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                                      Italy and Serbia cruised into the championship games of Olympic qualifying tournaments on Friday, moving a win away from a place in the basketball field in Rio. Wholesale Jerseys China .Danilo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets scored 15 points as the Italians beat Mexico 79-54 in Turin, Italy. They will face Croatia, which knocked off Greece, in Saturdays final.Italy hasnt reached the Olympics since winning a silver medal in 2004.Bogdan Bogdanovic had 21 points and eight rebounds, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic added 19 points and eight boards, and Serbia routed the Czech Republic 96-72.The Serbians, who won a silver medal two years ago in the Basketball World Cup, will host Puerto Rico on Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.The three qualifying tournaments are determining the final three spots in the Olympics. The semifinals in Manila, Philippines, are Saturday, when France meets Turkey and Canada plays New Zealand.A look at Fridays four games:TURIN, ITALYCROATIA 66, GREECE 61Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets scored 20 points and Croatia shut down Greece star Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first semifinal.Dario Saric, a former lottery pick of the Philadelphia 76ers, added 16 points and eight rebounds.Antetokounmpo, the rising Milwaukee Bucks star, was held to nine points. He missed all seven 3-point attempts and finished 3-for-14 from the field.ITALY 79, MEXICO 54Nicolo Melli scored 14 points for the Italians, who got 12 from Marco Belinelli, who was recently traded to the Charlotte Hornets.Italys victory set up a rematch with Croatia, which it beat 67-60 in group play.Francisco Cruz scored 20 points for Mexico, which played the tournament without top big man Gustavo Ayon.BELGRADE, SERBIAPUERTO RICO 77, LATVIA 70Renaldo Balkman had a tiebreaking follow shot with 1:08 left as the Puerto Ricans ousted previously unbeaten Latvia.John Holland scored 15 points and former NBA guard Carlos Arroyo had 14 for Puerto Rico, making a 3-pointer that provided a five-point lead with 35 seconds remaining. Backcourt mate J.J. Barea of the Dallas Mavericks also finished with 14 points.Jannis Timma led Latvia with 16 points.SERBIA 96, CZECH REPUBLIC 72Milos Teodosic scored 14 of his 16 points in the third quarter, helping Serbia outscore the Czechs 51-36 in the second half. The star guard added six assists and three steals as Serbia shot nearly 55 percent.Tomas Satoransky had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Czech Republic. Jan Vesely chipped in 12 points. China NFL Jerseys ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. NFL Jerseys Cheap . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. http://www.cheapnflwholesalejerseys.net/ . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. SAN FRANCISCO -- Kris Bryant tossed his glove high in the air, Jake Arrieta jumped over the dugout railing and the rest of the Chicago Cubs rushed to join the celebration.Pure revelry and a sigh of relief, all at once.World Series favorites since Opening Day, the Cubs took another step in their championship chase Tuesday night by rallying for four runs in the ninth inning of Game 4 to beat the?San Francisco Giants?6-5 and win their National League Division Series.You could see it coming. You could see little signs. Weve done it before, and the guys, we dont quit, Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler said. Its a little more special doing it here. They for sure were thinking that they won it. But we play 27 outs and we dont give up until we win.Javier Baezs tiebreaking single capped the comeback against a beleaguered bullpen that sabotaged the Giants one last time.Four wins from their first pennant since 1945, the Cubs will open the NL Championship Series on Saturday at Wrigley Field against the Los Angeles Dodgers or Washington Nationals. That matchup is tied 2-all heading into the deciding Game 5 on Thursday.Before that, the team with the best regular-season record (103-58) in the majors this year will get a few days of rest. Chicago was swept by the New York Mets in the NLCS last year and is still seeking its first World Series title since 1908.Expectations is a good word. Because normally it means that you have something good attached to it at the other side, manager Joe Maddon said.And after finishing off the resilient Giants, the Cubs should have their rotation all lined up for the NLCS.Pressure, expectations -- I want our guys to thrive on those two words for the years to come. I want the organization to. In the end, that means theres a lot expected of you. Good. There should be. We should all have a lot expected of us, Maddon added. So all those things I want to have us channel in a positive direction.Held to two hits over eight innings by Matt Moore, the Cubs trailed 5-2 heading to the ninth.No matter. One big rally ended San Franciscos 10-game winning streak when facing postseason elimination.Pinch hitter Willson Contreras tied it with a two-run single with none out. Baez singled in the go-ahead run two batters later, and the Cubs capitalized on Gold Glove shortstop Brandon Crawfords second costly error and more untimely blunders by the Giants once-reliable relief staff.One day after getting tagged in the eighth inning, Aroldis Chapman closed this one out by striking out the side in order. When he set down Brandon Belt to end it, Chapmans teammates rushed to the mound to hug him and begin their celebration.Maddon has his confident, power-hitting Cubs on an October roll. They already beat All-Star Johnny Cueto and ex-Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija, thenn waited until Moores stellar outing was done to pounce. Wholesale Adidas Hockey Jerseys. With this team, the big thing is we never give up, we never quit, said lefty Jon Lester, who figures to start the NLCS opener. We always feel like we have a chance, whether its the first inning or the ninth inning.Soon-to-retire David Ross homered to start the third, hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth and threw out Denard Span trying to steal.Downright unflappable for years in these pressure-packed situations, the Giants won World Series championships in 2010, 12 and 14. This was the clubs first postseason series defeat in the past 12.We dont think were going to win the World Series every even year. I mean, it took 50-something years to get one here, quipped manager Bruce Bochy, whose bullpen management was scrutinized throughout a disappointing second half.The orange towel-waving sellout crowd of 43,166, perhaps spoiled this decade by the every-other-year title success, had been counting on a few more games by the bay this October.Moore, acquired from Tampa Bay at the Aug. 1 trade deadline for games of this magnitude, struck out 10 as his former Rays manager -- Maddon -- watched from the other dugout.Long after Cubs starter John Lackeys night was done with just four innings, Hector Rondon pitched the eighth for the win.WHAT CURSE?Lester doesnt buy all the superstition surrounding Chicagos championship drought.Nobody really cares in there about a curse or a goat or anything else, he said. If we make a mistake, were not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. Were going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment. ... Weve got too many young guys in there that dont even know what that stuff is, you know what I mean? So, its almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals.POWER PITCHERSTwo pitchers homered for the Cubs in the series: Arrieta on Monday and reliever Travis Wood in Game 2. The 1924 New York Giants were the only other team to have two pitchers go deep in a postseason series, according to ESPN Stats & Info.Thats pretty incredible, isnt it? Maddon said.GIANTS INJURIESLeft fielder Angel Pagan missed his second straight start with back spasms, and third baseman Eduardo Nunezs strained right hamstring is still slow to heal, leaving the Giants to contemplate replacing one on the roster. But no move was made before the game.CRAWFORDS MISCUESThe shortstop was the first Giants player to commit two errors in a postseason game since Don Mueller on Sept. 29, 1954, in Game 1 of the World Series. ' ' '