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shushu
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18 Mar 2019 04:59 |
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SAN ANTONIO -- Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the winningest trio in NBA post-season history, shared hugs. Players wrapped themselves in flags from around world, a reminder that the San Antonio Spurs look far beyond the border to build champions, as confetti fell from above. Painfully denied 12 months ago by the Miami Heat, this victory party was worth the wait. "It makes last year OK," Duncan said. The Spurs finished off a dominant run to their fifth NBA championship Sunday night, ending the Heats two-year title reign with a 104-87 victory that wrapped up the series in five games. "We had a great first quarter, but from that point on they were the better team, and thats why theyre the champions in 2014," said LeBron James, who led the Heat with 31 points and 10 rebounds. San Antonio erased an early 16-point deficit and routed Miami for the fourth time in the series, denying the Heats quest for a third straight championship. A year after the Spurs suffered their only loss in six finals appearances -- a heartbreaking seven-game defeat -- they turned the rematch into no match at all. "We wanted to redeem ourselves. Im just glad we were able to do that," Parker said. Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who added this title to the ones they won in 1999, 2003, 05 and 07. They nearly had another last year, but couldnt hold off the Heat. "Ive said many times, a day didnt go by where I didnt think about Game 6," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the turning point in last years finals. "So I think, just in general, for the group to have the fortitude that they showed to get back to this spot, I think speaks volumes about how theyre constituted and what kind of fiber they have." Not to mention tons of talent, and perhaps the best coaching in the game. "They played exquisite basketball this series and in particular these last three games and they are the better team. Theres no other way to say it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. The Spurs won four titles in nine years, but hadnt been back on top since 2007, making Foreigners "Feels Like the First Time" an appropriate song choice after the final buzzer. Duncan and Popovich have been here for all of them, and it was the fourth for Parker and Ginobili, who with Duncan are once again the reigning the Big Three in the NBA. Chris Bosh finished with 13 points and Dwyane Wade just 11 on 4-of-12 shooting for the Heat. The painful conclusion to last years NBA Finals served as the fuel for this one, powering the Spurs to a league-best 62-win season and a rematch with Miami -- the first in the finals since Chicago beat Utah in 1997-98. Round 2 went to the Spurs, but both teams have challenges to navigate if there is to be a rubber match. San Antonio will face questions -- as it has for years -- about the age of its core, and whether Duncan, Ginobili and Popovich want to stick around. The Heat will brace for the potential free agency of James, Wade and Bosh, and will need younger, fresher pieces around the three All-Stars if they all stay. But this moment belongs to the Spurs. Playing a methodical, albeit winning, style for many years made San Antonio respected, but never beloved. The Spurs were TV ratings killers, casual viewers finding them not much fun to watch. But Popovich opened up the offence a few years ago, making the Spurs an easy-to-like, tough-to-beat group that thrives on ball movement and 3-point shooting. "You showed the world how beautiful this game is," Commissioner Adam Silver told the Spurs during the postgame award ceremony. A decade and a half after winning their first title in 1999, when Duncan was in his second season, the Spurs remain the NBAs model organization, a small-market team that simply wins big and hardly ever does it with a high draft pick. Instead, they found players overseas or in other organizations who would fit the Spurs way of doing things and mesh with the Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, who have teamed for 117 postseason victories. That included Leonard, acquired in a draft-night trade with Indiana after playing at San Diego State, and Patty Mills, an Australian national who scored 17 points off the bench. In the end, the Spurs made winning their fifth title look stunningly easy -- much to the delight of the home crowd. After the slow start, they had their fans standing, chanting and dancing much of the second half. Notes: It was the Spurs 12th win by 15 or more points, most ever in a post-season. The Spurs outscored opponents by 214 points in the post-season. ... Miami had won 11 straight series, tied for the fifth-longest streak in NBA history. Cheap Clippers Jerseys China . Meanwhile, the Jets extended their winning streak to four and remain perfect under Paul Maurice. Its the Jets second four-game winning streak of the season, the other coming in mid-November. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Dalton completed his only pass and led the Bengals to a touchdown in his only drive -- one that took four minutes to finish -- and the Cincinnati Bengals ended the preseason with a 27-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. http://www.cheapclippersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-marcin-gortat-jersey . The two-time Olympic halfpipe gold medallist informed ESPN on Monday he plans to compete in Apsen, Colo. Avery Bradley Jersey . -- Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, is expected to practice on Wednesday. Tobias Harris Jersey . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis.All good things must come to an end. The Sioux Falls Canaries scored two in the seventh and three more in the eighth to come back from a 3-0 deficit and defeat the Winnipeg Goldeyes 5-3 in front of 6,769 at Shaw Park on Sunday afternoon. The loss put a halt to Winnipegs eight-game winning streak and the Goldeyes streak of 10 straight wins at home. The visitors also made sure that Winnipeg didnt sweep as the Canaries won the final game of a four-game series. The Goldeyes, who have already wrapped up the American Associations North Division, will hop on the bus tomorrow and head south for St. Paul where they will open a three-game series with the Saints on Tuesday. "This team is going to continue to play hard, if for no other reason, than a lot of these guys have personal goals they want to meet this season," said pitcher Nick Hernandez who will start Wednesday in St. Paul. "We also want to be at our best when the playoffs open in Winnipeg next week. It would be easy to just play out the string, but we want to win more than 60 games and we want to be ready to win a championship this season." In a game in which both starters were tremendous, the Goldeyes openeed the scoring in the fourth when Tyler Kuhn beat out an infield single, stole second and scored on a single by Reggie Abercrombie.dddddddddddd The Fish made it 2-0 in the fifth when Josh Mazzola led off with a double and scored on a single by Brock Bond and then they made it 3-0 in the sixth when Jake Blackwood doubled and scored on a single by Kuhn. But in the seventh, Sioux Falls got to Goldeyes starter Ethan Hollingsworth, who gave up a pair of runs, the second coming on a solo homer by Chris Valencia, as Sioux Falls cut the lead to 3-2. Then, with Hollingsworth out of the game, Sioux Falls scored three in the eighth and Carlos Mendez won the game with a two-run homer off reliever Brendan Lafferty. Canaries starter Joe Bircher (4-7, 4.23 ERA) got the victory, while Chris Kissock (0-5, 3.46 ERA) took the loss. The Canaries finished with five runs on nine hits, while Goldeyes had three runs on eight scattered hits. The Goldeyes will now face St. Paul on Tuesday night in the first game of a three-game series at Midway Stadium – the final series ever to be played at St. Pauls longtime home park as the Saints move into a new downtown ball yard next season. ' ' '
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