Troubled Griffin Receives Three-Game Suspension

Forward Eddie Griffin of the Minnesota Timberwolves received a three-game suspension from the NBA on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge in Texas.

Griffin will be suspended without pay for the first three games of the regular season, if he makes the team. The seventh overall pick by New Jersey in the 2001 draft, Griffin is one of several players competing for what is probably only one open roster spot. Griffin is allowed to practice and compete in the remaining exhibition games, team spokesman Mike Cristaldi said.

Griffin was charged with fighting with a woman who alleged he beat her and fired a gun in her direction at his Houston-area home on Oct. 25, 2003.

Griffin has been in trouble several times during his career at Seton Hall and in the NBA. He was released by the Nets in February after leaving the team to check into the Betty Ford Center for alcohol-abuse treatment.

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Seattle SuperSonic forward Rashard Lewis, who has sat out three practices and two exhibition games in the week since being diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, was unsure when he would play again.

Lewis went through a shooting workout this week and said his foot was sore and tender afterward.

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Making a comeback after a fourth surgery on his left ankle, Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill is expected to play at least 30 minutes tonight against the New Orleans Hornets, his most extensive playing time of the exhibition season.

Hill has played 16, 29 and 26 minutes in three games and reported no pain or swelling.

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Toronto Raptor point guard Alvin Williams is seeking additional medical opinions before deciding whether to undergo season-ending surgery on his injured right knee.

Williams, who hasn’t played in exhibition games, doesn’t have much cartilage left in the knee, and has said an operation that would sideline him for six months is inevitable.