand, where he won 14 times in 17 races and topped the Australian/New Zealand World Championship Race.

After the successful tour Down Under, Meacham quit running full time and raced locally with BCRA. His 13th and final USAC midget victory came in 1968 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.

After retiring, Meacham actively worked to develop orthopedic devices, including the V-Force Seated Traction device, often called “back sticks.”

Meacham was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2004 and is also a member of the Central California Racing Hall of Fame and the Bay Cities Racing Ass’n Hall of Fame.

MIRABEL, Quebec — ICAR Complex, a high-performance racing experience in Canada including a world-class kart track, will launch the ICAR Canada Racing Team to compete in the American F4 Championship. The team will run two cars for Justin Arseneau and Louka St-Jean, two 15-year-old Quebec natives.

The team will make its first outing at the practice in Virginia in March 8-9. The season will open at Georgia’s Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta March 25-28.

Arseneau is a Canadian karting champion, making his racing debut at seven. He has represented Canada several times internationally, including at the Rotax World and FIA Academy Trophy championships.

St-Jean is a rising karting star who already has an impressive track record. He participated in the Montreal Cup and the Florida Winter Tour.

“It’s very important for ICAR to be a resource for the young athletes wanting a career in racing,” said Marc Arseneau, president of the ICAR Complex and founder of the ICAR Canada Racing Team. “We offer the ideal playground to help them thrive, starting with karting, and then getting into race cars.”

BOSTON -- Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon had surgery to repair a broken bone in his left hand and will be out at least a month, the team said Wednesday.

The Bruins said Lauzon, who left Sunday's outdoor game against Philadelphia after one shift, will be reevaluated after four weeks.

Lauzon, 23, has three assists in 16 games for the Bruins this season. He has averaged 18:32 in ice time per game on the No. 1 defensive pairing with Charlie McAvoy, taking on an increased role with the departure of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug this offseason.

Defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Kevan Miller and Jakub Zboril also have missed time recently. Coach Bruce Cassidy said Wednesday that Zboril should return Thursday and Grzelcyk shortly after that, but Miller's knee is still sore.

UEFA's COVID-19 chief says there is no question of June's Euro 2020 tournament being cancelled or postponed and that fans could yet be allowed to travel internationally to the games.

The tournament was postponed last year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and rescheduled for June 11-July 11 this year. "There is no way the Euros will not happen, they will happen," Dr Daniel Koch, UEFA's medical advisor on Euro 2020, told Reuters in an interview. "There is no worst-case scenario, there are realistic scenarios and best-case scenarios," he added.

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Koch, the former head of communicable diseases at Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health, said UEFA will make a decision in early April on the suitability of venues and planned capacities after consulting with the 12 host countries.

But he said the confederation would keep the option in place to allow for fan numbers to be scaled up should the situation allow.

"I think there will be a lot of flexibility at least up until the end of April, a decision must be made at the beginning of April but then there is a lot of flexibility to say, now we can scale-up because the situation improved much more than expected," Koch said.

UEFA has asked the 12 host nations to provide their plans for stadium entry and other issues. The governing body last year outlined four operational scenarios -- for full stadiums, 50-100% capacity or 20-30% capacity and games behind closed doors.

Asked about the likely percentage of stadium capacity that could be allowed in venues, Koch said: "I think it is much more than we imagine. In the autumn some countries were at 30% [in grounds], I think it is possible more than 30%," he said.

"It is very, very difficult to forecast. It is not only forecasting the epidemic, it is forecasting the politics. We work hard on an optimistic good way, but how much will be possible? We don't know yet," he said.

The host cities are Glasgow, Dublin, Bilbao, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Munich, Rome, St Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest and Baku, with the semis and final set for London's Wembley Stadium.

Koch would not rule out the possibility that fans could be allowed to travel to different countries to attend matches.

"It is too early to say. We will see what the situation is and what is the requirement from the different countries but I hope that at least some travelling will be possible because it is not travelling, in the end, that makes the real difference," he said.

"For sure, every country has tried to protect itself but travel restrictions are not the main issue. The main issue is to keep this [virus] bound by detecting the case, finding the connections and have social distancing. But we are confident," he added.

Although the crowds would be too big to have testing centres staffed by professionals outside grounds, Koch said that home-testing and other forms of testing being rolled out could help on that front but that social distancing in venues would still be necessary.

Koch accepted that much will depend on the approach of governments in each country.

But he said the expected reduction in COVID-19 cases due to warmer weather in the summer months, along with vaccine roll-outs and increased natural immunity, all led him to be optimistic.

"The feeling in Europe is still very sceptical that this pandemic will be in a good shape in June but if you look at the numbers and all the possibilities we have, I think we should plan in an optimistic way," he said.

"Because the possibility that the situation is as good as it was last summer is given. At the moment that is the challenge, to keep up positive thinking and planning for the best and not to fall into the pitfall to only think of worst-case scenarios."

England's captain and coach have asked the match referee to ensure "consistency" in the process by which the TV umpire comes to decisions after more contentious moments on the first day of the third Test in Ahmedabad.

Joe Root and Chris Silverwood went to see Javagal Srinath, the ICC match referee, after the end of the first day's play to register their frustrations after two decisions - both of which went India's way - were made, in their view, unusually quickly.

In the first instance, Shubman Gill was reprieved by the TV umpire, C Shamshuddin, when replays suggested Ben Stokes, at slip, may have failed to complete a catch cleanly. In the second, Rohit Sharma was adjudged not out after an appeal for a stumping.

On both occasions, Shamshuddin appeared to come to his decision surprisingly quickly and without recourse to the numerous angles which usually accompany the decision-making process. At one stage, Root could be heard on the stump mics asking the on-field umpires why only one camera angle had been utilised when he felt a different one could have provided more certainty.

By contrast, when Jack Leach edged a low chance earlier in the day, Shamshuddin was provided with various angles - including one from a stump camera - before coming to his decision.

These incidents follow those in the second Test where Ajinkya Rahane survived a review for a bat-pad catch when the TV umpire on that occasion, Anil Chaudhary, failed to review the correct passage of play. Rohit also survived another close call for a stumping with only one angle of the incident available to the TV umpire, while the on-field umpires chose to review Virat Kohli's dismissal after he was clean bowled.

As a result, Root and Silverwood went to see Srinath after stumps. "The England captain and head coach spoke with the match referee after play," an England team spokesperson said.

"The captain and head coach acknowledged the challenges the umpires faced and asked respectfully that in making any decisions there was consistency in the process. The match referee said the captain was asking the right questions of the umpires."

The ICC have been contacted for comment.

England have clashed with Shamshuddin previously. He stood down - reportedly due to ill health - from a T20I series decider between England and India in 2017 after Eoin Morgan expressed "extreme frustration" with his performance.

Zak Crawley, the one England batsman who emerged from the wreckage of a poor batting performance with any credit, admitted his side's "frustrations."

"When we batted, Jack Leach had a similar sort of one [low catch, similar to the Stokes dismissal] where it didn't quite carry and it seemed like they looked at it from five or six different angles," Crawley said. "When we were fielding it seemed like they looked at it from one angle.

"That's where the frustrations lie. I can't say whether they were out or not out, but I think the frustrations lie with not checking more thoroughly."

The ICC have decided to dispense with neutral umpires during the Covid-19 pandemic in light of the difficulties with international travel. They have attempted to compensate for any possibility of unconscious bias by providing teams with an extra review per innings.