Sports Morning Headlines - Sunday, 5/6/12

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Created on Sunday, 06 May 2012 17:10

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 May 2013 07:51

Written by MVPTexas Sunday Headlines - 5/6/12

Project Spurs:  Jazz fight back, but Parker, Spurs still too much - What is the antonym of loudness? The answer is silence.  If loudness was the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday evening, then Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs were the antonym in the building as they silenced the Jazz with a 102-90 victory to put Utah on the brink of elimination.  Tim Duncan (17 points) simmered down the noise in the arena early by starting the game with his own 6-0 run. The Jazz responded by making some new defensive adjustments for Parker. The Jazz first put forward Gordon Hayward on Parker, and also forced Parker to take outside jump shots. Devin Harris, who had been a non-factor in the series, came out with full aggression as he scored 12 points in the first quarter. The Spurs led 30-28 after one.  In the second quarter, the Jazz got some scoring off the bench as Alec Burks (11 points) and Derrick Favors (15 points) helped Utah take the lead in the second quarter, by slowing down the tempo. The Spurs played sloppy in the first half as they went into halftime with eight turnovers. Matt Bonner would score his only points of the game with a buzzer beating three pointer to send the Spurs into halftime, with a slim 52-50 lead.   READ MORE

Thunder sweeps out Mavericks' reign with fourth-quarter rally - The Oklahoma City Thunder took a big swing and hammered the final nail into the Dallas Mavericks' coffin Saturday night at American Airlines Center.  With James Harden scoring 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, the Thunder completed a four-game sweep of the Mavs by claiming a come-from-behind 103-97 victory before a crowd of 20,533.  In kicking the final pieces of dirt on the Mavs, the Thunder made sure another organization besides the Mavs would be NBA champions this season.  "They're a great young team, and the thing that impressed me the most about them is that they have a certain look in their eye right now," coach Rick Carlisle said. "Not just that they belong, but that this could be their time."  After the way the Thunder rallied to win a game that was going the Mavs' way, maybe it is Oklahoma City's time. After all, the Mavs led 86-73 with 9:44 left following a 3-pointer by Jason Terry, and the arena noise was unbearable.  The Thunder's 4-0 sweep marks just the second time in Mavs history that they've been swept out of a playoff series. In 1990 when the NBA still had best-of-five series, Portland swept the Mavs in three games in the first round of the playoffs.   READ MORE

2012 NBA Draft: Upside Sells, And The Rockets Should Be Looking To Buy - Cinco De Mayo seems like an appropriate day to drop some draft prospect knowledge. Wait, it isn't? Fine, but since it's 1:30 and the Derby isn't on for another few hours, you'll get some anyway.  The Rockets pick at 14 and 16, but you never know what they'll do come draft night. They seemingly make trades every year, but to our disappointment, they haven't ever made a significant jump forward, at least not into the top ten. We keep hearing speculation every year — it just hasn't happened.  The Rockets could move up or move back, but I think if they do move forward, it won't be further than a few picks. It's just too difficult to jump into the top five, and though this draft is relatively deep, the top five prospects are head and shoulders better than those who are rated after them. I doubt teams would be willing to drop ten spots, even with additional players Houston could package.  So, to the point: I got to thinking about players who will be available between, say, 10 and 20. And I think I've stumbled upon a horribly embarrassing, yet necessary revelation.   READ MORE

Rangers' Mike Adams not perturbed by Brett Lawrie's expressive walk-off celebration - When the Rangers host Toronto at the end of the month, it may be worth noting how the Texas pitchers approach the Blue Jays emotional Brett Lawrie. Lawrie hit a walk-off home run in the second game of the Toronto series and drew the attention of the Rangers pitchers by yanking his jersey off after jumping on home plate. Lawrie is known as a very demonstrative player.  Lawrie hit the homer off Mike Adams, who said the display was a "little tired" but otherwise had no issues with it.   READ MORE

Lowrie gets help from replay on fourth homer - After disappearing underneath the third-base stands in the eighth inning of Saturday's 8-2 win against the Cardinals, it only took the umpires a matter of seconds to give Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie his team-high fourth home run of the season.  Lowrie followed a Carlos Lee double in the eighth inning with a towering fly ball to left field that hit the top of the wall and rolled back toward the infield, allowing Lee to score. Lowrie stopped at second with a double, but the umpires reviewed it.  Television replays clearly showed the ball hit a piece of Plexiglas just above the yellow line, which ballpark ground rules constitute as a home run. Astros manager Brad Mills said several players watched the replay in the clubhouse and informed him it was a homer, and third base coach Dave Clark tried to get his attention on the field.   READ MORE

Suicide links in game hard to ignore - When Gregg Bingham heard about Junior Seau, he thought of John Grimsley.  Bingham and Grimsley, two hard-hitting Oilers linebackers from different eras, were neighbors in Fort Bend County and had become friends after their football careers ended. Grimsley also died of a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the chest, ostensibly while he was cleaning the weapon. Investigators concluded the shooting was an accident and the case was closed.  Not so in Seau’s case, though. Authorities have ruled the death of the 20-year veteran, 12-time Pro Bowl player and future Hall of Famer a suicide, making him the highest-profile NFL player to end his own life.  Bingham, the prominent Luv Ya Blue-era Oiler, suffered a near-fatal stroke several years ago that he is certain was precipitated by damage incurred during his 12-year NFL career. Although he doesn’t profess to know what went down that day in Grimsley’s home, he never has accepted it was an accident. Grimsley knew how to handle a gun.  Now, in the wake of Seau’s death, Bingham made a chilling observation, connecting the dots among three retired players – all long-tenured, big-hitting defensive players like himself – who have died at their own hands over the last few years.  “You talk to the police, and they’ll tell you 95 percent of the people who kill themselves by using a gun shoot themselves in the head,” Bingham said. “So what’s going on here? To be perfectly frank, these guys are falling on their swords. But – and this is very important – they wanted to preserve their brains.   READ MORE

Texans' GM succeeding behind the scenes - Usually it is Bob McNair, the owner, in the locker room after the game talking to reporters. The job suits him. He's got that whole old-guy Texas way about him, with the slow, pebbled drawl.  Then it goes to Gary Kubiak, the coach, another native Houstonian. He's younger, but he's got that thing, too.  And then there is Rick Smith, the general manager. He's not from around here, and seems content to exist behind the scenes while the light bounces off the foreheads of Kubiak and McNair. The result is that you don't hear much about Smith, within Houston or without. He is not a glamour GM.  Like yeast in a ball of dough, you only know he's there because the whole thing keeps rising.   READ MORE

Who Deserves to be The Cowboys # 3? - The Dallas Cowboys went from losing Laurent Robinson as their number 3 wide receiver to gaining an interesting pre-season to find the new number 3 receiver.  Drafting Danny Coale and with having Raymond Radway coming back and of course Kevin Ogletree it will be interesting to see who will earn the spot.  Let’s take a deeper look into the third wide receiver spot and who will best fit that position to take the pressure off Miles Austin and Dez Bryant.  Kevin Ogletree has never really had to work hard to maintain the third receiver slot he was handed last year due to Radway’s injury in the Miami Dolphins pre-season game.  He has shown glimpses of a third wide receiver but in game situations he has never really had the chemistry with Tony Romo.  READ MORE

World Championships: Team USA beats Canada 5-4 in OT - Canada has always been the team the United States has struggled to beat. On Saturday, the Americans did just that.  Jack Johnson scored at 1:47 of overtime to give the United States a 5-4 victory against Canada at the World Championships -- just the second win for the Americans against Canada at the tournament in 18 games since 1985.  "It's an easy game to get up for," Team USA goaltender Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings said. "You're having fun out there, and that's exactly what it was today -- fun. It's great to get a good start. We're now 2-0, and we just have to build off it."  With John Tavares in the penalty box for delay of game after batting the puck into the crowd with 1.1 seconds left in regulation, Johnson won it when he snapped a wrist shot past Cam Ward for his second goal of the game.  "It's never fun to lose," Ward told the IIHF's website, "no matter if it's in regulation or on overtime. They scored a big goal to force it into OT and we took a bad break on the penalty to give them an opportunity to score."  The goal capped a back-and-forth game at Helsinki's Hartwall Arena in which neither team was able to lead by more than one goal. The Americans (2-0-0, 5 points) outshot Canada 46-34.  "The best team won tonight," Team Canada coach Brent Sutter said.   READ MORE











---Staff and Wire Reports contributed to this story