equipment and the weather

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SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker was nursing a sprained left ankle and playing a critical playoff game on no sleep only hours after the birth of his first child. It was the perfect formula for a resurgent performance from the San Antonio Spurs point guard. Parker had 23 points and five assists and San Antonio never trailed in a 109-103 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night, taking a 3-2 lead in the first-round series. "Coming into the game I told him this is perfect for you," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. "This is what he does in situations like this where he doesnt get a lot of sleep or is in a stressful situation. He always seems to play better. I somewhat expected it from him. "He was really excited before the game. Obviously, he was really excited to have his son here and wanted to get this game really badly not only for his son but for the situation and the timing of it. He was really focused and it was good for us." Parkers rebirth put San Antonio on the verge of closing out a tense series against its intrastate rival with Game 6 set for Friday in Dallas. Vince Carter scored 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting for the Mavericks. Carters 3-pointer with 3 minutes left pulled Dallas within 98-94 but Parker followed a minute later with his only 3-pointer of the game for a 101-94 advantage, punctuating the shot with a loud scream. His son Josh was born early in the morning to his fiancee Axelle Francine. "It was crazy, cause it happened last night, late," Parker said. "I didnt sleep. I basically didnt sleep the whole night and just played on adrenaline today. "Im a happy man right now." After shooting 5 for 14 in scoring just 10 points in San Antonios Game 4 victory, Parker responded with a frantic start. He mixed in three driving layups and two mid-range jumpers to start the game making 5 of his first 7 shots. Parkers drives helped the Spurs struggling offence maintain a consistent rhythm for the first time in the series. Manu Ginobili had 19 points and Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 12 rebounds as San Antonio regained home-court advantage. Duncan added 16 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard had 15 points for the Spurs. After averaging 16 points in the series first four games, Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki found the stroke in scoring 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting. But it wasnt enough to overcome Parker and the Spurs returning to form. "Vince shot the ball incredibly, Dirk found his rhythm and really made some tough shots," Duncan said. "But we were able to counter that offensively by moving the ball, hitting the glass, getting into the paint and getting some easy stuff for ourselves and loosen it up." San Antonio took its largest lead of the game at 24-11 6 minutes into the first quarter as Ginobili hit a 3-pointer seconds after entering the game. The Spurs rediscovered the aggressive defence, long-range shooting and fluid ball movement that fueled them to the leagues best record. San Antonio was 8 for 16 from 3-point range and had 24 assists while committing just six turnovers. The Spurs finished with 54 points in the paint while shooting 47 per cent overall from the field. "I think they moved the ball well and, of course, they got a lot of layups, so thats most of it," Carter said. "They did a great job of just moving the ball and making the right decisions, keeping us on our heels. I think we just have to go back to the drawing board and let it all hang out." Danny Green hit a 3-pointer to give San Antonio a 67-57 lead with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter after starting a fast break by tipping the ball from behind on a driving Ellis. Splitter threw a bounce pass into the lane to feed a cutting Parker for a layup with 7 minutes remaining in the game for a 91-81 lead. Splitter had nine points, six rebounds and four assists in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks were within four points with 3 minutes remaining. Nowitzki had an opportunity to pull Dallas closer but upfaked Splitter and dribbled out of a clean look at a 3-point attempt only to miss a 17-foot jumper with 2:35 remaining. "I would obviously like to have that one back there on the wing when I faked Splitter, to make it a two-point game," Nowitzki said. "That was a big shot. I have to make that one." NOTES: After initially stating that an ouster of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was a "slippery slope," Dallas Mark Cuban refused to comment after NBA commissioner Adam Silver did just that Tuesday. "Im going to tell you exactly what I did," Cuban said. "I went and looked at a picture of my house since Im on the road and I saw that it was made out of a whole lot of glass, so I decided I dont have anything more to say on the whole topic. Thats my statement."... Dallas Samuel Dalembert had to be helped off the court after twisting his left ankle while getting tied up with Green on a rebound. Dalembert returned in the second quarter and finished with two points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . The Canadian defensive tackle suffered the injury on Monday and had tests done on Tuesday. He was a potential starter on the defensive line but head coach Mike OShea said he wasnt even thinking about the ratio when he got the news. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Klose has a bruised pelvic bone and abdominal muscle problems but team doctors are trying to get him fit in time for the match. Bender has a hamstring injury. Germany is already without half-dozen players, due to injury or bad form. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. -- The Carolina Hurricanes have activated defenceman Joni Pitkanen from injured reserve. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .Y. -- Syracuses streak lives on -- barely. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . - Vince Carter, heading into his 17th NBA season, doesnt consider age a big issue anymore.BEAVER CREEK, Colo. -- As usual, Aksel Lund Svindal was super fast on this hill. And it didnt matter that organizers altered the layout. The Norwegian star still navigated it to near perfection, even with falling snow, freezing temperatures and low visibility. Oh, yeah, he also is getting over a sinus infection. "Hes the king," Hannes Reichelt of Austria said. Here, Svindal definitely wears the crown. Svindal flew through the hybrid course -- one that was hard to see through the low-lying clouds -- to capture a World Cup downhill Friday. Svindal finished in 1 minute, 44.50 seconds, beating Reichelt by 0.17 seconds. Peter Fill of Italy was third. Canadas Manuel Osborne-Paradis came agonizingly close to his first World Cup podium in three years.The three-time World Cup winner from Vancouver finished four-hundredths of a second out of third. Jan Hudec of Calgary was seventh and Erik Guay of Mout Tremblant, Que., was 16th as the Canadian Cowboys put on a show. "Another fourth! Its just a matter of time before I get a podium," said Osborne-Paradis. "Im skiing better and Im skiing faster and more confidently. Its really just about putting it all together. My run was pretty clean. I made a mistake on the pitch and came out a little low and that probably cost me the race, but thats racing." Hudec, who also virtually secured his spot on the plane to Sochi with a 10th-place finish in the super-G at Lake Louise last weekend, skied well but made a few mistakes. "Im stoked to have another top 10," said Hudec. "Manny and I both owe a big thank you to our serviceman, who absolutely nailed the wax and did a great job on the skis. "It was a good day," said Martin Rufener, head coach of Canadas mens alpine team. "Manny was so close to the podium. Its a really technical downhill so it was a nice result for him. Erik has still not had many training days on the speed side but he was skiing well. To have two in the top seven and to just miss the podium - were very happy." American Bode Miller finished a solid 13th, rounding back into form after missing all of last season with a knee injury. This was Svindals fourth career win at this venue. No wonder he holds Beaver Creek in such high regard, even if it is the site of one of his most horrific crashes. In 2007, Svindal lost control over a jump and landed on his backside, sliding into a fence. During the fall, one of his razor-sharp skis went over him, leaving a 6-inch laceration of his left buttock. The cut so concerned doctors they went into his stomach to make sure everything internally was still intact. A distant memory, he said. He holds no animosiity toward a venue thats otherwise treated him so well.ddddddddddddOf his 52 career podium finishes, 11 have taken place at Beaver Creek. "The crazy thing is I dont really have bad memories, even from the year I crashed and spent two weeks in the hospital," said Svindal, who leads the overall World Cup standings after five races. "Its a good place to be in the hospital. There are super good doctors." Reichelt thought he turned in a good run in deteriorating conditions, maybe a winning run. Six skiers later, Svindal powered out of the starting gate, gaining ground on Reichelt at every interval. When Svindal finished and saw his time, he pumped his poles in the air in exultation. No one was going to catch him. This is his course, no matter how they lay it out. Usually, this is a familiar downhill course for the racers. Only this season, it was a hybrid path that featured part of the new womens downhill before switching over to the more traditional mens setting. "I like the old course better, I have to be honest," Svindal said. "This is a good course. But the old course is one of the best courses in the world. "I just decided to get after it. No one is going to ski this perfect in these conditions. So if you cant ski it perfect, you have to ski it aggressively." That was Millers approach, too. He showed flashes of his old form, the one that won him many races before sitting out last season with a surgically repaired knee. With Pink Floyds "Another Brick in the Wall" blaring over the loudspeaker, Miller charged full speed ahead, his arms flailing in places and one of his skis lifting into the air at one point. Miller, of Franconia, N.H., wound up 1.04 seconds behind Svindal. That hardly mattered to him. In this race, Miller actually felt really good on skis. He was enjoying it. "Even though the course is pretty basic and not that challenging in a way, I was fun today," Miller said. "I knew I had a bunch of intensity, so I tried to ski dynamic." He thinks his equipment and the weather held him back more than anything, not his knee. "I thought I skied pretty well," said Miller, who scooped up his young daughter and hugged his wife after finishing. "Even though its not a great result, Im happy with it. I skied the way I needed to ski. "I think the races have not been a good representation of where my skiing was at. In training, I was winning runs against everyone, Aksel and the Canadians and everybody. This is a closer result to how I ski. If we had the best skis out there or we got a little luckier, I think we couldve been in the lead." ' ' '