14 W ednesday 27th May, 2009 Nuggets even Western finals against Lakers 2-2

onds like the ones that cost them wins in Games 1 and 3, although Kobe Bryant had another monster fourth quarter in a furious attempt to put a stranglehold on the series that shif ts to Los Angeles for Game 5 W ednesday. Bryant, who is averaging 37 point s in the series, scored 34, including 14 in the fourth quarter. He put a scare into the Nugget s and their England’s Matt Prior plays a shot during the third cricket match fans until Smith hit back-to-back dagger 3- pointers for a 113-96 cushion. between England and West Indies at the Edgbaston Cricket ground in Birmingham, Anthony finished with a hard-fought 15 England, Tuesday May 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Thomas) point s, and Martin had 13 point s and 15 boards. The game featured four technical fouls Prior, Shah century stand and 84 free throws, 49 by Denver. Melo s shooting slump continued as he went 3-for-16 and missed his first 10 shot s. Making matters worse, he turned his right puts England on top ankle in the first half. At the break, he need - BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - ed fluids and had his ankle ret aped, then England posted a daunting tot al of 328-7 SCOREBOARD returned with a dogged determination to help af ter being put into bat by W est Indies cap - the Nuggets however he could to pull even England tain Chris Gayle in the third and final one- in the series. A. Strauss st Ramdin b Benn 52 day international at Edgbaston. Bryant and Pau Gasol (21 points) kept R. Bopara b Bravo 49 Matt Prior made 87 of f 86 balls and the Lakers within striking dist ance. T h e M. Prior b Taylor 87 capt ain made 52, as Lakers cut a 16-point deficit to 102-92 on O. Shah c Morton b Taylor 75 England posted it s highest ever ODI score four Bryant free throws with 3:49 lef t thanks A. Mascarenhas c & b Pollard 0 at Edgbaston. Jerome Taylor was the pick to technicals on Martin and Anthony. P. Collingwood b Taylor 23 of the bowlers, t aking 3-59. The Nuggets relied on a balanced att ack E. Morgan 65 S trauss and his fellow opener Ravi with Anthony ailing - seven players scored in T. Bresnan c Rampaul b Pollard 9 B o p ara got England of f to a solid st art, put - double digit s - and while they still weren t S. Broad not out 6 ting on 81 for the first wicket until Bop ara very good from the floor (44 percent), they Extras: (b 2, lb 7, w 10, nb 2) 21 was bowled off his pads by Dwayne Bravo did work the ball around for better looks, Total: (7 wickets) 328 for 49. att acked the lane more and got to the line. Overs: 50. S trauss played with uncharacteristic This accomplished exactly what all those Di not bat: G. Swann, J. Anderson flamboyance for his half-century, reverse- misfirings couldn t in Game 3 - energize the Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-129, 3-278, 4- sweeping Sulieman Benn for four, before he P e p si Center crowd. 279, 5-289, 6-308, 7-317 was stumped by Denesh Ramdin off Benn The Nuggets, who haven t lost back-to- Bowling: Taylor 10-1-59-3 (2nb, 2w), for 52. back home games all season, were coming Rampaul 4-0-29-0 (1w), Edwards 6-0- Matt Prior and Owais Shah then made of f their first loss in the Mile High City since 43-0 (1w), Bravo 6-0-43-1 (1w), Benn a century st and, scoring at a run a ball and March 9. They knew they blew a golden 10-0-51-1, Gayle 5-0-31-0, Pollard 9-0- giving England the plat form to set a huge opportunity 48 hours earlier by trying for the 63-2 (1w) target. dagger and misfiring on 22 of 27 3-pointers - Toss: West Indies Shah struck 75 of f just 65 balls, when and af ter three of the conversions, they gave Umpires : S. Davis (Aus), I. Gould (Eng) back a point with technical free throws, no he perished attempting to increase the scor - Third umpire: N. Llong less. ing rate. Denver Nuggets guard Dahntay Jones (30) defends against Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Match referee: A. Pycroft (Zim) So, we were really 2-for-27, Nugget s Having smashed Jerome Taylor for six Bryant during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals coach George Karl cracked before tip-of. f with the previous delivery, he tried to repeat Monday, May 25, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey) This time, they shot 7-for-24 from 3-point the trick, but was in the deep by balls. range. One of them was Billups pull-up 3 Runako Morton. was caught for nine by 24 point s and Kenyon Martin posted a dou- af ter a steal by Smith that gave Denver an Dimitri Mascarenhas was promoted up Ravi Rampaul of f Pollard before Eoin DENVER (AP) - The Denver Nuggets ble-double as the Nuggets claimed their 83-70 lead with 10 minutes to go. the order as England looked for quick runs, Morgan and steered England evened the Western Conference finals eighth blowout of the post season but first but the move backfired when he was out to 328 from 50 overs - W est Indies has only Monday, beating the Los Angeles Lakers against Los Angeles following three games first ball, caught and bowled by Kieron twice scored more than 300 in ODI history. 120-101 in Game 4 despite a hobbled that came down to the final seconds. Pollard. England leads the three-match series Carmelo Anthony. The Nuggets didn t need to worry about Prior was next to dep art, clean bowled 1-0. Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith scored a botched inbounds pass in the closing sec - by Taylor , who then bowled , who had smashed 23 from 14 Federer returns to center Australia asks for extra Mike Tyson’s daughter court at French Open critically injured PARIS (AP) - Back on center court and st and - man in tour matches PHOENIX (AP) - Former heavy- ing in a pile of the same red clay on which he has weight champion Mike Tyson s 4-year- lost the last three French Open finals, Roger COOLUM, Australia (AP) - Cricket bowled in the IPL but we haven t seen at that p art of his game every day he old daughter is on life support af ter she Federer looked comfortable in the first round of this Australia has asked England for per - him up close yet. goes to training. was found with her neck on a treadmill year s tournament. mission to use an extra man in Ashes The first two games we play lead - The conditions will help him but cable Monday. The second-seeded Swiss easily advanced by warmup matches to help solve some ing into the first test will tell us a pretty they will help Hilfenhaus, Siddle, Clark The girl s 7-year-old brother found beating Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, joining selection issues. good story about where we see all of and Lee, all the seamers. her on a treadmill with her neck on a Tyson four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the W ith Brett Lee and Stuart Clark those five fast bowlers. I couldn t be happier with the cable att ached to the exercise machine at their second round at Roland Garros. coming back from injuries, the That will be our best chance to squad of fast bowlers we ve got togeth - I didn t even think about last year s match on Phoenix home, police Sgt. Andy Hill said, calling it Australians have five p acemen to select look at the likelihood of some of those er in this group and there will be some a tragic accident. the same court, because I was so much concen- from and only three or four places for guys playing the first test match. great competition for spot s come the trated, said Federer, who has 13 major titles to his The boy told the girl s mother, who was in anoth - quicks in the st arting XI. W ith Lee and Clark sidelined, lef t- first test match - and that in it self makes er room. She took the girl of f the cable, called 911 name but none from the French Open. I wanted to Cricket Australia of ficial Michael armer Mitchell Johnson led an it a very exciting team to be around. do my best. I didn t want to lose my first match. and tried to revive her . Brown on Tuesday confirmed a request Australian att ack cont aining inexperi - England, which had an upset 2-1 No problem there. The former top-ranked player had gone to the England and Wales enced and Ben Hilfenhaus win when the Ashes were last contest - Responding officers and firefighters performed was broken only once as his serve appeared to be Cricket Board for permission to use 12 to an up set 2-1 series win in South ed in England in 2005, is coming of f a CPR on the girl as they rushed her to a nearby hos - working in the heat of Paris - something that suited players in the tour matches against Africa in March, when the No. 1 test series win over the W est Indies. pit al, where she was in extremely critical condition Federer well. Sussex from June 24-27 and against an ranking was on the line. Australia was The Australian squad leaves and on life support, Hill said. It was nice conditions, not too much wind, English selection at W orcester July 1-4. coming off series losses in India and to W ednesday for England, with the Somehow she was playing on this treadmill, Federer said. Little warm, so it was good. England was allowed to do the South Africa at home ahead of that Twenty20 World Cup on the schedule and there s a cord that hangs under the console - Federer came into the French Open with an same ahead of the 2006-2007 series in series. ahead of the Ashes test s, which st art up set win over Nadal on clay at the Madrid Open it s kind of a loop, Hill said. Either she slipped or Australia, which it lost 5-0. Johnson was the player of the July 8 at Cardif. f two weeks ago, and he said he was just hoping to put her head in the loop, but it acted like a noose, get through to the second round at Roland Garros. Australia capt ain Ricky Ponting series against South Africa and Ponting and she was obviously unable to get herself of f of Now I can focus. I can unwind for a while, said Lee, the former p ace spearhead, said he was looking forward to seeing it. Federer said. I have less pressure, because the appeared to be coming back strongly in the p aceman extracting plenty of swing Hill said Tyson had been in Las Vegas but flew pressure is when you have to manage the first limited-overs cricket but had not played from the English conditions. to Phoenix immediately af ter learning of the acci - a test match since December. W e really did see just how good round. dent. Police didn t release the girl s name. Lee is still a bit of an unknown, Mitchell can be when he swings the ball Tyson could not immediately be reached for Ponting said. I m hearing a lot of good back into right-hand bat smen, Ponting things out of South Africa about how he said. Believe me, he works very hard comment. Calls to three of his represent atives were Barcelona attack at full strength vs. Man United

ROME (AP) - Barcelona’s formidable collect two trophies this season. A third training session.” has left Barcelona’s defense exposed attack will be at its best with Thierry Henry European Cup would see it become only the Henry has combined with Lionel Messi against a team that knocked it out at the and Andres Iniesta likely to return for the fifth team to win the treble. and Samuel Eto’o to net a league record 71 semifinal stage last year. Champions League final against Iniesta’s injury-time goal against a goals by a trio. With full backs Daniel Alves and Eric Manchester United. staunch Chelsea side earned the Catalans But Iniesta provides an integral midfield Abidal suspended and center back Rafael Henry and Iniesta were traveling with the their sixth trip to the final. The Spain mid- piece to rookie coach Josep Guardiola’s phi- Marquez injured, midfielder Yaya Toure will team to Rome on Tuesday, a day after tak- fielder, recovering from a thigh injury, aban- losophy - attacking, possession football born likely partner former United player Gerard ing part in their first full training session since doned his usual reserved nature when it out of midfielders Xavi and Iniesta. Pique in the middle as he did against picking up separate leg injuries earlier this came to deciphering the final. The two players are straight out of the Chelsea and Athletic Bilbao in the cup final. month. “United are the defending champions, mold of Guardiola, a former midfielder who Captain Carles Puyol and 35-year-old The puzzle is coming together for the one of the best, but they don’t scare me. I orchestrated Barcelona to 10 major titles Silvinho are likely to fill in on the wings. Spanish champions in time for Wednesday’s have the same respect for them as they from that role, including in the Champions With forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne match between two of the world’s best. have for us,” Iniesta said. “It’s a chance to go League in 1992. Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov “They are two basic footballing pieces in down in history. I’d accept winning on penal- “This is special for us because we played to contend with, goalkeeper Victor Valdes our scheme,” Barcelona midfielder Xavi ties.” the best football,” Xavi said after the club may be called upon to make big saves in Hernandez said. “We know they’re going to Based on their training methods, that’s secured its 19th league title. “I have never pressure moments again. Switzerland’s Roger Federer returns the ball to play, that they’ll be 100 percent and to have something Barcelona is not exactly ready seen (a team) play at this level, I have never “What I must value is how Rooney, Spain’s Alberto Martin during their first round them is a privilege because with them, we’re for. played in a better team. We have individuals Tevez, (Paul) Scholes, etc. work,” Iniesta better.” “We haven’t practiced them,” Xavi said. but, above all, we’ve won as a team. I’m said. “Rooney played left back against us. To match at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Both players have been key to the offen- “I think to do that is ridiculous because you proud.” win a final against United you can’t make Monday May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) sive juggernaut that has scored 151 goals to can’t emulate the tension of a game in a But the absence of several defenders any mistakes.”