Webber, Howard won't be prosecuted in sexual assault case
Former Washington Wizards teammates Juwan Howard and Chris Webber will not be prosecuted in connection with a sexual assault complaint filed after a party at Howard's house, an official said
Thursday. "After a thorough and deliberate consideration of the facts and circumstances of this case, by the police and grand jury, it has been determined that prosecution is not warranted and this matter is closed," Montgomery County (Md.) State's Attorney Robert L. Dean said in a statement.  Howard, who is still with the Wizards, and Webber, who was traded last week to the Sacramento Kings in part because of numerous off-the-court problems, were named by a Connecticut woman in a complaint filed April 6 after a late party at Howard's house in Potomac. Both players denied any wrongdoing, and the investigation was turned over to a grand jury.
    The panel heard testimony from many of the 40 or so people who attended the party, as well as the accuser herself. Howard and Webber did not testify, and their lawyers did not allow them to
be interviewed by police. "I am satisfied that the grand jury took this matter seriously and carefully considered it," Dean said. Lawyers for Webber and Howard had offered different explanations for what happened at the party. Howard's attorney, Billy Martin, said the woman initiated a consensual sex act but did not say with whom. Webber's lawyer, Marcele Solomon, said his client already had left Howard's house when the alleged incident occurred. The woman's lawyer, Ned Collier, said his client testified that she went to a room with Webber and was struck, cutting her lip, then restrained by one of four people present in the room before being sexually assaulted.

Bird still unhappy over officiating
With his team trailing Chicago 2-0 in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference finals, Indiana coach Larry Bird found it difficult to hide his unhappiness over officiating in the series. "Chicago has won a lot of championships, and they've earned the right to get some calls. We just have to play through it," Bird,
who often benefited from officiating in his 13 years with the Boston Celtics, said Thursday. "There's no question that superstars get the benefit of the doubt most of the time. When you've got two of them on your team, everything seems to go their way." Indiana lost each of the first two games in the series by six points. Chicago has had 16 more free throws than Indiana (73-57), and the Bulls have outscored Indiana by 14 points from the line.
    The two Bulls stars Bird referred to have visited the line frequently. Michael Jordan is 24-of-28 and Scottie Pippen 9-of-13. "Michael is going to go to the free throw line. ... He got the benefit of the calls," Bird said. "I can handle that. I can't understand Scottie getting up into Mark (Jackson) and
commit two or three fouls where he should have been called for. You get called for a couple early, you back off and are not so aggressive." The aggressive defense of Pippen against the Indiana point guard has been a key in disrupting the offense of the Pacers. Jackson, who led the conference with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.1-to-1 in the regular season, has had 14 turnovers and 14 assists in the two games. "I really thought Scottie got away with too much in the second half the other night. He's reaching, he's knocking Mark down," Bird said.
    Chicago coach Phil Jackson disagrees that Pippen is successful on defense because he gets a break from the officials. "That's crazy. There is a lot of other stuff going on there. Scottie might have had one foul that you consider not called in a 40-minute game or whatever," Jackson said. "Coming from anybody but Larry Bird I think people could accept a little bit. But everybody knows what Larry got in his career. ... One of the premier player for getting calls, he certainly can't complain
about refereeing at this level."