San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.
[b]Walt Bellamy Jersey[/b] .com) - Manu Ginobili scored seven of his 12 points from the free throw line, including two in the closing seconds that proved to be the difference in the San Antonio Spurs 94-92 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. San Antonio continued its dominance over Atlanta, winning its 17th straight at home and 16th out of the last 17 overall against the Eastern Conference foe. Al Horford made a jumper at 1:16 of the fourth to give the Hawks a 90-88 lead. However, Ginobili made three free throws after he was fouled by Kyle Korver while shooting a 3-pointer to push San Antonio ahead by one. Following an empty possession from each team, Tim Duncan came up with a block on Korver with 24.9 seconds left. Duncan was then fouled off an inbounds pass, and split the pair at the line. Jeff Teague raced down the court and converted a running bank shot to tie the score at 92-92 with 13.6 seconds remaining. Ginobili brought the ball up court, drove the lane and kicked out to the corner, but he was fouled on the drive with 3.8 seconds showing and calmly hit both free throws to account for the final margin. Boris Diaw blocked Pero Antics last second heave from just inside halfcourt as the Spurs held on. We need to be sharper, execute better, and today we just didnt, said Ginobili. Duncan and Tony Parker each finished with 17 points, with the former grabbing 13 rebounds with six blocks, four assists and three steals. Kawhi Leonard and Diaw each scored 11 points in the win. DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap each tallied 17 points for the Hawks, while Horford netted 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Were going to make shots, said Millsap. Our main thing is getting out there and competing. We competed tonight. San Antonio raced out to a 27-15 lead after 12 minutes, then the margin swelled to a game-high 17 after Parker converted a three-point play and Diaw made a layup to begin the second quarter. Atlanta closed the frame on a 7-1 spurt to close within 49-39 at the half. The Hawks cut the deficit to six entering the fourth quarter and grabbed their only lead of the game when Horford capped a 9-2 run with over a minute left. Game Notes Atlanta last won in San Antonio on Feb. 15, 1997 ... The Spurs had 21 turnovers ... San Antonio went 27-for-38 from the foul line, while the Hawks converted 8-of-11 attempts ... Atlanta was outrebounded 50-37.
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[b]Al Jefferson Jersey[/b] .J. -- Fabian Johnson scored his first international goal and Clint Dempsey doubled the lead after a defensive lapse as the United States beat Turkey 2-1 Sunday in the second of three World Cup warm-up matches for the Americans before they head to Brazil. Scott Cullen checks in with notes on the Habs sweep, the Bruins defensive dominance, Rangers vets leading the way and the Sharks putting the Kings in a hole. HABS ADVANCE Max Pacioretty tucked in the winning goal, on a last minute power play, giving the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, ending the series in a four-game sweep. While he didnt register a point, Game Four was yet another big game for Canadiens LW Rene Bourque, who led the Canadiens with seven shots on goal and a plus-14 Corsi (68.4%), during a game in which the possession battle was virtually even (60-59 in shot attempts, favouring Montreal, at 5-on-5). Even so, it was also a dominant game for Lighting D Victor Hedman, who was on for 72.5% (29 for, 11 against) of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, while the Lightning were just under 38% (30 for, 49 against) when Hedman was off the ice. Lightning rookie LW Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist in the Game Four loss, giving him three points (in three games) in the series, tying Hedman for second on the Lightning. Steven Stamkos was their top scorer in Round One, with four points in four games. RW Ryan Callahan, who played more than 20 minutes per game, was held off the scoresheet in the series, registering five shots on goal. After Hedman, who was plus-15 in shot attempts for the series, RW J.T. Brown (+13), D Andrej Sustr (+10) and C Cedric Paquette (+8) were the next-best possession players for the Lightning. On the other hand, D Matt Carle (-23), C Tyler Johnson (-23) and D Radko Gudas (-16) -- who missed Game Four with an injury -- were on the low end of the possession scale for Tampa Bay. Surprisingly, the Canadiens won the possession game -- a facet of the game at which the Lightning were better throughout the season. Canadiens D Josh Gorges was a net plus-22 Corsi through four games, best on the team, ahead of Thomas Vanek (+19), Brendan Gallagher (+19) and P.K. Subban (+17). Montreals leading scorers in the series were C Lars Eller (2 G, 3 A), RW Brendan Gallagher (3 G, 2 A) and P.K. Subban (5 A). To get a series sweep, and production outside their potent No. 1 line, has to be encouraging for the Canadiens. Coming into the series, it looked like a tough spot for the Lightning, turning to backup G Anders Lindback with Ben Bishop hurt late in the regular season, and while Lindback was hardly the only reason the Lightning lost, he wasnt nearly as strong as Carey Price, who finished with a pedestrian .904 save percentage; though that was better than Lindbacks .881 mark, which isnt good enough to win. The result might have happened a little easier than expected, but this series matched the forecast. BRUINS GAIN ADVANTAGE Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots and Patrice Bergeron had an empty-net goal and an assist to give the Boston Bruins a 3-0 win in Game Three at Detroit, giving the Bruins a 2-1 series lead over the Red Wings. The Bruins controlled play early, outshooting the Red Wings 11-4 in the first period, taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Dougie Hamilton and Jordan Caron. Even with the Red Wings trying to mount a rally in the final two periods, the Bruins still ended up with a slight edge in puck possession. Even with that being the case, the best individual Corsi for the game belonged to Red Wings RW Gustav Nyquist, who was one for 18 shots for, seven against (+11, 72.0%). Without Nyquist on the ice, the Red Wings had 36.1% (17 for, 30 against) of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. With one goal total in the past two games, the Red Wings are finding it difficult to get on track against the Bruins and Nyquist, who leads the team with 10 shots on goal, still has yet to record a point. Detroit might be holding its own in the possession game for this series, but theyre not going to get very far if they dont find a way to finish against Rask and the Bruins. RANGERS OVER FLYERS Martin St. Louis, Rick ;Nash and Dan Girardi each recorded two points as the New York Rangers downed the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 in Game Three, taking a 2-1 series lead.
[b]Truck Robinson Jersey[/b]. The Flyers may well have deserved a better fate in this game, outshooting the Rangers 32-23 and getting 80 total shot attempts to the Rangers 49; that indicates a rather decisive territorial edge. Every Flyer had a positive Corsi, led by RW Wayne Simmonds, who was on for 76.2% (16 for, 5 against) of the shot attempts at 5-on-5. The mirror image, for the Rangers, was RW Mats Zuccarello, who was on the ice for 20.8% (5 for, 19 against) of 5-on-5 shot attempts. Put into the lineup against his former team, Rangers LW Dan Carcillo scored the Blueshirts fourth goal to ice the game; a nice contribution from a player that had one goal in his final 20 regular season games. Overall, though, the Flyers are having a hard time generating shots on goal. D Luke Schenn led the way with five shots on goal in Game Three and hes now tied with call-up RW Jason Akeson for the team lead, with eight. At the very least, Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Scott Hartnell should all be getting more pucks on net. But, in Game Three, the bigger issue was in goal, where Ray Emery surrendered four goals on 20 shots and while he wasnt terrible, Emery was yanked in favour of Steve Mason with under eight minutes remaining. That could be an indication that Mason will be ready to start Game Four. Flyers captain Claude Giroux is confident that Philadelphia will take Game Four, and go back to New York with the series even, but Giroux is going to be front and centre in that effort. If Philly wants to even up the series, they need their top guns firing. KINGS ON THE BRINK A series that was supposed to be a first-round classic is in danger of going to a sweep after the San Jose Sharks 4-3 overtime win in Game Three against the Los Angeles Kings. Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist and Brent Burns scored the games first goal and contributed seven shots on goal in the winning effort. The nature of Burns first goal of the game and Marleaus last goals of the game shows just how important it is to get shots at the net. Burns flubbed a one-timer and the puck floated, virtually in slow-motion, past Quick. Marleaus goal was a weak backhand that deflected off Kings D Slava Voynov and past Quick. Add in a rebound goal for Tomas Hertl, for the game-tying third goal, and a deflection by Sharks RW Matt Nieto past a fallen Quick, who had been knocked over by D Robyn Regehr, and the quality of San Joses goals wasnt nearly as high as it had been in Game Two, when clean shots were beating Quick at every turn. After complaining about his Game Two ice time, Kings D Drew Doughty had a couple of assists and played a game-high 28:31, even though he missed some time while dealing with a shoulder injury. As if a 3-0 series lead isnt daunting enough to overcome for the Kings, but trying to do it with their No. 1 defenceman playing through injury is a virtually impossible task. The possession game for each team was won by Kings C Mike Richards (22 shot attempts for, 11 against) and Sharks LW Tomas Hertl (20 for, 13 against). At the wrong end of the scale, Sharks D Brad Start was on for 26.5% (nine for, 25 against) of the 5-on-5 shots against, though that meant the Sharks captured 53.7% of the shot attempts when Stuart was off the ice. For fans of high level hockey, its disappointing to see the Kings down 3-0, because a goal by Los Angeles in overtime (where they outshot San Jose 5-1) would have improved the odds of a long series. As it is now, theres little reason to imagine that the Kings can overcome this deficit against a Sharks team that is playing as well as any in the postseason. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '
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