Warriors are back in the NBA Finals

With Andre Iguodala back in the starting lineup, Warriors are back in the NBA Finals

Warriors forward Andre Iguodala is called a "Swiss Army knife" player by teammate Stephen Curry.

Andre Iguodala is back in the Golden State Warriors’ starting lineup, which could mean only one thing.

It’s time for the NBA Finals!

Iguodala was elevated to a starter on Monday night to mark Oklahoma City Thunder marksman Kevin Durant, and he’ll probably be assigned similar duties against the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James in the coming days.

Iguodala’s move into the starting lineup during last season’s Finals was the master stroke by Golden State’s coaching staff that resulted in three consecutive victories over Cleveland, and the Warriors’ first title in 40 years. It also won Iguodala a most unlikely Finals most valuable player award after coming off the bench in the series’ first three games.

Golden State starts its repeat bid against the Cavaliers on Thursday night in the series opener at Oracle Arena after having won three consecutive games against the Thunder when a loss would have led to lots of questions about the significance of those record 73 regular-season victories.

Iguodala certainly made things difficult for Durant during the Warriors’ 96-88 victory in their series-clinching Game 7 victory in the Western Conference finals. His length forced Durant to become the NBA’s tallest point guard, passing more than shooting until he had no choice but to try and rally the Thunder in the fourth quarter.

Durant went more than halfway through the first quarter without shooting. He finished the quarter with only three shots, and Iguodala’s presence had more than a little to do with it.

“He’s such a Swiss Army knife kind of guy, where he can do so much on the floor,” Golden State guard Stephen Curry said of Iguodala after the game.

The Warriors did most of their dicing of the Thunder with three-pointers, something the Cavaliers must combat, or expect to meet a similar fate. Golden State’s 17 three-pointers Monday were a record for a Game 7, and their 90 three-pointers over the seven games were the most by any team in a series of that length.

Curry and teammate Klay Thompson bolstered their unofficial status as the best-shooting backcourt in NBA history. Curry’s 32 three-pointers were the most in a playoff series in league history, with Thompson’s 30 three-pointers ranking second.

“We beat them everywhere else, they beat us from the three-point line, and that was the series,” Durant said matter-of-factly.

Cleveland is widely being counted out before the opening tip of the Finals. The sports analytics gurus at numberFire are giving the Warriors a 72.08% chance to win the series, and the online betting site bovada.com assigned 10/21 odds of a Golden State repeat.

At least the Cavaliers will presumably have a full complement of stars this time after Kevin Love missed the entire Finals last season and Kyrie Irving sat out the final five games. They may wish they held onto forward Anderson Varejao, who will become the first player in NBA history to play for both of the league’s finalists in the same season after being traded and waived in February, allowing the Warriors to sign him for the rest of the season.

Curry has erased any concerns about his recovering right knee with three consecutive games with at least 30 points, including a 36-point outburst in Game 7.

Draymond Green’s availability, on the other hand, could be an ongoing worry. The volatile Warriors forward has collected five technical fouls in the playoffs, putting him two short of a one-game suspension. He has also amassed three flagrant-foul points, meaning if he picks up another flagrant-1 foul, he would be suspended for one game (a flagrant-2 foul would result in a two-game suspension).

There were more pleasant things to ponder late Monday night after the Warriors completed their comeback from a 3-1 deficit.

“I haven’t really thought much about Cleveland,” Curry said. “Know what the challenge is going to be.”

The Warriors also know exactly how to conquer it, starting with their starting lineup

source: www.latimes.com

Penguins' Rust questionable for Game 2 of Cup Final

Penguins' Rust questionable for Game 2 of Cup Final

Pittsburgh forward sustained upper-body injury in third period of opener against San Jose

CRANBERRY, Pa -- Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward Bryan Rust could miss Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the San Jose Sharks at Consol Energy Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Rust sustained an upper-body injury 4:47 into the third period of Pittsburgh's 3-2 win in Game 1 on Monday. After being hit by San Jose forward Patrick Marleau, Rust left the game for several minutes before returning, taking one shift and leaving again.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Tuesday that Rust remains day-to-day and is being evaluated.

Rust, who plays right wing on a line with center Evgeni Malkin and left wing Chris Kunitz, has four goals in his past three games, including the first goal Monday and the Penguins' goals in their 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final last Thursday. He has six goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most ever by a Penguins rookie.

f Rust is unable to play, forward Eric Fehr could move up from the fourth line. Fehr played with Malkin and Kunitz until Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Fehr has two goals in 18 playoff games but hasn't scored since Game 2 of the second round against the Washington Capitals and has one point in his past 11 games.

Losing Rust would be significant, Fehr said.

"He's one of the hottest guys we have going on our team right now," Fehr said. "So hopefully he'll be able to regroup."

Fehr feels confident he can be a positive contributor if he moves back onto Malkin's line.

"I'm comfortable wherever they put me," he said. "I've played in enough different situations all year. Wherever they put me, I'll be happy to play."

Sullivan said he isn't worried about how Fehr would handle an increase in playing time by skating with Malkin.

"If [Fehr] were to go back on that line, he's a pretty good player," Sullivan said. "Regardless of which line he plays on, [Fehr] has had the ability to adapt his game. The one thing that he does bring to the respective lines is that he's another [center] that can take faceoffs in the defensive zone. He has a real good awareness of the [defensive] zone. He's pretty strong on the wall.

"He brings all of those elements to that line that we choose to put him on. We'll make decisions accordingly depending on who we think is available for our lineup. But hypotheticals is not the world that we live in."

Marleau, who was penalized two minutes for an illegal check to the head, will not face supplemental disicpline, the NHL Department of Player Safety said Tuesday.

If Fehr plays in Rust's spot with Malkin, forward Beau Bennett could join the lineup on the fourth line.

Bennett has played one postseason game, when he replaced left wing Conor Sheary on center Sidney Crosby's line in Game 5 of the conference final. Sheary returned to the lineup the following game.

"We need Bryan right now so hopefully he's able to go," Bennett said. "He's scored a lot of goals for us lately and that speed element that he brings is huge for us. So hopefully he's able to go. And if not, if I'm slotted in there, I have to be able to make contributions right away. … I want to just come in and keep helping out the guys."

source: www.nhl.com

Hugh Freeze owns NCAA violations

Hugh Freeze owns NCAA violations but calls them 'mistakes'

HUGH FREEZE

SANDESTIN, Fla. — If he had it to do again, Hugh Freeze said he might not have sent that “infamous tweet” — his words — challenging anyone with information the Rebels were cheating to email the Ole Miss compliance department.

But he would choose another forum — not a different message.

“It was from a sincerity,” Freeze said Tuesday of sending the tweet, “that if there are things that are wrong, we want to know.”

We now know some things were wrong, as outlined in a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and Ole Miss’ response to it after an investigation that spanned more than three years. As the SEC’s annual meetings kicked off at the Sandestin Hilton, Freeze took responsibility for the rules violations, but insisted there was no intent to cheat.

“I stand here today owning the mistakes, but that is what they are,” he said while nearing the finish of a lengthy prepared statement, “and not some staff out trying to buy players.”

Thunder need Westbrook

Thunder need Westbrook, Durant to be right to beat Warriors in Game 7

In order to reach the NBA Finals vs. Cleveland, OKC needs greatness from its stars

"Let Westbrook be Westbrook."

That's the battle cry for people who enjoy Russell Westbrook's game, and are happy to live with his mistakes because his other results are spectacular. Some say that's the plight of the Oklahoma City Thunder -- going as far as Westbrook can take them -- but others look at the overwhelming ability he and Kevin Durant possess as the reason the Thunder are so dangerous to the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors have been one of the league's best defensive teams for a couple of years now, but even their versatility, adaptability and personnel can't really do much against Westbrook and Durant when they get their games going. Durant is almost a 6-foot-11 version of what Stephen Curry does for the Golden State Warriors, and attempting to corral frenetic Westbrook is like trying to stop Liam Neeson trying to rescue a family member.
Game 7 of the Western Conference finals is a chance at redemption for both teams. The Warriors can erase falling behind 3-1 and having their 73-win regular season dismissed as being overhyped. For OKC, it's a chance for make up for their final three minutes in Game 6 when they were outscored 12-2 at home and "Westbrook being Westbrook" became one shot attempt and four turnovers over that stretch.
We throw around "collapse" or "choke" when a team blows a lead, and maybe that phraseology often makes sense. But in this case, it may not be that simple. Let's break down the four turnovers Westbrook had in the final two minutes:

The first turnover is a great play by Andre Iguodala. On the second Westbrook, doesn't recognize Draymond Green closing in on his dribble in transition, or his teammates don't communicate that Green was on the prowl. The third turnover was charged to Westbrook, but it was really Durant's fault. The fourth was a great closeout by Curry on a desperation pass on the inbound.
Are these flaws bursting through like an alien out of Westbrook's stomach? How much do you discredit the Thunder vs. crediting the Warriors? It probably lies somewhere in between, but it's not always as dramatic as we make it out to be.
Westbrook demolished the Warriors for three quarters. But once Klay Thompson became an inferno of deep shots, the Thunder's miscues were amplified because they seemingly kicked away an opportunity to end the series at home. We put more weight into those late turnovers by Westbrook than we do the first three quarters when he was keeping the Warriors at bay despite Durant's horrid shooting.

In reality, the Thunder win most games Westbrook plays like this. Only four days earlier, Westbrook went for 36-11-11 with six turnovers in a blowout victory in Game 4. But, 28-11-9 with five turnovers? He failed in Game 6? It's all about how much the Warriors are able to absorb the punch of what Westbrook can do while hoping KD shoots poorly and the role players don't have big contributions. Westbrook doesn't need to change much in order for the Thunder to pull off the big upset. Just keep breaking down the defense, hope to get some help, and avoid big mistakes if and when the Warriors get hot.

How much can you play Andrew Bogut late in a tight game?

The Warriors received a monstrous performance from Andrew Bogut in Game 5. It was one of the few nights he's eclipsed 30 minutes in a game. His rim protection, screen-setting and rebounding were gigantic contributions in how the Warriors snatched control. When Bogut impacts the game like that, questioning how much he plays in a tight game appears to be silly. But not unlike the Westbrook issue, it's not that simple.
The Thunder grabbed 34 percent of the available offensive rebounds, which is an unacceptable rate for the Warriors' defense to allow. That turned into 25 second chance points for OKC. When you see stats like that, it really does make it seem confusing as to how the Warriors ended up with the victory. But that's just how it goes.
Golden State went small for most of their fourth-quarter rally to steal Game 6. And there was a real hesitation to play Bogut because his free-throw shooting tempts the Hack-a strategy to stall the Warriors' offense. If you can take them out of their flow, then it's just your best against their best. The Thunder's best are two of the most overwhelming offensive weapons of the past decade. You have to like those odds when those guys also keep getting extra opportunities to find points thanks to the offensive boards.
So the Warriors left with a decision late in games. How do you weigh the risk of using Bogut vs. the reward? Bogut protects the rim and rebounds, but is entirely unreliable at the line. We may have seen much more of it in Game 6 if the Thunder weren't already in foul trouble. If you take Bogut out of the game, the Thunder can feast on the offensive boards. Steve Kerr must find the right balance.

Andre Roberson vs. Klay Thompson

Roberson has gone from being a player you fear getting exploited by a team like the Warriors to being one of the most valuable role players in this series. He's essentially played power forward on offense while Serge Ibaka stretches the floor. Then he's tasked with hounding Curry and Thompson as much as possible. Clearly, Thompson got the better of the match-up last game because he set an NBA record for 3-pointers made in a playoff game (11) and he finished with 41 points.
For the most part, Roberson has done a good job of making Thompson exhaust himself for every shot attempt. Before Game 6, Thompson was averaging 22.2 points on 19.8 shots in this series. He made 41.4 percent of his field goals but only 29.5 percent of his 3s. Roberson is taking away his personal space like they're wrestling in a phone booth.
If Roberson bothers Thompson in Game 7, the Warriors need Curry to revert to his unanimous MVP form. If Thompson can shake free of Roberson and even force switches to have Westbrook guard him, he can move the defense and make life easier for Curry (it usually happens the opposite way). This might be the most important match-up of the night.

Hey, Kevin Durant, go be Kevin Durant

It's hard to correctly say he was bad in Game 6 because in many respects he was pretty awesome. His defense was mostly spectacular, and he had a huge positive impact. The problem was he didn't shoot the ball well, which ended up being the lasting impression. Was it just a bad night for him or did the Warriors really clamp down on him?
In Durant's 10-of-31 from the field performance, there were two big problems. First, he didn't hit 3-pointers, going 1 of 8. Durant was chucking early from deep, taking five of his eight attempts in the first 18 minutes. And four of them were bad shots. He tried to draw contact when there was none, rushed his shot or abandoned his normal motion altogether. That's easily correctable for him in Game 7.
The second problem was attacking the basket. He missed his final four layup attempts and didn't get a shot in the restricted area in the final 10 minutes. Half of those misses were wild attempts hoping to draw contact. Instead of just concentrating on getting the best shot, he got a bit lazy. That's not like Durant. Maybe it was nerves or maybe the ball just didn't feel right.
It's been tough for Durant to have a great rhythm scoring the ball the last two rounds because he's had to face Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes with elite help defense behind them. The result has been 42.5 percent shooting overall, 27.2 percent from deep. In four games in this series, he's been under 40 percent from the field. That can't happen if OKC hopes to win Game 7.
So what can we expect from KD? He's played 22 elimination games during his career. In those games, he's averaging 31.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.4 turnovers. He's shot 45.3 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from deep. His team's record? 11-11.
If he approaches those numbers in Game 7, the Thunder can shock the world. Otherwise, we could end up looking at this loss after being up 3-1 in the series in the same way we look at the Los Angeles Clippers' loss to the Houston Rockets a year ago.

Game 7 between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder should be epic. USATSI

source: www.cbssports.com

Manziel goes missing in New York

Manziel goes missing in New York

Johnny Manziel

Unemployed quarterback Johnny Manziel recently arrived in New York for reasons entirely unrelated to attempting to become something other than an unemployed quarterback. According to the Page Six of the New York Post, Manziel has now gone missing.

In a short blurb posted at the Page Six microsite, Manziel was supposed to take a helicopter to the Hamptons on Saturday, where he would be hosting a small party for friends and family. He reportedly didn’t show for the flight.

The night before, Manziel reportedly was confronted in Manhattan by the owner of the Mercedes in which Manziel was a passenger when it crashed into a pole and sustain serious damage last month. Manziel supposedly promised to reimburse the owner for the vehicle, but Manziel reneged.

“Straight punk. Straight punk. Straight bitch,” Wayne Schneider told TMZ after blocking a vehicle in which Manziel was riding outside the Trump Soho.

For weeks, Manziel’s situation gradually has developed an ominous vibe. Hopefully, he’ll get things straightened out before that feeling comes to fruition.

source: www.nbcsports.com

Penguins' turnaround

Creative Rutherford, blunt Sullivan key Penguins' turnaround

A.P

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The door closed and Mike Sullivan started to talk. Over the course of the next 10 minutes, the Pittsburgh Penguins coach laid out for rookie goaltender Matt Murray why veteran Marc-Andre Fleury was starting Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals even though Murray's rapid maturation was one of the reasons Pittsburgh found itself two wins from a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

When Sullivan was finished, Murray stood up and left without so much as a word. Really, there was no need to talk. Sullivan had explained himself so thoroughly that Murray didn't see the point of dragging it out. The fact Sullivan bothered to explain it to him at all was enough.

"With a lot of coaches, they kind of make a decision on the goalies and leave you to it (to figure out why)," Murray said. "Coach Sullivan is probably the best communicator of any coach I've ever had. ... I prefer it that way, you don't go back and say 'What could I have done differently? What did I do wrong?'"

While Sullivan insists "there is no magic bullet" to explain the Penguins' rapid turnaround from lethargic underachiever to the Cup Final against San Jose starting on Monday, the link between his arrival and Pittsburgh's spring awakening is unmistakable. So is the imprint of general manager Jim Rutherford, whose aggressive roster retooling since taking over for Ray Shero less than two years ago have made the Penguins faster, deeper and more resilient, qualities it lacked in abundance when Rutherford arrived.

Real Madrid Win

Real Madrid Win Hints at Growing Imbalance in Champions League

Ronaldo

SAN SIRO, MILAN — The financial structures of modern football have led to many paradoxes, but none perhaps is quite so strange as the one that makes the UEFA Champions League easier to win for certain clubs than their own domestic league.

There are a collection of perhaps half-a-dozen sides that are habitual Champions League quarter-finalists. Once you’re at that stage, it only takes a bit of luck or a couple of good performances to win the competition. There is a far greater element of randomness there than over a league season, when only sustained excellence will bring success.

That’s why no side has retained the trophy since the switch to the group format in 1992-93, and it’s also why Real Madrid have been able to win the Champions League twice in the last three years but have won only one league title in eight seasons.

It used to be that the European Cup was a grail only to be attained after a lengthy quest, the consecration of a great team. This success was avowedly not that. It may be the start of a glorious era under Zinedine Zidane, whose 27 games in charge have yielded 21 victories, but there is no sense this Madrid are the defining team of their era. Not yet, at least.

Rather, there remains a sense there is a wealth of untapped potential in this team. While there has been an improvement under Zidane, while the midfield looks far better balanced now than it has for a couple of season, with Casemiro liberating Luka Modric, while Madrid’s willingness to set off and allow Atletico Madrid the ball showed an encouraging tactical flexibility, this is still a side that seems like less than the sum of its parts.

Lightning hits children's soccer match in Germany, 35 hurt

Lightning hits children's soccer match in Germany, 35 hurt.

BERLIN – Police in Germany say 35 people have been taken to the hospital after lightning struck a children's soccer match in western Germany.

Three adults were seriously injured in the incident Saturday afternoon in Hoppstaetten, including the referee. Another 32 people, among them 30 children aged from nine to 11, were taken to the hospital as a precaution, the dpa news agency reported.

The game had just finished when lightning struck suddenly at about 2 p.m., police spokesman Dominik Lentz told n-tv television.

He says "according to what everyone present says, there were no clouds in the sky ... so that this incident couldn't have been expected."

Parts of western Germany have seen storms, heavy rain and hail over the past two days.

source: www.foxnews.com

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Season of Renewal Began in Mid-December

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Season of Renewal Began in Mid-December.

The Penguins won the N.H.L.’s Eastern Conference title on Thursday night with a 2-1, Game 7 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Pittsburgh. Credit Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

PITTSBURGH — In the waning minutes of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the N.H.L.’s Eastern Conference finals, the decibel level from the delirious crowd here reached 123. That is a little lower than a fighter jet taking off from an aircraft carrier.

The Penguins’ rookies, most notably Bryan Rust and Matt Murray, played their part in securing the win. But as the team looks ahead to taking on the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals here on Monday night, the stars are delivering, too.

Sidney Crosby, the generational talent who captains the Penguins, scored the game-winning goal in three of the four victories in the series against Tampa Bay.

Crosby did not score a goal Thursday night; Rust scored Pittsburgh’s two goals. But Crosby led all players with six shots on goal and eight shot attempts and had the most time on ice among forwards, playing 23 minutes.

It is the fifth time in franchise history, and the first time since their championship run in 2009, that the Penguins are headed to the Stanley Cup finals.

“I thought it was incredible,” Pittsburgh Coach Mike Sullivan said of the final minutes. “It was the loudest that I’ve heard a building in all the years that I’ve been associated with this league, to the point where we had to scream to the players on who was up next.”

Few could have imagined the Penguins would be in this position six months ago. The fans were disillusioned. Pittsburgh had a poor start and was near the bottom of the league in scoring.

So was Crosby. As one of the league’s biggest stars, he has been relied on by the Penguins, and by N.H.L.’s marketers and television partners, to produce. But through the first 18 games of the season, he had only two goals and a handful of assists.

In mid-December, the changes began. Sullivan, who joined the organization a few months earlier to head the team’s top minor league affiliate, was promoted to coach the Penguins. Pittsburgh General Manager Jim Rutherford then overhauled the team through trades and minor league call-ups. It worked.

The Penguins roared back in the standings, finishing second in the Eastern Conference. They scored the third most goals in the N.H.L. Crosby went on a torrid scoring run and ended up third in the league in points.

“It wasn’t easy getting to this point,” Crosby said after Game 7.

Against Tampa Bay, the Penguins had to contend with the brilliant play of Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who relieved an injured Ben Bishop in Game 1. Vasilevskiy made some marvelous saves on Crosby and the rest of Pittsburgh lineup. But the Penguins outshot the Lightning, 39-17 in Game 7 and 269-179 in the series. (Murray, playing over the veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, has been strong in the net, compiling a 11-4 record in the playoffs.)

The Penguins have numerous weapons, including Phil Kessel, who forms a triumvirate with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that will earn $31.5 million this season.

Criticized as aloof and lazy while playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kessel was traded to the Penguins last summer. Like many of his teammates, Kessel, a five-time 30-goal scorer, struggled at times this season.

The playoffs have been Kessel’s redemption. Among the players going to the Stanley Cup finals, he is second in goals and fourth in points, making him a strong contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy, given to the most valuable player of the playoffs. He scored four goals and added two assists in the conference finals against Tampa Bay.

“I’m filled with joy,” Kessel said Thursday night of his renewal.

Malkin was also important to defeating the Lightning. He ended the round against Tampa Bay with a five-game points streak, collecting assists on both of Rust’s series-winning goals.

But it was Crosby’s overtime winner in Game 2 and a superb one-against-three goal in the Penguins’ Game 6 victory that kept Pittsburgh’s season alive, and which forced a Game 7.

For Crosby, it has been seven years since he lifted the Stanley Cup as a 21-year-old. Then, it seemed as if every team would have to go through the Steel City to pursue the Cup. But Crosby missed most of the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons with concussions.

“Maybe what could have been?” Crosby said when asked about the long stretch between his finals appearances.

Crosby and Malkin have been a one-two punch for a decade. They are third and fourth on the franchise’s career points list, behind Mario Lemieux, who now is a co-owner of the team, and Jaromir Jagr.

After the win, Lemieux, who won the Stanley Cup twice as a player and enjoys saintlike status in Pittsburgh, made his way through the crowded locker room to Crosby’s stall.

“Great game,” Lemiuex told Crosby. Both of them beamed. With four more wins, Crosby will have as many championships as Lemiuex had in his playing days.

The Penguins will now turn their attention to the Sharks. Both teams rely on speed to pressure opponents and keep the puck moving toward the offensive zone.

“It’s going to be fast hockey,” Crosby said. “Two teams that want to play the exact same way.”

Defenseman Ben Lovejoy put it more succinctly.

“It will be a battle,” he said.


source: www.nytimes.com

Injured Nadal out of French Open

Tennis: Injured Nadal out of French Open as Murray, Wawrinka cruise

Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal rocked the French Open when he pulled out with a left wrist injury as Andy Murray and defending champion Stan Wawrinka moved closer to a semi-final showdown.

PARIS: Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal rocked the French Open on Friday (May 27) when he pulled out with a left wrist injury as Andy Murray and defending champion Stan Wawrinka moved closer to a semi-final showdown.

Nadal, 29, said he had been playing with an anaesthetic injection in the wrist in the first two rounds and that MRI scans had shown that the injury to the tendon was getting worse.

"It's not broken, but if I continue to play it will be 100 percent broken in a few days," said an emotional Nadal, the fourth seeded winner of 14 majors. "To win the tournament I need five more matches, and the doctor says that's 100% impossible."

Nadal, plagued by knee and wrist injuries througout his career, added: "This is a very bad position, but that's life.

"It's obvious that if it's not Roland Garros I would not take risks on playing the first two days, but it is the most important event of the year for me so we tried our best."

Despite his latest setback, the charismatic Spaniard said he will keep playing although his participation at Wimbledon next month is now in serious doubt.

"This is a tough moment, but it's not the end," said Nadal, who won the first of his nine French Opens as a 19-year-old in 2005.

Nadal's withdrawal gives compatriot Marcel Granollers a walkover into the last 16.

It's also a huge boost to world number one Novak Djokovic's hopes of lifting a first French Open crown.

Nadal and Djokovic were seeded to meet in the semi-finals next Friday -- the date of the Spaniard's 30th birthday.

Second seed Murray cut down Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic to reach the last-16.

Murray, a three-time semi-finalist, had needed two five-set matches and three days of play to get to the last 32.

But on Friday the 29-year-old needed just a shade under two hours to beat 6ft 11in (2.11m) Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

It was his seventh win in seven matches against the 37-year-old as Murray goes on to face John Isner of the United States.

"At the end it was very close. I got off to a quick start and against someone like Ivo that's very important," said Murray.

Third seed Wawrinka, scheduled to face Murray in the semi-finals, enjoyed a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over France's Jeremy Chardy.

The Swiss next goes up against Victor Troicki of Serbia.

Kei Nishikori of Japan also reached the last 16 with a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 win over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.

The fifth seed, a quarter-finalist in 2015, will play Richard Gasquet after the Frenchman defeated Australian Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2.

Canada's eighth seed Milos Raonic overcame a left hip injury to defeat Slovakian lucky loser Andrej Martin 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-3.

KVITOVA OUT

Raonic, a quarter-finalist in 2014, next faces 55th-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard stunned American 23rd seed Jack Sock 6-7 (2/7), 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Ramos-Vinolas, 28, had not won a match at Roland Garros since 2011 before this year.

In the women's tournament, Polish second seed Agnieszka Radwanska reached the last 16 with a 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2 win over Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic and now tackles Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

Spanish fourth seed and last year's Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza won the last nine games to knock out Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-0.

Muguruza, a quarter-finalist in the last two years, next faces 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova who beat Russian Fed Cup teammate Anastasia Pavlychenkova 6-1, 6-4.

Romanian sixth seed Simona Halep, the runner-up to Maria Sharapova in 2014, needed three sets to see off 18-year-old Japanese player Naomi Osaka 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Halep, 24, next faces 2010 finalist Sam Stosur who defeated 2015 runner-up Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 7-5.

But Czech 10th seed Petra Kvitova became the fourth top 10 seed to exit by the third round after she lost 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 to American world number 108 Shelby Rogers.

Kvitova, a semi-finalist in 2012, committed 36 unforced errors as 23-year-old Rogers reached the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Rogers, who had put out Czech 17th seed Karolina Pliskova in the first round, next plays Romanian 25th seed Irina-Camelia Begu.

With Halep also through, it's the first time since 1997 that two Romanian women have made the last-16.

source: www.channelnewsasia.com

End Around: Ryan Bros. galore, J.J. Watt goes country

End Around: Ryan Bros. galore, J.J. Watt goes country.

As I sat at my desk watching a Rex Ryan press conference earlier this week, I remarked to the rest of the Around The NFL team how it appeared that the Bills coach had put on a few pounds since we last saw him.

Turned out I was right. Ryan told MMQB's Jenny Vrentas in a tremendous Q&A published Friday that he'd gained 30 pounds since he hired twin brother Rob to join his defense in Buffalo.

"I was going to get (Rob's) weight down to mine," Rex lamented. "No, no, my weight started going up to his."

As a Jets fan, I'd long ago become something of an expert in matters concerning Ryan's figure. People tend to forget how big Rex got by the end of his first season with the Jets way back in 2009. The man was, well, large and in charge. It was an unhealthy place that led to his decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery, a procedure that helped the coach shed well over 100 pounds from his frame. By the time he got to Buffalo last year, Ryan barely passed a resemblance to the guy who became a star in Gotham.

Who knows, maybe the extra pounds will allow Rex to recapture the old spark. Nobody knows if this Rex-Rob pairing will work. There's a chance it could be a disaster -- remember they still have Dennis Thurman employed as the defensive coordinator (I'm sure he loves this arrangement). You can argue there are plenty of warning signs that the Bills are headed toward the abyss, but you have to give Rex credit for having enough self-awareness to understand this could be his last shot. And if you're in the fight of your life, why wouldn't you want your brother and best friend by your side?

Rob, by the way, is a corker of a human. He has a bushel of outright gems in the Vrentas piece. He passes blame all over the place about the end of his tenure of New Orleans, backs the bus over Jairus Byrd, insinuates Sean Payton should have been fired, and basically presents himself as a cross between Belichick, Lombardi and his dad, Buddy. He's bawdy and ridiculous and delusional, and I love him forever.

"Seattle has been great, but all the other teams doing (that scheme) are finishing sh--ty like I did," Rob said, explaining his disdain with the Saints' defensive game plan the past two seasons. "Right there next to New Orleans is Atlanta, Jacksonville. That's not sour grapes. That's me getting pissed off. Because I am great."

Because. I. Am. Great.

I understand that the bravado of the Ryan Bros. can be tiresome -- especially when unaccompanied by any tangible level of lasting success -- but I'll savor their presence as long as they stick around in the league. A couple years from now, when Rex is working for ESPN and Rob owns a barbecue truck in NOLA, we'll look back with fondness how the pair joyfully deviated from the dull script of NFL coaching culture.

source: www.nfl.com

Tiger Woods might never return to golf

It may be time to consider that Tiger Woods might never return to golf.

After David Feherty's recent Big Cat comments, it's starting to look like a legitimate possibility that an eventual return could be in jeopardy.

Cases and arguments are built of facts. Here are eight about Tiger Woods.

• His agent, Mark Steinberg, said on April 3 he "absolutely" expects Woods to play competitive golf in 2016.
• It was revealed on April 21 that Michael Jordan thinks Woods wants to retire.
• He hit three 100-yard wedge shots in the water at an exhibition on May 16.
• He revealed earlier that day that he's unsure when he's going to play. "I get it all the time," said Woods. "If I knew, I'd tell you. It would be fun to know. It'd be nice to know I'm going to play on such and such a date, but I don't know."
• He had a very strange interaction with a reporter later that same day in which he insinuated that he was going to retire.
• He has not played 18 consecutive holes since the final round of the Wyndham Championship.
• David Feherty said recently that he's not sure if Tiger will return -- ever.

"I am not sure that Tiger will come back because it is a nerve in his back," Feherty told Irish Golf Desk. "It's not muscular or skeletal. It's not something you can deal with in a physical way. I think he has a feeling that if he doesn't make it back this time, he might be done from a physical standpoint. There must be something about the game that has a hook because he could buy one of the Bahamas and declare himself a republic."

Former Tiger beat writer Robert Lusetich was dubious that Feherty was speaking without knowledge.

I'm inclined to believe #Feherty didn't just pull out of thin air that #Tiger may never recover from nerve damage in his back #InsideInfo
— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) May 25, 2016

There's a quote I keep coming back to from a Washington Post story the day of the mess at Congressional. It stunned me when I read it. It stuns me even more now. It had to have been a misstep by Woods who is usually extremely buttoned up when it comes to these things. Here it is.
"It's brutal," Woods told the Post of his attempt at a comeback from a third back surgery. "Do I want to go through that whole process again, of getting back? Some part of me said yes. Some part of me said no, because it is hard."
Here's the thing: Woods is still in the middle of that "process." When you haven't played 18 consecutive holes, you are not on the other side of it.
Feherty's comments resonate with me. I've believed all along that we would not see Woods in 2016. I balked after he showed off his stuff at his course opening in Houston, but I'm still on that thought process. Now I'm curious if we'll ever see Woods again.
Each fact I listed above is in and of itself not an indication that Woods might hang 'em up forever. But when you start adding them up, it starts to paint a different picture altogether.

Is it over for Tiger? USATSI

source: www.cbssports.com

Three reasons the Penguins will win Game 7

Three reasons the Penguins will win Game 7.

Matt Murray had 28 saves -- including 17 in the third period alone -- in Game 6 against the Lightning. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

PITTSBURGH -- First, let us not speak one word about momentum as we contemplate Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Momentum is a fable, a myth, a bedtime story for hockey writers and fans that has no basis in reality.

Don't believe me? Where was the momentum genie when the Pittsburgh Penguins steamrolled the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 and then promptly dropped Games 4 and 5, setting up Tuesday's must-win situation in Tampa in Game 6?

Where was the momentum for the Lightning, who had scored 53 seconds into overtime in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead and then were dominated through the first two periods of Game 6 en route to a 5-2 loss that sets the stage for Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Thursday night?

So let's agree that whatever transpires in Game 7 at Consol Energy Center won't have anything to do with momentum. Here are three non-momentum-related reasons why the Penguins will advance to their first Stanley Cup finals since 2009.

The captain is back in command

Let's start with the big man, Sidney Crosby. Although he endured an eight-game goalless drought that extended into this series, Crosby has delivered in crucial moments throughout the conference finals -- including a glorious individual effort on Tuesday that gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead in Game 6 and eventually stood as the game winner. He has, in fact, delivered the dagger in all three games won by Pittsburgh in this series.

Another interesting stat: The Penguins have won the last 11 postseason games in which Crosby has scored. If he has historically struggled to produce late in playoff series since the 2009 Stanley Cup win, Crosby's performance in Game 6 suggests a new trend is emerging.

"Well, you want to produce, especially this time of year," Crosby said Wednesday morning as the Penguins prepared to jet back to Pittsburgh. "You want to contribute. But I think we have a lot of belief, a lot of trust in everybody."

The bottom line: If they get another big game from the captain, the Penguins will have one skate in the finals.

Sullivan has the golden touch with his goalies

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan has had the Midas touch pretty much ever since the week after he took over for Mike Johnston in December, but he was criticized in some quarters for his handling of the Penguins' goaltending in this series. The common refrain was that in going to Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 5, Sullivan may have set the Pens on a path of ruin -- especially when Fleury was less than stellar in a 4-3 overtime loss. Then, when he went back to Matt Murray for Game 6, many wondered if the rookie would be bent out of shape at being replaced and if it would somehow affect his play.

But what if Sullivan's move actually gave the Pens a better chance at winning -- not just Game 6, but the entire series and even the Cup itself? What if Murray -- who turned 22 on Wednesday -- actually benefited from the night off? His 17-save performance in the third period of Game 6 certainly suggested that he was as sharp as he's been all spring. Sullivan was very emphatic on Wednesday that the move wasn't designed to punish someone for poor play. "You guys always insinuate that if someone doesn't play they get benched, and that wasn't the case at all," Sullivan said. "Matt played a lot of hockey. He played a lot of games. This is a battle. You're playing every other night. If it was the regular season, we probably wouldn't play our starting goalie that many games in a row. As a young goaltender, sometimes that's a tough load to carry."

Regardless of the motivation, there was a high degree of risk involved with the decision. But if Murray turns in another performance like Game 6, then the Penguins will likely advance and Sullivan will deserve more credit than he's receiving for his decisions.

The Pens are keeping their marbles in the bag, not on the ice

Even when the Lightning really started to bring it in the third period of Game 6 -- at one point making the score 3-2 before the Penguins pulled away late -- it didn't seem like Pittsburgh was a team about to crumble. The Penguins displayed discipline that had been lacking at various points in the playoffs as they allowed Tampa only one power-play opportunity in Game 6.

Kris Letang, a man whose marbles sometimes end up on the ice, was composed and dynamic, going plus-2 and scoring a big goal a game after he was minus-4 and should have been whistled for two or three penalties. But it was the play of Olli Maatta that suggests this Penguins team has come to terms with not having Trevor Daley (out for the rest of season with a broken ankle) and can move forward without the top-four defender. Maatta was benched (sorry, Coach Sullivan) for three games in this series, as injury and uneven play conspired to make this a trying spring for the talented young defender. But he's been much better since returning to the lineup, adding an assist in each of the last two games and seeing his ice time jump from 17:21 in Game 5 to 22:17 in Game 6. His youthful poise will be a key factor in whether the Penguins are able to emerge from Game 7.

"First of all, I'm having a lot of fun," Maatta said. "It's disappointing to sit out for a couple of games. When I get back out there I've had a lot of fun playing. That's probably something I want to take out of it and I want to do every game."

source: www.espn.go.com

Lowry, DeRozan lead Raptors as they stun Cavs again

Lowry, DeRozan lead Raptors as they stun Cavs again.

The Raptor tied a series 2-2 

TORONTO — Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey’s belief in his team has been admirable, even when others doubted him.

"Everybody can bury us and put us under, but we’re not quitting," Casey said after Toronto lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a combined 50 points.

He was irritated about talk of a Cleveland sweep.

When Toronto won Game 3 and the victory felt like just a blip on Cleveland’s path to a series win in five games, Casey said, "We’re not in this just to win one game, to not just get swept. We’re in this to win."

Do you believe him now?

The Raptors tied the series at 2-2 with a 105-99 victory against Cleveland on Monday, and what once looked like an easy series for the Cavaliers on their way to the NBA Finals has turned into a tight contest.

"It's one game," Casey said. "I know that sounds simplistic, but it's one game in a seven-game series. We're in it," Casey said. ", I still say that we're a young, up-and-coming team that's got to stay hungry, got to stay humble, and continue to compete with poise, because again, nobody thought we were going to be here."

Toronto lost an 18-point third quarter lead, regained the lead late in the fourth and got two offensive rebounds with less than two minutes to play that resulted in four big points — two for Kyle Lowry and two for DeMar DeRozan, the stars of the game.

The Raptors’ playoff truism played out: If All-Stars Lowry and DeRozan play well, the Raptors play well. Lowry had 35 points, five assists and five rebounds, and DeRozan scored 32 points. They were a combined 28-of-43 from the field.

"It's a cake walk for me once he gets going," DeRozan said. "It opens up everything for me on the floor. Teams try to focus in on him, and he knows when to get me going. He got the ball, he's our point guard, he's our leader of this team and he knows how to orchestrate what needs to be done out there."

Credit Toronto’s defensive adjustments, too, doing what Detroit and Atlanta were unable to do: protect the paint and limit Cleveland’s three-pointers. Now, the Raptors are exposing the Cavaliers’ issues. When Cleveland isn’t making threes, it has trouble creating the scoring opportunities it did in the first two rounds.
"We figured out ways to try to protect the paint," Casey said. "This team is a great scoring team, and so I think that you've got to have a balance of what you want to take away. You've got to pick your poison. We had a better balance, more than just taking one thing away or two things away. I think we got a balance of what we were going to work with."

The Cavaliers shot 47% from the field, but just 31.7% on three-pointers. The three-ball that went through the hoop with record-breaking regularity against Atlanta has abandoned the Cavs in this series, shooting worse than 35% in the two losses at Toronto.

Kevin Love struggled again offensively. After going 1-of-9 in Game 3, Love scored 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field. LeBron James (29 points) and Kyrie Irving (26 points) carried a majority of the offense and didn’t get enough help.

"I definitely thought we had finally got over the curve of how we wanted to play here in this building," James said. "But you've still got to get stops, and they did a great job of just making shot after shot after shot, even when our run was happening."

Know what else Casey said earlier in the series? "What’s the old saying? The series doesn’t start until you lose at home?"
The series is now a best-of-three, and if the Raptors want to win the series, they need to win a game on the road. Game 5 is Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Cleveland.

source: www.usatoday.com

French Open

Cranky Kyrgios pulls himself together.

Nick Kyrgios

PARIS — It all started with what Nick Kyrgios insisted was an innocuous, if admittedly loud, directive to a ball kid to retrieve a towel between points — shouted above the din of spectators at the French Open’s cozy Court 1.

Chair umpire Carlos Ramos considered Kyrgios’ bark during a first-set tiebreaker Sunday too forceful and assessed a code violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. That led to a long-running, and occasionally curse-filled, argument from the 21-year-old Australian, who at one point said the official was “unbelievably biased.”

Much as the 17th-seeded Kyrgios made of the disagreement at the time — he could have been docked a point for his colorful language — he managed to set it aside eventually and worked his way through a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over 124th-ranked Marco Cecchinato of Italy with the help of 16 aces, providing a bit of a spark on an otherwise dreary, drenched Day 1 at Roland Garros.

“It didn’t put me off too much,” Kyrgios said of his flap with Ramos. “With someone like me that’s pretty emotional, it can frustrate me a little bit, but I felt like I dealt with it pretty well.”

Of the 32 matches on Sunday’s schedule, his was one of only nine completed before showers created a rain delay of more than 2½ hours in the afternoon, interrupting matches involving No. 5 Kei Nishikori, No. 23 Jack Sock and others.

Winners included two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who acknowledged feeling “kind of down mentally” and was one game from bowing out against 59th-ranked Danka Kovinic of Montenegro before taking the final three for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 escape. Also advancing was No. 19 Benoit Paire of France, who needed five sets to get past 137th-ranked qualifier Radu Albot of Moldova.

Right after the ruling that bothered him, Kyrgios asked whether he was being sanctioned for raising his voice in the direction of the ball kid, explaining that “the crowd was too loud for him to hear me."

Ramos nodded.

“Really?” Kyrgios asked.

“It’s not that you said, ‘Towel!’ too loud,” Ramos said. “It’s the way you said it.”


Moments later, Kyrgios raised the topic again, insisting to Ramos, “I did nothing wrong” and referring to an episode this month at the Italian Open, when No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic reached out to grab the arm of an official who had stepped onto the court to examine a disputed ball mark.

“When Djokovic pushed the line umpire out of the way, he gets nothing,” Kyrgios said, punctuating the complaint with a swear word.

At his news conference afterward, Kyrgios was asked about the Djokovic reference and replied: “I mean, I think we all know, in this room, if that was me that did that, it would be an absolute circus. But if he did it, you know, nothing really happened of it. It speaks for itself.”

He also offered a hint of a conciliatory tone, saying “it’s not an easy job out there” for chair umpires and that he “might have to be a bit more patient” with ball kids.

Kyrgios is known for spectacular play — he’s beaten Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and twice reached Grand Slam quarterfinals — and boorish behavior. He was placed on probation by the ATP last year, with the risk of a 28-day suspension, for comments toward 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka during a match in Montreal.

Not everything came easily against Cecchinato. Kyrgios converted just 1 of 11 break points. He slipped on the damp court in the sixth game and tumbled into the net, staying down until Cecchinato offered a hand. And Kyrgios was forced to save two set points in the second tiebreaker.

Still, he played well enough to eliminate Cecchinato, who is 0-4 in Grand Slam matches and 3-18 at all tour-level tournaments and said he didn’t pay attention to the Kyrgios-Ramos exchanges.

Cecchinato also offered a nuanced defense of Kyrgios’ character.

“I like him, because he’s arrogant and sure of himself. ... He knows he’s good,” Cecchinato said. “’Arrogant’ in a good sense — he knows he’s strong and one of the best players in the world. ‘Arrogant’ not in a pejorative way, but in a positive way.”


source: www.journaltimes.com

Brady to file petition for rehearing on Monday

Brady to file petition for rehearing on Monday.

Free Brady/getty Images

File this one under Least Surprising News Of The Year.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association will file on Monday a petition for a rehearing of the appeal that resulted in the reinstatement of his four-game suspension, via Adam Schefter of ESPN. Monday is the deadline for Brady to take action, and it was clear once Brady and the NFLPA hired former U.S. solicitor general Ted Olson that this specific action would be taken.

The question now becomes whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will agree to a hearing before the full court. Previously, the matter was handled by only three judges, who were randomly assigned to handle the case. The fact that the Chief Judge: (1) was one of the three judges; and (2) sided with Brady could make Brady’s petition less of a long shot.

If Brady secures a rehearing, chances are the matter won’t be resolved before the end of the 2016 season. If he fails, the next question becomes whether he’ll pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (why wouldn’t he?) and whether Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is assigned to matters arising from the Second Circuit, will agree to stay the suspension while the Supreme Court considers whether to take up the case.

source: www.profootballtalk.nbcsports.com