Hardaway Gets Ticketed for Driving 110 MPH

Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway, stopped for racing his car in excess of 110 mph in a 40 mph zone, cursed police and told them he had friends in high places, Miami Beach police said Monday.

Hardaway was driving a Ferrari when he was pulled over at 2 a.m. Friday.

“I have friends in high places who can make it very unpleasant for you,” a police report quotes Hardaway as telling two officers.

“If he arrests me, I’ll take him down,” Hardaway allegedly said, referring to the one officer who wrote the ticket. Hardaway used profanities in referring to the officers, the report said.

“It’s pretty sad . . . if we realize this individual indeed presents himself as a modern day hero that youngsters look up to,” Alfred Boza, a Miami Beach police spokesman, said Monday. “His behavior . . . troubles me a great deal.”

Hardaway, 31, led the Heat to the Eastern Conference finals where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in five games.

“Yes, I was speeding and I apologize for that,” he said in a prepared statement released Monday, “and, yes, a conversation did take place between myself and the police officer. But at no time, in any way, did I threaten him.”

The fine for driving 30 mph or faster over the speed limit--$265--is the same regardless of the speed.

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Kevin Johnson is expected to announce at a news conference today his decision to play one more season for the Phoenix Suns, despite indicating earlier that he would retire.

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The deal that sent Dino Radja from Boston to Philadelphia for Clarence Weatherspoon and Michael Cage could be nullified if he refuses to report to the 76ers for a physical, Celtic Coach Rick Pitino said.

League rules give players 48 business hours to report, a deadline that expires for Radja at 5 p.m. (EDT) today.

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The Houston Rockets have restructured and extended Coach Rudy Tomjanovich’s five-year contract through the 2000-2001 season, with an increase in his $1.3-million salary, the Houston Chronicle reported. . . . Orlando Magic owner Richard DeVos, who underwent a heart transplant this month at 71, has been released from a London hospital.