LOS ANGELES -- Paul Pierce decided to return for his 19th and last season in the NBA, convinced the Los Angeles Clippers can make a successful run to their first league title.The 10-time All-Star first disclosed his decision Monday in a posting on The Players Tribune and later expanded on it at the teams media day. He turns 39 on Oct. 13, the same birthdate as coach Doc Rivers.The reason for me coming back is this group, he said. This group is talented enough to win a championship. I want to come back and give it one more try and help them get over the top.Pierce said early in the summer he wasnt motivated to work out, but his hunger had returned by August. He averaged 6.1 points and 2.7 rebounds in 18.1 minutes over 68 games last season.Last season left a bad taste in my mouth, how the season went and how I played, he said. Why not give it one more shot? To win a championship here for the Los Angeles Clippers would be monumental.Pierce grew up in nearby Inglewood and enjoys playing in front of his mother, brothers and cousins after stints on the East Coast with Boston, Brooklyn and Washington.With Kevin Garnetts retirement last week, Pierce is the lone active player with over 25,000 points, 7,500 rebounds and 4,500 assists.He spent his first 15 seasons with the Celtics, winning the 2008 NBA championship with them under Rivers.Paul has meant a lot to me, Rivers said. When you win a title with someone youre connected with those people the rest of your life. More kids should watch Paul more than some of the other guys, how he did it without athleticism.He is 16th on the NBAs career scoring list. Ryne Sandberg Jersey Large . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. 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In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. 1?Number of England batsmen to make their tenth Test hundred at a younger age than Joe Root. Alastair Cook had made his tenth Test century at the age of 25 years and one day, against South Africa in Durban in 2009. Root was 25 years and 205 days old at the start of this Test. Ian Botham is third on this list: he was aged 26 years and 214 days when he got his tenth hundred, against India at Old Trafford in 1982.11Number of hundreds by Cook when leading England - equal most by an England captain in Tests. Graham Gooch also made 11 such scores. Cooks 31 fifty-plus scores as captain are also now the most by an England captain, beating Mike Athertons 30. Overall, this was Cooks 29th Test hundred and he goes level with Don Bradman on the list of batsmen with most Test hundreds.186 Deliveries sent down by Yasir Shah in this innings - the most he has bowled in a Test innings before taking a wicket. He bowled 30 overs without taking a wicket in Bangladeshs second innings of the Khulna Test last year. The most he has had to bowl in an innings against England before this was the 72 deliveries he bowled before dismissing Gary Ballance in fourth innings of the Lords Test. Shah finished the day having conceded 111 runs - only the third time he has conceded over 100 in an innings. Cook was the most comfortable batsman against Shah, scoring 36 off 54 deliveries that Shah bowled to him.50Number of Tests in which Cook has led England; only Atherton (54) and Michael Vaughan (51) have captained England in more Tests. Andrew Strauss also led England in 50 Tests. Click here for a list of players who have captained in 50 or more Tests.27Centuries by Cook as an opener in Tests. Only Sunil Gavaskar (33) and Matthew Hayden (30) have hit more centuries as openers in Tests. Graeme Smith also hit 27 hundreds while opening in Tests. Click here for list of openers with most hundreds in Tests.38Number of Test innings by Englands No. 3 batsmen betweeen the hundred in this innings, by Joe Root, and the previous one, by Gary Ballance against West Indies in North Sound last year.dddddddddddd This was Roots first hundred batting at No. 3 for England. He had previously made 258 runs at an average of 28.66 for England at No. 3.2001The last time an England pair put on a higher stand for any wicket at Old Trafford than the one between Cook and Root in this innings. Graham Thorpe and Vaughan added 267 runs for the third wicket against Pakistan on that occasion. The 185-run stand in this Test is also the second-highest for the second wicket for England at this venue and the second-highest for them against Pakistan for the second wicket in Tests.5.20Englands scoring rate for ten overs before tea. In 60 deliveries up to and including the dismissal of Cook, England made 52 runs with seven fours. While Cook scored 26 runs off the 37 balls he faced during these ten overs, Root made 25 runs off just 23 deliveries.1962 Last time before Cook and Root two of Englands top three batsmen got hundreds in an innings in Tests against Pakistan. Colin Cowdrey and Ted Dexter had got 182 and 172 respectively at The Oval on that occasion. This was only the ninth instance when two of the top three batsmen have made hundreds in an innings in Tests outside Asia against Pakistan. The last such instance came in 2002-03 when South Africa openers Smith and Herschelle Gibbs made 151 and 228 respectively in the first innings of the Cape Town Test.26.11Englands average opening stand in Tests at home in 18 innings since the last time their openers put up a century partnership, which was in the first innings against New Zealand at Headingley last year. After that partnership, Englands openers have managed just one fifty stand - in the first innings at Lords against Sri Lanka. ' ' '
