Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
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The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
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AP
SAN ANTONIO - Manu Ginobili struggled for two games and it seemed he might not have anything left. A sore ankle, a ripped fingernail and plenty of missed shots. All the while, he insisted he would step up for the San Antonio Spurs.
He kept his promise on Sunday night. And nobody on either team was surprised.
“He is such a competitor,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after Ginobili scored 30 points to lead the Spurs to a 103-84 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. “He puts so much on his shoulders, he fights through a lot of things. ... He’s got a lot of confidence in what he can do.
“And so when he has these games, it is really not a surprise anymore.”
Ginobili hit five of the Spurs’ 10 3-pointers and got to the rim a few times to keep the defending champions from falling into an 0-3 hole, which no NBA team has ever overcome.
“I was too stagnant in the first two games,” said Ginobili, the league’s top sixth man who came off the bench on Sunday. “I didn’t feel like I was being me. ... I made the first shots. I felt good. And then it was easier for me.”
The Lakers lead the series 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday in San Antonio.
Tim Duncan had 22 points, 21 rebounds and five assists, and Tony Parker added 20 points and five assists for the Spurs, who remained unbeaten at home this postseason.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points and Pau Gasol scored 15.
“It’s a good experience for us to play against the defending champs and have them kick our butts the way they did,” Bryant said. “I think we grew up a lot tonight.”
Lamar Odom struggled all night, finishing 2-of-11 from the field for seven points. But he had six of the Lakers’ 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
“On me personally it definitely snowballed,” Odom said. “That happens, but sometimes I’d rather go out swinging than being passive. It was just one of those nights.”
The Lakers also struggled at the free throw line, going just 8-of-17. Bryant went to the line only once.
On Sunday, the Spurs got a lead midway through the second quarter and never looked back, despite a late surge from Bryant.
The Spurs had squandered a 20-point lead to lose Game 1 in Los Angeles and the Lakers routed them in Game 2.
“They were energized and they played with a lot more emotion, a lot more energy than we did,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “They were quicker to the ball. And it was quite obvious at times.”
Up 69-57 entering the fourth, the Spurs opened with a 12-4 run, and Parker’s layup gave them a 20-point lead with a little over 8 minutes to play.
Then Bryant did what Bryant does: almost single-handedly pulled his team out of the hole. He hit four 3-pointers over the course of less than 2½ minutes and his last one brought the Lakers within 88-76 with 5 minutes to play.
But the Lakers would get no closer, not when the Spurs’ title defense would be all but ruined with a Game 3 loss.
Duncan answered with a three-point play to put the Spurs back up by 15 and not long after Brent Barry’s steal that resulted in a three-point play for Ginobili made it 97-78 with 3:26 to go.
Reserve Jordan Farmar scored 10 points for the Lakers.
In the first half, Parker was penetrating the paint, but Ginobili was the big key for the Spurs. He had 22 points at the break — more than the 17 he scored in Games 1 and 2 combined. And whether or not his injured left ankle was bothering him, he didn’t need it to explode to the basket because he hit 3 after 3.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.