were stitched together from the start.Francona conjured m

MIAMI -- There were no miracles from Tony Parker in Game 2. And there wasnt much of anything from star teammates Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. Unstoppable for so much of this post-season, the San Antonio point guard was all bottled up in a 103-84 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 2 that evened the series Sunday night. Parker scored only 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting and had five assists. It was an unusually quiet night for a player who was at the top of his game in leading the Spurs to their first finals appearance since 2007 and helped win Game 1 with a leaning bank shot with 5.2 seconds left. "They were really aggressive, obviously," Parker said about a Heat team determined not to go down 0-2 in this best-of-seven series. "You have to give a lot of credit to their defence. They played great defence tonight. They were very aggressive on the pick-and-rolls and all our drives." Parker also turned the ball over five times after having zero in his sterling Game 1 performance. Duncan had nine points on 3-for-13 shooting, and Ginobili had five points and missed four of his six shots. "For sure Tim, Tony and me have to step up and play much better," Ginobili said. "We have basically no shot of winning against them if none of us play good. We have to play better." Game 3 is Tuesday night in San Antonio. Parker entered the game averaging 22.9 points and 7.1 assists for the playoffs and fresh off another scintillating performance to open pursuit of the franchises fifth championship. He scored 21 points and had five assists, and had the shot of the game -- and maybe these playoffs -- when he went down to one knee, got up, pivoted around LeBron James and stepped through for a 16-foot jumper with a split-second left on the shot clock to hold off the Heat. After two days off, the weary defending champions seemed to have a little extra jump in their step, especially on the perimeter. Mario Chalmers, who also scored 19 points, said he was determined to not let Parker slice and dice the Heat defence in the pick-and-roll like he did so many times in Game 1. "My main focus is to stop Tony Parker," Chalmers said. "Thats my job, to not let him get going." Parker missed five of his first seven shots, and he didnt get much help from the other two of San Antonios Big 3. Ginobili picked up three quick fouls in the first half that limited his playing time and Duncan didnt have any of the same success against a rejuvenated Chris Bosh that he did in Game 1. Duncan had 20 points and 11 rebounds in that victory, but Bosh had 12 points, 10 boards, four assists and three steals in Game 2. "I look at my shots and they are the shots I want," Duncan said. "Obviously they are contested shots, but theyre the shots I feel I can make. So whether it be them or me or whatever it may be, Im going to get back in the gym tomorrow and hopefully come out with a better stroke." Spurs coach Gregg Popovich threw his hands up when asked what changed for his three leaders between the first game and the second. "Defence has something to do with it. Missing shots has something to do with it," Popovich said. "But any way you slice it, its 10 for 33." Thanks to 17 points from Danny Green on 6-for-6 shooting, the Spurs led 62-61 with under four minutes to play in the third quarter. Thats when the Heat turned it on, ripping off a staggering 33-5 run that sent American Airlines Arena into a frenzy. The Spurs couldnt find a sliver of daylight to run their usually precise offence, and Parker had nowhere to go against a host of Heat defenders. After tying a finals record with four turnovers in the first game, the Spurs committed 17 on Sunday night, which led to 19 points for the Heat. "We just couldnt find answers tonight," Parker said. After James threw down a soaring dunk to cap Miamis incredible surge and give Miami a 91-67 lead, Popovich pulled his three stars, and they watched the rest of the game from the bench, a golden opportunity to take a commanding lead vaporized in a flash. "We were expecting to do better," Ginobili said. "Thats the frustrating part. Of course you look at the result and being 1-1 is not bad. You dont want to play like this in the NBA Finals. You dont want to give them confidence and have you feeling bad about yourself." Charles Barkley Suns Jersey . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Leandro Barbosa Jersey .Y. -- Leading 3-0 with only 11:25 left, the Colorado Avalanche committed a seemingly meaningless penalty to give the New York Islanders a power play. https://www.thesunslockerroom.com/Kelly-Oubre-Jr-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Kevin Johnson Jersey . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Ty Jerome Jersey . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. CLEVELAND -- When the epic, drama-drenched Game 7 was briefly delayed by rain, Indians players returned to their clubhouse, where chairs had been removed and plastic sheets hung in anticipation for a party waiting to pop since 1948.Later, unopened bottles of Dom Perignon were wheeled out of a luxury suite. An ice sculpture of the World Series trophy was cloaked by a black cloth, soon to melt away.It wasnt meant to be.An amazing, unforeseen season had a familiar ending.Unable to stop Chicagos curse-slaying run, the Indians, a team that perhaps embodied Clevelands blue-collar, get-off-the-mat ethos more than any other, finally succumbed in the 10th inning, losing 8-7 early Thursday before a downpour soaked thousands of Cubs fans who stood in the rain savoring the end of their 108-year championship wait.Heartbreak still resides in Cleveland.Only this time, the hurt isnt as deep.The Indians werent expected to be playing in October, never mind November, and they took some solace in pushing the Cubs to the limit.We shocked the world, said shortstop Francisco Lindor, the 22-year-old who blossomed on baseballs biggest stage. No one had us here. Of course, we didnt finish the way we wanted to finish. We were going to do whatever it took to win, grind at-bats, pitch after pitch, work hard. Thats our mojo. We battled day in and day out.The Indians had hoped to duplicate what the Cavs, their neighbors on the other side of Gateway Plaza, had done in June by winning a championship and ending the citys 52-year title drought. They managed to sidestep adversity for months, but couldnt overcome losing two starting pitchers and simply didnt have enough to put away the Cubs and became the first team since the 1979 Baltimore Orioles to squander a 3-1 lead in the Series by losing Games 6 and 7 at home.They went down -- swinging.Nobody gave up, said reliever Andrew Miller, who was virtually unhittable during the postseason before the Cubs figured him out in Game 7. It was fighting like hell. It was unfortunate that we didnt quite get there.The fact that they got so close is worth a trophy presentation and parade.The Indians were short-handed from almost the first day of spring training in Arizona.All-Star left fielder Michael Brantley, their No. 3 hitter and probably the best all-around player on the roster, was unable to get fully healthy and played onlly 11 games.dddddddddddd Without Brantley, manager Terry Francona had to be creative to find production and fortunately the Indians got huge contributions from sluggers Carlos Santana (34 homers) and Mike Napoli (101 RBI).Jose Ramirez played four positions, started in all nine spots in the batting order and didnt miss a beat, batting .312 and was perhaps the teams MVP.The Indians survived despite losing starting catcher Yan Gomes for long stretches -- the club tried to trade for All-Star Jonathan Lucroy in July -- and the outfield was an almost daily patchwork effort because of Brantley and two PED suspensions.If all that wasnt enough to stop them, the Indians closed out their division and beat Boston and Toronto in the postseason despite not having injured starters Carlos Carrasco or Danny Salazar or losing starter Trevor Bauer after he sliced his pinkie playing with a drone -- an odd accident that somehow seemed fitting for this resilient group.The Indians were stitched together from the start.Francona conjured magic from his bullpen as Miller, Bryan Shaw and closer Cody Allen combined to protect leads and stifle rallies all the way to the Series.But in the end, the injuries caught them.A handcuffed Francona was forced to ride ace Corey Kluber for three starts in nine days against the heavily favored Cubs; Josh Tomlin, who had dealt with his fathers illness during a dreary August, just didnt have it in Game 6; and Miller, acquired from the New York Yankees in July for these kind of moments, didnt have the usual bite on his nasty slider in a finale that rates with any Game 7 in history.In the quiet of Clevelands clubhouse afterward, second baseman Jason Kipnis, a Chicago kid who has grown into Clevelands leader, put a season hell never forget in perspective. Kipnis was hurting, but knew he -- and the Indians -- will soon heal.We will be back, he said. Were pretty confident in this group we got here. There are a lot of people who probably dont even know who Carlos Carrasco is or Michael Brantley. Those guys have huge roles for us. We kind of followed Kansas Citys lead a little bit to get here. They lost before they won, so I wouldnt mind if we follow their lead the whole way through. That would be nice. ' ' '