Offtopic/fun » waver.I was making errors that I never make. So many

(Sports Network) - With the NBA Finals knotted 2-2, Sundays Game 5 between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs will be huge in determining the next league champion. Watch pre-game coverage on TSN2, tonight at 7pm et/4pm pt. Then tune in to Game 5 live on TSN and TSN Mobile TV, at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. You can also listen to the action on TSN 1050 and TSN 690. For the defending champion Heat, they carry some momentum after a 109-93 victory Thursday night in Alamo City, but no one in a Miami uniform will be taking Game 5 lightly. "We need to play with the same sense of urgency as if we were down 2-1 or whatever the case may be tomorrow night," LeBron James said on Saturday. "We are excited about the opportunity. We have another opportunity to win on someone elses floor." The Spurs appear to be in a slightly more desperate situation. A loss on Sunday sends them down 2-3 with the remaining two games back in South Beach. "It is a must-win," stated Tim Duncan. "We dont want to go back down there down a game with two games remaining at their house. It is a must-win situation. Obviously we lose this game, were not giving up or anything, but we want to go back up with a chance to finish there. Huge pressure if we have to go back there and try to win two." In Game 4, Miami fans were treated to the Big Three they expected every night. James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined for 85 points, 30 rebounds, nine assists, 10 steals and five blocks. It was a somewhat unexpected performance considering the inconsistent play of both Wade and Bosh during this postseason. "We would love to do what we did last game every game. But every game is different," said James. "Every game presents different challenges. We havent been able to string games like that for the Big Three in this postseason. But were still here. Were still in a position to win an NBA championship, and thats whats most important." James was the high scorer with 33 points on Thursday, but the catalyst was Wade. He finished with 32 points and set the tone with his aggression in the first half. Then, when the Heat began to pull away, it was Wade at the center of things. "My team needed a better performance out of me. And mentally I had to change my mind," said Wade, who has battled a knee injury during the playoffs. "But as I said at the beginning of this series, I felt better in this series than I felt in the Indiana series. Its been a plus." With due respect to Wades knee, the majority of health news in this series has focused on the hamstring of Spurs All-Star guard Tony Parker. He was a game-time decision for Game 4 on Thursday with a grade 1 hamstring strain. Parker suited up and scored 15 points and handed out nine assists in 31 minutes. Parker benefited more than anyone from the two days off between Games 4 and 5. "The doctors say it will not change anything if I rest two more days. My hamstring can tear any time now," acknowledged Parker. "So if it was the regular season, I would be resting like 10 days. But now its the NBA Finals. If it gets a tear, its life." Another concern for the Spurs is the regression in the game of Manu Ginobili. He hasnt scored in double figures since Game 1 and is averaging just 7.5 ppg during the Finals. And Spurs skipper Gregg Popovich was effusive as always when asked Saturday about two of his best players struggling. "Im not worried about anything that you just mentioned; theyre fine," opined Pop. Game 6 will be back in Miami Tuesday night. Mitch Wishnowsky Super Bowl Jersey . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Ronnie Lott Super Bowl Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. http://www.thesf49ersshoponline.com/Youth-Kentavius-Street-49ers-Jersey/ . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Mike Person Super Bowl Jersey . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. Deion Sanders Super Bowl Jersey . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. NEW YORK -- It was late in this US Open semifinal match, and once again, the lopsided nature of Serena Williams résumé versus her opponents didnt matter. Same as it didnt save Williams in four of her past five Grand Slam losses before this. This time, Williams tormentor wasnt her Australian Open conqueror Angelique Kerber, or Spanish upstart Garbine Muguruza, who surprised her in this years French Open final. It wasnt even a wily veteran like Roberta Vinci, who derailed Williams run at a calendar-year Grand Slam on this same court a year ago with arguably the most monumental upset in tennis history.Thursday night on the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the new predicament Williams found herself in was a win-or-go-home tiebreaker against 24-year-old Karolina Pliskova, a 10th-seeded but largely unproven Czech. Williams was faced with the unenviable chore of trying to survive against the most prolific ace machine on tour. This while playing with an aching left knee -- a new ailment that only a few insiders knew that she had until after the match, which ended ingloriously for her with a double fault that sealed Pliskovas stunning 6-2, 7-6 (5) win.Just like that, all the history Williams was chasing -- a tie with Chris Evert for the record of seven US Open titles, a chance to break her tie with Steffi Graf at 22 majors, most in the Open era -- was put off for another day. When Williams wakes up Monday morning, she also officially wont be ranked No. 1 (Kerber will) leaving Williams forever moored in a tie with Graf for most consecutive weeks in the top spot, with 186.Im not talking about No. 1, thank you, Williams said during an occasionally terse news conference in which she allowed that her knee mightve contributed to the loss. Williams, though, hotly disputed fatigue from her three-set win over Simona Halep a day earlier was a factor.For Williams, who turns 35 on Sept. 26, the defeat nonetheless continued a troubling trend. By any measure -- the statistics, the anecdotal evidence, the way she has dominated tennis for two decades now -- Williams is the greatest player in tennis history, bar none. Theres no need to confine the praise to only the womens side of the sport.Including last months Rio Olympics, where Williams was sent crashing out in the third round by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, what has been astonishing isnt just who Williams has lost to in the biggest moments the past year -- its how she has been losing. Even when her body hasnt betrayed her, as it did in the past month, nerves seem to haunt her. Her confidence seems more brittle than youd expect, given all that she has done. Errors come in bunches. Opponents are rushing in to capitalize.Williams has now lost four of her past five major tournaments to players that she had a combined career record of 18-2 against before she lost to them.Players still deeply respect Williams. But other than her win against Kerber for the Wimbledon title, Williams just doesnt project the same self-assurance or strike the same off-the-charts fear into her opponents that she used to.dddddddddddd And Muguruza had no problem saying that out loud after her French Open title win, telling reporters that players are seeing that Williams is more beatable now.Of course, Muguruza hasnt personally been able to build on her breakthrough win. She has fallen into the same struggles that Kerber admittedly did after she won her first Slam title. But still other players have performed like they agree with the Spaniard -- playing Williams doesnt spark the same feeling of inevitability it used to. Other players just seem to see a little daylight now against Williams, where before, they saw little to none.Romanias Halep said as much, too, after very nearly beating Williams in their three-set dogfight on Wednesday night. Afterward, she rued her failure to break Williams in the first game of the final set, saying if shed done that then, the ending wouldve been a different story.Pliskova played like one of the new believers, too. Williams is generally thought to have the greatest serve in the history of the game, but Pliskovas serve and return games were both better than Serenas on Thursday night.And the thing is, Pliskova had never even been past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament until this giant-killing 11-match summer winning streak shes on, which also included a win over Serenas sister, Venus, earlier in this tournament. With the victory, Pliskova became only the fourth player to beat both William sisters at the same Slam, joining Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.I said I dont believe it -- but actually, I do believe [I won], Pliskova said. I always knew I had a chance to beat anyone if Im playing my game.For Serena, who is used to doing the dictating, it was a frustrating night. But she refused to go as far as her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, did and blame this loss on her knee injury. (Mouratoglou said she suffered it against Halep on Wednesday, but Williams said she suffered a few rounds earlier.) The most Williams would allow was being hampered by the knee caused her focus to waver.I was making errors that I never make. So many simple, simple shots that I couldve easily made, she said.Williams has been so extraordinary for so long, any wobble in her play seems like a seismic event. But she has now had four such upsets in her past five Slams. She isnt just blowing these matches; her rivals are going out and taking them.Williams has dug herself out of too many trenches before in her majestic 22-year career to rush to any big conclusions that this is the beginning of her end as the games greatest player. But it has been happening for a year now.And its only natural to wonder. ' ' '