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ekansekans's blog: "df"

created on 10/29/2012  |  http://fubar.com/df/b351055

EDMONTON -- With five races to go, Will Power says he can still beat Ryan Hunter-Reay and win the IndyCar championship -- but the margin for error is near zero. Paul Krause Jersey . "I feel Im a contender, I really do," said Power Tuesday in a conference call. "I feel like if we get everything right in the next five races we have a legitimate chance of winning the championship. "Were one of the quickest out there, and when things go right on a weekend, were always on the podium or we win the race." Power trails Hunter-Reay by just 34 points heading into Sundays Edmonton Indy event, but he dismisses the suggestion that with four of the last five tracks being road/street courses, the championship is his to lose. "Its not a matter of thinking this will be easy for me because its road courses," he said. "In fact, its become very tough on road courses to win just because of the competitive nature (of the circuit) this year. Theres no one dominant. Theres no one getting all the poles. Theres no one really winning all the road course races. Its really mixed up." Nevertheless, the 31-year-old Penske driver is still king of the road courses and has been for the previous two seasons. He has won IndyCars Mario Andretti Trophy for most points on road courses in each of the last two years and is on pace to win it again in 2012. He has 227 points in six starts on the road courses this season. Thats 28 points more than Hunter-Reay. His three wins this year (back-to-back-to-back victories at Alabama, Long Beach, and Sao Paulo) were all on road/street courses. But Hunter-Reay also has three wins, and is aiming for a fourth consecutive victory this weekend. He not only has the overall points lead at 335, hes tied with Tony Kanaan for the most points (136) in the four oval races this year. Power is a distant 17th on the ovals. Its a breakout season for the 31-year-old Hunter-Reay, with Andretti Autosport, but Power said its not that surprising. "Hes always been strong. This year hes just been more consistent," he said. "Hes executing week in, week out. In my opinion hes the strongest guy in IndyCar racing right now because hes strong in both disciplines --oval and road." The season is turning into a dreaded case of deja vu for Power, from Toowoomba, Australia. He narrowly lost the points championship to Dario Franchitti in 2010 and 2011 only to see Franchitti fall back to eighth this year, but have Hunter-Reay take his place. Power took over the points lead after winning the second race of the season in Birmingham on April 1. He held it through seven races and more than three months. But the lead slowly drained away as the problems mounted: contact with Mike Conway at Indianapolis, a costly drive-through penalty for blocking Tony Kanaan at Texas, contact with E.J. Viso at Iowa, and contact with Josef Newgarden two weeks ago in Toronto. Outside of his three wins, Power has not found the podium in 2012 Edmonton appears the best place to turn that around. Power has been dominant in the Alberta capital, winning last years event on the new 2.2-mile, 13-turn temporary street course at the City Centre Airport. He also won it in 2009. In 2010, he started on pole and finished second. The stars are aligned for Sunday, but Power said a lot still has to go right. "Its still all about executing on the weekend and being mistake-free in the pits, on the track, strategy-wise, everything," he said. Adrian Peterson Jersey . The operation will be performed by team orthopedist Dr. John Frazier on Wednesday. He is expected to be out at least 4-6 weeks. Sweeney, who had been placed on the disabled list retroactive to May 29, was batting . Kyle Rudolph Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Sabres centre Cody Hodgson is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his right hand during a game with the teams American Hockey League affiliate. http://www.minnesotavikingsgears.com/percy-harvin-jersey/ . Teixeira returned to the lineup Saturday in Baltimore, his first appearance since Aug. 27, and reinjured the calf of the final play of the game diving into first base. Jared Allen Womens Jersey . The first five games were tightly contested and took 35 minutes to complete, with the American saving seven break points before the top-seeded Tsonga broke back and held for 3-2. Christian Ponder Jersey . Viciedo, Chicagos No. 8 hitter, and the two batters on either side of him in the lineup, Alexei Ramirez and Brent Morel, all entered the game hitting under .200 -- and all three delivered Monday night in a 7-5 victory.BOSTON - Call him old. Call him dirty. It just fires up Kevin Garnett even more -- and that didnt work out very well for the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Upset by comments from a Hawks owner calling him "the dirtiest guy in the league," Garnett responded with 28 points and 14 rebounds to give the Celtics an 83-80 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night that eliminated Atlanta. "Thank you to their owner for giving me some extra gas tonight," Garnett said. "My only advice to him is next time he opens his mouth to know what hes talking about with Xs and Os vs. checkbooks and bottom lines." The Celtics will open the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday in Boston against the Philadelphia 76ers, who eliminated East No. 1 seed Chicago in six games with a 79-78 victory earlier Thursday. "At least we dont have to travel," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who had hoped to be playing a day or two later. "Id rather be going to Game 1 here than Game 7 in Atlanta." Garnett topped his regular-season high of 25 points and had five blocks and three steals for Boston. Paul Pierce had 18 points despite playing with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and eight assists. But Garnett, who turns 36 this month, was the star, defying age and a reputation that led Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. to say within earshot of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league." Garnett responded on the court, hitting a jumper with 31 seconds left to give Boston the lead for good. Then he responded off it. "I just found that comment to be a little rude and a little out of hand and I wanted to address it," he said. "Just because youve got a lot of money doesnt mean you can open your mouth." Josh Smith had 19 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta, which failed to advance in the playoffs for the first time in four years. Joe Johnson had 17 points, Marvin Williams added 16 and eight rebounds and Al Horford had 15 points and nine rebounds. But Horford missed the first of two foul shots with 2.3 seconds left after he was tackled by Marquis Daniels to avoid an easy dunk that would have tied the game. After he made the second, the Celtics got the ball to Pierce, who was fouled and made both free throws. Boston has won at least one playoff series every year since the new Big 3 was assembled in the summer of 2007. "The one thing about the Celtics is those guuys know how to win," Williams said. Chris Doleman Jersey. "After winning (Game 5) down in Atlanta with our backs against the wall, we knew it was going to be tough coming up here. I thought we did a really good job putting ourselves in position to win down the stretch." The Boston crowd burst into a cheer -- even the Celtics players were checking it out -- near the end of the third quarter when the final play of the Sixers-Bulls game was shown on the scoreboard. Instead of having to face Chicago on the road -- even without injured star Derrick Rose -- the Celtics will have home-court advantage against eighth-seeded Philadelphia. The Hawks went 5 minutes without scoring early in the fourth quarter as the Celtics turned a two-point game into a 74-65 lead. But Atlanta scored 10 of the next 12 points, with Horford scoring the last three baskets, making it a one-point game on an alley-oop pass from Smith with 3:52 left. Smith faked at the top of the key and went right down the lane for a dunk that gave Atlanta its first lead of the second half, 77-76. Horford drove to the basket to give the Hawks a three-point lead. Atlanta still led 79-78 when Garnett made a turnaround jumper in the lane over Smith to put Boston ahead by one. Smith missed a long rainbow jumper and Ray Allen got the rebound with 10 seconds left, but he made only one of two free throws. Johnson drove to the basket but Pierce blocked his shot and Garnett tipped it out of bounds with 3.1 seconds left. The Hawks got the ball to Horford in the lane but as he went up for the dunk or layup, Daniels, who played just one minute in the game, wrapped him up and kept him from scoring. The first foul shot went off the rim, costing Atlanta a chance to tie. Notes: Pierce injured the knee during Sunday mornings shootaround and hurt it again when he tried to get around a screen set by Smith during Game 4 that night. ... Rivers became just the third coach in Celtics history to record 50 postseason victories, joining Red Auerbach (90) and K.C. Jones (65) . New England Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork was at the game. ... The Hawks lost to the Celtics in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, a series that went seven games. Boston went on to win its NBA-record 17th championship. ... Allen, the NBAs all-time 3-point leader, was 1 for 7 from beyond the arc. ... The Hawks are 1-11 in playoff series against Boston. They last beat the Celtics as the St. Louis Hawks to win the 1958 NBA title. ... Rondo had three assists and two baskets during a 16-0 run in the second quarter. Pierce, who came back off the bench in the middle of the run, had five points and a steal over the span of 4 minutes. ' ' '

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