he is a horse who in the past has run big off workouts and layoffs | Forum

MEMPHIS, Tenn. Cheap Nike Air Jordan 11 Purple . -- On the best playoff run in their short history, the Memphis Grizzlies refuse to be satisfied with just reaching their first Western Conference final. The San Antonio Spurs? Well, they know time is running out for a team that has done so very much in the NBA playoffs yet last celebrated a championship in 2007. Blowing a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals a year ago to Oklahoma City has driven the Spurs since training camp, and now they are back with Game 1 on Sunday against Memphis determined not to waste another chance. "We understand as a team that those opportunities are very rare, and we have another great one right now," Spurs guard Tony Parker said Saturday. "We have home-court advantage against a very good team, so we have to take full advantage of it." The Grizzlies are the former expansion franchise that started off in Vancouver before moving to Memphis, and they started by setting the NBA record for post-season futility while losing their first 12 playoff games. Coach Lionel Hollins, who won an NBA title in 1977 as a player with Portland, has his Grizzlies believing they can win one, too. The No. 5 seed in the West ousted first the Clippers, then the Thunder by winning eight of its last nine games, including three of four on the road. "Were just worried about going forward," Grizzlies guard Mike Conley said. "Were happy to be here, but were still focused on bigger things, and we got another tough opponent." That would be the Spurs with Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili who swept the Grizzlies out of their first post-season in 2004. When Memphis finally won a post-season series, they beat the Spurs in six games in 2011, kicking off that series by winning the first game in San Antonio. Ginobili said the Spurs were not at their best that series and struggled to stop the Grizzlies big men in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph. "We started with the wrong foot, we lost the first one and they got stronger and confident, and thats how they beat us," Ginobili said. This conference final pits Southwest Division rivals, with the Spurs as the dominating big brother with their four NBA championships and the fifth-best all-time winning percentage in the league since this franchise moved to the NBA in 1976. No coach and player have more post-season games than San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich and Duncan with 200 over 16 seasons. The Spurs clinched the No. 2 seed in the West winning just two more games than the Grizzlies. This should be a defensive showdown between teams built around big men with Memphis countering Duncan with 7-foot-1 Gasol and Randolph down low. Memphis held teams to an NBA-low 89.3 points during the regular season, and the Spurs tied for third in defensive efficiency. The Grizzlies also were second defending the 3, which could slow down Parker and Ginobili. "Finding ways to score is going to be very difficult," Popovich said. "Just playing against their defence is enough of a concern right off the bat." Hollins said beauty will be in the eye of the beholder for this series. "Some people think its ugly, some people think its beautiful," Hollins said. "I dont know. Dont really care." Home court mattered during the regular season as these teams split with each winning on their own floor. Remember when Popovich sent Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Danny Green home to avoid playing the Heat in Miami on Nov. 29th? Well, that rest at the end of a six-game road trip cost the Spurs an unprecedented $250,000 fine. But the move paid off when the Spurs hosted the Grizzlies on Dec. 1 when Memphis was off to an NBA-best 12-2 start with a 99-95 win by San Antonio. Three of the teams matchups came before Memphis traded away Rudy Gay on Jan. 30. Memphis won the last game April 1 when Conley drove the lane for a layup and a 92-90 win on a night where Kawhi Leonard stayed in San Antonio with a sore left knee, Duncan sat out and Ginobili was out with a strained hamstring. "Its going to be a tough series," Randolph said. "Every time weve played them its a tough series. They got Ginobili, Parker, and they got a lot of other guys who do great things for the team." San Antonio went 35-6 at home in the regular season, then swept the Lakers to open the playoffs. The Warriors tested that home-court advantage forcing the Spurs to go to overtime to pull out the first game of that series and did win Game 2. The Spurs won Game 5 at home before closing out the series Thursday night. That forces the Spurs into a quicker turnaround, even though they do get to start at home. "I dont think you need any more challenge than playing in the conference finals and having the opportunity to go to the NBA Finals," Ginobili said. "Not that we needed that. It is big enough." Memphis has been on a bit of a revenge tour this post-season. The Grizzlies ousted the Clippers in six after losing to Los Angeles in seven last year, then they made up for their 2011 Western semifinal loss to Oklahoma City by knocking off the defending Western champs in five games. A key in this series will be Parker and Conley. Parker is averaging 22.4 points a game this post-season, while Conley is averaging a career-best 17.6 points while handing out 7.6 assists a game. "Hes the real key to their basketball team," Popovich said. "Everybody just thinks about Zach and Marc, who are sufficiently wonderful as players. But Conley is very, very important to that group." They got an extra day of rest after Wednesday nights 88-84 win over the Thunder. Now they have geared up again focusing on defence, rebounding and trying to outscore an opponent in the paint, which already has worked so well this post-season. "Its the same recipe," Gasol said. "Its just a little tougher." Cheap Jordan 11 Mens .Y. -- Marcell Dareus and the Buffalo Bills defence made life miserable for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. Cheap Jordan 11 Shoes For Sale . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. http:///...ir-jordan-11-orange/ . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. In the wake of California Chromes devastatingly easy score in Saturdays Awesome Again Stakes, more than a few people wondered why anyone would want to face the worlds best racehorse in next months Breeders Cup Classic.Its a reasonable question. California Chrome is now 6 for 6 this year, including powerful victories in the Dubai World Cup and Pacific Classic, and he has not lost a race in 18 months. And on Saturday, he took serious early pressure from a very good multiple Grade 1 stakes winner in Dortmund while being pinned down inside, where he has never really wanted to be, at least in the past, and brushed it off like it was nothing. Absolutely nothing.In the end, California Chrome won the Awesome Again by 2-1/4 lengths, but it would have been much, much more than that if he hadnt been completely geared down late to keep plenty in reserve for his Breeders Cup engagement. Now thats a scary thought.But regarding the question of why anyone would want to face California Chrome in the BC Classic, heres the answer: Because the best horses are supposed to run in the best races. Period.They dont always do, however. And part of the problem here in a Breeders Cup context was brought on by the Breeders Cup itself when it created the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile.While the general concept of the Dirt Mile was a good one, it just hasnt panned out in practice. There is no coherent series of races in the U.S. for dirt milers, nor has the creation of one been spurred since the Dirt Mile was first run in 2007. Moreover, there is no Eclipse Award category for dirt milers, nor should there be, because that would only serve to water down our championships.But the biggest issue here is, the Dirt Mile has acted as a siphon, taking away talent from other, far more established Breeders Cup events such as the Sprint, and most troubling, the Classic.Only last year, we saw Liams Map decline to face American Pharoah in the Classic, and opt for the Dirt Mile, instead. I understand that the prospect of facing American Pharoah in the Breeders Cup last year was not a pleasant one, but a horse like Liams Map, who won the Woodward and was a giant second in the Whitney, belonged in the Classic. Liams Map was much the best winning the Dirt Mile, but frankly, I feel a strong second in the Classic to American Pharoah would have enhanced his stature more.The Classic/Dirt Mile political football after California Chromes dominating performance Saturday was Frosted. Many on social media opined that after California Chromes latest performance, Frosted should run in the Dirt Mile, because he has no shot in the Classic.That might be true. Frosted, and maybe no one else, has a chance to beat California Chrome in a truly run Classic. But thats almost beside the point. Frosted, winner of the Whitney and Met Mile, and third in the Woodward after a terribly overconfident ride, belongs in the Classic. His credentials warrant running in that race, and make him overqualified to run in the Dirt Mile, which is essentially a rich consolation prize.Also, Frosted is owned by Sheikhh Mohammeds Godolphin. Cheap Air Jordan 11 China. The front end of a $1 million Dirt Mile purse probably wont change Godolphins fortunes, nor, I think, will a Dirt Mile victory greatly enhance Frosteds already well-established stallion credentials. Godolphin, to its great credit, has always been about running in and attempting to win the very best races. For that reason alone, I would be disappointed if Frosted didnt run against California Chrome in the Classic.Saturday notes:* Beholder has been a tremendous three-time champion. But Stellar Wind is simply better than her now. Stellar Wind ran a better race than Beholder did when she won the Clement Hirsch at Del Mar, and she did the same in the Zenyatta. Stellar Wind had the tougher trip Saturday being three wide on the first turn and having to be used early to negate Beholders natural pace advantage, and yet she still prevailed.* Cant find an apparent excuse for Klimt, who had to settle for second at 1-5 behind Gormley in the FrontRunner. Gormley was decidedly best. He also ran his 1-1/16 miles a gaping 1.31 seconds faster than Noted and Quoted did winning the Chandelier four races later, and that after similar early paces.* Its easy to be excited about Three Ruless 10-length destruction of his field in the Florida Sire In Reality Stakes, which made him unbeaten and untested in five starts. But keep in mind, he was 1-5 in a 12-horse field Saturday, which says almost as much about his opposition as it does about him.* Im giving Flintshire a pass for his second to Ectot at 1-5 in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Flintshire just wasnt himself on the yielding going, and he will be expected to rebound in the Breeders Cup Turf on the firm footing he is certain to get at Santa Anita.That said, take nothing away from Ectot. Ectot was a disappointment in his first two U.S. starts, but he set a legitimate pace for the footing and 1-1/2-mile distance, and he kept on going.* Oscar Performance ran away with the Pilgrim Stakes just like he ran away from his maiden field at Saratoga in his previous outing, and he might be a very special 2-year-old turf performer. Still, he had very easy early leads in both of his wins, and I want to see how he responds to real pace pressure before I completely buy into him.* Joking has been a great $20,000 claim for owner/trainer Charlie Baker, and he earned a shot at the Breeders Cup Sprint with his closing score in the Vosburgh. But the Vosburgh made Joking 4 for 5 on wet tracks, which he wont get at Santa Anita. The Vosburgh also made Joking 6 for 9 at Belmont Park. He is 4 for 30 elsewhere.* Its difficult to be optimistic about Runhappys tired fourth in the Ack Ack. Yes, Runhappy was making his first start in nine months, and at a one-turn mile, which can be a difficult distance at which to return. But Runhappy was 1-5 against a field that looked outclassed on paper, and he is a horse who in the past has run big off workouts and layoffs. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Hockey Jerseys China Nike Baseball Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys China Cheap Football Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys Canada Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys Canada Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic Canada Stitched Soccer Jerseys Canada Cheap Jerseys Canada NFL ' ' '