Bynum lifts Lakers into tie for third-winningest season in team history

LOS ANGELES -- The 82-game grind is over for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now comes the time of the season this storied franchise exists for.

Andrew Bynum scored 22 points in his best effort since returning from injury and the Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 125-112 Tuesday night to close the regular season as the third-winningest team in franchise history.

They tied the 1986-87 team with their 65th victory, trailing only the 1971-72 team (69) and 1999-00 team (67)."Sixty-five wins with some of the injuries we've had is an accomplishment," Kobe Bryant said.Pau Gasol added 20 points and nine rebounds, Bryant and Lamar Odom had 16 points each, and Sasha Vujacic 15 points for the Lakers, who won their sixth in a row at home.

Deron Williams had 25 points and 13 assists for the Jazz, and reserve Andrei Kirilenko added 20 points to go with 16 points by Carlos Boozer and 14 by Ronnie Brewer.Bynum added four rebounds and three assists in his fourth game back after missing 32 games because of a torn right knee ligament."I'm definitely excited," he said. "I think my adrenaline is going to carry me through the first game."

The Lakers open the playoffs this weekend against the Jazz, who ended their schedule in the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot."We didn't give them much of a battle and knowing that we're going to have to play them again, it looks pretty bleak," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "Hate to say that, but it's one of those things."

The Lakers improved to 16-3 all-time against Utah at Staples Center, winning the last six in a row against the Jazz at home."There's a whole new season starting. Everybody's healthy, so we'll get everybody on the same page and see what it's all about," Sloan said. "We're just like a little dent in the road as far as they're concerned. They're very comfortable playing against us, and obviously they should be."

The Lakers already clinched the top seed in the West to secure home-court advantage throughout the conference finals. But Cleveland edged them for the league's best record, guaranteeing LeBron and Co. home court through the NBA finals if they get there."We had two goals," Vujacic said. "Finish first in the regular season and we didn't do that, but we have the ultimate goal and that's most important.

We have 16 games ahead of us to win."Los Angeles took the game's first double-digit lead, 94-83, on Jordan Farmar's 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter. It was part of a 13-2 run that included treys by Bryant and Vujacic and pushed the Lakers' lead to 104-85.They never looked back, with Bryant going to the bench to rest up for what he hopes is a repeat trip to the NBA finals.

The Lakers started the third quarter on a 12-4 run, with Bryant assisting on 3-pointers by Trevor Ariza and Derek Fisher, to go up 68-59.But the Jazz answered with a 15-7 spurt, including nine in a row, and closed to 75-74. Williams scored six and Brewer added five.

The Lakers responded over the final 2:42, outscoring the Jazz 16-9 to take a 91-83 lead into the fourth period. Bryant scored six points and assisted on another 3-pointer, this one by Shannon Brown.

Both teams shot better than 50 percent in the first half, when the Lakers were whistled for 17 fouls that led to Utah shooting 21-of-29 from the free-throw line.In all, the Jazz took 47 foul shots."That's ridiculous for a team to give up," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.Los Angeles trailed by eight points twice in the second quarter before recovering to lead 56-55 at halftime. The Lakers closed the first half on a 20-11 run, including nine by Vujacic and five by Odom while Bryant watched from the bench after playing just 10 minutes in the half.

Federer beat Roddick in 2009 Sony Ericsson Open

Key Biscane, Florida - World number 2 Roger Federer needed dominant serving and one lucky bounce to beat Andy Roddick 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Federer lost serve only once and broke after hitting a passing shot on the next-to-last point that clipped the net cord and hopped over Roddick's racket for a winner.

"I didn't really catch a break there," a glum Roddick said during his 90-second postmatch news conference. "At least it became a battle."

Federer improved to 17-2 against Roddick and avenged a defeat when they met in Key Biscayne quarterfinals last year. Roddick lost despite the backing of a near-capacity crowd of 12,606 that included Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter, who repeatedly stood and screamed in support of Roddick from his third-row seat.

"A nail-biter," Federer said. "I was under pressure there. I was serving at a high percentage, but I didn't think I was playing incredible tonight. Andy's always tough to play here in the States. He had great crowd support, and it was a fun experience."

Federer improved to 17-2 against Roddick and avenged a defeat when they met in Key Biscayne quarterfinals last year. Roddick lost despite the backing of a near-capacity crowd of 12,606 that included Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter, who repeatedly stood and screamed in support of Roddick from his third-row seat.

Federer's opponent Friday will be No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4. The other women's semifinal Thursday will be between No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 11 Victoria Azarenka.

source: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=4034264

A dark weekend for Federer

After his epic five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon finals, Roger Federer was due in the press interview room at 9.55pm, with the newly minted champion Rafael Nadal next up at 10.20pm. Perhaps to make sure that he would only have to do the 10-minute minimum as the world waited for him to dissect his defeat, the beaten finalist eventually appeared, red-eyed and disconsolate, at 10.10pm on the dot. What followed was as much of a roller-coaster as the match itself.

"I thought we both played well," he said, before beginning a litany of lethargically raised eyebrows and shrugged shoulders. "The rain didn’t help me that much – I didn’t win the match, did I? I was struggling with the wind a little bit and the light was tough but that was not an excuse. This is probably the hardest loss of my career so far."

Once the conference moved into French, Federer suddenly became decidedly more blunt and to the point. "I couldn’t see who I was playing against by the end," he said with another shrug which he used as punctuation to make it quite clear that he had no intention of giving a more detailed answer.

When asked whether it was a consolation that it was a great player like Nadal who had put an end to his 65-match winning streak, Federer’s humour became even darker. "No. Zero consolation. I didn’t learn anything new from today – certainly not about how to play him on grass. This really hurts… Losing Paris for me was nothing, losing here is a disaster." No more, no less.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came when he was quizzed about the vast haul of points he will have to defend in the coming tournaments – far more than Nadal – if he is to remain number one in the rankings. "Write what you want," he glowered after a sigh, a pause and a shrug. "I’m going to try to win at the Olympics and the US Open and have a good end to the season. That’s it."

Though the Swiss German media tried to perk his spirits up by asking him whether he would take some holidays prior to beginning the second half of the hard-court season, there was no consoling Roger. The bigger they come, the harder they fall, and there had been none bigger than Federer here at Wimbledon.

Ateneo spoins 79-73 in UAAP opening weekend

Ateneo spoils La Salle 79 – 73 in UAAP opening weekend

Posted: July 6, Sunday, 8:00PM Philippine time

Araneta Coliseum – The Ateneo Blue Eagles showed the bigger heart as they slam the defending champs De La Salle Green Archers 79-73 in the opening weekend salvo of the 71st season of the UAAP in Araneta Coliseum.

The Blue Eagles banked heavily on Chris Tiu in the final minute to seal their first victory of the season over the hapless defending champs. Tiu posted 26 big points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists to receive the honors as the best player of the game.

Ateneo was ahead by two points 73 – 71, 39.5 seconds left in the final quarter when Tiu attempted a long 3-point shot but was fouled seriously. Tiu dropped his back and was down on the floor after making the shot but was awarded with three free throws. He made two of the three throws to extend the lead to four points 75 – 71. Back to back plays by both teams made it 77 – 73 with Ateneo still ahead. A miss by La Salle following a shot from Ateneo in the remaining nine seconds sent Tiu in the foul line and made two free throws to seal the win at 79 – 73.

Manny Pacquiao, the new lightweight champion graced the Sunday’s games and received an honor from the UAAP executive board with SMART CEO Manny V. Pangilinan leading the awarding ceremony. Pacquiao received a standing ovation and a lengthy applause from the crowd. He also accepted a jacket and a cap from the host school for the season University of the Philippines. “Maraming salamat sa suporta ninyo! (Many thanks to your support!)”, Pacquiao shouted back to the crowd after receiving the award.

Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa, Butuan City, Philippines

"There can only be one!"

Posted July 5, 2008, 3:00PM Philippine time

ESPN captioned it as "Top Two To Tango" while the Wimbledon site tagged it as "Roger and Rafa - Take Three". But for this given epic battle, I would like to borrow NBA's most popular tagline during the playoff season to describe this encounter as "There Can Only Be One!”.

Yes, there can only be one, but tennis fans all over the country and the world will have to wait for another 48 hours to witness the most anticipated Grand Slam event in Wimbledon history as Roger Federer and Rafael "Rafa" Nadal, world number one and number two respectively will battle all out in the men's finals on Monday (Philippine time) to determine among the two who is, "The One".

During the semifinals, Federer crushed Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4 with a flawless and excellent performance to approach his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam Championship. Rafael Nadal disposed Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 7-6 (3) 6-4 in the other semifinals game setting up a sixth career Grand Slam final against Federer.

The saga continues for both tennis stars as they meet for the third time in the finals. Federer beat Nadal in the two previous finals but Nadal was too close to win last year. Nadal was leading but Federer was more determined to claim his 5th Wimbledon trophy. It would be a matter of time Nadal will seize it, who knows this time around.

A lot of talks have been coming out whether Nadal, the king of clay court, can beat Federer in the finals as most say Nadal has a lot of problems in grass court. But others see the resurging Nadal as the one to beat in the finals. Doubts have been cast on Federer's ability to beat Nadal this time. Fresh from our memory that Nadal beat Federer in last months' French Open finals in just three sets. It wouldn’t be difficult for Nadal to make it in the Wimbledon.

But like Rafa's stamp on clay, the second seed would have problem orchestrating his moves in Federer's turf. Wimbledon courts have been Federer's long time home. Federer has been playing so amazingly well. The top seed eliminated all his opponents from the first round to his way to the finals in only three of the five sets.

"I haven't had many problems whatsoever throughout the championships," Federer said in an interview. "It's been a perfect way to the finals, but there's one more left. I need to win to get it. But so far it's been quite unbelievable actually."

History is likewise about to unfold. If Federer claims the Wimbledon title this year, he will be the second man to win Wimbledon in six consecutive years after Willie Renshaw made it in the 1880s and will close in one win to the 14 Grand slam titles record set by Pete Sampras in the previous decade. If Nadal wins this finals game, he will be the first one to win back to back Grand Slam titles in French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

So whoever wins the finals, a new record will be set. But I doubt both are particular on records as of this time, they just want to beat each other, and there will only be one to come out as the winner.

Let’s check it on Monday night.