ainst non-playoff teams, but this was against a team that seemingly had returned to form after

BEIJING -- Former basketball star Dennis Rodman apologized on Monday for not being able to help an American missionary detained in North Korea while he played there to celebrate the birthday of his friend and leader Kim Jong Un. Johnny Bench Jersey . "Im sorry, Im sorry I couldnt do anything," Rodman told media on his arrival at Beijing airport from a weeklong trip. "Its not my fault. Im sorry. I just want to do some good stuff, thats all I want to do." He said he would return to North Korea next month, but gave no details. Rodman and the squad of retired NBA players he took to North Korea for an exhibition game marking Kims birthday have met with criticism in the U.S. because of North Koreas human rights record and its development of nuclear weapons. Acknowledging the controversy surrounding the trip, one of the players, Charles D. Smith, said Rodman "opened the door and he did some missteps along the way." In an interview in Beijing, Smith said Rodmans singing of "Happy Birthday" to Kim before the exhibition game at a Pyongyang stadium was something that he alone had decided to do. "I think that it might not have been the right thing to do, but he did it ... if it was done in private it would be different, but when its done in the open like that, people are going to have opinions." During the trip, Rodman was also slammed for not using his influence with Kim to help free Kenneth Bae, the missionary in poor health who has been detained for more than a year for "anti-state crimes." Rodman apologized last week for comments he made in a CNN interview implying Bae was at fault, saying he had been drinking and was upset because some of his teammates were under pressure to leave. Smith said the controversy surrounding Bae was a "bad situation" that "overshadowed some of the things that we were doing." "Dennis is not a member of the State Department, he is not a member of the UN," Smith said. "For them to put the flag in his hands and say go and negotiate and talk about it, he probably would have made it worse, you know." He said North Korean officials had invited the team back "at any given time." On Monday, Rodman reiterated that his trip was one of goodwill. "This is not a bad deal," he said. "I want to show people that no matter whats going on in the world, for one day, just one day, no politics, not all that stuff. "Im sorry for all the people and whats going on, Im sorry," he continued. "Im not the president, Im not an ambassador, Im just an individual that wants to show the world the fact that we can actually get along and be happy for one day." Rodman and Kim struck up a friendship when the basketball-player-turned-celebrity first travelled to the secretive state last year. Homer Bailey Jersey . The 36-year-old Colts receiver is going back to the playoffs as a division champion. Billy Hamilton Jersey . Sharper briefly appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court, where his arraignment was postponed until Feb. 20 at the request of his lawyers. They issued a statement saying he would be exonerated. Prosecutors then filed a motion to increase Sharpers bail to $10 million and outlined details of investigations involving him in Las Vegas, Tempe, Ariz. http://www.redsgearshop.com/Reds-Ken-Griffey-Kids-Jersey/ . Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said.NEW YORK -- Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points and the New York Knicks opened the Phil Jackson era by beating the Indiana Pacers 92-86 Wednesday night for their season-high seventh straight victory. With their new team president watching from a midcourt seat, the Knicks dominated the first half, then pulled away after the Eastern Conference leaders finally got untracked in the second half. Fans stood to cheer Jackson in the first quarter and were on their feet again in the final minute to watch the Knicks beat the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Lance Stephenson had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped and failed to extend their three-game lead over the Miami Heat, who lost to Boston earlier Wednesday. Roy Hibbert scored 20 on 8-of-10 shooting, but All-Star Paul George missed all six first-quarter shots and finished 4 for 17 for his 17 points. New Yorks previous six wins had all come against non-playoff teams, but this was against a team that seemingly had returned to form after dropping a season-worst four in a row. Amare Stoudemire added 21 points and Tyson Chandler grabbed 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who are four games behind Atlanta for the final East playoff spot. Jackson met with coaches and players earlier Wednesday, then watched the game from a seat above centre court, receiving a loud standing ovation when shown on the overhead screen during a first-quarter timeout. The 11-time champion as a coach also was on the Knicks only two title-winning teams as a player, and there was a different energy in the building during whats been a hugely disappointing season before recent days. Mike Woodson said before the game he wasnt angry that Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan had orriginally talked to Jackson in December about the coaching job, adding that "the city should be buzzing" over his return. Chris Sabo Jersey. (Not all of it is; a group of fans frustrated with Dolans mismanagement of the franchise went through with a previously planned protest outside the arena before the game). Anthony said he was excited about the hire, but that it was difficult to think about that with the players trying to focus on the game as they try to make a late run for a playoff spot. Hibbert scored 14 points in the third quarter to help Indiana wipe out nearly all of a 16-point deficit, and it was just a one-point game early in the fourth when George made just his second field goal. But the Knicks answered with eight in a row, going ahead 75-66 on Stoudemires basket with 7:57 remaining, and Anthony spun for a dunk and knocked down a jumper for consecutive scores after Indiana trimmed it to five with under 4 minutes to go. Woodson improved to 45-16 in March and April as Knicks coach, but New York faces an uphill climb to dig out of the hole a 2-11 February created. The Knicks shot 24 per cent in the first quarter, missing all five 3-point attempts, but had a 21-14 lead after going 9 of 10 from the free throw line. New York ran off 12 in a row to open its biggest lead at 39-23 on Stoudemires basket midway through the second, and the Pacers could only trim that to 47-35 at halftime NOTES: Andrew Bynum will be out the rest of the week resting his sore right knee. The centre aggravated his troublesome knee after playing Saturday against Detroit, his second appearance since signing with the Pacers. He has averaged 11.5 points and 9.5 rebounds thus far. ... Indiana won both earlier meetings and was trying to sweep the series for the first time since 2007-08. 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