Forums » Support
Hurts our sport. Let alone our
-
MIAMI - For the last three seasons the Indiana Pacers figured their toughness, defence and rebounding would be enough to ultimately knock off the Miami Heat. Tom Rathman Super Bowl Jersey .These are not those same Pacers.The formula still worked wonders.Chris Copeland scored 17 points and put Indiana ahead to stay on a layup with 43 seconds left, Roy Hibbert added 16 points and 15 rebounds and the undermanned Pacers beat the Heat 81-75 on Wednesday night.Sometimes thats what its about, let our defence win it for us, Copeland said. I think we made their shots difficult and sometimes on the road its not pretty.Indiana — which saw each of its last three seasons end with playoff losses to Miami — held the Heat to 17 points or less in each of the final three quarters, plus outrebounded Miami 53-28. The Heat even struggled when the Pacers struggled on defence; Miami missed 10 of its 18 free throws.You have to figure out a way to pull a few of these games out throughout the year, said Miamis Dwyane Wade, who scored a game-high 20 points. We didnt do that tonight, but hopefully next time were in this situation we learn from tonight and we figure out a way.Donald Sloan added 15 points for Indiana, which has won two straight after a 1-6 start.Our guys (were) just competing their tails off, Indiana coach Frank Vogel said.Ian Mahinmis three-point play with 7 minutes left put Indiana up 72-65, then its largest lead of the night. Miami scored the next seven to tie it, then knotted the game again at 75 before Indiana closed on a 6-0 run.Shawne Williams scored 15 for Miami. Chris Bosh was held to a season-low nine, on 3 for 13 shooting.This offence is predicated on ball movement, Bosh said. And they really flattened us out.The Heat had three late shots at the lead, but a jumper by Luol Deng missed, Hibbert blocked a dunk attempt by Deng and Bosh airballed a 3-pointer.Indiana was missing six players, including four-fifths of its starting lineup from the last Pacers-Heat meeting — that being Game 6 of last seasons Eastern Conference finals. Paul George, David West and George Hill are all hurt and Lance Stephenson is now with Charlotte, meaning Hibbert was the lone returning first-stringer from that rivalry.Im thinking about not starting a losing streak again, Hibbert said. We dropped six straight, we won last game, and Im not thinking about a rivalry. Im just thinking about getting wins.TIP-INSPacers: Indiana was without G Rodney Stuckey (left foot), F C.J. Miles (migraine), West (right ankle), George Hill (left knee) and G C.J. Watson (right foot), along of course with George (broken right leg). ... F Luis Scola got his 1,000th career assist.Heat: Miamis 75 points were its lowest at home in a regular-season game since Feb. 27, 2010. ...F Chris Andersen (bruised ribs) returned after a five-game absence, appearing in his 599th NBA game. ... Miami extended its streak of making at least one 3-pointer to 199 games. ... Bosh had scored at least 20 points in each of Miamis first seven games.ZO HONOREDThe Heat honoured Alonzo Mourning at halftime for his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year, updating his retired jersey that hangs from the rafters to note his enshrinement. I took a part of Heat Nation into the Hall of Fame, Mourning said.COPING COPELANDCopeland scored in double-figures for the eighth time in the Pacers nine games. He had four double-digit games last season.BATTIER BACKFormer Heat F Shane Battier was back Wednesday, helping announce that Billy Joel will have a concert in Miami on Jan. 31. Battier said he misses competition, but is content with his decision to retire.UP NEXTPacers: Host Denver on Friday.Heat: At Atlanta on Friday. Dante Pettis Super Bowl Jersey . His Brazilian opponents said he produced miracles. There is no doubt that Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa was the one responsible for spoiling Brazils hopes of another World Cup victory at its home tournament. Roger Craig Super Bowl Jersey . Yet heading to New York, the Habs remain positive as it all comes down to the one main ingredient that the organization has built its team on - character.LOS ANGELES -- UFC President Dana White is "thrilled" by the Association of Ringside Physicians call for the elimination of testosterone replacement therapy in mixed martial arts. White still believes the UFC cant be solely in charge of eliminating steroid users from its bouts, saying government athletic commissions should close the TRT loophole permanently. "The doctors came out and said they want to ban it? Well, thats the answer," White told The Associated Press on Monday. "Its legal in the sport. The commissions let you do it. You get an exemption, and you have to be monitored and all the stuff thats going on, but if theyre going to do away with it? There you go. Its a problem solved." The ARP is an association of ringside doctors involved in boxing and MMA -- the so-called combat sports. The organizations consensus statement calls for the elimination of therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone, a thorny issue in MMA circles for years. "Steroid use of any type, including unmerited testosterone, significantly increases the safety and health risk to combat sports athletes and their opponents," the ARPs statement said. "TRT in a combat sports athlete may also create an unfair advantage contradictory to the integrity of sport." Several UFC fighters in recent years have been given exemptions by athletic commissions to use synthetic testosterone before their bouts, including veteran stars Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Frank Mir. The exemptions were granted ostensibly for medical reasons, including a supposed deficiency in naturally occurring testosterone caused by hypogonadism -- a diminished function of the gonads. Well before the ARP added its influential voice to the chorus against TRT, many medical professionals have questioned the legitimacy of such exemptions, particularly for professional cage fighters. "The incidence of hypogonadism requiring the use of testosterone replacement therapy in professional athletes is extraordinarily rare," the ARPs statement said. "Accordingly, the use of an anabolic steroid such as testosterone in a professional boxer or mixed martial artist is rarely justified." White knows the UFCs next showdown with TRT use is imminent, and he hopes the Nevada State Athletic Commission wont grant an exemption to Belfort, who is scheduled to fight Chris Weidman for the middleweight tittle in Las Vegas later this year. Colin Kaepernick Super Bowl Jersey. . The 36-year-old Belfort, who failed a steroid test in Nevada several years ago, has improbably revitalized his career with three spectacular stoppage victories in his native Brazil. Belfort knocked out the 43-year-old Henderson with a head kick in the first round last November in Goiania, Brazil, earning a title shot. Belfort has been open about his TRT use for the past year, while Henderson has acknowledged it for several years. "He drives me crazy, and me and Vitor were not on good terms a few months ago," White said. "Just because this whole TRT thing, I think, is unfair, and I said were going to test the living (daylights) out of him (during training). And we have, and he has complied, and he has been within the limits hes supposed to have." Although the UFC tests its fighters when they sign contracts and adds additional in-house testing before certain fights, White said hes wary of completely stepping in front of government regulators on the issue. When the UFC stages fight cards in areas with no appropriate athletic commission, the promotion acts as its own regulator. "We couldnt be more proactive," White said. "Drugs hurt us. Hurts our sport. Let alone our perception in the media and everything -- it destroys great athletes. Drugs destroy great athletes, because once you start on them, you can never get off them. Youre on them for the rest of your career." Other prominent fighters believe the UFC should be doing more. Georges St. Pierre, the UFCs longtime welterweight champion before stepping away from the sport late last year, re-ignited the public discussion of drug testing in MMA earlier this month with criticism of the UFCs current testing policies, calling them ineffective and beatable. St. Pierre believes performance-enhancing drugs are still a major problem in MMA. Tim Kennedy, a rising UFC middleweight and former Army Green Beret, hailed Mondays statement from the ARP in a post on his Twitter account: "So the Association for Ringside Physicians supports elimination of TRT in MMA, the fighters want it gone. Only the cheaters want to keep it." UFC middleweight Bubba McDaniel echoed Kennedys sentiments in a post on his Facebook fan page: "If you have abused Steroids so long that you need TRT to remain normal. Your time is up because youve CHEATED long enough!!" ' ' '