Termine » Rafael Nadal in September

CLEVELAND -- Sitting in the last chair on Indianas bench, David West stared straight ahead, unable to look at the court. As the final seconds ticked off the clock on another disheartening loss, West seemed dazed. The Pacers promising season is unraveling Dion Waiters scored 19 points, Luol Deng added 15 and the Cleveland Cavaliers kept their playoff push going with a 90-76 win Sunday over the skidding Pacers, who are losing their grip on the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Tristan Thompson had 16 rebounds as the Cavs snapped a nine-game losing streak against Indiana. Cleveland came in three games behind slumping, idle Atlanta for the conferences final playoff spot. With seven games left -- six against teams with losing records -- the Cavs still have a chance. The Pacers, meanwhile, are falling apart. They lost their fifth straight road game and now lead Miami by one game for the Easts top record and home-court advantage throughout the post-season. Since beating the Heat at home last week, Indiana has lost to Washington and Cleveland. "Were losing games at an alarming rate to teams that are inferior to us," said West, who picked up a technical four in the fourth quarter. "We cant figure out a way to perform better. Weve done what you do. Weve had team meetings. Weve had players-only meetings. Weve had players and the coaches (meetings). Were kind of looking for answers right now, and things dont get any easier." Paul George scored 15 and West 14 for Indiana, which fell behind by 21 in the fourth quarter. Once thought to be a lock to make the conference finals, the Pacers are in disarray as they enter the final weeks of the regular season. "Were lost right now," guard Lance Stephenson said. "We just have to play through it." Indianas offence lacks rhythm, and other than their win over the Heat, the Pacers arent showing the same intensity or energy that has made them one of the NBAs top teams. "Were all frustrated," coach Frank Vogel said. "I think were playing against ourselves. Its a level of play that were trying to reach that were not close to where we need to be." The Pacers trailed the Cavs by 13 at halftime, and after pulling within six in the third, Indiana let the Cavs go on a 14-5 run, capped by Jarrett Jacks 3-pointer that made it 69-54. Indiana never got close enough to threaten the Cavs in the fourth, and Vogel pulled West and his other starters for the final 1:20 -- a surprising sign of surrender. Midway through the quarter, West was assessed the technical and a flagrant-1 after a mix-up with spunky Cavs rookie guard Matthew Dellavedova and Cleveland centre Spencer Hawes. Theres still time to get things fixed, but the Pacers have lost nine of 15 since March 4 and it wont get any easier with San Antonio coming in for a visit on Monday. The Spurs have won 17 straight. "Weve got to get to playing better," West said. "Weve got eight games left. Its going to get real. We dont want to be disappointed in April and May. Weve got to figure something out. Everybody, individually, all of us have to look at ourselves and figure out what we can do to right this ship." The Cavs, on the other hand, are peaking at the right time. They won for the fourth time in five games despite playing without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, who missed his eighth straight with an injured biceps. Irving could be back this week, when the Cavs, who are 14-12 since Feb. 5, are at Orlando before a showdown on Friday against the Hawks, who have lost six in a row. "Our guys just keep fighting," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. Cleveland played the second half without centre Anderson Varejao, who strained his right shoulder. The Cavs said their leading rebounder will be re-evaluated Monday. The Pacers, who shot just 37 per cent, lacked any offensive cohesion and left Cleveland searching for answers. "A lot of our guys are out of rhythm right now," Vogel said. "Weve got to figure it out." NOTES: The Pacers have scored less than 80 points in four of their past five games. ... Irving was scheduled to be re-evaluated Sunday by team physician Dr. Richard Parker. Its not yet known when, or if, Irving will play again. ... Clevelands schedule couldnt be better over the next seven games for its playoff drive. The Cavs will play just one team -- Brooklyn -- with a winning record and thats in the season finale. ... George is shooting just 31 per cent (40 of 130) in his last eight games. Jake Jewell Angels Jersey . On Sunday, hell attempt to become the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide race on Iowas short track. The 20-year-old Blaney wont be the only kid pushing a podium finish. Dave Winfield Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. https://www.cheapangels.com/2183j-bobby-...sey-angels.html. -- Phil Hughes ended a personal losing streak that dated to last July, pitching into the seventh inning Sunday and helping the Twins top the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to avoid a three-game sweep. Justin Upton Jersey .com) - Nicklas Backstrom scored a pair of goals and Alex Ovechkin notched a highlight-reel tally, leading the Washington Capitals to a 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday at the Prudential Center. Andrelton Simmons Jersey . Cleary also had two assists and Patrick Eaves added two goals for the Red Wings, who also ousted Phoenix in seven games during the first round of the 2010 postseason. Todd Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for Detroit, which got a goal apiece from Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall and suffered no shortage of offense despite the absences of Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.With the Davis Cup on the line, Radek Stepanek delivered again. Stepanek gave the Czech Republic its second straight Davis Cup title Sunday, sweeping past Dusan Lajovic in straight sets in the fifth and decisive match to secure a 3-2 win over Serbia in the final. That made Stepanek the first player in the history of the tournament to decide two consecutive finals in the fifth match, having done the same against Spains Nicolas Almagro last year. "This is an amazing moment," said Stepanek, who beat the 117th-ranked Lajovic 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 after Novak Djokovic had levelled the series for Serbia at 2-2 earlier Sunday. The Czech veteran converted his first match point with a smash to send about a thousand visiting Czech fans at Belgrade Arena into wild celebrations as they blew trumpets and beat their drums. Stepanek spread his hands on the court as Tomas Berdych and other Czech teammates jumped on him. "Its difficult to find right words for emotions I am going through now," Stepanek said. "It was a completely different experience than last year. I was very focused, concentrated, I knew what to do on court. We made history for our country today." Last years victory for the first for the Czechs as an independent nation. Serbia won its only crown in 2010, beating France in Belgrade. Lajovic, who has a 5-12 record on the ATP tour and had never played in the Davis Cup before this weekend, replaced Janko Tipsarevic, who missed the final with a heel injury. He also lost his first singles against Berdych on Friday -- his first career best-of-five-sets match -- and found himself thrust into by far the biggest match of his life against Stepanek. The 23-year-old Serb started well, however, breaking Stepanek in the opening game of the match. But the 34-year-old Czech responded swiftly with two consecutive breaks to take a 5-2 lead. Stepanek controlled the match ffrom then on, and broke Lajovic for 3-1 in the final set, and then added another before serving out the match.dddddddddddd "I was fighting to my last breath, but obviously this wasnt enough," Lajovic said. "Of course, I am very disappointed. Right now I need to cool off my head and think what to do next." Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said his teams chances of winning the title were crippled by Tipsarevics injury and a 12-month doping ban against Viktor Troicki, who helped Serbia win its only title. "We couldnt find the real replacement for the two, it was like playing tennis without one leg," Bogdanovic said. "Dusan is the young gun in our team. Hopefully he is going to use the energy from the team and some experiences from those two matches for his career, even if it wasnt a success." The Czechs got the crucial point in Saturdays doubles to go up 2-1. The second-ranked Djokovic then kept alive Serbias hopes by beating Berdych 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2 earlier Sunday to improve his career record against the Czech to 15-2. "We both entered this match with a lot of tension," Djokovic said. "I managed to break his resistance in the second set." Berdych was leading 5-4 in the second-set tiebreaker when he sent wide an easy backhand volley at the net. Then he lost a point on his serve, and Djokovic took his first chance to serve out the set. Djokovic, who improved his winning streak to 24 matches since losing the U.S. Open final against Rafael Nadal in September, converted his first match point with an ace, bringing cheers from the 17,000-strong boisterous Serbian crowd at the arena. "Its really hard to find right and correct words to explain at what level hes playing and how strong Novak is," Berdych said. "He is now the best player when hes playing indoors, and thats what he proved today." ' ' '