NBA Gambling Cases Put Billups and Rozier on Leave as Federal Probe Reaches Mafia-Linked Poker Rooms

Chauncey Billups coached Portland’s season opener Wednesday night. By the following morning, the Hall of Famer was facing federal conspiracy charges and had been removed from the Trail Blazers bench. The case against Billups is part of a much larger federal crackdown involving 34 defendants, two connected gambling inv…