Chatecke » Ko, her ascent seemed ordain

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Normally, the San Antonio Spurs like to move the ball around and get everyone touches. On this night they needed a go-to scorer, so coach Gregg Popovich started calling plays for Kawhi Leonard.Last seasons NBA Finals MVP tied his career high with 26 points despite playing with only one good eye, and the Spurs closed with a rush to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 89-85 Monday.Leonard had been away from his teammates for a three-week stretch because of conjunctivitis, a highly contagious infection that has affected his right eye. Still, he pulled down 10 rebounds and gave the defending champions their first lead with 1:44 left.Its just that my vision isnt 100 per cent yet, Leonard said. But Im just playing games trying to get used to it, and hopefully it will just blow past.Tim Duncan added 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Tony Parker scored nine of his 13 in the fourth quarter for the Spurs, who snapped a two-game skid while earning their first road win.It was a grind, Duncan said. Tony didnt play well. I didnt play well. Kawhi really carried us for a while there, made some great plays on defence.San Antonio finished the game on a 14-3 run, giving Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Parker their 500th career victory together. They are second among trios in NBA history to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, who won 540 games with the Boston Celtics.The Spurs future, though, belongs to Leonard.Weve got to start giving him the ball, Popovich said. I dont think Tim and Manu are going to play any more than six or seven more years, so somebody else, do something.Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 23 points and 10 rebounds, but committed two consecutive turnovers that led to the Spurs taking their first lead. J.J. Redick added 13 points, and Chris Paul had 12 points and 10 rebounds while just missing his second triple-double of the season with nine assists.They basically gave us a clinic down the stretch of how to close out a game, Paul said.The Clippers led by seven with just under 6 minutes to play before their shooting went cold and Griffins miscues proved costly. They were 4 of 14 in the fourth.Griffin lost the ball, and Leonards fast-break layup gave San Antonio its first lead at 83-82. Boris Diaw then stole the ball from Griffin. Parker missed, but the ball caromed out to the Spurs and Diaw hit a floater. Ginobili scored to make it 87-82.We definitely let that win slip away, Griffin said. I had two bad turnovers at a critical time. With all that, we still had a chance to tie it up and force overtime. Its a lesson; weve got to keep fighting.Jamal Crawford got fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three, drawing the Clippers within two.Ginobili missed two free throws with 10 seconds to go and the Clippers called a timeout. New owner Steve Ballmer clenched his fists and bellowed, Lets go! as fans rose to their feet.Paul missed on a driving layup that bounced off the rim and Griffin landed on the floor grabbing the rebound. He called a timeout they didnt have.Youre sitting on the ground with the ball. Youve got to think of something, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.After a review, the clock was set at 1.4 seconds. Parker missed the technical foul shot, but the Spurs retained possession. Leonard got fouled in the final seconds and made both.I cant imagine when he can really see again, Rivers said. He willed that for them.San Antonio twice got within two in the fourth, both times on free throws by Parker. He made a pair after Paul got called for a foul, although it appeared Parker pushed him down with his hand as the two got tangled on a drive to the basket.This team has been together through battles, so we know the game is not over yet, Leonard said.The Clippers ran off five straight points to increase their lead to 82-75.Both teams went 2 minutes without scoring before Duncan rattled off six straight points as part of the 14-3 run.___TIP INSSpurs: F Tiago Splitter (right calf tightness), G Marco Belinelli (mild groin strain) and G Patty Mills (right shoulder surgery) sat out. Popovich said Splitter is likely to be out another week or two.Clippers: Spencer Hawes has a sprained left foot and played restricted minutes for the third straight game. Hes wearing a walking boot when he isnt on the court and wont practice this week. Hawes has four days to rest before the Clippers next game.SMOOCH CITYThe arena kiss cam landed on Griffins parents, who smilingly obliged from the seats several rows up from the court. Ill have to catch it on YouTube, Griffin said.UP NEXTSpurs: Visit Golden State on Tuesday in their second back-to-back.Clippers: Host Phoenix on Saturday. Larry Csonka Dolphins Jersey . Numbers Game looks into the Wild getting Matt Moulson from Buffalo. The Wild Get: LW Matt Moulson and LW Cody McCormick. Nat Moore Youth Jersey . Belfort was originally schedule to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24, but a Nevada State Athletic Commission ban on testosterone replacement therapy forced the former light heavyweight champ to withdraw. http://www.authenticdolphinspro.com/Kenn...olphins-jersey/. -- Novak Djokovic benefited from an erroneous call and claimed he didnt realize he had broken the rules. Durham Smythe Jersey . While Chelsea stayed two points behind leader Arsenal courtesy of Etoos hat trick, seventh-place United slipped 14 points from the summit this weekend. And the gap from the Champions League places is growing as well, with Liverpool six points ahead in fourth. Mark Clayton Dolphins Jersey . Ryu (8-3) allowed a run and three hits in six innings and struck out six in his 13th start. In his first 13 starts last season -- his first in the major leagues -- the left-hander was 8-5 with a 2.85 ERA. This was the ninth time this year that Ryu has allowed fewer than three earned runs, and he is 7-0 in those games.OCALA, Fla. - During a closing stretch that featured one of the more tumultuous final hours in recent LPGA Tour history, teen wunderkind Lydia Ko faced a series of tough predicaments. But a query that came after the final round gave her the biggest pause of all.After reclaiming the lead late Saturday to set herself up for a double payoff of sorts, the 17-year-old double-bogeyed the 71st hole in the inaugural Coates Golf Championship to lose by a shot to Na Yeon Choi.However, Ko secured a piece of history that could be remembered long after the details of the tours season opener are forgotten. The transplanted New Zealander became the youngest player of either gender to climb to world No. 1, breaking the record set by Tiger Woods by almost four years.As the ramifications of the distinction finally took hold, the sting of defeat at Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club wasnt quite so bad. The notion of celebrating, which first set her back for a moment, didnt seem so crazy after all.Its going to be good, Ko said. I was here to focus on the tournament itself, but I guess I got a great outcome at the end of the day, too.After leading by as many as four shots on the front nine, Ko trailed Choi by a shot as they played the par-3 15th. With Choi facing a 6-footer for birdie, Ko slammed in an improbable 60-footer and Choi promptly three-putted for a two-shot swing.The teenagers lead didnt last long. Ko drove into a fairway bunker, then fanned a hybrid shot into a stand of pine trees down the right side of the 17th hole, scrambling to make a double bogey.As the steadier Choi finished with a 4-under 68 and 16-under total, Ko had to salvage a par on the 18th to finish in a three-way tie at 15 under, but it was good enough to secure a piece of the record book.Woods, previously the youngest golfer to reach No. 1, was 21 years, 5 months, 16 days when he reached the top in 1997. Ko reached the mark 3 years, 8 months, 14 days earlier. The mens rankings date to 1986 and the womens list is nine years old.Its a nice consolation, if you want to call it that, said Koos swing coach, David Leadbetter.dddddddddddd.Ko finished with a 71 to match Jessica Korda (66) and Ha Na Jang (70) at 15 under.Ko, whose pulse rate seems to be frozen at about 75 beats per minute whether shes making an eagle or double bogey, hardly seemed derailed by the 71st-hole meltdown. Her indefatigable nature is her biggest asset, Leadbetter said.We sent her to anger management school to learn how to get angry, Leadbetter laughed.Choi, on the other hand, was clearly caught up in the emotion of her first victory since late 2012. The 27-year-old topped the LPGA money list in 2010 and won the 2012 U.S. Womens Open, but had fallen out of the world top 15.I think I was so nervous out there, said Choi, who recorded her eighth LPGA victory and was fighting back tears. I was waiting so long for this moment.Choi, one of the games elite players before the two-year victory drought set in, admitted that the pressure to succeed wore her down to the point that she stopped reading Korean sports websites and considered downgrading her cellphone plan so she could not download stories about her play.I think I had a lot of stress from the result, Choi said. Even if I was top 10 or top five, not many people said you did a good job if you finish as runner up. They say you are a loser and that hurts me a lot.As for Ko, her ascent seemed ordained when she won her first LPGA Tour title as an amateur at age 15, the youngest in tour history.I cant say Im surprised, American star Stacy Lewis said of the new No. 1. It was just a matter of time.Ko, a native of South Korea who moved to New Zealand as a youngster, unseated Inbee Park in the top spot.Shes probably the straightest player out here, said Park, who tie for 17th. The golf gets easier if you hit the ball straight and you can roll the ball in.Ko hit a few crooked shots down the stretch, which ultimately cost her the first-place trophy, but once the magnitude of the moment took hold, she was all smiles.There was obviously a loss, Ko said. But there was a huge positive, too. Thats pretty awesome. ' ' '