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NBA roundup: Shelly Sterling wants to retain Clippers’ stake

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Los Angles Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling said she intends to remain an owner of the Los Angeles Clippers despite the league banning her husband, Donald Sterling, for life.

Shelly Sterling has hired a law firm to help her as the NBA moves to terminate her husband’s ownership of the team, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver last week urged owners to force Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers as part of his punishment for making racist comments, but Sterling’s wife apparently is not going away without a fight. She has been a co-owner of the team with her husband since 1981.

“Commissioner Silver made it clear, that when he announced sanctions against Donald, that the NBA was taking no action against me or my family,” Shelly Sterling said in a statement to ESPN.

—Los Angeles Clippers guard Jamal Crawford won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award as the league’s best player in a reserve role, the NBA announced Thursday.

Crawford, who also won the award in 2009-10 while with the Atlanta Hawks, joins Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf as two-time winners.

Crawford, who came off the bench in 45 of the 69 games in which he appeared, led all NBA reserves in scoring, averaging 18.6 points. Additionally, Crawford accounted for 3.2 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game.

Crawford amassed 57 first-place votes and 421 points from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters. Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson was second with 395 points (49 first-place votes) and San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili finished third with 138 points (nine first-place votes).

—Miami Heat forward Chris Andersen, who left Game 1 with a right knee contusion, insisted he would play Thursday night in the second game of the playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.

Andersen said there was a “1,000 percent” chance he would be on the court.

“I’m there,” Andersen told reporters. “You’re going to need a body bag to keep me from playing.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra said Andersen’s status is still day to day.