Archive for April, 2008

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili — good enough to be a starter on any team — won the NBA’s sixth man award, given to the league’s best reserve.

Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring, averaging a career-high 19.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Ginobili got 123 of 124 first-place votes for 615 points. Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa came in second with 283 points, and the Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Terry was third with 44. Barbosa won the award last year and Ginobili was second.

The last sixth man award winner to lead his team in scoring was Milwaukee’s Ricky Pierce. He averaged 23 points when he won the award in 1990.

Tim Duncan had 40 points and 15 boards and tied the game in overtime with his first three-pointer of the season, but it was Manu Ginobili who made a easy basket with 1.8 seconds remaining in the second overtime that lifted the Spurs 117-115 win over the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series.

Amare Stoudemire led the sixth-seeded Suns with 33 points, but fouled out late in the first overtime. Nash contributed 25 points and 13 assists, while Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa added 12 points apiece. Shaquille O’Neal scored 11, but played just 30 minutes due to foul trouble.

The Suns took control early in overtime, and the Spurs couldn’t get closer than three as Phoenix led 104-101 in the final minute. Phoenix had a chance to ice the game with a basket in the final 15 seconds, but Stoudemire was called for a charge, fouling him out of the game and giving the Spurs a chance to tie with 12.6 seconds to play.

Out of a timeout, Ginobili drove to the basket and the Suns left Duncan alone behind the three-point line. Ginobili kicked the ball out, and Duncan buried the shot, tying the game with three seconds to play.

“Yeah he was 0-for-4 on the year so I guess he was due,” said Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni of Duncan. “We had a chance after being up five and then three but we didn’t hit the big shots and they did.”

After Steve Nash tied the game with a flailing three from the left corner with 15.7 seconds to play in the second OT, Ginobili beat Raja Bell down the left side of the lane and banked in a layup to put the Spurs on top. Nash’s 70-foot heave was well off the mark as the buzzer sounded and the Spurs escaped with a dramatic win.

Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury drove in two runs apiece, and a shorthanded Boston bullpen provided strong support of starter Daisuke Matsuzaka as the Red Sox took the decisive third game of their series with the rival New York Yankees, 8-5, at Fenway Park.

Youkilis finished 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Manny Ramirez had two hits, two runs and an RBI to help power a Boston offense that generated 11 hits without slugger David Ortiz.

Matsuzaka (3-0) was hardly perfect, allowing four runs on five hits and walking six over five innings, but David Aardsma, Mike Timlin, Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen limited the Yankees to one run on three hits over the final four innings.

Ohlendorf and LaTroy Hawkins combined to hold the Sox in check from the fourth through the seventh, but the Yankees bats fell silent as well, thanks to the work of the Boston bullpen that saved our RED SOX NATION.

P.S: I love BRS

Hasan Salihamidzic scored two goals, including the match winner in the 80th minute, to help Juventus down AC Milan, 3-2 at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino on last night.

The game got off to a flying start with both teams scoring in the first 15 minutes. Camoranesi won the ball on the right flank and slipped a pass into the box on the right for Del Piero. The Juve captain then got to the ball and rolled it inside the far post from a tight angle to put the hosts up a goal.

Milan had an answer two minutes later when Kaka was played down the left wing, carried the ball into the box, and took on a defender. The Brazilian then slid the ball through the face of goal for Inzaghi to tap in. Kaka tested Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the 27th minute, but Milan took the lead five minutes later. Massimo Ambrosini chipped the ball into the box, drawing Buffon off his line. Bonera got to it first and touched it over to Inzaghi, who was once again left with an easy tap in. Camoranesi set up Juve’s second goal right before the break when he crossed from the right for David Trezeguet, who headed the ball on target from close range. The shot was right at Milan keeper Zeljko Kalac, but Salihamidzic was on hand to knock home the rebound. Bonera’s red card was the turning point in the game as Milan was forced to sit back and defend and try to hit back on the counter attack.

The breakthrough finally came in the 80th minute when Camoranesi once again played a good ball into the box from the right flank and Salihamidzic, who was left unmarked in front of the net, nodded the ball into the lower left corner.

The Lakers moved to within half a game of the first-place Hornets and clinched their 19th division championship, their first since 2003-04.

The Lakers took a stunning 63-33 lead on Bryant’s 19-footer with 3:53 left in the second quarter, but Peja Stojakovic’s three-pointer pulled the Hornets to within 96-95 with 3:57 left to play, turning a celebrating crowd into surprising silence.

The Lakers, however, plowed ahead. Ronny Turiaf made two free throws and Derek Fisher hit a three-pointer from the left corner to put the Lakers back up, 101-95. They never led by fewer than five the rest of the way until Jannero Pargo’s three-pointer as time expired.

Bryant finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. He made nine of 17 shots. Paul, who battled foul trouble at times, had 15 points, 17 assists and four steals. He made four of 13 shots.

“I think it’s great for us in terms of taking significant steps,” Bryant said. “This was the first step. We want to take another one on Sunday [against San Antonio]. It just feels good to be No. 1, and that’s what we want to get.”

Kansas guard Mario Chalmers was the hero of Monday night’s national title victory against Memphis in overtime at the Alamodome in San Antonio. His 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation put the game in overtime, and gave Kansas the extra time to make the most memorable comeback victories in NCAA tournament history.

Although Chalmers will go down in history, the most memorable overall performance came from Rose, the Memphis freshman, who completely took over the game in the second half, scoring 14 of his team’s 16 points during one stretch to lift the Tigers to a 60-51 lead with 2:12 left.

However, Kansas used the strategy any smart opponent of Memphis’ would - fouling the heck out of one of the country’s worst free-throw-shooting teams - and when Rose and Douglas-Roberts made only one of five over the last 1:12, it left the door open for KU. Hustling the ball down the court with 10.8 seconds left, no timeouts and trailing by three, Sherron Collins handed off to Chalmers at the top of the 3-point line, and Chalmers took the shot. It hit nothing but net and tied the score at 63. Overtime began with Sherron Collins stealing the ball and pitching ahead to Brandon Rush for a lay-in. Darrell Arthur slammed a lob from Chalmers and Darnell Jackson hit a bucket, and Memphis was never able to catch up.

The title is Kansas’ third NCAA Championship and fifth overall all-time championship. And Chalmers was named Final Four MVP.

For the second straight year Felipe Massa captured the Grand Prix of Bahrain. The No.2 Ferrari crossed the finish line 3.339 seconds ahead of teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The victory was Massa’s first of the season, the first race he completed all the laps in 2008 and the sixth of his F1 career.

Surprise pole winner Robert Kubica, the first non-Ferrari or McLaren pole winner in 22 races, brought the field to the green flag for 57 laps of racing around the 3.363-mile, 15-turn road course, but it was Massa who beat Kubica to the first corner and quickly grabbed the lead. At the other end of the spectrum was points leader Lewis Hamilton who fell from third on the grid to 10th after the opening lap. It got worse for Hamilton who slammed into the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault on lap two destroying the front nose. Hamilton would return to the track with a new nose piece, but in 18th place and 50 seconds behind the leaders.

Meanwhile, up front, 2007 World Champion Raikkonen got around Kubica giving Ferrari the top two spots after just three laps. Massa, who failed to finish either of the first two races and was under pressure to perform this weekend, set a fastest lap on lap 7 to extend his lead to 4.3 second over his teammate.

On this day, however, no one had anything for Massa, who won in Bahrain for the second consecutive year. “The car was just very, very good and the strategy was perfect,” said Massa after the game, and he is ready for the fourth race of the season which is set for Sunday, April 28th in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix.

UCLA lost this morning, i watched the game on line and feel so sad that my favourate team can not play in NCAA final this year. Taking about the game, Memphis had quicker hands and quicker feet than UCLA. Memphis jumped higher and shot with more confidence. Memphis was unfazed by the large stage of the NCAA Final Four and when this national semifinal game between the Tigers and Bruins was over, UCLA seemed diminished.

Memphis defeated UCLA, 78-63, it meant the Bruins (35-4) left the Final Four without a championship for the third year in a row — the first time a team has left three consecutive Final Fours without a title since Duke in 1988-90. The Tigers (38-1) will play Kansas, which defeated North Carolina, 84-66, last night in a bid for their first national championship.

American Andy Roddick stunned world No. 1 Roger Federer in a thrilling, three-set match to advance to the semifinals at Sony Ericsson Open.

The sixth-seeded Roddick unseated the Swiss superstar Federer 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 at Crandon Park, breaking an 11-match losing streak to Federer dating back to 2003. Roddick only had one break point the entire match, but used it to take 5-3 lead in the deciding set.He then handcuffed Federer with a serve on the third match point for Roddick’s 17th and final ace of the match.

Before winning the first set tiebreak with an ace, Roddick dropped 10 straight sets to Federer. The 25-year-old had not taken a set from Federer since the first frame of a round-robin match at the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup in China.The 12-time major titlist Federer fell to 15-2 lifetime against Roddick, including wins in the 2004 Wimbledon final and the 2006 U.S. Open title match. Federer’s loss was his fourth of the year, and the 26-year-old has yet to make it to a final in 2008.

P.S:Roddick’s semifinal opponent will be fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko from Russian.

The latest headlines make me wonder if David Stern is intent on cementing the internationals’ progress. Recently he floated the idea of increasing the league’s age minimum to 20. I don not think that is a good idea for the league and the players.

Let’s start with the obvious. There is absolutely no reason for somebody like LeBron James, who was an NBA star at age 18, to spend two years twiddling his thumbs at UCLA or North Carolina just because the league likes the added branding it gets from having experienced college players in the draft. It’s a waste of his time and talent.

Moreover, it’s also hugely unfair to the players. The NBA would essentially require them to play for free for two years under the plan.In that case, they may went someplace else. And that’s the real threat of Stern’s idea — that the next LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony will decide that it would be much easier to spend the next two years making several million dollars in Barcelona or Athens.

Now, the NBA is the best league all over the world, but the plan that requires American players to spend two years in college strikes me as a golden opportunity carelessly placed on the Euroleague’s doorstep