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In a classic battle, Detroit beats Miami in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals as Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups dominate the backcourt of the Heat. San Antonio easily advances out west and looks to ride Tim Duncan to another NBA title. Throughout the finals, Detroit’s physical defense sends the Spurs to the free-throw line in an attempt to wear down the champs, but Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili rise to the challenge and force a deciding Game 7 in Detroit. In the final game, Tim Duncan scores 36 points, helping the Spurs win their fourth title since 1999, but Ginobili wins the MVP of the Finals.
Baseball
The New York Yankees win their 27th championship and first since 2000 by defeating the Atlanta Braves in five games to win the World Series. The addition of Johnny Damon ignites the Yankees lineup as Alex Rodriguez once again wins the MVP of the league while finishing the season with a .326 average to go along with 50 home runs and 141 RBI. Randy Johnson wins 21 games and Mariano Rivera closes out 46 games on the year. New York spends over $200 million in payroll to become the most expensive team to ever win a championship in baseball history.
Golf
Tiger Woods continues to dominate his sport by winning the Masters and US Open to increase his total to 12 career major championships. Woods is now in the prime of his career at the age of 30 and decides to cut back on several of his appearances to spend more time with his wife, family and friends to prevent the beginning of the burnout process. Phil Mickelson wins the PGA championship while Darren Clarke wins the British Open. Annika Sorenstam continues to dominate the LPGA, winning three more major titles and runs away with the money title once again.
Tennis
We continue to watch the greatest player in the history of the sport, Roger Federer destroy the top players in the world and go on to win three of the four legs of the grand slam of tennis. His only loss in a major will be to Rafael Nadal in the French Open Final. That will take him to nine career majors and only five away from Pete Sampras' overall mark of 14. The changing of the guard continues in Women's tennis as Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters stay competitive but do not win a major title between them. Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova will have several epic battles that help keep the women’s game more popular than the men when it comes to overall interest in tennis.
Hockey
Ottawa defeats Nashville in the lowest-rated Stanley Cup finals in the history of the sport, but at least we have hockey back on television instead of talking about another season lost to a labor dispute.
Boxing
James Toney defeats Hasim Rahman to become the heavyweight champion of the world. The stars in the lower weight divisions, including middleweight champion Jermain Taylor and 140-pound champion Floyd Mayweather will still dominate the sport of boxing.
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