SAN ANTONIO -- Fans screamed "Go Spurs Go!" in unison at the slightest glimpse of a San Antonio Spurs player or coach floating
SAN ANTONIO -- Fans screamed "Go Spurs Go!" in unison at the slightest glimpse of a San Antonio Spurs player or coach floating
invon jokergreen0220 • 1.339 Beiträge
SAN ANTONIO -- Fans screamed "Go Spurs Go!" in unison at the slightest glimpse of a San Antonio Spurs player or coach floating down the River Walk. Steve Olin Jersey . It was reminiscent of last season when the Spurs walked off their team charter to those chants, except the tone Wednesday night was much sweeter. The victory parade for Spurs fifth NBA title was part celebration and part exorcism. "It is soaking in, but Im still going to live it up for about the whole summer," NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard said. "(I havent slept) very much. Ive been trying to live the moment. Its been hard to sleep still. Thought I would get some sleep after we won the finals, but Im still celebrating. Go Spurs Go! San Antonio!" After falling 25 seconds shy of capturing the title last season only to fall in seven games to the Miami Heat, the Spurs made another run to the NBA Finals. Except this time, they closed out the Heat in five games for the teams first title since 2007. "I cried (last year). I think the rest of the city cried, too," Spurs fan Rosalinda Gonzalez said. "How they lost, that was bad. It made this years victory even more sweet, sweet. (And) the way we did it. All the games that we won were by a billion points. It was awesome. Great comeback." Given a chance to celebrate what they couldnt last year, Spurs fans endured 90-degree heat to line the River Walk and stand outside of the Alamodome up to five hours before the festivities began. The City of San Antonio estimated about 100,000 people attended the River Walk parade and 75,000 were at the Alamodome. "Weve got to thank the people of San Antonio," said Spurs guard Patty Mills, who served as the events master of ceremonies. "You really make this way more special than it already is. You guys are so genuine and really care about us. Youve embraced all of us as a family." And the fans soaked up the moment as if it was the citys first championship. Even usually cantankerous Spurs coach Gregg Popovich fully embraced the moment, smiling and waving at the crowd as the barge he rode on floated along the River Walk. Popovich raised one finger with a puzzled look before counting off two, three, four and nodding his head when he reached five, raising an outstretched hand to symbolize how many titles the franchise has won. It was Popovich who admitted the Spurs were "hurting" after losing last seasons finals. Still, the team was greeted by thousands of cheering fans upon its arrival home following the Game 7 loss to the Heat. "Ill be honest with you, when you saw the crowd the first feeling I had was embarrassment," Popovich said last year. "Was just embarrassed that we didnt get it done and then as you look at them all and they just keep cheering you realize, my gosh, you really felt the love and the way they care for these guys and their team and then it did make it easier." It also was Popovich who implored the team to face the defeat head on and learn from it, and the Spurs certainly did that. The Spurs Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili guided the team to the leagues best regular-season record and to a dominant post-season run after escaping a seven-game series with the Dallas Mavericks. San Antonios combined 70-point winning margin over Miami was the largest in NBA Finals history. "We owe it all to Pop," Ginobili said as his barge made a stop. "He had us playing great basketball at the right time." The Big Three twice received standing ovations from the capacity crowd inside the Alamodome as Duncan celebrated his fifth title and Parker and Ginobili their fourth. "Thats the best thing about them, you can hang with them, you can have jokes with them," Mills said about the Big Three. "They are better people than they are basketballers." Aside from the Big Three, the loudest ovations were for Leonard, who Popovich has called the future face of the Spurs since his arrival via a draft day trade with the Indiana Pacers in 2011. On the Alamodome stage, Mills shared a story of how he asked Leonard which superhero he was going to be for Parkers annual Halloween party. The quiet 22-year-old responded with, "Kawhi Leonard superhero." And Leonard was that in the finals. Leonard had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the series-ending victory Sunday night, becoming the youngest finals MVP since Duncan received the honour at the same age in 1999. The Spurs face an uncertain off-season with up to six possible free agents, but that wasnt even a consideration for the players or the fans Wednesday. After waiting a year, they all got to exhale and celebrate another title. Dennis Eckersley Indians Jersey . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Dennis Eckersley Jersey . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans. https://www.cheapindiansonline.com/ .com) - P.K. Subbans power-play goal 4:08 into overtime sent the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.GREENSBORO, N.C. -- With T.J. Warren scoring near his usual pace, North Carolina State was poised to pull off a second straight significant upset at the ACC tournament. Then the Wolfpack ran out of steam. No. 7 Duke beat N.C. State 75-67 on Saturday in the ACC semifinals, denying the Wolfpack a third win in three days. "They really believed we could win and they played with great courage," coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought maybe we got tired in the second half. We didnt seem as fresh as we have been." Warren, the ACC player of the year, scored 21 points for N.C. State to 20 for Dukes Jabari Parker in a matchup of the ACCs top two scorers. Warren led the league with an average of 24.9 points while Parker was second at 19.2 points per game. On Saturday, Warren scored 21 points but was just 4 of 13 after halftime while facing a barrage of double teams. "Rodney (Hood) did a good job on him just to keep him to 21," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You can overcoach, and we overcoached our preparation. He was doing what we asked him to do, and it wasnt working, and he said, Coach, let me just play him my normal way. That was better." The seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) shot just 36 per cent in the second half -- after hitting 67 per cent in the opening half -- and were denied their first title game berth since 2007. "N.C. State was fighting for their lives," Dukes Rasheed Sulaimon said. Lennard Freeman had 13 points and Anthony "Cat" Barber finished with 12 for N.C. State, which for much of the day looked capable of pulling off a second straight resume-enhancing upset after knocking off No. 11 Syracuse in the quarterfinals. "I hope they take a look at our team and see how much better we are than we were at the beginning," Gottfried said. "If you win at Pitt, beat Syracuse and beat Duke, hell, youre about a Final Four team then. I think we showed that we certainly belong in the field of 68." Sulaimon added 16 points for the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-7) while Rodney Hood had 14 points and keyed the defensive effort against Warren. Duke earned its 31stt championship game appearance and first since 2011. Franmil Reyes Jersey. The Blue Devils will play No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. Dukes 69-65 win in January stood as the Cavaliers lone conference loss until Maryland beat them last week. Duke won on Saturday with a 20-7 run in the second half that was fueled by three N.C. State turnovers and a spate of missed shots. "Im not going to force it to get past two people," said Barber, who said he was double-teamed as well. "They just did a great job of defending. ... They just kept their composure throughout the game." Parker scored six points during the burst that pushed the Blue Devils lead into double figures for the first time. A botched lob to N.C. State big man Jordan Vandenberg led to an open court the other way for Parker, and his authoritative dunk over a sidestepping Barber made it 49-45 with 15 minutes left. Quinn Cook ended the run with a 3 that made it 61-49 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining. "We got a lot of easy baskets from our defence, and once we got into a rhythm, our shots started falling down and we got rolling," Sulaimon said. N.C. State never could string together a game-threatening run after that, and the Wolfpacks best chance down the stretch came when they closed to 67-59 on Freemans jumper with about 3 minutes left. Hood missed the front end of a one-and-one but the rebound went to Parker -- who finished with a momentum-shifting dunk to put Duke back up by 10. Cook had 14 points for the Blue Devils, who gave N.C. State its most lopsided loss of the season in the teams only previous meeting -- a 95-60 thumping at Cameron Indoor Stadium in which Duke seemed content to let Warren score and clamp down on everyone else. At least early on Saturday, though, the Blue Devils once again couldnt stop anyone. N.C. State hit 13 of 15 shots over an 11-minute stretch and scored on 15 of 16 possessions, with the only empty trip in that span coming when Warren missed the front end of a one-and-one. "First half, neither team could stop one another," Krzyzewski said. "In the second half, we just played better defence." ' ' '
« Nike Star Clash | WASHINGTON - After Adam LaRoches two-run homer in the eighth tied the game, and Wilson Ramos ground-rule double in the ninth wo » |
|
Forum Statistiken
Das Forum hat 9577
Themen
und
9600
Beiträge.
|
Einfach ein eigenes Xobor Forum erstellen |