sportingnews - 20090510

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Chuck Daly was a study i

ance. In 1981, he was so detake an NBA head coachin

he accepted the reins for

Cleveland team. The Cava

9-32 under Daly, and he wa

Things improved, of cou

Daly

Detroi

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two-ti

pions

a 14-y

that e

a spo

Basket

of Fa

died S

78 after battling pancreat

He was a great frie

coaches, said Maveric

Rick Carlisle, one of Dal

assistants, extremely

and there are very few p

have had such a great imp

game, and such humility.

S

Chicago 4, Vancouver 2 Denver 106, Dalla

JONATHANHAYWARD/ AP

M

Samuel Pahlsson and the Blackhawks

took a 3-2 series lead. Page 11

Carmelo Anthony hit the w3-pointer after a non-call oattempted intentional fouDenver leads the semifinalPage 7

A great frto all coac

Yao out for playoffs,

Chuck Daly

BY ALBERT BREER

[email protected]

The Bears and Chiefs filled holes atquarterback with trades for Jay Cut-ler and Matt Cassel, but five otherNFL teams have a QB competitionbrewing. That can be good. Or bad.

A three-way competition isalways bad, said Jim Miller, part ofmultiple QB battles in 12 NFL sea-sons. Two-way competitions aremanageable, but the guys on theteam know who should emerge, andwhen it goes against that you haveproblem.

Usually, its good for everyone tofeel that pressure that youll feel on

Sundays.Here is a quick look at five QBbattles:

Denver BroncosThe contenders: Kyle Orton, Chris

Simms.The chase: Some dont believe it,

but Orton was the key piece in theCutler trade. In Simms only seasonas a starter, he led Tampa to the

playoffs. Despite the perception itsOrtons job, coach Josh McDanielscalls the competition real.

Detroit LionsThe contenders: Daunte Culpep-

per, Matthew Stafford.The chase: Its only a matter of

when Stafford, the $41.5-millionman, will start. It could be a func-tion of when his teammates cangive him a chance. Until then, theLions might let Culpepper take thepunishment, although coach JimSchwartz says, We dont have adepth chart.

Minnesota VikingsThe contenders:Tarvaris Jackson,

Sage Rosenfels.

The chase: Forget perception. Nei-ther the financial nor the draft-pickcompensation the Vikings surren-dered suggests Rosenfelshas to start. Jackson played fairly well down thestretch, and this race likely will go tothe man who best moves the chainsand protects the ball. Or Brett Favre.

New York JetsThe contenders: Kellen Clemens,

Mark Sanchez.The chase: If Sanchez picks up the

offense, its his job. Rex Ryan hinted atthat last weekend, saying he has a

good idea of what will happen and hasexperience winning with a rookie QB.

Tampa Bay BuccaneersThe contenders: Josh Freeman,

Byron Leftwich, Luke McCown.The chase: McCown looked shaky

early this spring, making Leftwichthe likely bridge to Freeman. Mostscouts say itll take Freeman time toadjust to the NFL.

Rudderless Five NFL teams head to campnot knowing wholl be their QB

BILL KOSTROUN / AP ED BETZ / AP

Jets coach Rex Ryan has hinted hed like MarkSanchez, above, to grab the starting job. Kellen Clemens has said he expects to beunder center opening day in Houston.

Making his MarkFifty-year-old MarkMartin moved intoplayoff position with avictory at DarlingtonRaceway. Page 15

Mayfieldsuspended,Page 16

SUNDAY

MAY 10, 2009

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 292Scoreboard

BaseballAmerican League

Tampa Bay 14, Boston 5

Toronto 6, Oakland 4

Baltimore 12, N.Y. Yankees 5

Chicago White Sox 3, Texas 2

Detroit 4, Cleveland 0

Minnesota 9, Seattle 6

L.A. Angels 1, Kansas City 0

National League

N.Y. Mets 10, Pittsburgh 1

L.A. Dodgers 8, San Francisco 0

Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 2

Houston 5, San Diego 4

Cincinnati 8, St. Louis 3

Florida 3, Colorado 1

Milwaukee 12, Chicago Cubs 6

Washington 2, Arizona 1

MLB > 17 NFL > 28 NBA > 6 NHL > 11 NASCAR > 15 COLLEGE FOOTBALL > 32 COLLEGE BASKETBALL > 32 LACROSSE > 31QUICK LINKS:

NHL PlayoffsWestern Conference semifinals

Chicago 4, Vancouver 2

(Chicago leads series 3-2)Eastern Conference semifinals

Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT

(Pittsburgh leads series 3-2)

NBA PlayoffsWestern Conference semifinals

Denver 106, Dallas 105

(Denver leads series 3-0)

Eastern Conference semifinals

Cleveland 97, Atlanta 82

(Cleveland leads series 3-0)
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

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AUTO RACING

6 a.m.SPEEDGP2 ChampionshipSeries, at Barcelona, Spain (same-day tape)7:30 a.m.SPEEDFormula One, SpanishGrand Prix, at Barcelona, SpainNoonVERSUSIRL, pole qualifying forIndianapolis 500

COLLEGE SOFTBALL12:30 p.m.FSNBig 12 Conference, cham-pionship game, teams TBA, atOklahoma City

GOLF

9:30 a.m.TGCEuropean PGA Tour, ItalianOpen, final round, at Turin, Italy(same-day tape)2 p.m.NBCPGA Tour, THE PLAYERSChampionship, final round, atPonte Vedra Beach, Fla.3 p.m.ESPN2LPGA, Michelob ULTRAOpen, final round, at Williamsburg,

Va.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

12:30 p.m.TBSAtlanta at Philadelphia2 p.m.WGNChicago Cubs at Milwaukee8 p.m.ESPNTampa Bay at Boston

MOTORSPORTS

4 p.m.SPEEDFIM World Superbike, atMonza, Italy (same-day tape)

NBA BASKETBALL

3:30 p.m.

ABCPlayoffs, conferencesemifinals, Game 4, L.A. Lakers atHouston8 p.m.TNTPlayoffs, conference semifi-nals, Game 4, Boston at Orlando

NHL HOCKEY

7:30 p.m.VERSUSPlayoffs, conferencesemifinals, Game 5, Carolina atBoston

NBA

Lakers at Rockets

3:30 p.m., ABCBy winning Game 1 in the conference semis,

the Rockets grabbed momentum and sowedseeds of doubt in what was expected to bethe Lakers march to the NBA Finals. Now, withC Yao Ming out with a broken foot and SF RonArtest having been ejected from consecutivegames, it is the Rockets on the ropes in Game4. Coach Phil Jackson has, at times this season,questioned his teams killer instinct. It has achance to how him that instinct today.

Sean Deveney

NHL

Hurricanes at Bruins7:30 p.m., Versus

The Hurricanes pulled off the large shockerby beating the Devils in the first round, butnow that they have Boston facing eliminationtonight, maybe nothing they do from now onshould be considered surprising. Eric Staal andJussi Jokinen have been beasts throughoutCarolinas playoff run, and G Cam Ward stillhasnt lost a playoff series. Bostons biggestfault is scoring just three goals in the last threegamesall losses.

Roger Kuznia

BASEBALL

Rays at Red Sox8 p.m., ESPN

Tonights game is already the 10th betweenthese two teams this season, with Tampa Bayholding a 6-3 edge. If Rays righthander MattGarza pitches as well as he has in his first twostarts against Boston this season, Tampa Baylikely will post their seventh victory. Garza hasallowed just one earned run in 14.2 innings ofwork, striking out 15, including 10 in his April30 start. Garza matches up with Bostons JoshBeckett, who has given up 10 hits in each of hislast three outings.

Roger Kuznia

Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars ownerTom Hicks, who defaulted last month on $525

million in loans tied to those teams, saysthe issue is a nonevent for coaches, play-ers, fans and the rest of the operations.

Financial analysts arent so sure.The notion that this is a modest hic-

cup, where all hes really trying to do isbuy himself a few weeks before he makespayments so that he can properly runhis franchises ... I dont find that partcompelling, said Andrew Zimbalist, aSmith College economics professor whospecializes in sports business.

However, some analysts consider itfairly unlikely that Hicks will lose eitherof the teams, citing the value of the fran-

chises ($810 million combined, accord-ing to Forbes magazine) relative to thedebt and the large number of lenderstied up in the loans (about 40).

Nowitzkis credit cards at risk?The love interest of Mavericks star Dirk

Nowitzki may have gained access to hiscredit cards without permission, The Dallas Morning News reported, but itsunknown if, or how much, she was ableto use them. Cristal Taylor may have alsovictimized her former husband in simi-lar fashion, racking up $330,000 indebt, according to the newspaper. Taylor

was arrested at Nowitzkis homeWednesday. She was taken to DallasCounty jail with bail set at $20,000 on atheft of services charge.

Quick hitsSteve Mills, who as president of business

operations for MSG Sports Teams hiredformer Knicks marketer Anucha BrowneSanders and former Knicks president IsiahThomas, is leaving the organization after

nearly a decade to work for Magic JohnsonEnterprises,SportsBusiness Journals Terry

Lefton reported. Browne Sanders waspaid $11.5 million in the 2007 settlementof a sexual harassment suit againstThomas and MSG.

Attorneys forJayson Williams say theyllseek to have the former NBA stars convic-tions for covering up a fatal shootingthrown out on grounds of racial bias. Atissue is a racial slur used by a formeremployee of the Hunterdon County (N.J.)Prosecutors Office.

Williams was convicted of four countsof covering up the shooting death of ahired driver at his Hunterdon County

mansion in 2002.

Mexican soccer clubs Chivas Guada-lajara and San Luis have withdrawn fromthe Copa Libertadores in the fallout fromthe refusal of Uruguay and Brazil clubs toplay matches in Mexico following theswine flu outbreak. One club official saidthe South Americans refusal to visit bor-dered on racism.

Compiled by Benson Taylor, with wire reports

While his team is down 3-0 to Denver, DirkNowitzki is dealing with a personal issue.

TONYGUTIERREZ/AP

Hicks loan default castsshadow on Rangers, Stars

Tune In Today OFF THE FIELDSee a Different GameSPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009 2

A quick look at the best sports on TV all times Eastern

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Unrivaled fun

Three things I loveabout Arizona Sta

BY TEDY BRUSCHI

1. I love that no othey ever had wable to block me.

2. I loved winning their stadium alooking into their fans ey

with a big smile on my fawhile dodging throwbatteries.

3. I love knowing thwe own that state As told to Albert Br

ON NEWSSTANDS N

They play for the Territorial every college football season, the annual Duel in the Debetween Arizona and Arizona Sgets pretty hot, as do 49 othestate rivalries explored in a spreport in Sporting NewsMagazavailable now. Wildcat-turnPatriot Lance Briggs explains he hates ASU, and former Sun DJake Plummer explains whyhates UA. But some players put t

emotions in a more caring way

Un

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looki

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Theyevery cthe anbetweegets prstate rireportavailabPatriothe hateJake Phates U

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PAULSANCYA/AP

SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009My Profile

John Burkett1993 National League wins leader, two-time All-Star

(What you wont find on Facebook even if you are approved as a friend)

Born: Nov. 28, 1964, in Beaver, Pa.Status: MarriedThese days:Bowling, playing poker and

golf, driving my kids to activitiesWhats on TV:24, pro bowling, pro golf, pro

football, Weeds, World Poker Tour,HighStakes Poker,Poker After Dark

Whats in my iPod: Dave Matthews Band,classic rock

What I drive: 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550,2007 Chevy Tahoe

Favorite flicks:Caddyshack,A Few GoodMen, Casino,A Perfect Murder

What Im reading: Dan Har ringtonsHow toWin at No-Limit Hold em Money Games, Vol. 1

Magazine subscriptions:Sports Illustrated,Golf Magazine, Card Player

Bookmarks: Steelers, ESPN, Bowl.com,Gmail

Worst habit: Biting my nailsOn my office walls: Plasma TV; 1993 MLB

All-Star frame with cards of every playerthat was in it; autographed painting of LouBrock and Rickey Henderson

Love to trade places for a day with JackieRobinson. To have the chance to experi-ence one day of his life during his careerwould probably be the most shocking

experience imaginable.First job: Wedgewood Lanes, 16 years old,

Beaver, Pa. I worked in the snack barfor $1.50 an hour. I went to school until2:30 p.m. and worked 3-11 p.m. 5 to 6 daysa week. Met a lot of nice people.

Talent Id most like to have: The knowledge ofa world-class poker player like DoyleBrunson

Favorite meal: Filet mignon, medium, witha loaded baked potato and a bottle ofInsignia red wine to wash it down

Favorite athlete to watch in another sport: TigerWoods

Favorite city to visit: Las Vegas

Favorite team as a kid: Pittsburgh SteelersFavorite values in others: Enthusiasm and

honestyFavorite physical attribute about myself:TeethAnd least Midsection. A little bigger

these days.Dream date: My wife Laura. Sounds like

brownie points but its the truth.My greatest love: Seeing the smiles on my

kids faces at Disney World the first tripMy hero: Willie StargellMy bucket list: 1. Win a World Series of

Poker event, 2. Watch my kids get marriedand be successful

Jeff DAlessio
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SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com Next Gen: Recruiting

Cant get your mind off the game? Youre a die-hard fan. And only Sporting News Magazine ca

you the access, analysis and intelligence to satisfy your sports appetite. Packed with great story

and impactful photography from a host of insiders you cant read anywhere else, Sporting News d

insights from prominent sports columnists, best-selling authors, scouts, big name executives a

real experts, the athletes themselves.

(in a good w

SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND SAVE 88%! ONE YEAR JUST $14.97

Justin McCay, who recently wasnamed one of Sporting News Top100 players for the class of 2010, is

being patient with the wholerecruiting process. He has no dead-lines in mind.

Still, the WR/LB prospect recentlyeliminated three schools from hislengthy list of scholarship options.UCLA, Nebraska and OklahomaState were the ones the 6-3, 200-pound athlete out of Shawnee Mis-sion, Kan., dropped.

I just didnt feel like they fit me,McCay told Sporting News Today.They were recruiting me, but notreally recruiting me, like some ofthe schools I already have a long

relationship with. Thats how I feelabout it, that the schools I have themost tight relationships with arethe ones Ill look at the most.

McCay estimates that he has morethan 30 scholarship offers at thistime. He said its tough to cut the list.He enjoyed an April trip to NotreDame, and said hes thinking abouttrips to Oklahoma, Kansas State andWisconsin, among others. He alsohas scholarship offers from Florida,Florida State, Georgia, North Caro-lina, Oregon, Tennessee and TexasA&M, among others.

McCay also reacted to beingnamed to the first preseason SN100.He premiered at No. 6 on the list.

I dont know all the other play-ers in it, McCay told SN Today. Iknow Im working my butt off, soin my mind I should be No. 1. Iwant to go against the best cornerand the best receiver on the list andsee who is best. If hes better thanme, then hes better than me, but

rankings wont make you a mil-lionaire, thats for sure.

O. Perry Walker (NewOrleans) DL Anthony Johnson has

become Tennessees second com-mitment of the class of 2011, Rivals.com reported. The 6-3, 265-poundstrongside defensive end also had averbal scholarship offer from LSU.Colleges arent allowed to extendwritten offers until Sept. 1 of aprospects junior year.

I just feel really comfortablewith the coaches, Johnson toldRivals.com. And they are just

incredible. To play for a guy likeCoach O (assistant coach Ed Orgeron)is awesome. Hes a great guy andits a great feeling that I will have achance to play for him and at a

school like Tennessee.

Summerville (S.C.) DT BriceLaughlin has committed to Mary-land, Rivals.com reported. The6-2, 260-pound tackle also hadreceived interest from Clemson,Georgia, North Carolina, N.C.State and South Carolina, amongothers.

Brian McLaughlin

SN100s McCay cuts three off his list

RECRUITING DISH

COURTESYOFJUSTINMCCAY

Justin McCay (19) estimates that he has more than 30 scholarship offers.
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CHUCK DALY (1930-2009)Chuck Dalys Coaching Record

Year, School W L Pct.

1969-70 Boston Col 11 13 .458

1970-71 Boston Col 15 11 .577

1971-72 Penn 25 3 .893

1972-73 Penn 21 7 .750

1973-74 Penn 21 6 .778

1974-75 Penn 23 5 .821

1975-76 Penn 17 9 .654

1976-77 Penn 18 8 .692Totals 151 62 .709

ProfessionalRegular Season

Year, Team W L Pct. F in

1981-82 Cle 9 32 .220 -

1983-84 Detroit 49 33 .598 2

1984-85 Detroit 46 36 .561 2

1985-86 Detroit 46 36 .561 3

1986-87 Detroit 52 30 .634 2

1987-88 Detroit 54 28 .659 1

1988-89 Detroit 63 19 .768 1

1989-90 Detroit 59 23 .720 1

1990-91 Detroit 50 32 .610 2

1991-92 Detroit 48 34 .680 31992-93 NJ 43 39 .524 3

1993-94 NJ 45 37 .549 3

1997-98 Orl 41 41 .500 5

1998-99 Orl 33 17 .660 2

Totals 638 437 .593

Playoffs

Year, Team W L Pct.

1983-84 Detroit 2 3 .400

1984-85 Detroit 5 4 .556

1985-86 Detroit 1 3 .250

1986-87 Detroit 10 5 .667

1987-88 Detroit 14 9 .609

1988-89 Detroit-y 15 2 .8821989-90 Detroit-y 15 5 .750

1990-91 Detroit 7 8 .467

1991-92 Detroit 2 3 .400

1992-93 New Jersey 2 3 .400

1993-94 New Jersey 1 3 .250

1998-99 Orlando 1 3 .250

Totals 75 51 .595

Overall Totals 713 488 .594

y-won NBA championship

What theyre sayingComments on the death of basketball coDaly on Saturday:

He positively impacted everyone he metpersonally and professionally, and his lovpeople and the game of basketball helpethe next generation of coaches.

NBA commission

Chucks legacy will live on with all of thehe touched throughout his Hall of Fame cwas a wonderful coach, mentor and frienof us.

Joe Dumars, the Pistons president of basketbwho played for Detr

He was a mentor, a father figure, someolooked up to in everything he did. I cant in words how much he gave me as a playeman. This is an immeasurable loss for thethe entire basketball world. Isiah Thomas, former Pistons player and New Yorkand president, who now coaches at Florida Internatio

Chuck was a great leaderI only wish I have played for him outside of the Dreamprayers go out to his family.

Bobcats managing partner Michael Jordan, who Dream Tea

He gave me a tremendous opportunity tfrom him in 1992 as a member of the Dreacoaching staff and for that, I am eternallThere was no better ambassador for the gbasketball than Chuck Daly.

Duke coach Mi

In the heat of those battles, Chuck was afriend of coaches. A good guy. He was alwcoaching fraternity and always extendedhand.

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, whJordan-led Chicago Bulls against Daly an

I thought he was a genius at making com

things seem very simple. ... Losing him nogoing to be a big void to me. He was specigame. But more importantly, he was a grbe around.

Celtics coa

He gave so much to our organization, noor awards would fully acknowledge all heHis legacy and impact on basketball playecoaches covered all levels high school,the NBA and of course internationally. Hiin international basketball is immeasura

USA Basketball executive direc

DETROITThe Detroit Pistonsmade plenty of enemies whilewinning titles and throwing blows two decades ago. ChuckDaly, though, was universallyadmired for his class and coach-ing acumen.

I never understood how a greatman and nice guy coached the BadBoys, Charles Barkley said.

Daly died Saturday morningat 78 in Jupiter, Fla., with hisfamily by his side, the Pistonssaid. The team announced in

March he was being treated forpancreatic cancer.The Hall of Fame coach led

the Dream Team to the Olympicgold medal in 1992 after win-ning back-to-back NBA champi-onships in Detroit.

Daly was renowned for hisability to create harmony out ofdiverse personalities at all levelsof the game, whether they wereIvy Leaguers at Pennsylvania,Dream Teamers Michael Jordanand Barkley, or Pistons as dis-similar as Dennis Rodman and

Joe Dumars.Its a players league. Theyallow you to coach them or theydont, Daly once said. Oncethey stop allowing you to coach,youre on your way out.

Daly was voted one of the 10greatest coaches of the NBAsfirst half-century in 1996, twoyears after being inducted intothe Basketball Hall of Fame. He

was the first coach to win bothNBA and Olympic titles.

Daly had a career regular-season record of 638-437 in 13NBA seasons. In 12 playoffappearances, his teams went75-51. He left Detroit as the Pis-tons leader in regular-seasonand playoff victories.

NBA commissioner DavidStern said the void left by hisdeath will never be filled.

Chuck did much more thancoach basketball games, he

said in a statement. He posi-tively impacted everyone hemet, both personally and pro-fessionally, and his love ofpeople and the game of bas-ketball helped develop thenext generation of coaches.

In Barcelona, the Olympicteam led by Larry Bird,Magic Johnson and Jordanscored more than 100 points ineach of their eight wins, andtheir victory margin topped 43points. Daly did not call a time-out during the tournament.

Daly also made the rightmoves for the Pistons, who werenotorious for their physical playwith Bill Laimbeer and RickMahorn leading the fight, Rod-man making headlines and Hallof Fame guards Isiah Thomasand Dumars lifting the team totitles in 1989 and 1990.

He did an unbelievable job oftaking a bunch of different

personalities and moldingthem into a team, Mahorn said.

The National BasketballCoaches Association createdpins with the initials CD that

many coaches and broadcastersare wearing as it dedicates thispostseason to Daly.

Born July 20, 1930, in St.Marys, Pa., Charles Jerome Dalyplayed college ball at St.Bonaventure and Bloomsburg.

He began coaching in the NBAin 1978 as an assistant underBilly Cunningham in Philadel-phia. His first head coaching job

was with Cleve-land, but he was fired after theCavaliers went 9-32 the first halfof the 1981-82 season.

In 1983, Daly took over aDetroit team that had never hadtwo straight winning seasonsand led the Pistons to ninestraight.

He persuaded Rodman,Thomas, Dumars, Mahorn andLaimbeer to play as a unit andthey responded with champion-ships in 1989 and 1990.

The Associated Press

Coach of the Bad Boys wasa great man and nice guy

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EDREINKE/AP

SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009Tribute
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SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009NBA

ATLANTALeBron James had thatunstoppable feeling.

Everyone get out of the way. Timefor him to do something reallyspecial.

As if being the leagues MVP wasntenough, James scored 47 points in his

best performance yet of these play-offs, leading the Cleveland Cavaliersto the brink of their second straightpostseason sweep with a 97-82 vic-tory over the Atlanta Hawks on Sat-urday night.

Its unexplainable, honestly,James said after carrying Clevelandto a 3-0 lead in the series. Theresonly a few guys in this league that can

get into a zone like that, and Imblessed to have the ability to be one ofthose guys.

You just feel like you can makepretty much every shot you take.

Hell get no argument from theHawks, who put up their best fight ofthe series and still find themselves

just one loss away from calling it aseason. The Cavaliers said James wasthe first player ever to score thatmany points, grab that manyrebounds (12) and dole out that manyassists (eight) in a playoff game.

LeBron was just out of his mind

tonight, Atlantas Josh Smith said.Cleveland kept up its dominatingrun through the playoffs, setting anNBA record with its seventh straightdouble-figure win to eclipse the markset by the 2004 Indiana Pacers. Theonly solace for the Hawks: Theystopped the Cavaliers streak of20-point playoff wins at three, includ-ing a pair of routs in Cleveland.

The Hawks were only down 47-46

at the halftime, and they surged backinto their first second-half lead of theseries with a 13-0 run in the thirdquarter. But Zaza Pachulia got ejected

for arguing a foul callacting asthough he might attack the officialsand Atlanta faded away down thestretch.

James made sure of that.He normally rests the first few

minutes of the second and fourthquarters, but this time he asked to

stay in the game heading to the finalperiod. Coach Mike Brown wasnt

about to sit his star down.He took the ball, put it in his handsand said he was going to score for us,so I told him, OK, Brown said. I

just told everybody else, Letsdefend.

James eclipsed his previous high inthese playoffs38 points vs. the Pis-tons in an opening-round sweepand finished just one off his bestplayoff performance ever, a 48-pointnight against Detroit while leadingCleveland to its first trip to the NBAfinals in 2007.

They appear to be on the way again,

especially with the MVP leading theway. James hit a running 13-footer to

send the Cavaliers to the final periodwith a 72-65 lead. If the Hawks hadany thoughts of a comeback, hequickly erased them.

James hit a jumper near the court-side seat and slapped his hands indelight with just over 8 minutesremaining. On Clevelands next pos-session, he stood out near the half-court line, barking instructions at histeammates. Delonte West andZydrunas Ilgauskas both popped out

to set picks, and James weaved hisway through the Atlanta defensebefore pulling up to launch a floaterjust off the foul lane.

Nothing but net.When youve got the hot hand,

you continue to go to it, he said.Tonight, I felt like I had the hot hand.I got anywhere and everywhere Iwanted to get on the floor.


EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Hawks just have no answers for James, CavaliersCleveland 97, Atlanta 82

Cleveland 22 25 25Atlanta 18 28 19

CLE Min FG FT Reb AJames 43:14 15-25 12-16 2-12 8Varejao 25:11 2-5 2-3 7-10 1Ilgauskas 33:29 6-9 2-4 2-8 1MWilliams 36:27 5-13 0-0 0-2 3DWest 44:41 4-8 4-4 1-4 2JSmith 25:51 3-4 1-2 1-8 0

Gibson 14:06 0-3 0-0 0-0 0Wallace 8:17 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Szczerbiak 7:12 0-2 0-0 0-2 0Kinsey 0:46 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Pavlovic 0:46 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Totals 240:00 35-69 21-29 13-46 15

Percentages: FG.507,FT .724.3-Point Goals: 65-10,M. Williams1-6, Gibson 0-2,Ilgauskas0-2,TeamRebounds:11.TeamTurnovers:13(19PTS).2(James,J. Smith).Turnovers: 11(J. Smith5,Gibzerbiak,Varejao, Wallace,M. Williams).Steals: 3D.West). TechnicalFouls: None.

ATLANTA Min FG FT Reb AEvans 19:09 2-4 0-0 0-1 0JosSmith 37:00 8-18 2-4 3-5 2Horford 35:34 3-8 0-0 1-4 4Bibby 37:57 3-8 0-0 1-4 5Johnson 45:49 9-19 2-3 3-5 3Pachulia 11:40 1-1 1-2 0-3 0MaWilliams 13:29 2-5 0-0 0-0 2

Murray 36:19 6-13 2-2 0-1 3MWest 1:31 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Hunter 0:46 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Jones 0:46 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Totals 240:00 34-76 7-11 8-23 19

Percentages:FG.447,FT.636. 3-Point Goals:7-3-6,Bibby2-4,Evans1-2,Johnson1-3,Horford0-Ma.Williams0-1). TeamRebounds: 8.TeamTurnBlockedShots: 4(Horford2,Jos.Smith2). Turno3,Bibby2, Jos.Smith2,Horford).Steals: 7(Johnsford,Murray,Ma.Williams).TechnicalFouls: PachEjections: Pachulia,1:33third.

A: 20,143 (18,729). T: 2:37. Officials: MontySpooner,MikeCallahan.

Series glance(Cleveland leads series 3-0)

May 5: Cleveland 99, AtlantaMay 7: Cleveland 105, AtlantSaturday: Cleveland 97, Atla

Monday: Cleveland at Atlanp.m.Wednesday: Atlanta at Clev

TBA, if necessaryFriday: Cleveland at Atlanta,necessaryMonday, May 18: Atlanta atCleveland, 8 p.m., if necessar

BYRONSMALL/ATLANTABUSINESSCHRONICLE

LeBron James took over at just the right time down the stretch in Saturdays Game 3, putting the Cavs one game from the Eastern Finals.

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DALLASAntoine Wright had asimple objective. In a game with 61

fouls already called, he was tryingto commit another.Wright bumped Carmelo

Anthony once, hard enough toknock him off stride. But notenough for a foul call.

So he jostled Anthony again. Stillno calland now Wright was out ofposition, leaving Anthony a clearlook at the basket. His 3-pointerwent right through with a secondleft, giving the Denver Nuggets a106-105 victory over the DallasMavericks on Saturday, and a 3-0series lead that has been insur-

mountable in NBA history.I have hit a lot of big shots in myshort career, but never in a situationlike this, Anthony said. It was athin line between 2-1 and 3-0.

The Nuggets can consider them-selves lucky to be close enough toget saved by a controversial finish.

They missed 15 of their first 17shots and made only two longerthan five feet the entire first half.They finished with as many foulsas field goals and their previouslydominant center tandem of Neneand Chris Andersen struggled,

Nene missing his first eight shotsand Birdman fouling out in only11 minutes.

Yet Denver never trailed by morethan six. The Mavericks inabilityto pull awaytake your pick when;the Nuggets never really strungtogether many basketswas asdamaging as the non-call onAnthony.

The game didnt come down to

that last play, Dallas guard JasonKidd said. Youve got to makeplays down the stretch, and we just

didnt do that.The Mavericks led 105-101 with

31 seconds left, then saw Anthony

zip in for a quick dunk. Dirk Nowit-zki missed a 13-footer with abouteight seconds left and missed a

high-arching shot from the cornerat the buzzer.

This is about as tough of a loss asIve been a part of in my 11 years,said Nowitzki, who overcame a dif-ficult week off the court and a third-quarter leg bruise to score 33 pointsand grab 16 rebounds. Thats agame weve got to have.

During the timeout before Antho-nys winning shot, Mavericks coachRick Carlisle reminded his playersthey had a foul to give and told themto use it. Wright did his best to foul,but one was not called.

The official closest to the play wasMark Wunderlich, the same official

who did not call a foul on the Lak-ers Derek Fisher at the end of Game4 of last years West finals.

What do you want me to do ...take him out and then I get a fla-grant 2 late in the game? Wrightsaid. I made a play on the ball like Iwas told in the huddle and the callwasnt made.

When time ran out, the crowd fellsilent, the Nuggets began to cele-brate and the Mavs began to gripe.

Josh Howard was among severalclusters of Dallas players whoappeared to be exchanging words

with Denver players and staff.Owner Mark Cuban brushed by acameraman on his way to the scene,then blew off steam behind thescorers table, his face reddening.He declined to comment later.

Officiating has to be a science,not an art, Carlisle said. If I sithere and belabor this, its not goingto be good for our league.


WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Denver 20 28 31Dallas 20 25 35

DENVER Min FG FT Reb AAnthony 41:44 9-24 11-14 3-8 2Martin 38:06 5-6 2-2 3-4 1Nene 30:25 2-10 1-2 2-8 4Billups 41:11 9-16 11-12 0-3 3Jones 14:04 3-4 2-2 1-1 0

Smith 30:46 3-10 3-4 2-6 2Andersen 10:42 2-4 1-2 2-6 0Kleiza 13:54 0-1 0-0 0-3 1Carter 17:31 1-6 1-2 0-2 2Petro 1:37 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Totals 240:00 34-81 32-40 13-41 15

Percentages:FG.420,FT .800.3-PointGoals: 63-7,Anthony2-2,Smith1-4,Carter0-2).TeamRebTurnovers:7 (9PTS).BlockedShots: 5(Andersen,Jones,Smith). Turnovers: 7(Anthony2, Nene2,AMartin).Steals:7(Anthony2, Nene2,Carter,MartnicalFouls: Defensivethree second,11:49 second.

DALLAS Min FG FT Reb AHoward 28:50 5-15 4-5 2-7 1Nowitzki 38:22 9-19 13-15 2-16 2Dampier 17:13 1-2 0-0 1-3 2Kidd 40:37 5-9 2-2 1-5 5Wright 19:36 3-5 2-3 0-0 2Terry 33:26 5-12 5-6 0-4 1Bass 24:49 2-5 12-14 3-5 1

Green 9:11 0-4 0-0 0-0 0Hollins 11:53 0-2 2-4 0-4 0Barea 11:37 0-2 0-0 1-1 1Singleton 4:28 0-0 0-0 1-1 0Totals 240:02 30-75 40-49 11-46 15

Percentages:FG.400,FT.816.3-Point Goals:2-4,Nowitzki2-5,Kidd 1-2,Green 0-1,Howard0TeamRebounds:14.TeamTurnovers:10(4PTS). B(Nowitzki2, Dampier,Hollins,Howard, Kidd,Singlet10(Howard3, Dampier2,Terry2, Hollins,Kidd,Now(Howard).TechnicalFouls: DefensivethreeseconHoward,10:22third.

A: 20,620 (19,200). T: 2:57. Officials: BennettWunderlich,KenMauer.

Anthony, Nuggets benefit from non-callDenver 106, Dallas 105

MATTSLOCUM/AP

Carmelo Anthonys game-winning 3-pointer in the final second of Game 3 came after a Dallas player made a concerted effort to foul him.

Series glance(Denver leads 3-0)

May 3: Denver 109, Dallas 95May 5: Denver 117, Dallas 105Saturday: Denver 106, Dalla

Monday: Denver at Dallas,9:30 p.m., TNTWednesday: Dallas at Denve9 or 10:30 p.m., if necessaryFriday: Denver at Dallas, TBAif necessarySunday, May 17: Dallas at De

TBA, if necessary

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BY KATHERINE CROMER BROCK

Dallas Business Journal

DALLASWith one second remain-ing in the game, Nuggets forwardCarmelo Anthony hit the game-winning 3-point shot Saturday, giv-ing Denver a 3-0 series lead overthe Mavericks.

The Mavericks thought that shotshould never have come. And,afterward, the NBA admitted Dal-las was right.

Joel Litvin, NBA president forleague and basketball operations,said in a statement the officialsmissed an intentional foul com-

mitted by Antoine Wright onAnthony.Wright had been all over

Anthony, trying to foul him andstop the clock. Instead, the whistlenever came, setting up Denverswinning basket.

Unfortunately, in a game wheretheres 61 fouls called, an officialdecides not to call a foul when weretrying to take a foul. Its just ashame, Mavericks coach Rick Car-lisle said. Im yelling to Antoine,Get him, get him, take it, and nowhistle blows. Its just extremely

disappointing. What do you tellyour fans? What do you tell theplayers?

Wright was so certain he hadfouled Anthonyas were the rest ofthe Mavsthat he had stoppedplaying.

I was positive a whistle was com-ing, just like everybody else waspositive the whistle was coming. Itried to hit him before he got into the

shooting motion. I felt like I did, andthe whistle wasnt blowing.

Nuggets coach George Karl, how-ever, said he didnt see much of afoul.

Despite the controversial ending,Anthony, called the 3-pointer ahighlight of his career.

Ive never hit a big shot in a play-off like this, in a situation like this,Anthony said. Theres a thin linebetween being 2-1 or 3-0. That shotwas the deciding factor. Theyre themoments that I live for, crunchtime, we need a bucket.

Another big game from Dirk

Before the start of Saturdaysgame, there was speculation thatMavericks forward Dirk Nowitzkisoff-court drama, in which a womanwas arrested at his home onWednesday, could have a negativeeffect on the big mans play. ButKarl wasnt worried about thathappening.

We think Dirks tough enough,and talented enough, I dont thinkits going to affect him, he said.For me, staying away from distrac-tions is something that you talk toyour team about. Were big men;

were grown men that have to han-dle situations and circumstancesall the time.

Any remaining doubts were qui-eted by Nowitzkis strong start. Hescored the first bucket of the game,and proceeded to rack up 21 first-half points. By the end of the game,he had scored 33 and had 16rebounds.

Well be down tonight after this

one, Nowitzki said after thI think this is about as to

loss that Ive been a part ofyears in the league.In Dallas other six match

season against Denver, Nhad averaged 30.5 points pand 10.7 rebounds per gamgames were Dallas losses.

I think we deserved to played well enough to win,It just wasnt meant to be.

Going to the bench eaQuestions were raised

Game 3 as to whether MavHoward would be able to pl

force with an injury to his leand a tweak to his right. has been a fast starter, a7.6 first-quarter points in tlar season. The trend cointo the playoffs, with averaging 6.4 first-quarter

Carlisle acknowledged bgame that Howard was sosaid he had to hope for the

Although he was a starteday afternoon, Howarreplaced by Jason Terry wleft in the first quarter, aftefive points.

In fact, early foul troublMavs to go deep into thearly, with Terry, BrandoGerald Green, Ryan Hol Jose Barea all on the couthe end of the first quarter.

Howard ended up plaminutes and had 14 points.

Katherine Cromer Brock

Dallas Business Journa

kcromerbrock@bi


NBA office admits officials missed foul on AnthonyDenver 106, Dallas 105

MATTSLOCUM/AP

Jason Kidd and the Mavericks face a 3-0 deficit to the Nuggets, and no team has ever come back from such a deficit in NBA history.

NOTEBOOK
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ORLANDOCeltics coach DocRivers was at home in the weehours of Saturday morning afterhis teams playoff loss and startedwatching a movie, hoping to relax.

Only this film had no drama. No

hero. No uplifting end or reason tostay tuned.The tape of Game 3 against

Orlando was simply a nightmare.It made me feel worse, Rivers

said Saturday, a day after Bostonsdemoralizing 117-96 loss to theMagic. I was in an awful moodwhen I turned it on. Whats pastawful, I was in that afterward.They played great. They made alot of great shots. And we playedawful.

Our defense was awful. Ithought we were soft. I thought

they were more aggressive. Ithought we were the retaliators allgame. Other than that, it was justa wonderful night of filmwatching.

Now the Celtics want to makesure theres no sequel.

Following one of their worstdefensive games of the season, thedefending champions have plentyto fix if they want to avoid a 3-1hole in their best-of-seven seriesagainst the Magic.

Their defense was sloppy. Theiroffense was inconsistent, and Bos-

ton made mistakes it usuallydoesnt, with Orlando shootingnearly 60 percent on top of it.

While todays Game 4 is not anelimination game, the Celticsalmost surely have to win if theyhave any chance to advance. Onlyeight NBA teams have ever come back from a 3-1 deficit to win aseries.

Were not going to panic,

Celtics forward Paul Pierce said.But theres definitely a huge senseof urgency to get this win and tryto get our home-court advantageback.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundysays he hasnt determined thestarting lineup for todays game.Point guard Rafer Alston will be back after his one-game suspen-sion for slapping Eddie House inthe back of the head, and shootingguard Courtney Lee will again bein the lineup with a protectivemask following a solid return offthe bench11 points in 32 minutes

in Game 3.

Perkins avoids suspCeltics center Kendrick

will not face a suspensio

elbow that hit OrlandosPietrus in the chin and thdrew a flagrant one foul.

NBA spokesman Timconfirmed that the league rthe play and it stands as ca

Replays showed PerPietrus while the two werefor position away from ththe fourth quarter of Gam

The As

HOUSTONYao Ming will miss therest of the playoffs because of a bro-ken left foot.

The Houston center limped off the

court late in the Los Angeles Lak-ers 108-94 victory over the Rocketson Friday night. Yao missed Satur-days practice to get treatment andthe team said the 7-foot-6 All-Starwould be re-evaluated today.

But the Rockets announced laterSaturday night that further exami-nation of Yaos injury revealed ahairline fracture. The Rockets sayYao will need 8-12 weeks to recover,though no surgery is required.

The Rockets and Lakers playGame 4 of their Western Confer-ence semifinal series today. The

Lakers lead the series 2-1.Yao had 19 points and 14 reboundsin Fridays loss, his sixth straightdouble-double. But he was notice-ably limping by the fourth quarterand finally hobbled off the court inthe final minute, with the outcomedecided.

After the Rockets practice onSaturday, Ron Artest said Yao toldhim that hed be ready for Game 4.However, coach Rick Adelmanprepared his team as if Yaowouldnt be available.

We have to play to our strengths,

Adelman said. Everybody has toplay to their strengths and under-stand what they can do to help uswin. You do it collectively. Theresstrength in numbers, and thatswhat we have to understand.

The Rockets went 3-2 without Yaoduring the regular season and 19-8without him in 2007-08. A total of12 players missed 179 games forHouston this season, and the Rock-

ets still managed to go 53-29.Weve won without people all

year long, Adelman said. Its just

one more case. You cant dwell onwhos not here. You have to dwell onwho is here. These guys truly believe, if we go out and play theway were capable of playing, wecan win a game.

Artest foul downgradedThe NBA downgraded a flagrant

foul called against Ron Artest, deter-mining Saturday that the play should

not have been severe enough to war-rant an ejection. Artest will not face asuspension for Game 4 today.

Artest was whistled for a flagrantfoul penalty two, an automatic ejec-tion, for his hard foul on Pau Gasollate in Game 3.

I think that they made more ofthat than it was. I didnt think thatwas a flagrant two, Lakers coachPhil Jackson said. It looked to melike it was a hard foul. .... I thinkthey overreacted a little bit on that.


Yao out remainder of postseason

ERICGAY/AP

The Rockets say Yao Ming will need 8-12 weeks to recover from a broken left foot.

Celtics try to regroup after awful Game

J

Coach Doc Rivers thought his Celtics were soft in their Game 3 loss to Orlando.

NOTEBOOKNOTEBOOK

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Playoff glanceCONFERENCE SEMIFINALS(Best-of-7), All times ET

EASTERN CONFERENCE

(Cleveland leads series 3-0)

Cleveland vs. AtlantaMay 5: Cleveland 99, AtlantaMay 7: Cleveland 105, AtlantSaturday: Cleveland 97, AtlaMonday: Cleveland at AtlantWednesday: Atlanta at Cleve

p.m., if necessaryFriday: Cleveland at Atlanta,necessaryMonday, May 18: Atlanta atCleveland, 8 p.m., if necessar

Boston vs. Orlando(Orlando lead series 2-1)May 4: Orlando 95, Boston 9May 6: Boston 112, Orlando 9May 8: Orlando 117, Boston 9Today: Boston at Orlando, 8 Tuesday: Orlando at Boston,Thursday: Boston at OrlandonecessarySunday, May 17: Orlando at

TBA, if necessary

WESTERN CONFERENCE

L.A. Lakers vs. Houston(L.A. Lakers lead series 2-1)

May 4: Houston 100, L.A. LakMay 6: L.A. Lakers 111,Houston 98May 8: L.A. Lakers 108, HoustToday: L.A. Lakers at Housto3:30 p.m.Tuesday: Houston at L.A. Lakp.m.Thursday: L.A. Lakers at Houif necessarySunday, May 17: Houston atLakers, TBA, if necessary

Denver vs. Dallas(Denver leads series 3-0)

May 3: Denver 109, Dallas 95

May 5: Denver 117, Dallas 105Saturday: Denver 106, DallasMonday: Denver at Dallas, 9Wednesday: Dallas at DenvenecessaryFriday: Denver at Dallas, TBAnecessarySunday, May 17: Dallas at De

TBA, if necessary

INSIDE DISH

As expected, the Suns are stick-ing with coach Alvin Gentry. Sunsgeneral manager Steve Kerr removedthe interim tag from Gentrys title

on Saturday, calling him the rightman to lead our team into thefuture. Gentry took over the strug-gling Suns on Feb. 16 after coachTerry Porter was fired just fourmonths into his first season withthe club. Gentrys contract is fortwo years with a third-year option.Gentry returned the Suns to thefreeform style of Porters predeces-sor Mike DAntoni, guiding the team toan 18-13 record despite the absenceof injured All-Star Amare Stoudemirefor all but one game. Phoenix fin-ished 46-36, the second-best record

of any team that failed to make theplayoffs since the field expanded to16 teams 25 years ago.

The Kings plan to interviewformer coach Eddie Jordan early nextweek about a possible return to theclub he briefly coached in the late1990s. Jordan was fired by the Wiz-ards last November early in his sixthseason with the club after 197 victo-ries and four playoff appearances. Jordan had his first head coachingjob in Sacramento from March 1997until 1998, when he was fired by the

Kings after going 33-64.

Celtics PG Rajon Rondo and C Ken-drick Perkins have been invited to aJuly camp in Las Vegas for potentialcandidates for the U.S. basketballteam, The Boston Globe reported.Rondo said he will likely participate, but Perkins remains undecided.Both players expressed concernabout how healthy theyd be during

the camp after a long season.

Back in his home country ofAustralia, Bucks C Andrew Bogut saidhell have another MRI scan inabout a week, and that will deter-mine when he can start workingout again. Bogut, who was able toplay only 36 games last year, isrecovering from a stress fracture inhis back. Because its such a long

offseason, theres no point trying torush it and then set myself back,Bogut told The Associated Press.We need to make sure its 100 per-cent healed, so Im not doing anystrenuous activities at all.

Blazers backup PG Sergio Rodri-guez said hed not only welcome atrade this offseason, but halfwayexpects one,The Oregonianreported.

Something has to happen, Rodri-guez said. I cant be here forever,with the same situation. Ive beenhere three years and Im in the sameposition I was in my first week. Itsthe same situation over and overand over. Rodriguez averaged 4.4points and 3.6 assists in 15 minutesa game, and his role was dimin-ished in the first round playoffseries against Houston.

The Jazz want F Andrei Kirilenkoto add weight during the offseason,

but Kirilenko doesnt see why hislack of bulk is an issue. Ive never

concentrate on that in my life andin my career, but obviously its beenbrought up to my attention so I willtry to concentrate on that a little bitmore, Kirilenko told the DeseretNews. Kirilenko started the 2008-09 season weighing 226 pounds,and said he shed eight pounds overthe course of the year.

Bulls PG Derrick Rose was a starof the first-round of the playoffsand won the NBAs rookie of theyear award, but he still thinks thereare plenty aspects of his game that

can get better. I need to work onmy jump shot, my defense and becoming a leader, Rose told theChicago Tribune. Ive got to lead theteam better. Ive got to control thegame a little more as a pointguard.

Suns believe Gentry the right man to lead

Todays gamesAll Times ET

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS(Best-of-7)

L.A. Lakers at Houston, 3:30p.m., ABC

Boston at Orlando, 8 p.m., TNT

Betting line

Today

FAVORITE.......... LINE......... ... O/U.....UNDERDOG

L.A.Lakers................... 4................(194)....... atHouston

atOrlando ...................5................(192).......... Boston

RICKSCUTERI/AP

Alvin Gentry, left, with Steve Nash, led the Suns to an 18-13 record after replacing Terry Porter as coach.


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SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009NHL

VANCOUVERWith Chicago on apower play and the puck on Patrick

Kanes stick, David Bolland found asoft spot behind the Canucksdefense and trusted the puck wascoming. The hardest part was wait-ing for it.

When the puck finally arrived,Bolland patiently gathered it andthen snapped a shot past the stickof a diving Roberto Luongo and intoan empty net. The goal with 5:05left gave the Chicago Blackhawksthe lead they turned into a 4-2 vic-tory over Vancouver on Saturdaynight in Game 5 of the WesternConference semifinal series.

Kane just stepped off the boardsand saw me open and threw a littlesaucer, and I knew it was going toget to me. Roberto couldnt get overthat quick, Bolland said. I didntwant to mishandle it. I just wantedto make sure.

Martin Havlat added an empty-net goal with 62 seconds left, andChicago took a 3-2 edge over theCanucks in the series. The Black-hawks can advance to the confer-ence finals on Monday at home.

After Canucks forward RyanJohnson failed on a great chance to

clear the zone, and with defense-man Willie Mitchell missing hisstick, Kane walked off the right boards and looked off Luongobefore finding Bolland open on thebackdoor.

Kane is a tremendous passer, atremendous player and hes goingto get you the puck, said Bolland,who has four goals in the second-round series.

The Blackhawks trailed 2-1 mid-way through the second period, butrallied to win for the third time inthe series. Chicago hasnt been tothe conference finals since 1995, fol-lowing a second-round sweep of theCanucks.

If the Canucks stay alive, theywould host Game 7 on Thursday.

We dont want to come back,

Bolland said. We want to finish itat home.

Defenseman Brian Campbell setup a pair of goals by Dustin Byfug-lien, including the tying tally dur-ing a power play with 1:38 left in thesecond period, for the Blackhawks.

Chicago was less than three min-utes from being down 3-1 in theseries before rallying late and win-

ning Game 4 in overtime at home.I dont know what it is, its crazy,

Kane said of the comebacks. Wehave a young team and its almostlike we dont know any better but tocome back.

Mats Sundin had a goal and anassist, and Ryan Kesler also scoredfor Vancouver, which has lost twostraight at home, matching its total

there for the last three months ofthe regular season.

Were going to regroup, saidLuongo, who finished with 26saves. Were going to come Mon-day and were going to play thehardest game weve played all year,make sure we play our best gameon the ice, and bring us back here.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 19 savesfor Chicago, getting a break whenKyle Wellwood hit the post midwaythrough the third period, but alsogetting a blocker on Keslers short-handed 2-on-1 chance with sevenminutes left.

After Chicago won what Canucks

coach Alain Vigneault called achess match in Game 4 on Thurs-day, the teams played a faster-paced,highly physical game Saturdaywith plenty of big hits and scrumsafter the whistle.

The Canucks got top defensemanSami Salo back after he missed twogames with an undisclosed lower- body injury, but Chicago openedthe scoring for the first time in theseries with 4:33 left in the firstperiod. Byfuglien beat MattiasOhlund to a rebound of Campbellspoint shot through traffic and off

Luongos pad.We had guys all over the puckand kept it in when we need to andwe found a way to sneak some by[Luongo], Byfuglien said.

The Blackhawks controlled muchof the play in the opening period,pinning the Canucks in their ownend for long stretches, but Keslertied it on a lucky power-play bouncewith 2:06 left. Sundin gave the

Canucks the lead midway

the second, but Byfuglienagain after Vancouver was for an extra penalty durinwhistle scrum.

A lot of people are goingus off, but we believe in throom that we can win, said. We should have wgames in Chicago, so we kcan go in there and win a g

The As

Patience pays off in big way for Bolland, Blackhawk


Chicago 4, Vancouver 2

Series glance

(Chicago leads series 3-2)April 30: Vancouver 5, Chica

May 2: Chicago 6, Vancouve

May 5: Vancouver 3, Chicago

May 7: Chicago 2, Vancouver

Saturday: Chicago 4, Vancou

Monday: Vancouver at Chica

9 p.m.

Thursday,: Chicago at Vanco

TBD, if necessary

DARRYLDYCK/AP

Chicagos Dave Bolland, left, celebrates his go-ahead third-period goal with Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane, right.

Chicago 1 1Vancouver 1 1

First Period: 1, Chicago,Byfuglien2 (Campbell,V

2,Vancouver, Kesler 2 (Wellwood, Sundin),17:54(Ladd,Chi (roughing),16:35.SecondPeriod:3,Vancouver,Sundin2(H.Sedin),1Byfuglien3(Campbell),18:22(pp).Penalties:Edl2:24;D.Sedin,Van(holdingstick),8:48;Ladd,Chi (rWalker, Chi, misconduct, 17:12; Versteeg, Chi17:12; OBrien,Van, minor-misconduct(roughingVan(roughing),17:12.Third Period: 5, Chicago,Bolland4 (Kane, KeithChicago,Havlat5,18:58(en). Penalties:Bieksa,Va13:16;Kesler,Van (holding),16:07.Shotson Goal:Chicago10-11-9: 30.VancouverPower-playopportunities:Chicago2 of5;VancoGoalies:Chicago,Khabibulin 7-4-0(21 shots-19saLuongo6-3-0(29-26).A:18,630(18,630). T:2:34.Referees:PaulDevorski,DennisLaRue.Linesmeich,Jay Sharrers.

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WASHINGTONThe Pittsburgh Pen-guins can say they have outplayed

the Washington Capitals and hadthe perseverance to overcome atwo-game deficit to take the serieslead.

However, Sidney Crosby will bethe first to admit that the Penguinsare ahead because the puck wasdeflected into the net by a Capitalsplayer in overtime. Twice.

Evgeni Malkins pass to Crosbywas broken up by sliding defense-man Tom Poti, who then helplesslywatched the puck sail past goalieSimeon Varlamov 3:28 into over-time Saturday night, giving the

Penguins a 4-3 victory in Game 5 ofthe Eastern Conference semifinals.These games come down to mis-

takes and bounces, Crosby said.And we got a good bounce thereon the last goal.

The Penguins overcame a third-period deficit and survived AlexOvechkins tying goal late in regu-lation before winning on Malkinspower-play tally, which came withone second remaining in the advan-tage. Malkin had drawn a trippingpenalty on Milan Jurcina thatstopped a possible breakaway.

The final goal brought flashbacksto Game 3, when Kris Letangswinner was deflected in by defen-seman Shaone Morrisonn.

Its always hard when you playin overtime and you allow a sillygoal like this, Varlamov saidthrough an interpreter. Thatstwice now. ... But winners maketheir own luck.

Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko

and Matt Cooke also scored, andMarc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves

for the Penguins, who have wonthree straight after dropping thefirst two games. They can advanceMonday night in Pittsburgh.

Since 1991, Washington has lostfive series in which it blew a leadagainst Pittsburgh, including 2-0advantages in 1992 and 1996.Maybe it was those ghosts thatcaused David Steckel to blow aneasy chance 19 seconds intoovertime.

First shift, Stecks missed anempty net, Ovechkin said. I said,Jesus, where is our luck? The puck

was bouncing, and next they got apower play and scored a goal.The Penguins became the first

road team to win in the series, andthe first to win after scoring first.They also sustained the momen-tum from Friday nights dominant5-3 Game 4 victory.

Thanks to back-to-back gamescaused by a Yanni concert in Pitts- burgh, the young Capitals camehome with little time to regroup.

Weve been in this position before, said Washington coachBruce Boudreau, referring to the

Capitals rally from 3-1 down tobeat the New York Rangers in thefirst round.

Its a tough hill to climb, butyouve just got to think of it as onegame.

Ovechkin got his ninth and 10thgoals of the playoffs, and NicklasBackstrom also scored for the Capi-tals. Varlamov made 38 saves,rebounding from his first poor

game of the playoffs.Crosby, who entered with nine

goals and 16 points in the postsea-son, had a five-game point streaksnapped, but that hardly matteredfor a Penguins team that was indanger of missing the playoffs before Dan Bylsma took over ascoach in February.

They showed it at the end of theseason, they showed it in the firstround as well, Bylsma said.Theres a resolve in that room.Theres character. We had t he beliefgoing out (for overtime) that wewere going to get that goal.

Staal put the Penguins ahead 1-0

early in the second. Ovechkinresponded 59 seconds later with ablistering shot from beyond the leftcircle that Fleury couldnt see.

Ovechkin celebrated by stickinghis left index finger high in the air,and Penguins defenseman BrooksOrpik appeared to object by raisinghis hand toward Ovechkins chest.

A penalty for too many men ledto a Capitals goal late in the secondperiod.

Backstrom worked a nice give-and-go with Sergei Fedorov beforebeating Fleury.

The Penguins tied it early in thethird on Fedotenkos shot from thetop of the left circle, then took thelead with 13:33 left in regulationwhen former Capitals left wingCooke lifted a rebound overVarlamov.

Ovechkin tied it with 4:08 left inthe third, but Malkin got the finalbreak in overtime.

Its Malkin, so you cant give

him too much time and space, Potisaid. It became a 2-on-1 and I tried

to go down to take the pass awayand take away his angle coming tothe net. He tried to make the passand it ended up going off my gloveand my stick or something. Anunfortunate bounce.


Malkins deflection pushes Capitals to edg

Pittsburgh 0 1 2 1 4Washington 0 2 1 0 3

First Period: None. Penalties: Semin, Was (tripping), 5:41;Guerin, Pit(hooking), 16:05; Orpik, Pit (roughing), 20:00; Malkin,Pit(roughing), 20:00;Erskine,Was (roughing),20:00; Ovechkin,Was(roughing),20:00.Second Period: 1, Pittsburgh, Staal 1 (Satan, Orpik), 5:17. 2,

Washington, Ovechkin 9 (Poti), 6:16. 3, Washington, Backstrom3 (Fedorov, Ovechkin),14:35 (pp). Penalties: Pittsburgh bench,servedbyMalkin(toomanymen),14:19.Third Period: 4,Pittsburgh, Fedotenko4 (Malkin,Letang),:51.5,Pittsburgh,Cooke 1(Kennedy, Staal),6:27. 6,Washington,Ovechkin10(Backstrom, Green),15:52. Penalties:None.FirstOvertime: 7,Pittsburgh,Malkin6(Kunitz),3:28(pp).Penal-ties: Jurcina,Was(tripping), 1:29.ShotsonGoal:Pittsburgh11-14-14-3: 42.Washington12-10-9-0: 31.Power-playopportunities:Pittsburgh1of2;Washington1of2.Goalies:Pittsburgh,Fleury7-4-0(31shots-28saves).Washington,Varlamov6-5-0 (42-38).A:18,277(18,277). T:2:43.Referees:BillMcCreary,EricFurlatt. Linesmen:DerekAmell,PierreRacicot.

EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS

Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT

A pass by Evgeni Malkin, above, intended for Sidney Crosby, deflected off WashingtoPoti and through the legs of Capitals G Simeon Varlamov.

Series glance(Pittsburgh leads series 3-2)

May 2: Washington 3, Pittsburgh 2


May 6: Pittsburgh 3, Washington

2, OTMay 8: Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3

Saturday: Pittsburgh 4,

Washington 3, OT

Monday: Washington at

Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

Wednesday: Pittsburgh at

Washington, 7 p.m., if necessary

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EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS


DETROITReally, its not aboutthe money.

Some people cringe when ath-letes say that.When Marian Hossa did, no

one could question it.Hossa signed a one-year deal

with the Detroit Red Wings lastsummer, turning down a longercontract to stay in Pittsburgh anda more lucrative one to play forEdmonton, because he believedthe defending Stanley Cup cham-pions gave him the best chance towin a title.

Anaheim Ducks forwardTeemu Selanne vividly remem-

bers hearing the news back homein Finland.We were joking, The rich got

richer, Selanne recalled Satur-day, a day before facing Hossaand the Red Wings on their homeice in Game 5. We knew Detroitwas going to be stronger.

Its hard to repeat, so its goodto have new blood from guys whoare hungry to win the Cup.

Perhaps it makes sense thatHossa helped Detroit win a gameit needed against Anaheim toavoid being on the brink of elimi-

nation in the Western Conferencesemifinals.After being held pointless in

the first three games by theDucks, Hossa broke a tie withtwo goals in a 3-minute span tolift the Red Wings to a 6-3, series-evening victory in Game 4.

It definitely feels good whenyou can finally put a puck in thenet, Hossa said. We had some

great chances and played somegood games, but the puck didntgo in. We tried to stay patient.

Hossa, though, was impatientabout his quest for a Cup.

The marquee free agent fromSlovakia signed in Detroit at arelative discount for about $7.5million, declining an offer esti-mated to be worth $49 million toremain with the runner-up Pen-guins and reportedly many more

millions to join the Oilers.The 38-year-old Selanne, whowon a Cup two years ago, under-stands why Hossa made the raredecision to leave money on thetable.

For a veteran who has made alot of money, like Hossa, youknow you have to sacrifice to wina Cup, Selanne said. Winningthe Cup is priceless. I think

anybody would take a ptry to win a Cup.

The 30-year-old improved his chancesaof his teamby finding score in a matchup featupast two Stanley Cup win

Hes a high-end playehas to feel like the weighworld is off his back,coach Mike Babcock saione who envisions thema scorer, when its not goinet, they start pressing. Sgood for him.

Hossa had a team-highthis season and has score

29 times in nine straightwith Detroit, Pittsburghand Ottawa.

Ducks defenseman Scdermayer said it was inHossa was going to find of the net in the series.

Hes a talented, gifteNiedermayer said. But wlook back at those goalswe couldve done more situations.

Heading into Game 5 Detroit, Anaheim coachCarlyle would not say wh

be in goal t rying to stop HCarlyle replaced Jonawho gave up five goals afing 100-plus saves in twwith Jean-Sebastien GigThursday night.

So, whos going to startYou guys better com

warmup, Carlyle said.Babcock said he isnt b

The As

WASHINGTONPenguins defense-

man Sergei Gonchar sat out Game 5against the Capitals on Saturday.Gonchar was hurt in a knee-to-

knee collision with WashingtonsAlex Ovechkin in Friday nightsGame 4. Ovechkin was assessed apenalty on the play but was not fur-ther punished by the league.

Coach Dan Bylsma said Saturdaythat Gonchars injury was not assevere as initially thought, but thecoach declined to say whether theveteran defenseman will play againin the postseason.

Meanwhile, debate raged over the

leagues refusal to suspendOvechkin.There shouldnt be (a suspen-

sion), Capitals coach Bruce Bou-dreau told TheWashington Postonlyhours before Game 5 at Washing-tons Verizon Center. If youvewatched any replaythe knee is notthe first thing that goes out. Hestrying to hit him with his shoulderand the rest of your body, you cantleave it somewhere, its got to followyou and thats what happened. Heled with his shoulder. Simple.

Not so simple, according to several

Pittsburgh players.Its kind of the same thing he(Ovechkin) did with me last game,Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpiktold reporters after Game 4. I mean,you can run guys, guys are fairgame, but the guy takes strides everytime and leaves his feet a lot of times,too. To us, we got the feeling hesreally trying to hurt guys at times.

Gonchars agent, J.P. Barry,

directed his criticism at the league,saying theres a double standard

regarding star players.We now have Exhibit A of theextreme double standard that existsin the NHLs approach to discipline,Barry told TSN. Alex clearly cutsback with his knee af ter missing hischeck with devastating results. But,of course, because its Alex, its allSergeis fault.

It was an extremely negligent hit,and if anyone else in this league does

the same, we all know they will faceserious discipline.

Ovechkin continued to maintainthere was no intent to injure.I tell a couple guys(Bill) Guerin,

(Mark) Eatonit was accidental, hetold ThePost. I didnt try to hurthim.

To replace Gonchar, the Penguinsrecalled defenseman Alex Goligoskifrom their AHL team at Wilkes-Barre.


Ovechkins hit on Gonchar:was it dirty or accidental?

With two key goals in Game Hossa finally doing his part

PAULSANCYA/AP

Sergei Gonchar missed Game 5, and his status for the rest of the postseason is unknown.

PAULSANCYA/AP

Marian Hossa was pointless in the first threegames of this series before coming to life.

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After an interview withJim Balsillie thatappeared in Saturdays The Globe andMail of Toronto, the newspaper con-cluded that the BlackBerry CEOs latestattempt to acquire an NHL franchise is along-planned legal strategy that hehopes will be decided in an Arizonacourtroom by a U.S. Bankruptcy Courtjudge.

I wouldnt be doing something if Ididnt think there were optimistic pos-sibilitiesthat wouldnt be construc-tive, Balsillie said when asked aboutthe controversial maneuvering thatcould help him gain control of the Phoe-nix Coyotescontingent on a move tosouthern Ontario.

Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes, who has been struggling to keep his franchiseafloat in the city of Glendale, Ariz., filedfor Chapter 11 protection this week, asurprising development that forced theNHL to reveal it had taken over the teamseveral months ago, and Moyes there-fore had no right to take such action. TheNHL is asking the court to deny the bankruptcy request, claiming Balsillieis attempting to subvert league r ules..

Balsillie, The Globe and Mail says, iscounting on the court to declare Moyesthe owner and, given that his $212.5 m il-lion offer is the most attractive, force theNHL to allow the team to relocateand

even accept Balsillie as the owner. Bal-sillies offer will be the only one beforethe court, although the NHL claims sev-eral others have been made.

The NHLs bylaws lay out strict crite-ria for both relocation and ownership.Relocation, the newspaper points out, isbased on market conditions and owner-ship qualifications that consider finan-cial means as well as good characterand integrity. And in 2006, Balsillie

was approved unanimously by theleague governors when he attempted to buy the financially struggling Pen-guinsonly to have the deal fall through

when he wouldnt agree to keep the teamin Pittsburgh..There can be lots of finger-pointing

and scenarioizing and blaming to goaround, but its fundamentally irrelevantright now, Balsillie told the newspaper.What you have is a difficult situation.You have a team thats filed for bank-ruptcy, thats lost a lot of money, thats outof cash and has a lot of creditors. Wevegot a bankruptcy court that has to make a

decision. Were putting forward what wethink is an amazing proposal.

Hamilton reportedly is the target

destination for Balsillie. But theHamil-ton Spectatorreports a second group isinterested in relocating the AtlantaThrashers to the cit y.

According to the newspaper, mayorFred Eisenberger will meet with a Van-couver-based group on Monday to dis-cuss a proposed lease for CoppsColiseum. Eisenberger would not dis-close any details of the second group,

but the newspaper cited a source that

said Vancouver developer Tom Gaglardiis leading the charge.

According to records in the Oak-

land County Treasurers Office, RedWings D Chris Chelios owes more than$78,000 in back taxes on his $2.9 mil-lion home in suburban Detroit. A teamspokesman told theDetroit News that itis an accounting glitch and the bill will

be paid in full within days.The newspaper reports that Chelios

and his wife owe $61,544 in 2007taxes, plus $16,519 in interest and feeson their Bloomfield Hills home. Trea-surer Patrick Dohany says Chelios didpay his 2008 property taxes, but thehouse will be foreclosed if the 2007

bill isnt paid by April 2010.

Detroit F Tomas Kopecky might needsurgery to repair facial injuries he suf-fered in a Game 4 fight with AnaheimD Francois Beauchemin. According to RedWings general manager Ken Holland,nothing will be sure until the teamreceives a final report on Kopeckyscondition.

Playoff glance

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(Best-of-7)

All Times ET

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston vs. Carolina(Carolina leads series 3-1)

May 1: Boston 4, Carolina 1

May 3: Carolina 3, Boston 0

May 5: Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT

May 8: Carolina 4, Boston 1

Today: Carolina at Boston, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday: Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m., if necessary

Thursday: Carolina at Boston, TBD, if necessary

Washington vs. Pittsburgh(Pittsburgh leads series 3-2)



May 6: Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, OT

May 8: Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3

Saturday:Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT

Monday: Washington at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

Wednesday: Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m., if ne

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit vs. Anaheim(Series tied 2-2)

May 1: Detroit 3, Anaheim 2

May 3: Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT

May 5: Anaheim 2, Detroit 1

May 7: Detroit 6, Anaheim 3

Today: Anaheim at Detroit, 5 p.m.

Tuesday: Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

Thursday: Anaheim at Detroit, TBD, if necessary

Vancouver vs. Chicago

(Chicago leads series 3-2)April 30: Vancouver 5, Chicago 3

May 2: Chicago 6, Vancouver 3

May 5: Vancouver 3, Chicago 1

May 7: Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, OT

Saturday:Chicago 4, Vancouver 2

Monday: Vancouver at Chicago, 9 p.m.

Thursday,: Chicago at Vancouver, TBD, if necessary

Todays gamesAll Times ET

Eastern Conference semifinals(Best-of-7)

Anaheim at Detroit, 5 p.m.

Carolina at Boston, 7:30 p.m., Versus

Betting linesToday

FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE

atDetroit ................-240................Anaheim.............+200

atBoston ................-200................Carolina...............+170

INSIDE DISH

Balsillies strategy: Let the court decide

MARKAVERY/AP

Tomas Kopecky, right, reportedly has broken bones in his face after a fight with Anaheim D Francois Beauchemin.

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SPORTING NEWS TODAY www.sportingnews.com SUNDAY, MAY 10, 2009NASCAR

Southern 500 results

FINISH START CAR. DRIVER MAKE POINTS

1 12 5 Ma rk Mar ti n C hev rolet 190

2 42 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 175

3 18 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 170

4 3 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 165

5 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 160

6 16 1 M artin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 155

7 31 25 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 146

8 11 16 Greg Biffle Ford 152 9 5 20 Joey Logano Toyota 143

10 1 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 139

NASCAR Sprint Cup standings(through Saturdays raceRK. +/- DRIVER POINTS BEHIND STARTS POLES WINS T

1 -- Jeff Gordon 1601 Leader 11 0 1

2 1 Tony Stewart 1572 -29 11 0 0

3 -1 Kurt Busch 1546 -55 11 0 1

4 2 Jimmie Johnson 1465 -136 11 0 1

5 -1 Denny Hamlin 1445 -156 11 0 0

6 1 Jeff Burton 1384 -217 11 0 0

7 -2 Kyle Busch 1380 -221 11 1 3

8 2 Ryan Newman 1363 -238 11 0 0

9 2 Greg Biffle 1345 -256 11 0 0

10 2 Matt Kenseth 1326 -275 11 1 2

11 4 Mark Martin 1316 -285 11 3 2

12 -3 Carl Edwards 1271 -330 11 0 0

13 -5 Clint Bowyer 1264 -337 11 0 0

14 -- Juan Montoya 1255 -346 11 1 0

15 -2 David Reutimann 1232 -369 11 1 0

16 1 Kasey Kahne 1205 -396 11 0 0

17 -1 Brian Vickers 1188 -413 11 2 0

18 -- D ale Earnhardt Jr. 1182 -419 11 0 0

19 2 Martin Truex Jr. 1144 -457 11 1 0

20 -1 Marcos Ambrose 1131 -470 11 0 0

21 2 Kevin Harvick 1109 -492 11 0 0

22 -2 Casey Mears 1104 -497 11 0 0

23 -1 Reed Sorenson 1090 -511 11 0 0

24 1 Jamie McMurray 1068 -533 11 0 0

25 3 A.J. Allmendinger 1059 -542 11 0 0

Bold line indicates Chase cutoff

MORE COVERAGE from sportingnews.com

Results: sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=547419

Standings: sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=547418

BY REID SPENCER

[email protected]

DARLINGTON, S.C.In a HendrickMotorsports assault on DarlingtonRaceway, Mark Martinat 50 thesenior member of the teamwonSaturday nights Southern 500Sprint Cup race by 1.531 secondsover teammate Jimmie Johnson.

Attrition trimmed the field, andperseverance allowed Johnson andteammate Jeff Gordon to rally from alap down each to finish in the topfive.

But it was a call by Martins crewchief, Alan Gustafson, that gave thedriver of the No. 5 Chevrolet his sec-ond victory of the season and the37th of his careertying him withBobby Isaac for 17th on the careerwins list.

Martin and Johnson were two ofseven drivers who stayed out on oldtires under the 15th caution of therace on Lap 321, while Tony Stewart,Martin Truex Jr. and Gordon werethe first three drivers out of the pitswith fresh r ight-side tires.

Stewart charged through the fieldto finish third in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, a car thatgets engine, chassis and technicalsupport from Hendrick. Stewartsteammate, Ryan Newman, ranfourth, followed by Gordon. Stewartmoved past 16th-place finisher KurtBusch into second in the Cup stand-ings, 29 points behind Gordon.

Truex came home sixth, followed by Brad Keselowski in the No. 25Chevy owned by Hendrick. GregBiffle, rookie Joey Logano and pole-sitter Matt Kenseth completed thetop 10.

Its absolutely unbelievable,Martin said. This is a big surprise.

We had a strong car, but I neverexpected to win. Alan Gustafson isabsolutely the best. I may have beenhis childhood hero, but Im living asecond childhood nowand hes mychildhood hero.

We had a good enough car to doit, and pit strategy put us in a posi-tion to pull it off.

Ultimately, Martin had enoughmuscle to stave off Johnsons last-ditch attempts to pass him after thefinal restart on Lap 347 of 367.

Hes Superman, Martin said.Three championships in a row. Theguys incredible. I thought he wastrying to snooker me, lollygag backthere and all of a sudden mash thegas, and Id be off-guard. I was try-ing to save gas, but I couldnt let hi m

get near me, because I know howtough he is.

Johnson, who gained two posi-tions to fourth in the points, sur-vived a series of calamities to claimthe runner-up finish.

I got trapped on pit road, I spunout trying to get to my pit stall, just a bunch of stuffman, it was a justchaotic night, Johnson said. Imvery relieved and proud of the raceteam, because we kept our heads andfought through it all night long andgot ourselves a good finish.

Biffle led a race-high 117 laps, buthis hopes of winning evaporated onLap 296, when he spun his No. 16Ford off Turn 4 and slammed theoutside wall. Thirteen laps earlier, atap from Biffle had sent Roush

Fenway Racing teammate CarlEdwards sliding into the Turn 2wall, forcing Edwards to the garagewith extensive damage.Notes:Clint Bowyers streak of 83

races without a DNF (did not finish)ended in a hard crash on Lap 222.Bowyer is the modern record holderfor consecutive races running at thefinish, but he stopped one short ofHerman Beans all-time record 84,set from 1961-1963. Bean set his markwhile running limited schedules, notin consecutive events. This is Mar-tins second win at Darlington. Hisfirst came in the 1993 Southern 500.The fifth Hendrick driver, DaleEarnhardt Jr., finished 27th.

Reid Spencer writes for the

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Bold pit call propels Martin to victory lane

BRETTFLASHNICK/AP

Mark Martin, above, was one of three Hendrick drivers finishing in the top five. Jimmie Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon fifth.
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BY REID SPENCER

[email protected]

DARLINGTON, S.C. Jeremy Mayfield,driver of his own No. 41 Toyota inNASCARs Sprint Cup Series, has been suspended immediately andindefinitely after failing a drug test,NASCAR announced Saturday atDarlington Raceway.

Tony Martin, acrew member for theNo. 34 Front RowMotorsports Cupteam of driver JohnAndretti, and BenWilliams, a crewmember with the No.16 Roush FenwayRacing team in the Nationwide Series,also drew suspensions for failed drugtests. NASCAR received the results ofthe tests at approximately noon onSaturday.

Roushs No. 16 team features multipledrivers. Matt Kenseth won Fridaynights Nationwide race in the No. 16 car.

Mayfield, 39, is the first Cup dr iver tofail a drug test after the institution ofNASCARs zero-tolerance policytoward violation of the substance-abuserules at the start of the 2009 season.

We test anywhere from 4-8 driversper weekend, said Jim Hunter,NASCARs vice president of corporatecommunications. I think thats a goodway for us to stay on top of thiswithevery driver having been tested at leastonce. And by random, some drivers havebeen tested numerous times.

But I think its a good program, andwere going to continue this program.

Mayfield was tested at random, noton the basis of suspicion, said Hunter,who made it clear that Mayfield was

suspended from participation inNASCAR activities as both an ownerand a driver. By policy, NASCAR doesnot release the specific nature of thesubstance abuse.

On Saturday evening, Mayfieldreleased a statement, indicating hisbelief that a combination of legal sub-stances had produced the positive testresult. Mayfield also indicated his teamwould continue to compete with aninterim owner and driver.

As both a team owner and a driver inthe NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I haveimmense respect for the enforcementpolicies NASCAR has in place, May-field said. In my case, I believe that thecombination of a prescribed medicineand an over the counter medicine reactedtogether and resulted in a positive drugtest. My doctor and I are working withboth Dr. (David) Black (who administersdrug testing for the sanctioning body)and NASCAR to resolve this matter.

Mayfield Motorsports remains com-mitted to the NASCAR Sprint CupSeries, and the organization willannounce an interim owner and a tem-porary replacement driver early nextweek. Those roles will commence imme-diately beginning with next weeks SprintOpen and continuing through Charlotteand beyond.

On Friday, Mayfield had failed toqualify for Saturday nights Southern500 at Darlington. He had competedin five of 10 Cup races this season,having failed to qualify for the otherfive. His best finish this year was 32ndat Talladega.

Mayfield has five victories in theseries, the last of which came at Mich-igan in 2005.

Reid Spencer writes for the Sporting News

NASCAR Wire Service

BY LEE MONTGOMERY

SceneDaily.com

DARLINGTON, S.C.Patrick Car-pentier was back in aNASCAR stock car Friday,and he hopes he can return forsome more races.

Carpentier was a last-minutereplacement for David Greenin SK Motorsports No. 07Nationwide Series Toyota atDarlington Raceway, makinghis first start of 2009.

He finished 17th in Fridaynights Diamond Hill Plywood200 in what is a one-race deal,for now.

Carpentier was a rookie in theSprint Cup Series last year, start-ing the season with the teamnow known as Richard PettyMotorsports.

But he was let go before theend of the season and has beenout of work since.

Hes been frustrated by sit-ting on the sidelines, knowingthat seat time is the only wayhe can improve in stock carsafter spending most of his

career in open-wheel.It was a little bit (

ing) because I know ifew years, CarpentYou dont come here setting the world on fyou come from opeYouve got a lot to lear

He wishes he wougotten at least anotheCup, and he cites Penings Sam Hornish Jexample of a drivingimproving from hisseason.

Could he get morNationwide Series thHe does have at least orace scheduled, at MonMichael Waltrip Racpentier said hes tasome other Nationwidincluding the first-yMotorsports team.

Were talking, weing. And were talkcouple more teams asaid. Well see, but juhere and being in finallyalways helpslmontgomery@streetandsm

Mayfield suspendedafter failing drug test

Carpentier hopes one-race dopens door for more chance

Edwards upsetafter incident

with BiffleMoments after Roush FenwayRacing

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