American Hilary Knight

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MIAMI -- For the entirety of the regular season, the supremacy of the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference was brought into serious question by the Indiana Pacers. Then came the playoffs. And the question was answered -- emphatically. The Heat became the third franchise in NBA history to reach the title series in four consecutive seasons, a laugher of a conference-title finale getting them there again Friday night. LeBron James and Chris Bosh each scored 25 points, and Miami eliminated the Pacers for the third straight year with a 117-92 romp in Game 6 of the East championship series. "Im blessed. Very blessed. Very humbled," James said. "And we wont take this opportunity for granted. Its an unbelievable franchise, its an unbelievable group. And we know we still have work to do, but we wont take this for granted. Were going to four straight Finals and we will never take this for granted." Dwyane Wade and Rashard Lewis each scored 13 points for Miami, which trailed 9-2 before ripping off 54 of the next 75 points to erase any doubt by halftime. The Heat set a franchise record with their 11th straight home post-season win, going back to the final two games of last seasons NBA Finals, leading by 37 at one point. "The group loves to compete and loves to compete at the highest level, and be pushed to new levels," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. Indiana led the East for much of the regular season, one where the Pacers were fueled by the memory of losing Game 7 of the East finals in Miami a year ago. So they spent this season with a clear goal: Toppling Miami as kings of the East. The Pacers were two games better in the regular season. They were two games worse in the post-season. Game 7, this time, would have been in Indianapolis. The Pacers just had no shot of making it happen, not on this night. "Its bitterly disappointing to fall short of our goals," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "Its bitterly disappointing to lose to this team three years in a row. But were competing against the Michael Jordan of our era, the Chicago Bulls of our era, and you have to tip your hats to them for the way they played this whole series." Paul George had 29 points for Indiana, David West scored 16 and Lance Stephenson -- booed all night -- finished with 11. "No regrets. All of us played hard. They were just the better team, and they won," Stephenson said. So now, the Celtics and Lakers have some company. Until Friday, they were the only teams in NBA history to reach the Finals in four straight years. The Heat have joined them, and their quest for a third straight title starts in either San Antonio or Oklahoma City on Thursday night. "Its all about 15 special men and what theyve been able to accomplish these last four years," said Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, who handed the East title trophy to Greg Oden. "Just a little bit more work to do, but Im really proud of the incredible job that these guys have done." The way they played in Game 6 made a prophet out of Bosh, who predicted Miami would play its best game of the season. The numbers suggested he was right, and then some. Miamis largest lead at any point this season, before Game 6, was 36 points. Indianas largest deficit of the season had been 35 points. After a layup by James with 3:39 left in the third, the margin in this one was a whopping 37 -- 86-49. James night ended not long afterward. "It was just one of those games that we want to play from beginning to end," Bosh said. "Here on our home court, we wanted to make a statement." There were the now-requisite Stephenson events, adding intrigue to the first half. The Indiana guard walked over to James and tapped him in the face in the opening minutes, stood over him after both got tangled under the basket, and got whistled for a flagrant foul for striking Norris Cole in the head in the second quarter. It was the end of a memorable series for Stephenson, none of which really had anything to do with basketball. His string of newsworthy moments from these East finals started when he talked about the health of Wades knees before the series and reached an apex in Game 5 when he blew into James ear and walked into a Heat huddle. When it was over, Stephenson went out and shook hands with plenty of Heat players, as did the rest of his teammates. "To work so hard and to get to where we are now really hurts," Stephenson said. The Heat were bothered by it all -- "angry," Spoelstra confessed -- but got the last laugh. Big Brother, again, reigned supreme in this rivalry. Vogel was using the big brother-little brother analogy earlier in the series, telling the tale of how at some point in every sibling rivalry the younger one has to make a stand. Indiana thought it would happen now. The Heat, obviously, had other ideas. "Theyve won championships," West said Friday when asked if the Pacers considered themselves Miamis equal. "No, were not equal." West said those words about eight hours before game time. They were in no dispute at nights end. NOTES: James appeared in what became his 100th playoff victory. ... The Pacers are now 7-12 against Miami in the last three postseasons, and 20-10 against everybody else. ... Wade and Udonis Haslem are going to the NBA Finals for the fifth time in nine seasons -- with a 15-67 season on their record during that stretch as well. ... Chris Andersen returned from a thigh injury, scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds in 13 minutes for Miami. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Next week, hell try to add to the list. A Stanley Cup champion as a rookie, Seguin followed that up by becoming the youngest player to lead the Boston Bruins in scoring. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. "Back in 2011, when they announced that the game was coming here, we knew that it was going to be pretty important that we had a good year and hopefully could get into it, let alone win it, so I felt some pressure obviously within for sure," Taman said Monday, less than 24 hours after the Riders won the championship. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Wild team that has a nice mix of proven veterans along with young, inexpensive talent on the rise. When the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, making a big splash in the summer of 2012, it set the franchise on a path to being more competitive, but a big reason that they have been so competitive is the contributions of young players who still have more to give. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . - After sewage backups, toilet overflows and foul smells surfaced the past two years, nothing at the Oakland Coliseum surprises the home team anymore.ST. PAUL, -- Kevin Dineen is still looking for his first win as head coach of Canadas womens team, but after nearly completing a comeback victory over the United States on Saturday, he says hes comfortable with the ability of his new squad. Canada rallied with third-period goals from Marie-Philip Poulin and Meghan Agosta-Marciano to tie the game and force overtime before American Hilary Knight scored the winner in a shootout to lift the U.S. over Canada 3-2, and take a third straight victory in their pre-Olympic exhibition series. Dineen, who replaced Dan Church as the womens coach after Church stepped down unexpectedly two weeks ago, was behind the bench for Canadas 4-1 loss to the U.S. in Grand Forks, N.D., last week. "We set a standard today for how we have to play. I thought we had a good tempo to our game, and were just looking for our baseline," Dineen said. "I was not impressed with our game in North Dakota. I think we were totally outworked and outplayed and certainly outcoached. "Tonight we had a lot better symmetry, chemistry, but we had more than that. There was a good intensity that gave us an opportunity to win the game." Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter scored for the Americans and goaltender Jessie Vetter stopped 37 shots in regulation time and overtime. Agosta-Marciano opened the scoring for Canada off a pass from Hayley Wickenheiser at 8:36 of the third period, and Poulin made it 2-2 less than two minutes later on the power play. Poulin, who scored both of Canadas goals in a 2-0 win over the U.S. in the 2010 Olympic final, made her first appearance of the exhibition series after spraining her ankle in September.dddddddddddd. "It felt pretty good to put that jersey on and go out there with my teammates, but its not the result that we wanted," Poulin said. "It was a good comeback in the third, but a tough loss in the shootout. "The last two games they came at us pretty hard and it was two tough losses. Today we wanted to go out there and play our game as hard as we could and thats what we did in the third." Dineen says he was happy to have Poulin back out on the ice. "She showed the skill set that makes her the special player that she is and with her in the lineup I think were a stronger team," he said. "It was good to get her and Hayley Wickenheiser back." Canadas Charline Labonte stopped 27 shots, including a spectacular save that kept the game tied with under three minutes to go. Labonte robbed Brianna Decker by sliding across the crease to kick the puck away with her right leg. Though Canadas Olympic roster is set, Labonte is fighting for the starting goalie job along with Shannon Szabados and Genevieve Lacasse. "(Labonte) was unbelievable tonight," Dineen said. "Theres still a little dispute in net as to how thats going to all figure out but I think theyre doing a good job of making the statement that they want to be in the mix come February." Canada plays the U.S. in the final game of the exhibition series at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Monday. ' ' '