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The Mavericks were trailing the New Orleans Hornets by double digits in the fourth quarter when Kidd was ejected for a frightening takedown of Jannero Pargo. Kidd left the court to a chorus of boos and groans, and the Mavericks went on to lose, 97-84, and fall behind 3-1 in the series.Kidd’s arrival in a February trade was supposed to lift the Mavericks back to championship contention. But until his takedown of Pargo, Kidd had been a nonfactor. He finished with 3 points and 3 assists in 29 minutes.The Mavericks, who made the finals two years ago, left the court to boos, in what might have been their last home game of the season.The Mavericks saved their series Friday by attacking the rim and getting to the foul line. They could not duplicate the effort on Sunday.

In the Suns’ subsequent 105-86 victory at the US Airways Center, O’Neal set the tone in the same way that Tony Parker had for the Spurs on Friday in their Game 3 rout. A Frenchman put Phoenix on the brink of elimination, another brought the Suns back to life. Diaw, starting in place of injured Grant Hill, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in one of the best playoff performances of his career. O’Neal finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Afterward, he dressed and slipped out the back door, happy to cede the spotlight to Diaw and Bell. Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni knew O’Neal would never hear the end of it if the Suns were swept by the Spurs. That was why D’Antoni said he took O’Neal aside Saturday and told him that he should not feel responsible for the Suns’ position.

Five people were arrested as the Olympic flame arrived in Australia on Wednesday and officials said they were prepared for more protests on the latest leg of the troubled global torch relay. A man and a woman attempting to unfurl a banner and a Tibetan flag on the iconic landmark were arrested hours after lasers beamed pro-Tibet slogans including “Don’t torch Tibet” onto one of the structure’s pylons. Police said they were confident that security would be adequate, despite a dispute between Australian and Chinese officials over the role of the torch’s Chinese escorts.
I can not understand why the minority Tibetan want to disrupt the torch relay. In fact, it is no useful to sattle down the situation. They will get what they put in. Tibet is a part of China before a long time.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080423/wl_asia_afp/chinaunresttibetrightsoly2008torch_080423082916

The Olympic flame arrived in Australia on Wednesday for the next leg of the torch relay and was immediately whisked away to a secret location to avoid anti-China protesters. The torch will thread along a 10-mile route that passes Parliament House and within 200 yards of the Chinese Embassy. The flame arrived at an air base in Canberra from Indonesia and was greeted by government and Olympic officials and Aboriginal elder Agnes Shea, who said she hoped the torch’s stay would symbolize ”good will for all mankind.” About 4,000 Chinese students are expected in the capital to support the torch relay.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Olympic-Torch.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=olympic+torch&st=nyt&oref=slogin

The last batch of domestic-market tickets—1.38 million—will go on sale beginning May 5, organizers announced Wednesday. Tickets will be sold at Bank of China outlets and on an official Web site, with sales closing June 9. Ticket-scalping is also widespread in China. Tickets to high-profile events often sell out quickly, frequently into the hands of scalpers planning to resell the tickets for a profit.  Overall, organizers have said the Beijing Games will generate about 9 million tickets, but a large chunk is set aside for the International Olympic Committee, sponsors, dignitaries and TV broadcasters. Domestically, China’s population of 1.3 billion has pushed demand far beyond supply.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-china-tickets&prov=ap&type=lgns

The Los Angeles Lakers took sole possession of the Western Conference lead Sunday. Keeping it might be a different matter, even if they win their only remaining regular-season game. MVP candidate Kobe Bryant had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists before sitting out the fourth quarter, and the Lakers routed the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs 106-85 for their seventh win in eight games. The Lakers (56-25), who clinched their first Pacific Division championship in four years and at least the No. 3 seed in the West on Friday night, assured themselves of at least a second-place finish in the conference. They are a half-game ahead of New Orleans for the top spot in the conference. Should Los Angeles and Houston tie for the conference title, the Rockets get the No. 1 seed because of a 2-1 record against the Lakers. Houston was scheduled to play Sunday night at Denver and Monday night at Utah before finishing at home Wednesday night against the Clippers.  Should the Lakers tie for the conference lead with Houston and New Orleans, the Rockets would be first, the Hornets second and the Lakers third based on how the three teams fared against each other.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/sports/basketball/14nba.html?_r=1&ref=basketball&oref=slogin

The mayor of Tanzania’s main city received the Olympic torch from a Chinese official Saturday and assured him its run through the East African nation would be smooth. Protests the like of which were seen in London, Paris and San Francisco were not in evidence in Tanzania, with rain the only problem experienced by torchbearers, including United Nations Under-Secretary-General Anna Tibaijuka. The torch was taken on a shortened 5 kilometer route after being lit by Tanzanian vice-president Mohamed Shein. While there were no pro-Tibet protests on the route of the torch, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai withdrew from the event.
officials watched as a Chinese Olympic official stepped off a plane and handed the torch over to Dar es Salaam’s mayor, Adam Kimbisa. About a dozen riot police surrounded Kimbisa as he received the torch and passed it to be taken to a bus.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=txolympictorch&prov=st&type=lgns

The Olympic torch touched down in Beijing on Monday. The arrival was shown live on state television, and comes a week after the lighting ceremony for the torch in Greece. It leaves on a round-the-world relay later. The torch relay has been heavily promoted by the Chinese government. The chartered Air China plane was greeted at the Beijing airport by hundreds of school children waving Chinese and Olympics flags. Chief Beijing organizer Liu Qi carried the flame off the plane and was greeted by Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Communist Party’s supreme nine-man Politburo Standing Committee.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/olympics/

Today Chris Webber announced his retirement from the NBA this morning at a press conference at ORACLE Arena, closing the final chapter on a 15-year NBA career that included five All-Star appearances and five All-NBA Team selections. Webber, 35, finishes his career having averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.44 steals, 1.44 blocks and 37.1 minutes per contest in 831 regular-season games with Golden State, Washington, Sacramento, Philadelphia and Detroit. Additionally, he participated in the NBA Playoffs 10 times during his career, appearing in 80 games with averages of 18.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 36.3 minutes per game. Webber earned a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star squad in 1997 while with Washington and made four-straight appearance on the Western Conference All-Star team as a member of the Sacramento Kings from 2000 thru 2003. He also was a five-time All-NBA selection, having earned first team honors in 2001, second team honors in 1999, 2002, 2003 and third team honors in 2000.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ApV1n80XxLIwrclzLr2CXHY5nYcB?slug=ap-warriors-webberretires&prov=ap&type=lgns

22, March 2008 , Goals from Mauro German Camoranesi and David Trezeguet gave Juventus a 2-1 victory over Inter in Saturday’s ‘derby d’Italia’ while second-placed AS Roma beat Empoli 2-1 to move within four points of the champions. The defeat, Inter’s first at home in the Serie A since last season’s 3-1 loss to Roma, sees Inter’s lead cut to four points.  Inter made an attacking start to the Easter fixture . in the 49th minute and in the 63rd minute Camoranesi and Trezeguet take first for Juve. Maniche grabbed a consolation six minutes from time before hitting the post in stoppage time. Maniche could have forced a draw in added time but his poked shot from Stankovic’s backheeled through ball came back off the upright.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-italy_pix&prov=reuters&type=lgns