McNair, last season's co-MVP, has missed the last five games and has battled through a multitude of ailments in his 10-year career. His aching body along with the Titans' (4-9) disappointing season has led him to mention the possibility of retirement.

The former Walter Payton Award winner at Alcorn State passed for 1,343 yards with eight touchdowns and nine interceptions in eight games this season. McNair has thrown for 23,980 yards with 140 touchdowns in his career.

Backup Billy Volek has played well in place of McNair. In Monday night's loss to Kansas City, Volek threw for a career-high 426 yards on 29-of-43 passing with four touchdowns.

This is the second and final meeting of the campaign between the squads. On November 7th, Kevin Garnett scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Celtics over the Nuggets, 119-93, at TD Banknorth Garden.

Boston has won three of the last four contests in the series. The Celtics, though, have lost three straight and four of their last five at Denver.

The Celtics open a five-game road trip against Denver on Tuesday. They won five in a row and seven of eight games prior to the break. Garnett missed the team's last nine contests with an abdominal strain and is questionable for tonight's contest. Garnett was voted to be a starter in this year's All-Star Game, but did not play for the East because of the injury.

Garnett is averaging 19.2 points and a team-best 9.9 rebounds in 41 games this season for the Celtics, who own the NBA's best record at 41-9.

All-Star Paul Pierce leads the Celtics in scoring (20.6 ppg) and shares the team lead in assists with point guard Rajon Rondo (4.8 apg).

Boston, which has won two in a row as the visitor, is 18-5 on the road this season. The Celtics will also visit Golden State, Phoenix, Portland and the Clippers on the current swing.

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Calgary won the first game of this swing through the Pacific Division last Tuesday in San Jose, but has since dropped tests in Los Angeles and Anaheim. Ryan Getzlaf registered a goal and an assist and Teemu Selanne became Anaheim's all-time points leader as the Ducks doubled up the Flames, 4-2, at Honda Center on Sunday.

Daymond Langkow and Wayne Primeau scored for the Flames, who fell to 14-12-1 on the road this year and wrap this trek in Dallas on Wednesday. Marcus Nilson recorded the 100th assist of his career on Primeau's tally, while Langkow lit the lamp for a third consecutive game.

Dion Phaneuf and Kristian Huselius both posted an assist in the loss. Phaneuf now has two goals and five helpers during a four-game point streak, while Huselius has five assists over his last four games.

Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff allowed four goals on 26 shots before he was replaced by Curtis Joseph at the start of the third. Joseph, making only his second appearance of the season, made 10 saves in relief without allowing a goal.

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The first major change is that points will be awarded to all eligible players finishing in the top 20 in major championships, including the Evian Masters, which is a recognized major on the LET. In years past, only top-10 finishers in those event received points.

"Giving points to the top-20 players in the majors will also benefit the European side," said Nicholas. "It's a great achievement to get into the top 20 of a major, so I think that will also assist in strengthening the team."

The second alteration is that any LET event with a purse of 750,000 euros or more will offer 1.5 times the standard points, up from 500,000 euros the last time.

Next, in Solheim Cup years, all ranking events besides the majors and Evian Masters will offer 1.5 times the points. Previously, those tournaments offered two times the points.

Pavlik (33-0, 29 KOs) took all three scorecards by tallies of 117-111, 115-113, 116-112 over Taylor (27-2-1).

It was a rematch of their first professional meeting, when Pavlik scored a seventh-round technical knockout on Sept. 29 in Atlantic City, N.J. In that match, Pavlik was knocked down in the second round, and came back to floor Taylor in the seventh to take the middleweight title away.

Saturday, fighting at a weight of 166, there weren't moments as dramatic as those. But Pavlik, whose last 10 matches had ended with a knockout or TKO, and who had never fought all 12 rounds in his professional career, pulled out a second win nonetheless.

Most rounds were close, with each fighter landing a fair number of punches. Toward the final rounds, Taylor's eyes started to swell, though his vision was not markedly affected. Pavlik closed well, and edged out his opposition.

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Hitzfeld, 59, is stepping down as Bayern's coach at the end of the season and will take over Switzerland on July 1. He signed a two-year contract.

Switzerland co-hosts the Euro 2008 finals with Austria in June. Hitzfeld takes over after the tournament as Switzerland tries to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He will succeed Koebi Kuhn.

Hitzfeld began his coaching career in Switzerland, but established his legacy in his native Germany by winning Champions League titles with Bayer Leverkusen (1997) and Bayern Munich (2001).

He returned to Bayern early last year for his second stint in Munich, but will be replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann in July. Bayern currently leads the Bundesliga and is in the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup.

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Stepanek stopped Chilean Paul Capdeville 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 at HP Pavilion. The gritty Czech will meet American Bobby Reynolds in the round of 16.

Fifth-seeded South Korean Hyung-Taik Lee withdrew from the tournament due to a back injury, and he was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Wayne Odesnik. The short notice didn't bother Odesnik, who earned a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory over fellow American Donald Young.

Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez saved one match point on the way to an upset of sixth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6).

Eighth-seeded Belgian Kristof Vliegen moved on by besting Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), while the aforementioned Reynolds held off German qualifier Benedikt Dorsch 7-5, 6-4.

Also Monday, American wild card Jesse Levine defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; and in the final match of the evening, which ran past midnight, towering American John Isner topped Frenchman Florent Serra, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

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