Sports thread: Everything sport related here.

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
So I'm watching the Warriors parade and it's mentioned that sports columnist Skip Bayless believes there should be an asterisk on the Warrior's championship win. Why? Because the Cavaliers didn't have all their best players due to injury. I've heard earlier comments on TV that the Warriors were basically healthy all season in the context that it was unfair. Why have a season at all then? Why not have a season of one game only? The Cavaliers ran out of gas mostly by the 4th quarter. Let's change the rules where only 1 quarter is played. I also heard the broadcasting whiner personalities say it was five on one basketball meaning it was the Warriors vs Lebron. No if that was true Lebron wouldn't have scored so high. All I hear is a bunch of would've, could've, should've... I'm not a big basketball follower but of course I wanted the Warriors to win. I hear people hate SF/ Bay Area sports teams because of the blue collar vs, white collar aspect. I hear how they hate how the stadiums serve wine and sushi not beer and hot dogs. I've been to Oakland A's, SF Giants, Niners, Raiders, and Sharks games. I'm sure there is wine and sushi being served somewhere but I've never seen it. It's all beer and hot dogs and hamburgers. Everything else maybe only one concession stand. I was once even fortunate enough to be able to get a luxury box at a Shark's game. No sushi there, but there was a 3ft long submarine sandwich waiting when my friends and I walked-in. The fridge and cabinets were filled with all kinds of beer. If everything worked according to what's on paper, why have athlete's play sports at all? Oh yeah, I forgot the Warriors were the best on paper too. Who are the ones serving more whine now?
 

vesicles

Colonel
I too have noticed how some articles keep mentioning how the Cavs were depleted because of injury. That was why the Warriors won. Well, injury is part of every sport. Keeping athletes healthy is a huge part of the game. It is up to the players, coaches and the coaching staff to stay healthy. A huge part of any team who ends up winning the season is they manage to stay healthy. There is not many teams who can win with a depleted team. Did Jordan win without Pipen? Did Kobe win without Shack? Cavs were the same. They lost two all-stars by the end of the season. But that was simply part of the game. They did not do a good job keeping everyone in good health. Simple as that.
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
For the first time, a Chinese player has been selected in the NHL Draft.

Andong Song was selected by the New York Islanders with the No. 172 pick in the draft on Saturday. The defenseman started playing hockey on tiny rinks in Beijing when his mother was trying to find him a sport, then his family moved to Canada when he was 10.

Song was a member of the varsity team at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, and plans to attend Philips Andover Academy in Massachusetts next year as a postgraduate student.

Song says being the first Chinese draftee comes with a lot of pressure, but says it's "good pressure" and he hopes to make his homeland proud.

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Equation

Lieutenant General
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India's Satnam Singh Bhamara is hoping his historic selection in the NBA will kickstart a basketball boom in his cricket-obsessed home country.


The 19-year-old centre admitted he was incredibly nervous in the run up to the NBA Draft, which saw him become the first India-born selection when he was chosen by the
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on Thursday.

"Forget about sleep, I haven't eaten even a morsel. I was certainly hopeful after coming this far but there is always a big if," said Bhamara, who hails from a family of farmers.

The 7-foot-2-inch (2.18m) Bhamara, originally from a village in northern Punjab state, is hoping he can generate enthusiasm for the sport in India -- in much the same way that superstar Yao Ming sparked a basketball frenzy in China.

"I feel that my entry will certainly open the doors for many aspiring basketballers in India to dream big," Bhamara speaking from the US during a conference call with a handful of Indian journalists.

"At least there is now someone with whom the youngsters back home can identify. A new road has opened up for them," he said during the call, a recording of which was released to the wider media.

Bhamara, who moved to the US in 2010 to train in Florida, became the first player in a decade taken by an NBA team after not playing for a US college or overseas pro team. He instead played for the IMG Academy squad.

The NBA has been forging ahead with plans to promote the game globally, hoping that India will be the next Asian power seduced by the sport after already captivating China.

The NBA opened an office in Mumbai in 2011, part of an international operation that has spread around the world.

In April, Canada's Indian-origin player
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turned out for the
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, becoming the first player of Indian descent to score in the NBA.

Bhamara's drafting was trending on Twitter in India on Friday with Bollywood celebrities among the first to congratulate him.

"Keep on shining. Had met him last year, what an inspiration," actor Akshay Kumar said.

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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Well, this last week, Team USA in the Women's Soccer tournament, defeated Columbia 2-0 on Tuesday, and then China on Friday, 1-0 to advance to the semifinals of the World Cup.

They will face Germany there...perhaps their hardest challenge so far.

Go Team USA!

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Yahoo News said:
OTTAWA, Ontario – Carli Lloyd posed for her Player of the Match photos, beamed into the bright lights and then was asked the difference between Friday night's game and all the others so far.

"Freedom," she said.

Head coach Jill Ellis met with Lloyd on Thursday at the team hotel and informed the midfielder that Morgan Brian would be added to the lineup as a defensive midfielder and Lloyd would be allowed to roam. Lloyd grinned recalling the moment, and she played like a lion unleashed.

After weeks of plodding, the United States women's national team finally plowed at the Women's World Cup, mesmerizing China with a bevy of offense that rose to the extraordinary standard its defense has raised. The
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Friday at Lansdowne Stadium behind Brian's versatility and Lloyd's 51st-minute goal and now sit two victories away from their first world title since 1999.

The U.S. did it with a collection of backups, too, as Megan Rapinoe and Lauren Holiday sat out and Abby Wambach subbed in the 85th minute. It was Amy Rodriguez setting the tone with an early chance, Kelley O'Hara threatening constantly and Brian playing a position she had never practiced before joining the national team. "Did I look comfortable out there?" she asked jokingly after the match.

She sure did, and now the U.S. has an attacking midfielder excelling at defensive midfield in Brian, and another attacking midfielder excelling at defense in Julie Johnston. Those two players were the best supporting actors behind Lloyd's lead. It is a testament to the stunning depth of the U.S. that the team played its best overall match without three of its best players.

And it's a testament to that defense that Hope Solo made history, becoming the winningest goalkeeper in U.S. women's history, without having to make any difficult saves. Solo has still allowed only a single goal in this tournament as the Americans extended their shutout streak to 423 minutes.

The Americans created a barrage of chances throughout the first 45 minutes – a noted departure from their previous World Cup matches here. Credit goes to Ellis, who had a lineup ready to go after China from the first minute.

"Everybody came out with high intensity and super aggressive," Tobin Heath said. "We wanted to run at players."

The first half ended scoreless, but it didn't feel scoreless. The U.S. had 11 shots to China's four – with zero on net. Before the team took the field after halftime, Wambach told her teammates, "The first 10 minutes, we get a [expletive] goal!" Alex Morgan grinned and thought to herself, "Typical Abby."

Wambach proved to be a seer, as Johnson promptly fired a lovely service from near midfield into the box, where Lloyd whipped her forehead into the ball and watched it hit the back of the net. Off she went to the corner, karate-kicking the flagstick to add an emphatic flourish to an emphatic showing.

It was Lloyd who basically called her own shot this week, subtly daring Ellis to give her the reins with Rapinoe and Holiday out.

"In order for us to win this thing," she said, "in order to show the world what we've got, we've got to take some risks at some point. For me, I love to attack. I had a decent shot last game. I need more of that. I need to get the ball, run at players, create stuff. I need to find a way to impact the game, no matter how it's going."

She did that with Ellis' help, as the game plan was perfect for the web-like defensive strategy of the China side. "I really liked getting a midfielder higher on the field," Morgan said. That's significant considering her partner in crime, Wambach, did not start and did not join the game as a substitute until the 86th minute. Morgan said Friday's game was probably the U.S.'s best overall performance of the tournament.

Surely, there has been frustration about the offense within the U.S. camp, but against China the sum was finally greater than all of the parts. Asked if she expects the same freedom in the semis and possible final, Lloyd smiled again and said, "I would hope so."

Now comes the hardest test by far: Germany, which survived a marathon of a match with France on Friday to
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and will await the Americans in Montreal next Tuesday. The semifinal may very well be the best matchup of the entire tournament, with the Germans featuring the size and speed to match the U.S. step for step.

The question now is how will Ellis rearrange the pieces that fit so well together in Ottawa. Because a group that couldn't put it all together is suddenly looking like a formidable machine.

And Lloyd has already vowed: "We're going to be flying next game."
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
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CBS News said:
MONTREAL -- With a swift strike blasted into the net, the U.S. women's soccer team took the win over Germany 2-0 in the Women's World Cup semifinal and advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2011.

Defender Kelley O'Hara gave a hard shot just feet away from the goalie to put the Americans well on top of their European rivals in the 84th minute of the match.
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About 15 minutes prior to that, midfielder Carli Lloyd scored on a penalty kick in the middle of the second half, just 10 minutes after Germany was awarded a penalty kick, which went wide.

"Just slotted it home. I knew what I had to do," Lloyd said. "It's a dream come true, this is what we trained for."

The match went scoreless through the first half as the U.S. failed to capitalize on two major opportunities.

Hope Solo got another shutout, posting her fifth straight for the United States in the tournament.

German striker Celia Sasic was unable to put her team on the board when she missed a penalty kick of her own, a first for Germany in the Women's World Cup. She shanked the ball to the left - even as U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo dove the other way - on her penalty kick after a foul in the box in the 59th minute.

The top-ranked Germans had been 17 for 17 on World Cup penalty kicks, including all five in a tiebreaker to beat France in the quarterfinal.

The U.S. women's team advanced to the quarterfinal after defeating China on Sunday 1-0.

The United States defeated Germany 5-1 in the semifinals of the first women's tournament in 1991 then went on to beat Norway in the final.

The Americans beat Germany 3-2 in the 1999 quarterfinals, going on to beat China on penalty kicks in the final on home soil at the Rose Bowl.

The Germans beat the United States 3-0 in Portland, Oregon, in the semifinals then beat Sweden 2-1 in Carson, California, for the team's first title in 2003.

Overall, the United States is 18-4-7 against the Germans.

Team USA will take on either England or defending champion Japan in the final.
 
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