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ardinals home court. But the Huskies we
in Diamondcraft - Registration Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:03 amby yyys123 • 1.785 Posts
SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard could have been devastated by losing last seasons NBA Finals. Instead, he vowed to get better. Just think -- the San Antonio Spurs youngest star is only getting started. Hes a champion now, with the Spurs beating the Miami Heat 104-87 on Sunday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, finishing off a 4-1 triumph. And after watching the Heat celebrate last season, Leonard was the pick as MVP of the series, accepting his award from 11-time champion Bill Russell. "Everybody is just living in the moment right now," Leonard said. "Really dont know whats going on." Hell figure it out quick. After all, the Spurs know titles -- this one being their fifth since 1999. When Commissioner Adam Silver announced Leonard as the MVP, he was mobbed by his teammates and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich roared with laughter, knowing Leonard would have to do what he hates most -- talk about himself. "Right now, its just surreal to me," Leonard said. "I have a great group of guys behind me." Leonard had 22 points and 10 rebounds, his third straight big game in the series. He fouled out in the fourth quarter, which was barely noticed after the job he did helping keep LeBron James in some sort of check over the final three quarters. When it was over -- actually, a few seconds before it was over -- James led a group of Heat players down to the Spurs bench for the first round of congratulatory hugs. The first one he gave, and rightly so, was to Leonard. It was James taking the trophy from Russell in each of the last two seasons, after Miamis titles. This time, the night belonged to Leonard, a 22-year-old who the Spurs have long thought was the heir apparent to the Big 3 of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. "The first two games, he didnt play so well," James said about Leonard. "I thought he attacked more in the last three games, shot the ball extremely well." Added Heat guard Dwyane Wade: "Its like he just played free. ... Hes the future of this team." The Big 3 in San Antonio is still championship-good. But their key guy now might be Leonard, who just took over this series. "Hes a great learner and hes super competitive, has a drive to be the best thats really uncommon in our league," Popovich said. "He walks the walk. I mean, hes there early, hes there late. He wants more. He wants me and the coaches to push him. So I just talked to him about not being in that defer sort of stage. The hell with Tony, the hell with Timmy, the hell with Manu, you play the game. You are the man." In this series, he absolutely was. Leonard averaged 17.8 points on 61 per cent shooting. And he became the youngest Finals MVP since Duncan won it for the Spurs in 1999. Nmd r1 Norge . The Cottagers last victory came in a 2-1 home win over West Ham when Rene Meulensteen was still in charge. Since then, a miserable run of seven defeats and two draws has seen the club part with the Dutch coach and replace him with German Felix Magath. Sko Nmd Norge .Heres Ralph the Dog with the crew here at TSN jumping into the James Duthie TradeCentre selfie: Happy to drop by! RT @TSN_Sports: @tsnjamesduthie: Take this Ellen. http://www.nmdnorgesalg.com/eqt-sko-norge.html . It was a loss. But it was also a learning experience. Deron Williams and Joe Johnson had 24 points each to lift Brooklyn to a 94-87 win over the Raptors, making their first playoff appearance since 08. "I thought we played a little bit as expected as it is our first playoff game," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. Nmd_r1 Sko Hvit . The light-heavyweight champion and number one ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world is on an 11-fight UFC winning streak, the longest in the history of the weight class. Nmd_r2 Sko Norge .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch.MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Rick Pitino switched from coach to lobbyist the moment his Louisville Cardinals won their third straight conference tournament title. Of course, Pitino thinks the defending national champs deserve a No. 1 seed, even if he knows they likely wont get one. Montrezl Harrell had 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, and fifth-ranked Louisville beat No. 21 Connecticut 71-61 Saturday for the inaugural American Athletic Conference title in the Cardinals lone season in the league. Pitino said hes extremely biased. "But Im very impressed with our guys," Pitino said. "What theyve done to win a regular season, conference tournament the way we have done it, in the fashion we have done it fits the eye test. I cant talk about the strength of the league. If you want to blame anybody, blame football. Dont blame us." The Cardinals (29-5) clinched their 40th NCAA tournament berth in style with their 19th overall tournament title. They took the last two in the Big East and added the American to go with their share of the regular-season title with Cincinnati. They will play next season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. "To win a regular-season championship and a tournament championship back to back is not easy. You have to have special players, and these two epitomize exactly that," Pitino said, praising Russ Smith and Harrell. Smith, named the tournaments most outstanding player, scored 19 points. He also had five steals to move into a tie for Louisvilles career record with 254. Chris Jones added 11 points. Smith said he thought a year ago that he had done almost everything a college athlete can, but he wanted to enjoy being a senior on campus and work on his game. Now he has another title to enjoy. "I have a lot of fun being at Louisville," Smith said. UConn (26-8) came in looking for an eighth tournament title to go with seven from the Big East. It was barred from post-season play a year ago, but is a virtual lock to return to the NCAA tournament this year. The Huskies left Memphis with a third loss this season to Louisville -- all by double digits. "Louisvilles playing great basketball," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "They won the championnship last year, they went to the Final Four the year before.dddddddddddd They got pretty much their whole team back, an experienced bunch, they play hard and well coached. But this tournament is wide open. Its a one-game elimination. Somebody can get hot, and hopefully that team will be us." Ollie also looked ahead to a conference that will be losing Louisville and Rutgers and adding teams like Tulsa. He said UConn plans to continue being at the top of the American. "This conference is going to be great," Ollie said. DeAndre Daniels led the Huskies with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Conference player of the year Shabazz Napier had 16 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Amida Brimah finished with 14. UConn outscored Louisville 32-28 in the paint, but the Cardinals turned the Huskies 13 turnovers into 13 points. Louisville also outrebounded the Huskies 38-33 and enjoyed a 14-6 advantage on second-chance points. Louisville routed UConn 81-48 a week ago on the Cardinals home court. But the Huskies were a confident bunch heading into the final, coming off victories over No. 19 Memphis in the quarterfinals and No. 13 Cincinnati in the semis. The Cardinals grabbed an early lead and controlled the action for much of the game. Harrell scored 10 points in the first half and was a blur at times, blocking Brimah twice on one possession. He also swooped in for a dunk off a Smith assist that looked more like a layup that just missed the basket short. UConn stayed within six of the Cardinals down the stretch, but Louisville finished the half on a 10-2 run that included 3s by Terry Rozier and Luke Hancock. Smith also had a steal and a pass ahead to Rozier for a fast-break layup that gave the Cardinals their biggest lead yet at 37-23 going into the break. "We just didnt find our rhythm," Napier said. "They did play good defence. Once we got into the middle, guys had open shots, and we just couldnt knock them down." The Huskies tried to take advantage of Louisvilles shooting woes to open the second half. The Cardinals missed their first five shots, but Harrell had big three-point play for a 45-28 lead. Louisville went up by as much as 20 a couple times, the last at 52-32. ' ' '
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