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Dwyane Wade's ailing right knee is affecting his production throughout the playoffs, with his scoring down from 21.2 PPG in the regular season to 13.7 PPG in the nine games he's played since. That's no secret. It's also no secret, however, that Miami continues to find a way to win; incredibly, last night's victory pushed the Heat to 46-3 since Feb. 2.

Still, if Miami is going to win it all this season as so many forecast, it can't afford Wade's knee to worsen or his production to decline further. How do things stand now? Wade spoke of his injury on Wednesday.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates are 23-17 after pn the season, but have done so on good pitching. The club's offense has struggled, posting a .242 batting average in 46 games, good for No. 12 in the National League. The Bucs also rank No. 10 in on-base percentage, offsetting their respectable No. 8 ranking in slugging. One of the problematic spots in the order is occupied by third baseman Pedro Alvarez.

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Although the Detroit Lions were happy to bring S Louis Delmas back into the mix -- in theory, his presence crosses off one item on the list of needs -- the good feelings might be short-lived: the injury-prone Delmas appears to be suffering from yet another health issue.

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Vanderbilt basketball added somebody today that could significantly alter the path of the program in the future. It wasn't a high-impact recruit or a transfer this time, though. The Commodores hired Harvard assistant coach Yanni Hufnagel, who is one of the key pieces responsible for the Crimson's rise to the national stage in recent years.

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Brayan Pena will start over Alex Avila Thursday, the first back-to-back assignment for the veteran since May 11-12 in Cleveland and for only the third occasional on the season. Regular catcher Alex Avila is struggling that much right now.

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For better or worse, the Houston Texans will again leave their primary quarterbacking duties to Matt Schaub this season. But behind him, a competition brews as the team attempts to determine the identity of his backup.

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Maurice Cheeks is the latest to interview for the Detroit Pistons head coaching vacancy, and he may be the final candidate the team looks at before arriving at a decision.

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We've written before how 2014 PG Chris Chiozza's (Memphis, Tenn./White Station) commitment to Florida impacts other players in the 2014 class, most specifically 2014 No. 11 Leron Black (Memphis, Tenn./White Station). It appears, though, that the Chiozza commitment also affects Florida's chances at landing another 2014 point guard, four-star Brandone Francis (Jacksonville, Fla./Arlington Country day).

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Kyle Allen (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain) is arguably the hottest name among quarterbacks on the recruiting trail. Allen isn't ready to trim his list, but eight schools are likely at the top of his list.

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UConn big man Enosch Wolf's suspension from the basketball program has been lifted and it's still unclear exactly what his role will be with the team in 2013-14. The reason the future is cloudy is because the Huskies now have zero scholarships available with the news of fifth-year guard Lasan Kromah's transfer from George Washington.

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Last week we learned that the Detroit Tigers were hard at work looking for bullpen help. With the news that Joel Hanrahan is out for the season after having Tommy John surgery, the Boston Red Sox also may be in the market for relief assistance.

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Though their final results from 2012 wouldn't indicate that any part of their play was truly dominant, the Kansas City Chiefs have a pair of quite impactful OLBs in Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, and new DC Bob Sutton is poised to feature both as part of an aggressive pass-rushing scheme this fall. But, the scheme will also involve a number of the other players on that side of the ball.

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