Translated material
Duncan beat Nowitzki
Last season's best NBA team, San Antonio, was on the verge of losing its championship credentials. Another duel between Tim Duncan and the German legionnaire of “Dallas” Dirk Nowitzki was left to the black basketball player - 36:31 in points, 12:10 in rebounds, plus the victory of the Spurs. Duncan made all 12 of his first dozen field goals (he made 13 of 19 for the game), tying the league playoff record set in April 1975 by Kansas City's Larry McNeil against Chicago".
Cleveland won its third straight win in the Eastern Conference semifinals against Detroit. The visitors won for the first time in this series, which gives the Cavaliers a good chance to successfully finish this confrontation before the home match on Friday. Cleveland players trusted their leader LeBron James to complete most of the attacks. In total, he made 30 field goals, 13 of which were accurate. As a result, James scored 32 points. During the entire match, he spent only 70 seconds of net time on the bench, and Detroit small forward Tayshaun Prince, who brought 21 points to the team’s treasury, generally played this match without a single substitution. His club partner Ben Wallace, despite his active actions under the boards (13 rebounds), let the Pistons down with disgusting free throws - all seven attempts were inaccurate.
Another key Detroit basketball player, Chauncey Billups, also had a bad match - he had six turnovers, and also left the court early due to too many personal remarks. With 27 seconds left before the final siren, Cleveland forward Drew Gooden made the winning shot. In the last attack of the hosts, Prince was blocked by Donaiell Marshall, and then missed the hoop by Lindsay Hunter, who was under the shield.
All Stanley Cup semifinalists are known
Hockey. NHL. Playoffs. Second round. “Edmonton” – “San Jose” – 2:0 (series score 4:2) .
Edmonton was the last to make it into the top four NHL clubs. Michal Peka opened the scoring in the match in the eighth minute, and in the third period Sean Horkopf consolidated the hosts' advantage. The Canadian team reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 14 years. The Oilers will now meet with Anaheim. The “mighty ducks” have the advantage of their own site. The series will be held up to four wins according to the “2-2-1-1-1” scheme. The matches will take place on May 19, 21, 23, 25 and, if necessary, May 27, 29 and 31. In the regular season, the teams played each other four times, and in all cases the “oil workers” celebrated victory - 4:2 and 6:3 away, 2:1 and 6:5 in Canada.
Carolina and Buffalo are playing in the Eastern Conference finals. The dates for the series are May 20, 22, 24, 26 and, if necessary, May 28, 30 and June 1. The Hurricanes have the advantage in head-to-head matches this season - they won both home games - 4:3 and 5:3, and in Buffalo they prevailed - 4:3 in overtime and lost only once - 0:4 .
Among the Russian representatives in the overseas league, Sergei Samsonov and Igor Ulanov (Edmonton), Ilya Bryzgalov and Vitaly Vishnevsky (Anaheim), Buffalo's top scorer Maxim Afinogenov, his teammate Dmitry Kalinin and Oleg still have a chance to win the Stanley Cup Tverdovsky (“Carolina”). Vladimir ILYIN
Kamsky is single-handedly leading in Sofia
The dual power at the super tournament of the six strongest grandmasters in Sofia lasted only for the weekend. In the first round of the second round, Gata Kamsky regained the lead, winning a beautiful victory over Ruslan Ponomarev. In the tense maneuvering struggle characteristic of the Spanish game, the Ukrainian grandmaster, who played black, lost his sense of proportion, showing activity on the queenside, which turned into an invasion of the white rook. Gata developed a powerful attack and defeated his opponent in a few moves.
At the same time, in another Spanish game, his main rival Viswanathan Anand, playing white against outsider Etienne Bacrot, unsuccessfully tried to refute the draw reputation of Marshall's attack. After a double-edged tactical struggle, Anand retained the opening present in the form of a pawn, but considered it best to force a draw by repeating the moves three times. For Veselin Topalov, Petr Svidler has recently become an inconvenient opponent. Suffice it to recall his initial defeat in Linares, which knocked the world champion out of the saddle. History repeats itself in Sofia, where Peter again beat the Bulgarian in Grunfeld's favorite defense. Apparently, the renaissance of the second circle, as Topalov had last year, is now problematic.
Position of the participants after six rounds : Kamsky - 4.5 points, Anand - 4, Svidler - 3.5, Topalov - 2.5, Bacrot - 2, Ponomarev - 1.5. Oleg STETSKO
Gymnasts from 26 countries will come to Moscow
The Olympic Gymnastics World Cup stage will be held on May 25-26 at the capital's Olympic Sports Complex, in which athletes from 26 countries will take part. The Russian capital is hosting international competitions of this rank for the first time after a long break. During the season, only six stages of the World Cup are held in the world, which are crowned by the final. The prize fund for the Moscow stage is 50 thousand Swiss francs, which will be distributed among the athletes who take first to eighth place in the competition on individual apparatus. According to the cup regulations, each country can field a team of ten athletes - four women and six men. The eight best gymnasts on each apparatus are selected for the final, but no more than two representatives from the country. Russia will be represented at these competitions by: Elena Zamolodchikova, Anna Pavlova, Yulia Lozhechko, Kristina Pravdina, Alexander Safoshkin, Andrey Likhovitsky, Dmitry Gogotov, Anton Lobachev, Yuri Ryazanov, Alexander Kalabin. Olga ERMOLINA