SAN ANTONIO — Bruce Bowen was a tiny bit late for the Spurs' morning film session on Saturday. He had a tiny excuse.
"I'm a proud papa again," Bowen announced after getting to the AT&T Center to practice for Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Bowen's wife, Yardley, gave birth to the couple's second son, a 6-pound, 11-ounce boy named Ozmel. The newest member of the Bowen team — he has a nearly 2-year-old son named Ojani — arrived at 9:19 a.m.
"My wife is doing well and the baby is well," said Bowen, who was in the delivery room for the birth. "What a gift during quite a time."
The Spurs last won the NBA title in 2005, and Ojani Bowen was born a few months later. Bowen is hoping the arrival of his second son means another championship is on the way for San Antonio.
"I hope that's prophetic," he said.
Meanwhile, Cavaliers star LeBron James, who is being guarded by Bowen in this series, is awaiting the birth of his second son any day — maybe any minute.
"I'm expecting," James said. "Well, I'm not. That would be kind of weird."
James' girlfriend, Savannah Brinson, is due on June 17, but James doesn't think she'll make it that far. In any case, there are no plans to induce the delivery to avoid any conflict with the best-of-seven series.
"She's just going to play it by ear," he said. "Whatever happens, happens. We're very excited about it, and we can't wait."
Nuggets player J.R. Smith
injured in car crash
MILLSTONE TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Denver Nuggets player J.R. Smith and another man were seriously injured Saturday when the sport-utility vehicle Smith was driving collided with a car.
Smith and the unidentified passenger were ejected from the SUV in the crash, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Stagecoach Road in Millstone Township, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a state police spokesman.
The passenger — who had serious head wounds — was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Hospital in Neptune, while Smith was taken there via ambulance.
Further details on their injuries were not immediately available Saturday night.
Smith's vehicle apparently went through a stop sign, Jones said, and collided with the other car. The driver of that vehicle and two other people in the SUV were injured and taken to CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, but their injuries were not considered serious.
The 21-year-old Smith was a star player at Lakewood High School and St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey.
Note
• A judge ordered Milwaukee F Ruben Patterson to pay a $1,000 fine for failing to register as a convicted sex offender after he moved into a new neighborhood.
Patterson, 31, pleaded no contest Friday to the misdemeanor charge, said Hamilton County (Ohio) Prosecutor Joseph Deters. The fine was the maximum Hamilton County Municipal Judge Ted Berry could have imposed.
Authorities sought the charge after a neighbor complained last month. Patterson, an ex-Sonic, moved into a $3.4 million home in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill last November, according to county records.
Patterson's failure to register as a sex offender was an oversight, said Patterson's agent, Tim McGee.