Latest Sports News

Forward Barcelona Pete Mikel has reached an agreement with the club to extend the contract for another year, the official site of the blue -garnet . 32- year-old basketball player moved into the camp of Catalans in the last year of the ” Caja Laboral . In his first season with the team he won four titles , including wins in the championship of Spain and Euroleague. In November 2009 he was recognized the best player of the month ’s most prestigious club tournament in Europe.

Orlando vs Boston

Another loss Monday night would give Boston a sweep and end Orlando’s hopes for a second consecutive berth in the NBA finals.

“I’m somebody who says I’m never shocked,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said after practice Sunday, “but I was shocked (Saturday) night that we didn’t handle the situation better and play with more intensity and determination.”

Down 7-0 in the first two minutes. Trailing by 16 points in the first quarter. Never closer than 14 after that. And behind by 32 before Boston coach Doc Rivers began clearing his bench in the fourth quarter.

(more…)

NBA:Boston Vs Orlando Preview

There were the familiar scenes: Kevin Garnett(notes) pounding his chest, Ray Allen(notes) swishing 3-pointers and Paul Pierce(notes) pumping his fist. Boston was winning, and winning big.

Orlando’s coach was perplexed.

“If you look at them, that’s the (same) team,” Van Gundy said. “What would be the difference?”

These days, it might be hard to tell.

(more…)

2010 NBA Playoffs Cleveland Cavaliers Heading into Game FiveThe Cavaliers cannot head into this game expecting to win Game Six in Boston. If they come out with that mentality, it will be too much of what we’ve seen in Game One, Game Two, and Game Four: lack of urgency, lack of the killer instinct. Two out of three times, this lackadaisical approach has resulted in a loss.

• This game is pivotal. With a victory, it ensures the Cavaliers home court advantage for the rest of the series. They’ll have a shot at the series in Game Six without the pressure of another game played in Boston. Even if they lose, they’ll come back home to Cleveland for the series decider and a home crowd on their side.

(more…)

NBA:Los Angeles Lakers best for playoffs

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Los Angeles Lakers appeared to be losing their grip on the conference they’ve dominated for nearly three years.

Now that grip looks more like a chokehold again, and only the Phoenix Suns still have a chance to break it.

With six consecutive playoff victories illustrating everything the defending champions do so well, the Lakers earned a week of rest and practice before starting the Western Conference finals at Staples Center on Monday night against Steve Nash’s Suns.

(more…)

NBA: Jason Richardson buried the Spurs

With one flick of his wrists and in one motion, Jason Richardson buried the Spurs.

With a hand in his face and three seconds left on the shot clock, he pulled up from the right wing and saved a broken play with the dagger triple.

Steve Nash bled again, but the Spurs were the ones in need of an elusive bandaid.

The Phoenix Suns shot as well as a team with human beings can, maybe better. At times, they drilled jumpshots with robotic accuracy.

Championships are rarely won this way, and that applies to both sides. The Suns won’t be as unconscious against the defending champion L.A. Lakers.

The Spurs, despite their vehement protestations, did make things tough on the Suns.

Their effort might have been good enough to beat a few other squads. Not piping hot Phoenix.

(more…)

“It started with me tonight. Everyone else saw my aggression and took advantage of it,” James said. “I think rest helped me; rest helped all of us, and we were able to put together a complete game for the first time in these playoffs.”

James scored 21 of his 38 points in the first quarter to help Cleveland beat Boston 124-95 on Friday night

Showing no ill-effects of an elbow problem that was the talk of Cleveland during the three-day layoff since a Game 2 loss at home, James finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. The 21 points in a quarter was a franchise postseason record.

“I know I’m going to hear a lot about the elbow, but I’m here to play basketball and give our team a chance to win,” James said. “We knew how important it was to come out and play aggressively after giving away Game 2.”

Antawn Jamison(notes) had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, while Shaquille O’Neal(notes) added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Rajon Rondo(notes), who had 19 assists in Boston’s Game 2 victory on Monday, had 18 points and eight assists.

The Celtics missed 10 of their first 13 shots, hitting just 27 percent in the first quarter to spot Cleveland a 21-point lead. The Cavaliers shot 67 percent from the field in the first—and 59 percent for the game—and Boston was never able to recover. The Celtics’ previous worst home playoff loss was 97-70 to Indiana on May 7, 2005, in Game 7 of the first round.

“It was great to see LeBron set the tone from the jump,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “And the rest of the team followed.”

Game 4 is Sunday, and the Celtics need a victory to split their home games and assure themselves of another.

James wore a black sleeve on his right elbow, which became a concern after he shot a free throw left-handed in the closing minutes of Cleveland’s first-round playoff clincher against Chicago. But he went 8 of 10 from the field in the first quarter—most of them mid- to long-range jumpers—and after that it didn’t matter.

“I think he’s healthy,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has been dismissive of James’ injury. “His elbow looked very good tonight. So enough with the elbow injury. I think we can go ahead and focus on basketball.”

James headed to the bench to rest his strained and bruised elbow with 5:41 left in the game. For 45 minutes afterward, he had it wrapped in ice.

“I had it going, we had it going,” he said, “and I wasn’t tired.”

The Celtics had high hopes for an upset of the top-seeded Cavaliers after taking Game 2 104-86 in Cleveland to swipe the home-court advantage. But Cleveland earned it back in Game 3, needing just one quarter to silence the Boston crowd that grew even more downcast when the Red Sox and Bruins also fell behind early—and then lost.

“There was no reason for me as a leader to be angry,” James said. “We played awful in Game 2, and I knew how important the next game was. I know how important the whole series is.”

The fans booed when Boston left the court at halftime down 65-43. And they cleared the building midway through the fourth, when Rivers pulled his starters and James headed to the bench to rest his strained and bruised right elbow.

“That was embarrassing. That’s embarrassing when you lose at home like that,” said Paul Pierce(notes), who scored 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting and didn’t make his first basket until midway through the second quarter.

“We just let our guard down. … You’ve got to know the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to come in here with all the urgency in the world. They took the fight to us early, and we didn’t respond to it.”

James scored eight straight points to make it a 10-point lead midway through the first, and seven points during an 11-0 run that made it 36-15 with 19 seconds left in the quarter. Cleveland led by 24 points in the second quarter, 30 in the third, and never by less than 20 in the entire second half.

“He was playing H-O-R-S-E,” Rivers said. “We were awful. We just didn’t play with the same intensity they did. They played with a Game 7 mentality.”

Notes: The national anthem was sung by sandal-wearing Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. … The Celtics had a moment of silence for Bobby Vines, a 45-year-old sales account executive who died after a lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia. … The NBA record for points in a quarter of a playoff game is held by Sleepy Floyd, who had 29 in 1987 for Golden State. … James reached 2,000 playoff points in his career.

The banged-up Celtics and Cavaliers used the long layover between Game 2 on Monday night and Friday night’s third game to recover from the bumps and bruises they’ve acquired so far in the rough-and-tumble series.

“It’s been good for us. It’s been good for me, and it’s been good for both teams,” Cavaliers forward LeBron James(notes) said. “We all know this is going to be one of the most physical series that this league has to offer. Anytime you get a little rest, it’s great to have.”

James has been diagnosed with a bone bruise and strain in his right elbow. He tested his elbow Thursday at practice in Independence, Ohio, before boarding a plane for Boston, and the team said he would not need another MRI.

At their workout facility in Waltham, Celtics big men Kevin Garnett(notes) and Kendrick Perkins(notes) were back at practice a day after sitting out to recover.

“I’m not injured. I just banged my foot,” Garnett said. “I’m definitely ready to go.”

Garnett came down with a what the team said was strain in his right foot when Perkins landed on him with about three minutes left in Monday night’s game. Boston won 104-86 to even the best-of-seven series at one game apiece and steal home-court advantage from the 61-win Cavaliers.

Boston hadn’t won a playoff game in Cleveland in six tries since 1992. Now the Cavaliers will have to win a game in Boston, where they haven’t won in the postseason since the ’92 conference semis, or face a 3-1 deficit that would leave them at the brink of elimination.

“We have a veteran ballclub and guys know how important this game is,” James said. “We knew it was going to be a tough series, and we didn’t think it was going to be a bed of roses at any point in time. Now we have to go to Boston and try to win a couple.”

The Celtics took Tuesday off, and Garnett did not participate when they returned to practice the next day, raising fears of a prolonged absence like the one that kept him out of the 2009 playoffs and doomed their chances of repeating as NBA champions.

Garnett said he wanted to practice Wednesday, but the coaches and trainers told him to rest.

“We live on the planet of Doc Rivers,” he said.

After an extra day off, the swelling that ballooned his foot on the flight home from Cleveland had subsided. Garnett was back on the floor Thursday, and he said there was nothing that his foot prevented him from doing in practice.

Rivers said Garnett did “most” of the usual workload.

“I didn’t really want him to go much today, but he was moving so well so I just let him go,” he said.

Perkins agreed: “He didn’t look injured to me.”

Garnett was already off the floor by the time the media were allowed into practice, but Perkins remained long after most of his teammates had left for some extra work on his low-post moves. He showed no signs of an injury, which he said he sustained during Monday’s pregame shootaround.

Perkins played 31 minutes with the injury in Game 2 and scored 10 points with nine rebounds.

“It feels better since the last game on Monday,” he said. “There’s still a little pain, but there’s nothing serious.”

Perkins said point guard Rajon Rondo(notes) was also banged-up from getting knocked around in the series. Rondo took a hard foul from 325-pound Cavs center Shaquille O’Neal(notes) in the closing minutes of Game 1 on Saturday that forced the 186-pound point guard to take a few minutes before shooting the free throws.

“I think the time off helps us a lot for guys who need the rest,” Perkins said.