man said. "Theres not much pressure. "Either way

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- Greece rallied with a big fourth quarter to beat defending champion Spain 79-75 in the second round of the European basketball championship on Thursday. And Italys undefeated run came to an end against host Slovenia. Trailing by five at the end of three quarters, Greece outscored Spain 27-18 in the fourth to notch a win that could prevent Spain from winning a third consecutive title. "We controlled the rhythm, we made our shots and we had luck on our side," said Greece guard Kostas Sloukas. Vassilis Spanoulis led Greece with 20 points. Rudy Fernandez and centre Marc Gasol both had 20 for Spain. Earlier, Croatia used its size to rout Finland 88-63 for its first victory in the second round. Guard Goran Dragic scored 22 points as Slovenia beat Italy 84-77. His brother Zoran added 15 as the brothers scored all nine of Slovenias points in the last two minutes of the game, including a 3-pointer by Goran with 17.5 seconds left. Goran added 10 rebounds, while Mirza Begic had four blocked shots. Italy was the only team to finish the group stage with a perfect 5-0 record, but fell in its first second-round game against an inspired host team carried by the partisan crowd. Because group results are carried over into the second round, Italy has a 2-1 record, the same as Slovenia, and still has to play Croatia. "It is going to be difficult for us to qualify (for quarterfinals)," Italy coach Simone Pianigiani said. Italy was unable to compensate for the lack of size against the bigger Slovenians, who scored 46 points in the paint, compared to 22 for Italy. "They are a smart team but we played very good defence. We had 44 rebounds, they 29, that was the key," Goran Dragic said. Slovenia coach Bozidar Maljkovic agreed: "Those 10 rebounds were very important. Thats why we won the game." Greece was down by 10 at the end of the first quarter, but used the absence of Gasol in the second quarter to take the lead, 41-38 at halftime. Gasol collected three personal fouls in the first quarter and sat out the second. "Marc plays 40 minutes in the NBA and never fouls out, he knows how to take care of himself. I dont know what happened here," Spain coach Juan Orenga said. Gasol returned in the third, scored 11 straight points, and Spain outscored Greece 19-11 to regain the lead 57-52. Spanoulis then scored five straight to put Greece back up by one. Gasol made two free throws to leave Spain down by four, but forward Mikhail Bramos nailed a 3-pointer with one minute remaining to score the vital points that secured Greeces victory. Spanoulis made four consecutive free throws to offset a 3 by Alex Mumbru and Greece cruised home. "We are still walking in hell and we have to keep walking," Greece coach Andrea Trinchieri said. Greece and Spain have 1-2 records. Croatias big men dominated the boards as the team pulled down 47 rebounds, while Finland finished with 30. Damjan Rudez made five of eight 3-point attempts and finished with 17 points. Croatias defence also shut down Finlands top scorer, Petteri Koponen, whose first points came when he made a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the third quarter. He finished with five points. Dan Majerle Jersey . - Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has nothing but good problems right now. Elie Okobo Jersey . Their 9-19 record remains identical to the crosstown rivals in Brooklyn and trails both Toronto and Boston in the Atlantic Division. Raymond Felton, their declining point guard, is back on the sideline nursing his third injury of the season. http://www.officialsunsfanstore.com/isai...an-suns-jersey/. This week they discuss Russias mens hockey team, the ineptitude of the IOC handling the Nicklas Backstrom situation, John Tortorellas many apologies, and Canadas strong showing in curling. Mikal Bridges Jersey . With their coach gone, they finally played offence the way he would have wanted. Amare Stoudemire made all seven shots in the first half, Anthony passed and shot well, and the Knicks shook off the surprising departure of their coach to rout the Portland Trail Blazers 121-79 on Wednesday night, snapping a six-game losing streak. Devin Booker Jersey . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday. The Canadians defeated Sweden 9-6 and China 6-4 to finish atop the preliminary-round standings at 10-1. Their execution Thursday was the sharpest of the tournament so far. The games were tight with Homan and her Ottawa Curling Club teammates scoring three in the eighth ends of both. "We were really pushed today," Homan said. "It was great we were able to control the game and stay confident with this team and really nail the lines and make the big shots when we needed them. "We had to fight for our points." Homan will face Switzerlands Binia Feltscher, whose record was 9-2, in Fridays playoff game between the top two seeds. The two countries meet in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game between the top two seeds. (TSN, 6:30pm et/3:30pm pt) The winner books a ticket to Sundays gold-medal game. The loser drops to Saturdays semifinal. Canadas lone loss of the preliminary round was to the Swiss. It went so badly for the host country in ends five through eight that they shook hands early Sunday. "That was a little bit of a lopsided game," Homan acknowledged. "We had some misfortune, but I think were a little bit different now. Were going to know the rocks and its going to be on a different sheet and everything so I think it should be a great game." The top four teams advance to the Page playoff. Russias Anna Sidorova, Swedens Margaretha Sigfridsson and South Koreas Ji-sun Kim all finished tied at 8-3. Sidorova will play in Saturday mornings playoff between the third and fourth seeds with the winner advancing to the semifinal. Russias opponent will be the victor of Fridays tiebreaker between the Swedes and South Koreans. Sidorovas missed final shot of a game against the Czech Republic -- a draw -- prevented Russia from finishing 9-2 and playing Canada on Friday. China and Allison Pottinger of the U.S., were just outside playoff contention at 6-5 with Germanys Imogen Oona Lehmann and Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic ending their tournaments 3-8. Scotlands Kerry Barr and Denmarks Madeleine Dupont had 2-9 records ahead of Latvias Evita Regza at 1-10. Homan had to win a tiebreaker to get into the final four at last yyears world championship in Riga, Latvia.ddddddddddddCanada won their subsequent playoff game before losing the semifinal and then winning the bronze medal. The beauty of finishing in the top two is the loser of Fridays game can still get to the championship game, albeit via a longer route. "We love the one-two game," Homan said. "Theres not much pressure. "Either way weve got a chance at the gold-medal game. Thats what were gunning for now." The Canadians struck a balance between patience and aggression to achieve their No. 1 ranking. The average age of Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle is just shy of 26, but theyre a Canadian womens curling team ahead of the curve when it comes to the big-game experience and the lessons learned in those games. Homan, Miskew and Kreviazuk have been teammates for over a decade. Since graduating from the junior ranks four years ago, they and Weagle have played in three national womens championships -- finishing fourth and winning twice -- two world championships and an Olympic trials. "This team may be young, but weve had so much experience," said Weagle, the oldest at 28. "We realize were a young team and have really ambitious goals. We really want to accomplish them, but at the same token, if you look at a lot of the great curlers in our sport, theyre in their 30s or even their 40s when theyre at the peak of their game." Weagles talent for clearing a road to the rings and Miskews ability to execute big-weight, multi-stone takeouts allows Canada to gamble and takes some pressure off Homan. Kreviazuk banged her broom after a few misses during the preliminary round, but the four curlers have an otherwise business-like demeanour on the ice. "Were patient and were learning all the time and were allowing ourselves to learn," Weagle said. "Were not expecting to be perfect every single shot, but when were not, we want to learn from it. "Often Ill go down and talk to Rachel about my shots and how Im throwing them, if she want me to make an adjustment or if shes going to make the adjustment with the broom. I think thats worked really well for us. We want to make the most shots possible and whatever way we need to do it, its good to take the emotion out and just treat it like business." Wholesale MLB Orioles Jerseys Red Sox Jerseys From China Discount Yankees Jerseys Online Rays Jerseys For Sale Blue Jays Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB White Sox Jerseys Indians Jerseys For Sale Tigers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Astros Jerseys Cheap Baseball Angels Jerseys Athletics Jerseys From China Mariners Jerseys For Sale Cheap Baseball Rangers Jerseys Braves Jerseys For Sale Discount Marlins Jerseys Online Discount Mets Jerseys Online Phillies Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Nationals Jerseys Cubs Jerseys From China Discount Reds Jerseys Online Brewers Jerseys From China Wholesale MLB Pirates Jerseys Wholesale MLB Cardinals Jerseys Diamondbacks Jerseys For Sale Rockies Jerseys For Sale Discount Dodgers Jerseys Online Discount Padres Jerseys Online Giants Jerseys For Sale ' ' '