Reuters/New York
The San Antonio Spurs taught Oklahoma City a lesson in championship poise with a 101-98 win on Sunday that stretched their remarkable win streak to 19 games and earned them a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals. The experienced Spurs, who have won four NBA championships under coach Gregg Popovich, trailed by nine after three quarters but kept their cool and sprinted to the finish to win the opening game of the best-of-seven series. Manu Ginobili scored a team-high 26 points off the bench, and Tony Parker added 18 as San Antonio outscored the visiting Thunder 39-27 in the fourth to pass a rare post-season test. “They had us on our heels and we were not aggressive,” Ginobili told reporters of the game’s first three quarters. “We needed an edge. In the (fourth quarter), we had it.” The red-hot Spurs remain perfect in the post-season with nine victories and have now tied the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers for longest win streak between the regular season and playoffs. Kevin Durant netted 27 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma City, who defeated the past two NBA champions in their previous rounds and were in good shape to move ahead of San Antonio before getting blitzed in the fourth. Three-time defending scoring champion Durant managed no field goals in the last 16-plus minutes of the game. “They forced me out a little bit and they do a good job on help defense,” Durant said. “I did things I wanted to do tonight, I just have to do better next time.” San Antonio opened the final period with a 15-3 run to seize a lead they would never relinquish. San Antonio Spurs centre Tim Duncan (left) and guard Manu Ginobili of Argentina (right) squeeze out Oklahoma City Thunder centre Kendrick Perkins in a free throw during the fourth quarter of game one of the NBA Western Conference finals at ATT Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday. (EPA)Gebrselassie fails in Olympic 10,000 bidFormer 10,000 metres world record holder Haile Gebrselassie failed to qualify for the London Olympics after finishing seventh at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo, Netherlands on Sunday. The 39-year-old trailed home in a time of 27 minutes 20.39 seconds, nearly nine seconds behind winner Tariku Bekele in a race staged as an official Ethiopian Olympic trial. “I was wondering if I can run, you know, just the top three, but it did not work,” Gebreselassie told Reuters. “The last 400m it was not good for me.” Gebreselassie admitted his Olympic dream had died. “That’s over, yeah,” he said. “No more.” Bekele finished in 27:11.70, just ahead of Leleisa Desisa Benti who will join him in London. The third spot in the Ethiopian team is being held open for world record holder Kenenisa Bekele who has been suffering from injury problems. Gebrselassie had been hoping to travel to his fifth Olympics and was in confident mood after winning the Great Manchester Run last weekend. He won gold in the 10,000 metres in 1996 and 2000. Santos Luguelin of the Dominican Republic set the second-best time of the year in the men’s 400 metres. The 18-year-old won in 44.45 seconds, a time only bettered by American Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt in 2012.