Join us » Nishikori is a skilled, tough, relentless competitor

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- SEATTLE -- Sue Bird hit a season-high five 3-pointers and scored 15 points to lead the Seattle Storm to a surprising 79-72 victory over the WNBA-leading Los Angeles Sparks on Friday night.Coming off her record seventh gold medal in international competition at the Olympics, Bird was 5 of 7 from behind the arc for the Storm (10-15). She also had six assists.Bird has four Olympic and three world championship gold medals.Olympic teammate Breanna Stewart made just 2 of 13 and scored five points, though she did have 11 rebounds. Crystal Langhorn had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Seattle, and Jewell Loyd added 15 points.Nneka Ogwumike had 28 points for Los Angeles (21-4), 15 in the fourth quarter.SUN 84, LYNX 80UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Alyssa Thomas scored 15 points to lead Connecticut past Minnesota.Jasmine Thomas scored the tiebreaking basket with 15.2 seconds to play and finished with 12 points, and Alex Bentley and reserve Courtney Williams also had 12 points for the Sun (9-16) in their third straight victory. Chiney Ogwumike had 11 points and 10 rebounds.Lindsay Whalen and Syliva Fowles had 16 apiece for defending champion Minnesota (21-5), but former UConn star Maya Moore, was held to eight on 3-for-12 shooting.MERCURY 98, WINGS 72PHOENIX -- Penny Taylor scored 22 points and the Phoenix Mercury returned from the five-week Olympic break to rout the Dallas Wings 98-72 on Friday night.Taylor, who played for Australia in Rio, was 8 of 9 from the field. Candice Dupree was 8 of 10 and scored 16 points for Phoenix (11-14). Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner, U.S. gold medal winners, had 13 apiece. Griner also eight rebounds and six blocked shots. DeWanna Bonner had 14 points and 10 rebounds.Plenette Pierson had 18 of her 23 points in the first half for Dallas (9-17).LIBERTY 84, STARS 77SAN ANTONIO -- Sugar Rodgers scored eight of her 18 points in the third quarter and New York topped San Antonio.Tina Charles, a member of the champion U.S. team in the Rio Olympics, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for her league-leading 15th double-double for New York (19-8). Epiphanny Prince played her first game this season after tearing an ACL in November playing in Russia. She had five points in seven minutes.Appel-Marinelli had a career-high 17 points for San Antonio (5-19). The Stars have lost six straight.SKY 90, ATLANTA DREAM 82ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Elena Delle Donne scored 34 points in the first game after helping the United States win an Olympic gold medal, leading Chicago past Atlanta.The Sky (12-13) used a 15-0 run in two minutes in the third quarter to take the lead and then pulled away after the Dream (13-13) cut a 13-point deficit to one with four minutes to play.Cappie Pondexter had 17 points, and Cheyenne Parker 14 for Chicago.Angel McCoughtry led Atlanta with 22 points. Air Max 90 Australia . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Wholesale Air Max 97 .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. http://www.discountaustraliashoes.com/cheap-vapormax-fake.html .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Air Max 1 Fake . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Cheap Vapormax Australia . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. The stakes were very different for the 24 players (singles and doubles) who earned a trip to London to compete in the World Tour Finals last week. So lets see how some of their ambitions played out in a tournament that, thanks to the round-robin format, gave each player multiple chances to prove his mettle.The winnersNo. 1 Andy Murray (5-0, def. Novak Djokovic in final)Murray won it all with an amazing display of sustained excellence that also vaulted him over Djokovic in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking. Given Murrays spotty record at previous World Tour Finals, this was a remarkable feat unsullied by the disappointing quality of Djokovics game.In fact, the final demonstrated just how deeply Murray had gotten into Djokovics head during the 29-year-old Scots relentless drive to the top. This was a magical final, akin to the 2000 year-ender in which Gustavo Kuerten stunned Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in back-to-back matches to win the title and, like Murray, finish the year on top.No. 3 Milos Raonic (2-1, loss to Murray in semifinals)There were moments near the very end of Raonics dramatic battle with Andy Murray when the 25-year-old Canadians visage was almost scary -- thats how intent and focused he was. Murray won that match, but not before Raonic forced him to stare down a match point. The runner-up at Wimbledon, Raonic is the player most likely to win a Grand Slam among the contenders who havent yet won one. It isnt just that smoking hot serve and vastly improved ground game. Its his attitude.No. 8 Dominic Thiem (1-2, eliminated in round robin)Thiem thought he had blown his chance to qualify when he lost early at the Paris Masters. But his rivals for the final opening failed to capitalize, and Thiem punched his ticket to London.Although the Austrian youth won only one match (a three-setter versus Gael Monfils), he was the only player to take a set off Djokovic. Thiem also acquitted himself well against Raonic in his final, do-or-die round-robin match. Thiem, still just 23, picked up a lot of experience. He may have come in the back way, but he left London through the front door.?No. 4 doubles Henri Kontinen and John Peers (5-0, def.?Raven Klaasen?and Rajeev Ram in final)The Finnish (Kontinen) and Australian combo were torrid at the end of the year. They ended the season with a 10-match winning streak. Kontinen is bringing well-earned attention to a nation that is developing a modest but real tennis tradition, while Peers was the lone Australian player, singles or doubles, in the field.Kontinen and Peers defeated the all-French former No. 1 team of?Pierre-Hugues Herbert?and Nicolas Mahut in round-robin play, as well as the all-American, all-everything, hall-of-fame doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals. It just doesnt get any better in doubles, unless you want to count the $455,000 prize money the winners split.The losersNo. 2 Novak Djokovic (4-1, loss in final to Murray) Djokovic might be one of the few ATP players to welcome the brevity of tenniis so-called offseason of roughly six weeks.dddddddddddd Thats because he has a lot to ponder following his repeated collapses at critical moments in the second half of 2016. They were unexpected implosions that made his remarkable first six months seem like a distant memory.But still, all Djokovic had to do last week to retain his No. 1 year-end ranking and restore his reputation as the dominant player on the tour was keep the hard-charging Murray at bay. The O2 arena was Djokovics house (he was striving for a remarkable fifth consecutive year-end title), but Murray took a wrecking ball to it. Djokovic offered shockingly little resistance. What a costly loss.No. 5 Kei Nishikori (1-2, loss to Djokovic in semifinals) Theres no shame in having lost to Djokovic, especially not when you consider how good Djokovic looked until the title match. And finishing in the top five in the world is a great achievement. Although Nishikori can win ATP 250s and 500s until the cows come home, for some reason, he almost always shrinks back when he has a chance to make a truly resonant statement.Nishikori admitted he just wasnt ready to play Djokovic in the semis, which helps explain the 6-1, 6-1 pounding he absorbed. After lasting barely an hour against Djokovic, the 26-year-old Japanese star said he had a successful, but long and tiring, year. Guess what? So did Andy Murray. And look what he did. The surprising thing is that on a day-to-day basis, Nishikori is a skilled, tough, relentless competitor. Time to see a sports psychologist?No. 7 Gael Monfils (0-2, withdrew from round robin with injury)Monfils had the best year of his career in 2016, at age 30. Qualifying for the year-enders was a highlight, but his trip to London was a bummer from the get-go. That was partly because Monfils sustained a rib injury back during the Stockholm tournament, and it continued to trouble him in his first two round-robin pairings against Raonic and Thiem.In his final round-robin match, Monfils was scheduled to play Djokovic. But the idea of meeting Djokovic, who had won all 13 of their matches, while carrying an injury persuaded the Frenchman to withdraw from the tournament. He told reporters: You know, you work so hard for this moment, then not be able play your best, is a huge deception for me.No. 2?Pierre-Hugues Herbert?and Nicolas Mahut (0-3 in round robin)There were two battles for the year-end No. 1 ranking in London this year. In the doubles draw, Andy Murrays brother,?Jamie, and Brazils Bruno Soares were locked in a battle for the top position with the No. 1 team of Herbert and Mahut.Turns out the French guys never really showed up, going winless in London. That enabled Murray and Soares to clinch the No. 1 ranking without having to win the tournament. They got the job done when they swept their three round-robin matches, a run that included a win against the Bryan brothers. ' ' '