A person with knowledge of the negotiations says the Celtics are making progress on a deal that would bring Shaquille O’Neal to Boston.

The person spoke with The Association Press on the condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet final.

Earlier Tuesday, the four-time NBA champion said he will be in the league next season and would rather retire than play internationally.

The 38-year-old O’Neal spent last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won three NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and another with the Miami Heat.

But he has struggled to find a contract from a team that can guarantee him playing time, enough money and a chance for one more championship. He has all-but ruled out joining LeBron James in Miami or a return to Orlando, where he began his career in 1992.

The Los Angeles Times reports it’s a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum of $1.35 million.

The 37-year-old Ratliff, entering his 16th NBA season, averaged 5.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in 28 games for the Charlotte Bobcats last season. He started the season with San Antonio and averaged 1.6 points and 1.9 boards in 21 contests with the Spurs.

“I’ve had a long and very rewarding career, and joining a storied and legendary franchise such as the Lakers adds an even more special element,” Ratliff said. “I look forward to playing for Coach (Phil) Jackson and with great players such as Kobe (Bryant), Derek (Fisher), Pau (Gasol), Lamar (Odom), Ron Artest, Andrew Bynum and all my other new teammates, and hopefully to helping the Lakers win a third straight championship.”

Originally selected by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1995 NBA Draft (18th overall), Ratliff has twice been named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1999 and 2004) and has led the league in blocked shots three times (2000-01, 2002-03 and 2003-04).

The first- and second-round picks that Chicago gets in the deal were acquired by Atlanta in the trade that sent Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey last February.

The prospect Atlanta is getting from Chicago is Akim Aliu.

The Blackhawks have not confirmed the trade. The trade was being delayed Wednesday night because it would move the Thrashers above the accepted limit of 50 player contracts, a league source told ESPN.com. Until Atlanta moved other contracts to get under the limit, the trade can’t go through. But it is expected to happen.

“It is what it is,” Byfuglien said on “The Afternoon Saloon” on ESPN 1000. “It’s part of the job. You’re not going to stick in one spot the whole time so I’ve got to go.”

After winning their first Stanley Cup since 1961, the Blackhawks were in dire need of shedding salary as new contract extensions for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane (five years, $31.5 million each) and Duncan Keith (13 years, $72 million) next season put them in a major salary-cap crunch.

That comes on top of Marian Hossa’s deal (12 years, $62.8 million) signed before last season. In addition, defenseman Brian Campbell just completed the second year of an eight-year, $56.8 million contract. Goalie Cristobal Huet, who became a pricey backup, has two years left on four-year, $22.45 million deal. Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi is a restricted free agent who is due a raise.

The Hawks save just over $5 million in cap space with the trade.

Byfuglien has one year left on his contract paying him $3 million, which is also his cap hit. Sopel has one year left on his deal at $2 million although his cap hit is $2.3 million. Eager is a restricted free agent who earned $965,000 this past season, so retaining his rights would have cost at least that much. The only salary the Hawks get back is Reasoner, who has one more year left on his contract at $1.2 million and his cap hit is $1.15 million.

The Hawks will still have decisions to make on whether to keep the relatively high salaries of forwards Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg.

Keith, who won the Norris Trophy on Wednesday night as the NHL’s top defenseman, said the Blackhawks had to start making changes even though the Cup victory was still fresh in their thoughts.

“There might be some more and it’s not going to be fun,” Keith said. “Everybody is going to have to keep moving forward, and a lot of times that’s part of the business.”

Byfuglien was a major force in the Hawks’ run to the Cup, switching from defense to forward to fill needs with the team. The 25-year-old scored three game-winning goals during a sweep of San Jose in the Western Conference finals that put Chicago in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1992. He also had a hat trick in a victory over the Canucks in the conference semifinals.

Against the Flyers in the finals, the 6-foot-4, 257-pound Byfuglien struggled at times against defenseman Chris Pronger but scored three goals over the final two games. He had 11 goals overall during the playoffs after finishing with 17 during the regular season. He has three straight seasons with more than 30 points.

Eager posted seven goals and nine assists in 60 games. Sopel was only a plus-3 for the season but was a big part of the Hawks’ penalty kill, especially late in the regular season and the playoffs.

Reasoner had four goals and 13 assists, his 11th season in the league.

Sopel addressed the trade on his Twitter account. He tweeted “Thank You Everyone for the Amazing Well Wishes, but this is all just Rumor and has not been Confirmed yet. But regardless I LOVE U CHICAGO!”

Pierre LeBrun covers the NHL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

The lawsuit by 23-year-old Brooke Hundley, filed Tuesday in Stamford Superior Court, says ESPN defamed her by firing her based on false statements by Phillips and by claiming she had not fully cooperated with its investigation.

Hundley, who was hired by ESPN in 2008 and paid $10.96 per hour, said Phillips made false statements to police in Connecticut portraying her as a danger to his family and himself as an innocent victim. She said Phillips falsely claimed he had been trying to end their relationship.

Hundley says she fully cooperated with ESPN’s investigation. She has said she confronted Phillips’ wife only so he would stop pursuing her.

She accused ESPN of acting maliciously to insulate itself from liability for Phillips’ conduct.

Hundley, who is seeking more than $15,000 in damages, said she lost her job, subsequent job opportunities, damage to her reputation and has been harassed by the public as a result of the publicity.

Hundley in April filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities claiming she was fired for reporting Phillips sexually harassed her.

ESPN said Hundley’s claims are without merit. The Connecticut-based network said its investigation found Hundley’s characterization of the events inconsistent.

“Hundley’s claims are without merit and we will vigorously defend against them,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said. “Her current charges do not accurately portray ESPN’s handling of the matter.”

Phillips acknowledged his relationship with Hundley.

His representative, Steve Lefkowitz, said Phillips was focused on getting his life and career back on track. Lefkowitz said he’s known Phillips for more than a decade and said he would not lie to authorities.

Phillips and Hundley were fired in October.

Chris Brown New Girlfriend Jasmine Sanders – Jasmine Sanders is rumored to be the new girlfriend of Chris Brown. Brown had previously dated Rihanna, but was involved in a nasty break up with the singing diva after the two of them got into a physical altercation in the car that left her badly bruised.Brown has kept his love life, and other aspects of his life, fairly low profile since he arrived back on the music scene. Brown has found that it has been challenging, but his past problems have not affected him with the ladies, for the most part.

His current girlfriend is not all that known. She is a Boss Models Agency model. She is 5 feet nine inches, and measures 34-24-33. She is a gorgeous girl that has a real career in modeling. She was born and raised in South Carolina, but recently relocated to New York. She has been working on her career as a fashion model since that time.

Brown posted a photo of himself and her together on his Twitter page, which has since been spread around the Internet at an amazing pace. The two have reportedly not been together that long, but Brown seemed to be answering fans who have long clamored for more information regarding his love life after the incident with Rihanna.

Some have said that it is too soon for him to be moving on to a new girlfriend in the public light. Many of his former fans have still not forgiven him for his violent outburst, and he will likely have a hard time being regaining his trust.

The former UCLA star said Thursday night that the 99-year-old Wooden was at UCLA Medical Center, where Walton last visited with him two days ago.

Walton spoke at the NBA finals, where he declined to comment on Wooden’s condition.

“He’s the greatest,” Walton said, his voice catching. “We love him.”

Los Angeles television station KCAL and the Los Angeles Times first reported that Wooden was in “grave” condition.

The Times cited an anonymous school source who said Wooden’s health has been an issue in recent weeks and that he was briefly hospitalized about a month ago.

UCLA spokesman Marc Dellins told The Associated Press he spoke to a Wooden family member Thursday evening and that the family asked that no other information about Wooden be released.

UCLA Medical Center spokeswoman Roxanne Moster said she couldn’t confirm whether Wooden was there or not because it would be a “violation of medical privacy laws.”

Family members couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday by the AP.

Wooden led the Bruins to 10 NCAA championships — at one time winning seven in a row — during a 27-year run that ended with his team cutting down the nets one last time in 1975.

The Bruins won 88 consecutive games from 1971-74 and 38 consecutive NCAA tournament games from 1964-74, both records.

NBA commissioner David Stern was asked about Wooden’s contributions to the sport of basketball before Game 1 of the NBA finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

“We decided that we would not declare his obituary now, other than to say that he’s the winningest coach in our history, four 30-0 seasons, and the ultimate aficionado of our game,” Stern said. “We hope he’s in peace right now, and we’ll wait on events.”

Below you can see the NBA Finals schedule for 2010 and the Lakers vs Celtics game dates, times and locations.

* If necessary

All of the above games will be televised on ABC for the 2010 NBA Finals. For the season, the Lakers hold a record of 57-25 and hold the homecourt advantage in the series against the Celtics who finished the regular season at 50-32.

Most of the team players are the same from a few years ago, however the Lakers will have the services of two key players, Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum, who did not play in the previous Finals against Boston. Boston went on to win the Championship two seasons ago behind strong performances from the Big 3, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The Celtics have added Rasheed Wallace and Nate Robinson among others for their extra talent on the court.

Kobe Bryant is looking to get a fifth ring while KG, Allen and Pierce are looking for their second. Boston will need to snag a win on the road out of the first two games, to give themselves the upperhand heading into three home games in Boston.

Who do you predict will win the Lakers Celtics NBA Finals 2010 series?

According to an e-mail circulated among the couple’s associates on Tuesday, the Gores said it was “a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration.”

Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the statement came from the Gores, but declined to comment further.

The Gores were telling friends they “grew apart” after 40 years of marriage and there was no affair involved, according to two longtime close associates and family friends, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was a personal matter.

The associates said the Gores, over time, had carved out separate lives, with the former vice president on the road frequently. One of the associates said: “Their lives had gotten more and more separated.”

Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush. He has since campaigned worldwide to draw attention to climate change, which in 2007 led to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The Gores, who were married on May 19, 1970, at the National Cathedral in Washington, crafted an image as a happily married couple during his eight-year stint as vice president in the 1990s and a presidential candidate in 2000. The couple famously exchanged a long kiss during the 2000 Democratic presidential convention.

The image of their warm relationship stood in sharp contrast to the Clinton marriage rocked by Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that hung over Gore’s own presidential campaign.

Al Gore at the time said his wife was “someone I’ve loved with my whole heart since the night of my high school senior prom.”

In a speech to the 2004 Democratic convention, Gore said he wanted to thank “with all my heart my children and grandchildren, and especially my beloved partner in life, Tipper.”

Tipper said in a 2000 campaign interview with The Associated Press that Al once gave her a Weedeater for her birthday but had learned to be more sensitive over the years and cared about what she wanted.

“He’s very much a gentleman you know, with me around the house,” Tipper said. “I know he’s dog tired and he could be sitting down and doing something and I need something across the room, he’ll get up and get it.”

On Halloween, Al and Tipper Gore would dress up in costume and greet trick-or-treaters who made their way to the vice president’s mansion. One year, she was dressed as a puppy and he was dressed as Underdog.

Tipper Gore was a co-founder in 1985 of the Parents Music Resource Center, which pushed for parental warning labels on music with violent or sexually explicit lyrics. The group drew the ire of musicians ranging from Dee Snider of Twisted Sister to Frank Zappa, who said warning labels were unnecessary and a danger to freedom.

Tipper Gore later became friends with the late Zappa’s wife, Gail, and played drums and sang backup on daughter Diva Zappa’s album in 1999.

The Gores have four adult children, Karenna, Kristin, Sarah and Albert III.

In a letter written to then-girlfriend Tipper as a 17-year-old college freshman, Al Gore wrote: “Mother’s having a fit about me riding the motorcycle back to Harvard. Dad’s mad at my long hair.”

The Gores have four children, Karenna, Kristin, Sarah and Albert III, all now adults. Their son underwent rehab treatment in 2007 after marijuana and prescription drugs were found in his car when he was pulled over for driving 100 mph in his Toyota Prius.

After losing the 2000 election, Gore turned his attention to climate change, undertaking a worldwide campaign which led in 2007 to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

The couple were married about six months when Gore deployed to Vietnam as an Army public information officer. When he got home, he landed a job as a reporter at The Tennessean in Nashville, and his wife worked there as a photographer. Her interest in photography continued after she left journalism and she usually had a camera with her while helping her husband on his campaigns.

Gore later served in his father’s former seats in Congress for 16 years.

Determined to avoid pitfalls that snared his father, who was accused of being out of touch, Gore kept a punishing schedule, traveling home to Tennessee for open meetings three weekends a month — and leaving wife Tipper alone in Washington with their four young children.

Gore first ran for president in 1988 at age 39 but drew little support outside the South. A planned bid for the 1992 nomination was put aside after the Gores’ 6-year-old son almost died after being hit by a car in 1989.

Tipper Gore, who has acknowledged treatment for depression after Albert III’s accident, is a vocal advocate on mental health issues.

“It was a very spiritual time for both of us,” Tipper Gore later wrote. “In Al’s case, he decided to write a book and not to run for president in 1992.”

The book was “Earth in the Balance,” and Al Gore ended up in the thick of the 1992 campaign anyway — as Bill Clinton’s running mate.

In Washington, the Gores were a power couple — with a light-hearted touch. On Halloween, they would dress in costumes to greet trick-or-treaters at the vice president’s mansion. One year she was a puppy and he was dressed as Underdog.

In the 2000 campaign interview, Tipper acknowledge Al had his faults. He once gave her a Weedeater for her birthday, but he learned to be more sensitive over the years, she said.

“He’s very much a gentleman you know, with me around the house,” Tipper said. “I know he’s dog tired and he could be sitting down and doing something and I need something across the room, he’ll get up and get it.”

NBC News’ Norah O’Donnell and Adam Verdugo contributed reporting.

The hair is typical, long and greasy and poking out of the back of an old free hat honoring Tony Esposito. The eyes are languid, the mouth shy, concealing a void where its teeth used to be. The lips are bloodied and unhurried.

Duncan Keith, all beardy and sweaty and hockey humble, is trying to tell a revolving group of reporters why it wasn’t that big of a deal that a puck collided with his face, costing him seven teeth and only a handful of shifts. He’s talking at a whisper, and with a pronounced lisp. He isn’t trying to be humble. This isn’t an act.

About seven minutes of ice time, one for each tooth, elapsed from the time he stumbled off the ice, teeth in his throat, and got shot up with enough numbing medicine to return.

Keith, the Olympian and candidate for the Norris Trophy, wound up skating four more shifts in the second period and 13 in the third as the Blackhawks clinched their first Stanley Cup finals appearance since the days of Roenick and Belfour and Chelios.

“Honestly, I was fine,” Keith said. “You get hit in the teeth, obviously it hurts the gums, but it’s not like you got your jaw smashed in or anything like that. It’s tougher talking, but it’s not as bad as you think it is.”

Here’s a new Chicago Blackhawks motto for you: “One Goal. Seven Teeth.”

Keith’s Komeback was one of many positive stories in the Blackhawks’ 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday to close out the Western Conference finals in a 4-0 sweep. This wasn’t a must-win game, but Keith wasn’t about to miss any time. The doctors jammed seven needles in his jaw, and he was back on the ice. He assisted on Dave Bolland’s tying goal with 1:22 to go in the second.

“He created the whole play, taking the big hit to set it up,” Patrick Sharp said. “And he’s skating around before the power play, telling us what to do, but he’s mumbling. I don’t think anyone understood what he was talking about. But he’s one of our leaders.”

“I wanted to get out there,” Keith said. “I heard they scored. It was kind of frustrating. It was nice to hear the crowd cheering when we scored again. So I missed a couple goals there. I wanted to get out there as quick as I can.”

The Hawks had to struggle to get past the seventh-seeded Nashville Predators in the first round, but they’ve gotten better each and every series. No one could accuse this team of looking toward the Stanley Cup with a 3-0 lead. After a slow start — one shot in the first 16 minutes — the Hawks turned in a championship performance, sweeping the top seed and setting up a playoff series that will engulf this city.

Last year, the Hawks were just happy to be in the Western Conference finals against a veteran Detroit Red Wings team. This year, for obvious reasons, the team had different goals.

“This year, it’s almost like we feel we shouldn’t lose a game,” Patrick Kane said. “It’s not cocky. That’s just our attitude. We feel like we have such a good team and the way we can play, we feel we’re as good as anyone in the league.”

Down 2-0 early in the second period, Chicago scored the last four goals, tying the game late in the second and taking a lead in the third on Dustin Byfuglien’s third game winner of this series. Kris Versteeg’s empty-netter with 42 seconds to go iced it. Brent Seabrook was credited with the Blackhawks’ first goal after an official review. No Kane, no Toews, no Marian Hossa. And that was a good thing.

“So many guys stepped up,” Kane said. “Every game was a new challenge for us. It looked like things weren’t going to go our way today and we still stepped up and got the win. It’s a really cool feeling right now.”

The Hawks will take on the winner of the Philadelphia Flyers-Montreal Canadiens series in the franchise’s first Cup finals appearance since 1992, but there was no celebration off the ice Sunday. No beer showers, not a hint of champagne. They got new hats and cheap T-shirts, but that about covered it.

Then again, this is a sport in which teams snub a conference championship trophy like it was an annoying reporter. It’s Stanley Cup or bust. No use celebrating the milestones.

“We don’t do that. We go for the big one,” said John Madden, one of a few Hawks with Stanley Cup experience, on the lack of premature jocularity. “It’s always been like that, the two times I won the Cup. We just congratulated each other and maybe had a cold one and that’s it.”

The Hawks’ locker room was buzzing with activity, but each player stayed in their stall, wearing a cap and a T-shirt commemorating their feat and looking toward their next task. Certainly celebrations would take place later in nightclubs and tony restaurants, with parents and girlfriends and wives and bottle service.

Keith will be celebrating in the dentist’s chair. He could feel the medicine wearing off as he talked. But he sat at his locker to talk to every reporter, answering every question.

“One, no two were fake already,” he said. “Hopefully I can get some nice teeth now.”

How many did he lose? In-game reports said four, which were later amended to seven.

“Let’s take a look,” he said, opening his mouth and showing a top shelf of gums. “I haven’t even seen what I look like, you tell me.”

Seven and a half minutes into the second period, Keith crumpled to the ice after Patrick Marleau, battling with Toews for puck possession in the Blackhawks’ end, nailed him point-blank with a puck. Keith staggered off the ice and a few seconds later, Marleau scored to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

Keith said he knew right away his teeth were smashed in. This isn’t his first rodeo. He could feel one hitting the back of his throat.

“I felt a chunk of something back there,” he said. “I figured it was a tooth. It wouldn’t have been anything else.”

It’s almost cliché to write about a tough hockey player, but it’s not unfair to say he was motivation for his teammates, even the veterans.

“There are a lot of things that go undisclosed,” said Brian Campbell, who missed the last month of the regular season and the first three games of the first round of the playoffs with a broken clavicle and fractured rib. “Duncan’s is out there. You look at guys like that, it’s inspiration.”

“It’s not that [impressive] … I’m just kidding. It’s very impressive,” Madden said. “I think the last guy I saw with all his teeth knocked out was Ken Daneyko, and he came back the same way. And that was years ago. I saw Duncs take that right in the mouth. To overcome something like that and come back, it’s a tribute to how great of a guy he is and how great of a teammate he is.”

After last year’s surprising run to the conference finals, this season has been a virtual countdown up to this point. This team had the talent, the depth and the leadership to get here. They carried a bull’s-eye all season. Now the end is almost here, and there will be plenty to celebrate soon enough. So flash a smile, Blackhawks, with or without original teeth.

One Goal. Seven Teeth. Four More Games.

Jon Greenberg is a columnist for ESPNChicago.com

The government declared a state of emergency as sporadic gunshots rang out in gritty West Kingston, stronghold of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, a Jamaican “don” charged in the U.S. with drug and arms trafficking. His defiant supporters turned his Tivoli Gardens neighborhood and other areas into a virtual fortress with trashed cars and barbed wire.

A police station in Dehnam Town came under heavy fire from gangsters roaming the streets with high-powered guns. In barricaded Hannah Town, close to Tivoli Gardens, black smoke spiraled into the sky from a police station set aflame by molotov cocktails.

Officers fled the burning station in impoverished West Kingston, where a 2001 standoff between gunmen and security forces killed 25 civilians as well as a soldier and a constable.

Authorities said two security officers had been wounded by Sunday night.

Police said the attacks were unprovoked. It called for all “decent and law-abiding citizens” in the troubled areas to immediately evacuate their homes and said security forces would ferry them out safely.

Police Commissioner Owen Ellington said “scores of criminals” from gangs across the Caribbean island had traveled to West Kingston to join the fight. “It is now clear that criminal elements are determined to launch coordinated attacks on the security forces,” he said.

In a gritty section of the capital of an island known more for reggae and all-inclusive resorts, the violence erupted after nearly a week of rising tensions over the possible extradition of Coke to the United States.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding had stalled the extradition request for nine months with claims the U.S. indictment relied on illegal wiretap evidence. After Golding reversed himself amid growing public discontent over his opposition, Coke’s supporters began barricading streets and preparing for battle.

Before Sunday’s shooting started, police urged the neighborhood boss to surrender, calling the heavy barricades encircling his slum stronghold a sign of “cowardice.”

The U.S., Canada and Britain issued travel alerts Friday warning of possible violence and unrest in Jamaica. Most islanders have been avoiding downtown Kingston.

The state of public emergency, limited to the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, will be in effect for one month unless extended or revoked by lawmakers, the government said.

In a national address Sunday night, Golding said the order gives authorities the power to restrict movement and effectively battle violent criminals. Specifics were not disclosed.

Golding stressed that Kingston “is not being shut down,” and schools and businesses outside the battle zone will be open.

Coke is described as one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords by the U.S. Justice Department. He has ties to the governing Jamaica Labour Party and holds significant sway over the West Kingston area represented in Parliament by Golding.

Golding’s fight against the extradition strained relations with Washington, which questioned Jamaica’s reliability as an ally in the fight against drugs. His handling of the matter, particularly his hiring of a U.S. firm to lobby Washington to drop the extradition request, provoked an outcry in Jamaica that threatened his political career.

Coke, who typically avoids the limelight, has remained silent. He faces life in prison if convicted on charges filed against him in New York.

Jamaica’s political history is intertwined with the street gangs that the two main parties helped organize – and some say armed – in Kingston’s poor neighborhoods in the 1970s and ’80s. The gangs controlled the streets and intimidated voters at election time. In recent years political violence has waned, and many of the killings in Kingston now are blamed on the active drug and extortion trade.

Coke was born into Jamaica’s gangland. His father was the leader of the notorious Shower Posse gang, a cocaine-trafficking band with agents in Jamaica and the U.S. that began operating in the 1980s and was named for its members’ tendency to spray victims with bullets.

The son took over from the father, and expanded the gang into selling marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, U.S. authorities allege.

Lawyers for Coke – who in addition to “Dudus” is also known as “Small Man” and “President” – have challenged his extradition in Jamaica’s Supreme Court. As a West Kingston community “don,” Coke has acted as an ad hoc civic leader and provides protection and jobs.