SuperLife Sports Blog

TORONTO, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) — Lebron James recorded 35 points in Miami Heat’s 104-95 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night to become the fifth player in NBA history to record 500 consecutive games of double-digits in points.

The four-time MVP, James joins an elite class of Michael Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Moses Malone as the only players to accomplish such a feat.

“It’s very humbling,” said James after the game. “I just go out and play every night and when I see a stat of that, I’m like: ‘wow,’ because I know the history, know the guys who paved the way for myself and my teammates… it’s an amazing feeling.”

James’ impressive feat dates back to Jan. 5, 2007 against the Milwaukee Bucks when he failed to record double-digits with 8 points.

Teammate Dwayne Wade is not surprised by the accomplishment.

“He’s a consistent player,” said Wade. “In practice, during shoot-around and game-day. He’s a consistent player; period.”

Entering his NBA eleventh season, James has demonstrated consistency throughout. In 770 regular season games played, the 28-year-old has recorded double digits in all but eight games. Six of the eight games occurred in James’ rookie year, the 2004-05 season.

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spolestra believes Lebron is more than just consistent.

“We never take his greatness for granted,” said Spolestra following the game.

Having an already impressive resume of two NBA championships, four MVP awards, two Olympic gold medals, nine NBA all-star game appearances and seven all-NBA first team selections, James will need to remain consistent to set a new record for most consecutive games of double-digit scoring.

He trails Michael Jordan’s record of 866 consecutive games by 366 games. To match this feat, if James can stay healthy, he will surpass Jordan near the end of the 2017-18 season.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-11/06/c_132864025.htm

TORONTO, Canada, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — The Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics 93-87 on Wednesday night to begin their 19th NBA season.

With the victory, the Raptors improve to 10-9 in games to open a season and 7-6 in openers held at the Air Canada Centre downtown Toronto.

Despite the victory, Toronto head coach Dwane Casey believes that there are still major areas of improvements needed before the team can achieve success.

“A lot of work (to do) defensively,” said Casey. “To get where we need to go, we got to get some ball movement.”

These two improvements will not be the only challenge for Casey, as the team roster of 15 players consists of six new offseason- additions; rookie-guard Julyan Stone, guard-forward Austin Daye, guard D. J Augustin, guard Dwight Buycks and forward Tyler Hansbrough were acquired through free agency while forward Steve Novak was acquired in the Andrea Bargnani trade.

In addition to the revamped roster, the team includes three sophomore players; Terrence Ross, Quincy Acy and Jonas Valanciunas all with one year of NBA experience.

The offseason changes did not only occur at a roster level. The team replaced former general manager Bryan Colangelo with reining NBA executive of the year Masai Ujiri, resulting in the roster overhaul. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the corporation that owns the team, also introduced a new CEO in Tim Leiweke.

Leiweke and his team were able to successfully land the 2016 NBA All-Star game and a partnership with hip-hop star, Drake as a global ambassador.

Their belief is that the team will be able to appeal to a younger demographic and help grow the sport in Canada.

Casey, Ujiri, Leiweke and Drake will look for the team to improve from their 34-48 record from last season and develop into a contender by the 2015-16 season when they host the All-Star game.

The first step to success would be a birth in the playoffs this season. Such a result would be the team’s first appearance since 2008, and sixth appearance in nineteen seasons.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-11/01/c_132849034.htm

TORONTO, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Serena Williams cruised to victory on Sunday in the Rogers Cup final over Sorana Cirstea to capture her third career Rogers Cup title. Williams won in two sets, 6-2, 6-0 in a match that lasted only 65 minutes.

With three career Rogers Cup titles, Williams sits alone in second behind Monica Seles and Chris Evert, who both has four Rogers Cup titles in the Modern Era. Her previous victories were in 2011 and 2001.

“For me, this is a big tournament. This is one of the big stops of the year,” said Williams after the match.

The victory was also William’ s 54th career WTA title and eighth title of the year, matching her personal best of eight wins in 2002.

“I feel like I have played a lot of tennis this year, although I don’t think I have overdone it,” said Williams. “I feel like I have played key tournaments, played well in those tournaments, and just keep going.”

In front of a capacity stadium, Williams overpowered her Romanian opponent and controlled the match throughout with her fast serves and aggressive second serves returns.

Williams never trailed the entire match, as she managed to break the Romanian’ s first two service games, taking an early 3-0 lead in the first set before winning 6-2.

The second set was even more controlled by Williams, as she ended it in 27 minutes without dropping a single game. Her serves were faster and more accurate, peaking at 196km per hour while only recording a single double fault.

Her 23-year-old opponent felt that Williams was playing on another level and she could not match her performance today.

“She knows when to raise her level. She knows when it’s enough to play and when she has to step it up. She serves very well the big points,” said Cirstea during the post-match press conference. “It’s never easy to play against her, but as I said, I think I could have done better job today.”

For Williams, she was pleased with her effort in the match but feels like she has more left in the tank.

“I knew that I would have to play better today than what I did last night,” said Williams. “Definitely I can do a lot more. For me, it’s always about constantly improving and never saying I did great and I can be satisfied.”

The 31-year-old Williams will have over three months to improve her game and look to set a new personal record with her ninth title in a year. She will be the No. 1 seed as she goes for singles Grand Slam number 17 when the US Open begins in two week’ s time.

As the Rogers Cup singles champion, Williams wins 426,000 US dollars in prize money, adding to her career prizes of over 47 million US dollars.

Since her 2011 Rogers Cup victory, Williams has now won 11 consecutive matches in this tournament. She did not participate in last year’ s tournament due to her participation the London Olympics.

In the other finals match of the day, the team of Jelena Jankovic and Katarina Srebotnik defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke in three sets to capture the women’ s doubles title.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-08/12/c_132621733.htm

TORONTO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — World No. 1 Serena Williams continued her success at the Rogers Cup with a tough 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-final round on Saturday in the Canadian city of Toronto.

Williams, winner of 16 Grand Slam singles titles, will be looking to add to her resume. In her path to the final victory is No. 27 ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who stunned China’s French Open winner Li Na in straight sets in the earlier semi-final match.

Williams and Radwanska battled in a closely-contested match that entertained the Toronto crowd. Williams used her power to counter the long rallies of the trickier Radwanska. In the end, the American’s power was just too much for the Pole to handle.

“It was definitely one of the tougher matches,” said Williams after the game. “I let her play her game, which is what she wanted to do, but I wasn’t able to play my game as much.”

Despite dictating the style of the match, the 24-year-old Radwanska still found herself chasing down deep ball after deep ball and exerting the most energy between the two players. Near the end of the first set, the Pole believed Williams stepped up her game to the next level.

“She really start to play much better in the end of the set, especially in the second set, and playing very aggressive and very deep balls,” said Radwanska. “This (is) what makes her No. 1 in the world, playing unbelievable in very important moments…I couldn’t do anything, you know, about that.”

In the other match, world No. 5 Li Na was upset by Sorana Cirstea of Romania in straight sets, 6-1 7-6 (5).

The 23-year-old Romanian made quick work of Li in the first set in only 21 minutes.

In the second set, she overcame a 4-1 deficit to advance to her third career WTA final and first in nearly five years. She won the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan when she defeated German Sabine Lisicki in October 2008.

Regardless of a win or loss, the Romania is thankful to still be in the tournament. During her second round match against world No. 10 ranked Caroline Wozniacki, she fought off two match points to force a third set which she won.

“Look at this. I could have been out in the second round or in Cincinnati getting ready for my first round, and here I am playing final, you know,” said Cirstea. “So it’s the difference between making it and not making it. It’s very, very small. That’s why now I’m trying to focus on each point, each match, and just try to be in the moment because that’s what matters the most.”

Not knowing who she would be facing, Cirstea had a positive mentality following her victory over Li.

“The main thing is I still have to stay serving well, being aggressive, trying to be in control, going in the court with good mentality,” said Cirstea. “I mean, no matter who is on the other side, I still have to do the same things on my side.”

Williams is intrigued by the matchup against Cirstea. Despite the low ranking of her opponent, she does not see it as an easy victory.

“Last few months she has been really consistent,” said Williams. “She is just a player who has finally found herself, and she’s playing better and better and getting more confident. It’s going to be a really tough match.”

As two-time winner of the Rogers Cup tournament, a victory in the finals tomorrow will bring her one step closer to tying Monica Seles’ record of four Rogers Cup titles.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-08/11/c_132620638.htm

TORONTO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) — Li Na, the world No. 5 ranked player, was stunned by No. 27 ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the semi-final of the Rogers Cup on Saturday afternoon. Cirstea won in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5 (5).

Li, who was runner-up to Petra Kvitova in Montreal last year, trailed Cirstea for most of the first set.

The Chinese failed to hold serve in her second service game, giving the Romanian a 3-1 lead. Li was once again broken in her next service game, unable to handle the deep returns and baseline winners of her 23-year-old opponent.

Cirstea continued to dominate, wrapping up the first set 6-1 in only 21 minutes.

During the player break between sets, Li spoke to her coach and husband to offer words of encouragement.

Li stormed out to a 4-1 lead in the second set after breaking Cirstea in her first service game.

At this point, Cirstea strategically took advantage of her coaching timeout and recovered nicely to win four straight games and take a 6-5 lead. Cirstea even had an opportunity to serve out the game with two match point opportunities in the following set, but Li’s determination forced a tiebreak.

During the tiebreak, momentum seemed shift to Li’s side, storming out to a 4-1 lead. Cirstea settled down and controlled the rest of the tiebreak, winning six of the next seven points.

The tiebreak, set and match concluded when Li recorded her sixth double fault of the match to lose 7-5 in the tiebreak game.

“I think I still have chance, but today I didn’t catch the chance. I just lose the chance to come to the final set,” said Li of the second set.

Li blames herself for the loss, but also credits Cristea’s play.

“She got a lot of confidence right now,” said Li. “Sometime I was feeling she couldn’t hit a winner, but the ball come to you as a winner. It’s very tough. But, I mean, nothing to say, because today I didn’t play best of tennis, but at least I try on the court.”

With the victory, Cirstea reaches her third career WTA final and first in nearly five years. She won the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan when she defeated German Sabine Lisicki in October 2008.

“Everything is based on hard work. Everyone can see that I have been doing some great steps in the right direction,” said Cirstea after the match. “I’m just very excited to keep these things going and just make out of this mentality a habit.”

Her opponent in Sunday’s final will be either world No. 1 ranked Serena Williams of the United States or No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-08/11/c_132619959.htm

TORONTO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) — The official draw for the 121st Rogers Cup women’s event was decided on Saturday at the Rexall Centre in Toronto. China will be represented by Li Na and Zheng Jie in the main draw.

Prior to the draw, each of the top 8 seeds in the tournament knew they would receive a first-round bye. But what section of the tournament bracket they would be placed in was still unknown.

As the fourth seed in the tournament, world No. 5 ranked Li Na drew a favourable position in the bracket, as her path to the finals may feature No. 8 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany in the quarterfinal round and either No. 6 seed Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic or No. 2 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the semifinal round. Li will not meet world No. 1 ranked Serena Williams until the final.

Li Na’s first match will take place on either Monday or Tuesday against the winner of the match between Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and her opponent, a to-be-determined qualifier.

For world No. 54 ranked Zheng Jie, she will play against German Mona Barthel in the first round. After that, her path could potentially consist entirely of seeded players in No. 14 seed Sloane Stephens, No. 3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 5 seed Sara Errani and No. 1 seed Serena Williams.

Both Li Na and Zheng Jie will look to improve on their results in the 426,000 U.S.dollars Rogers Cup.

Li Na has a career 7-5 singles record in five tournaments between Toronto and Montreal. Her best finish was runner-up last year in Montreal.

Zheng Jie has also participated in five Rogers Cup singles tournaments with a 10-5 record. Her best finish occurred in 2010 in Montreal when she reached the quarterfinals.

In addition to singles play, Zheng Jie has also participated in four doubles Rogers Cup tournaments with an 11-4 lifetime record. Her best finishes took place in 2006 and 2010 when she reached the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, 34th ranked Peng Shuai had to withdraw from the tournament due to difficulties obtaining a Canadian visa.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-08/04/c_132600480.htm

TORONTO, April 17 (Xinhua) — Toronto Raptors completed their 2012-13 season with a 114-90 victory over the Boston Celtics in NBA action on Wednesday night. The team also finished with a total attendance of 743,936 fans, the highest since the 2008-09 season.

The 18,144 average home attendance ranks the Raptors 13th in the league this season, despite being a non-playoff team. Of the 41 home games played, 11 have been sell-outs, a number that is also the team’s highest in four years.

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey is not surprised by the strong fan support throughout the season.

“We have some of the best fans in the NBA,” said Casey during the post-game press conference. “I don’t think we get the respect that we deserve from the NBA because we’re up here in Canada.”

Despite the improving attendance figures, the team is still far from matching the success experienced during their inaugural season and the Vince Carter era.

The 1995-96 debut season saw the Raptors rank 3rd in the league with 950,330 total fans, an average of 23,179, both franchise highs. However, only 14 of the 41 games resulted in sell-outs at Skydome.

During the 1998-99 season, the team moved to the newly built Air Canada Centre, a stadium that has a capacity of 19,800.

In the first six seasons in the Air Canada Centre, the Raptors ranked top 10 in attendance each season.

At the height of the six seasons was the 2001-02 season when the team ranked 4th in the league with 811,135 fans and average 19,784, both Air Canada Centre records. The most impressive feat of this season was the selling out of 40 of 41 games, a franchise record.

In the franchise’s 18 total seasons in the league, a total of 13,133,051 fans have attended the 714 home regular season games with 231 of them being sell-outs.

117 home games were played at SkyDome, 6 at Maple Leaf Gardens, and 3 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. The remaining 588 have been played at the Air Canada Centre since it opened for the 1998-99 season.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-04/18/c_132319610.htm

TORONTO, April 3 (Xinhua) — Toronto Raptors rookie-center Jonas Valanciunas scored a career-high 25 points in the team’s 88-78 victory over the Washington Wizards in NBA action on Wednesday night.

The Lithuanian’s 25 points eclipses his previous high of 22 points set on November 25, 2012 against the San Antonio Spurs.

The strong effort against the Wizards also resulted in career highs in minutes played (41), free throws attempted (16) and free throws made (18). All three were also the highest in the game from either team.

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey credits the rookie’s hard work to earn the respect from the league.

“He’s getting the respect of the league and respect of the officials,” said Casey during the post-game press conference.

“He’s just not a big blob out there that’s taking up space. This kid can play.”

Casey also credits the increase in physicality of Valanciunas’ game that has allowed him to be success at the end of games.

“The physicality of the game doesn’t bother him anymore. Before, he would disappear a little bit,” said Casey.

“Now, JV (Valanciunas) is huge at end of games, you can go to him, he can make free throws, pass the basketball. Most of all, he can defend, without fouling and rebound in traffic.”

The 2.13 meter Valanciunas expected the transition into the NBA to be a difficult one, as rookies take time to earn the respect of officials.

“From the start, I was this new guy in the NBA, they knew a lot about it,” said Valanciunas after the game.

“There is a big learning process during the game. I was not talking to them, not complaining about calls.”

With seven games remaining on the season and no chances of making the playoffs, Casey will look for the Lithuanian native who will look to finish strong and build on tonight’s strong effort.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-04/04/c_132284504.htm

TORONTO, April 1 (Xinhua) — The Detroit Pistons defeated the Toronto Raptors 109-98 on Monday night in guard Jose Calderon’s first return to Toronto since being traded away two months ago.

Calderon recorded 19 points, 9 assists and played in a game-high 43 minutes in the victory.

Having played his entire career with Toronto, Calderon knew tonight would be a special game.

“I knew today was going to be more than winning and losing. It was about the rest. It was nothing about the game, about how I play. I knew whatever happened, happened,” said Calderon following the game.

“It’s hard to explain, but it felt great. I think it’s going to be one of the better moments in my career for sure.”

The eight-year veteran, Calderon had been traded on January 30 in a three-team trade that sent him to Detroit, Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to Toronto, and forwards Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to Memphis.

In his eight seasons with the Raptors, he is the franchise leader in assists with 3,770 and free throw percentage (.877). He ranks second in games played (525), fourth in minutes (14,909) and fifth in total points (5,235).

Unlike other former Raptor players such as Vince Carter and Chris Bosh, Calderon received a standing ovation from the 17,115 fans during the pre-game introductions.

“Toronto fans (are) very, very classy,” said Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank during the post-game press conference.

“(I) give the Toronto fans a lot of credit. It’s great to show the appreciation, because Jose is a first class guy. I was happy for him because I know how much he loved it here.”

During the first timeout, a tribute video of Jose’s most memorable moments as a Raptor was shown on the big screen of the Air Canada Center and resulted in another round of standing ovation from the crowd.

“It was emotional. I think no tear was out, but very close,” said Calderon.

The comfort provided by the Toronto crowd even resulted in Calderon mistakenly walking towards the Toronto tunnel during halftime, but was quickly stopped.

“Tonight, I knew I had that weird feeling from this morning, coming to this place (the Air Canada Centre),” said Calderon.

“It was better than expected. It was amazing.”

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-04/02/c_132279298.htm

TORONTO, March 22 (Xinhua) — The New York Knicks defeated the Toronto Raptors 99-94 to clinch a berth in the playoffs in NBA action on Friday night.

The post-season appearance will be the third straight for the Knicks and 42nd appearance in franchise history.

Despite the victory, Knicks head coach Mike Woodson expects his team to give their full effort to finish off the season.

“Again, we just have to take it one game at a time,” said Woodson during the post-game press conference. “Every game is a must for our ballclub now.”

Woodson needs the team to finish strong for the team to secure home court advantage and a better matchup in the first round of the playoffs.

“We can’t have any slippage, not matter who we play because Brooklyn is not going anywhere and Boston is not going anywhere. They’re playing for something as well. We might as well continue our winning ways and try and stay on top and take each game like it’ s our last game.”

The Knicks currently sit atop the Atlantic division and sit in third place overall in the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games ahead of the Brooklyn Nets and 5 games ahead of the Boston Celtics.

With 15 games remaining, the 41-26 Knicks control their destiny and will lock up home court advantage with a top four finish in the Eastern Conference.

Home court advantage will be crucial for the Knicks, as their past two playoff appearances have been without it, resulting in tough first round matches against the Celtics in 2011 and Heat in 2012. The Knicks lost both series 4-1 and 4-0 respectively.

Of New York’s 41 previous playoff appearances in franchise history, the team has reached the finals 10 times, winning in 1970 and 1973.

The current Knicks team will look to turn appearance number 42 into their third championship.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sports/2013-03/23/c_132256573.htm