The Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love does not need surgery to repair two broken bones in his right hand.

Love met with specialists in New York on Thursday, one day after breaking bones in his shooting hand while doing knuckle pushups. Doctors informed the All-Star forward that the injury can heal without surgery, but he is still expected to miss six to eight weeks.

The injury means the Timberwolves will be without two key players -- Ricky Rubio isn't expected back until mid-December at the earliest because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee -- for the first month of the regular season, and possibly longer.

Minnesota opens against Sacramento on Nov. 2.

  • Boston signed swingman Leandro Barbosa, who averaged 11 points and 1.5 assists per game for Toronto and Indiana last season. He also was the leading scorer for Brazil at the London Olympics.

  • Philadelphia waived ex-Warrior Dan Gadzuric.

  • Former NBA guard Slater Martin, who won four titles with the Minneapolis Lakers and one with the St. Louis Hawks, died in a nursing facility in Houston, daughter-in-law Becky Martin said. He was 86. Martin has been elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall
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    of Fame and the University of Texas' Longhorn Hall of Honor.

    Miscellany

    Denny Hamlin said he had his "bell rung" after a crash during full-field testing at Kansas Speedway. He was going 202 mph at the 1.5-mile tri-oval when he clipped the rear of his No. 11 Toyota on the wall. His primary car for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race shot toward the apron and Hamlin over-corrected, sending it into the outside wall. He then visited the care center but said Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s decision to step out of his car after two concussions in a six-week span didn't have a bearing on going to the center. Earnhardt will miss his second straight race Sunday.

  • Bud Cauley and Marco Dawson opened with 8-under 62s and shared the McGladrey Classic lead on St. Simons Island, Ga. Cauley secured his PGA Tour card last year at Sea Island, bypassing Q-school. Boo Weekley, Rod Pampling and Greg Owen were tied for third at 64. U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III had a 65.

  • Tommy Haas won for the 500th time in his career by defeating Jesse Levine 6-4, 6-2 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

  • The U.S. soccer team will finish its 2012 schedule with an exhibition Nov. 14 against Russia in Krasnodar.

  • Opting for arbitration, Johan Bruyneel will fight charges that he was a central figure in doping programs within Lance Armstrong's cycling teams.