Briefly: Suns suspend Morris over towel-throwing incident

The Phoenix Suns suspended forward Markieff Morris two games for what was termed "conduct detrimental to the team."

The suspension was announced Thursday, one day after Morris threw a towel at coach Jeff Hornacek during the fourth quarter of a 104-96 home loss to the Denver Nuggets.

"My frustration got the best of me last night," Morris tweeted Thursday. "It won't happen again. I apologize to Jeff. My teammates told me I hit Coach with the towel. In no way was that towel intended for him. I just want to help my team win so much. That's my focus moving forward."

Hornacek said after the game that Morris was upset about being taken out of the game.

"He's mad about not playing," Hornacek said. "I look at the stat sheet, he's a minus-13 in 12 minutes. So there I took him out. He thinks he is better than that. Well, show me."

Morris has played poorly through most of the season, losing his starting job several weeks ago. He has sat out of several entire games.

He had caused a stir in the offseason by tweeting his desire to be traded after the Suns dealt his twin brother Marcus to the Detroit Pistons.

Police released surveillance video footage late Wednesday of two women leaving a club in Manhattan on Saturday. They say those women went to Williams' Tribeca home and left after 90 minutes. Williams later reported several pieces of jewelry missing. They included a $50,000 diamond Rolex watch, three diamond rings valued at $30,000 and three 24-karat gold chains worth $35,000.

Williams got his start with the Timberwolves, who picked him second overall in the 2011 draft.

• The NBA-worst Philadelphia 76ers acquired point guard Ish Smith from the New Orleans Pelicans for two second-round draft picks.

A University of Vermont basketball player was suspended for eight games for reselling textbooks.

The university's athletic department said junior Dre Wills violated its student athlete code and NCAA rules regarding his athletics scholarship by selling the books. In addition to the suspension, Wills must pay back an unspecified amount of money and perform community service.

UFC President Dana White said the 40-year-old former middleweight champion will face Michael Bisping at the O2 Arena in London.

Silva (33-6) reigned as the UFC's 185-pound champion for nearly seven years until he lost twice to Chris Weidman in 2013, breaking his leg in the second bout.

Silva returned last Jan. 31 for a decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 183, but was suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for steroid use.

Soccer: The LA Galaxy continued its shake-up by transferring MLS All-Star midfielder Juninho to Club Tijuana in Liga MX. Juninho won three MLS Cup titles during six seasons with the Galaxy. The Brazilian scored 18 goals during 180 starts for the club, earning his first All-Star selection last season. Juninho was sent to Mexico two days after longtime Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez was transferred to Pachuca in Liga MX.

Doping: World champion Russian weightlifter Aleksei Lovchev was provisionally suspended after failing a drug test, the International Weightlifting Federation said. Lovchev tested positive for a banned substance after last month's world championships in Houston, where he broke the clean-and-jerk and total world records.