construction at the site of the demolished National Stadium,

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Its rare to see the U.S. womens basketball team struggle during the Olympics. Then again, theyve had Sue Bird running the show for over a decade.With the starting point guard sidelined with a knee injury, the Americans were out of sorts for a half before finally getting it together to pull away from France in an 86-67 win in the semifinals Thursday night. Now theyre back in the Olympic final once again, one victory away from a sixth consecutive gold medal.U.S. coach Geno Auriemma made it a point, however, after the game to stress that unforeseen developments like Birds injury makes it a little bit harder than just who the U.S. will beat next and whens the gold-medal ceremony.Its not like that, Auriemma said, and our players really found out today that without Sue its certainly not going to be like that. Theres a big difference in our team the way we played today and the way we played the other six games.Birds status for Saturdays final versus Spain is unclear.The U.S. and Spain played in the preliminary round and the U.S. won that one by 40. The Americans also beat Spain in the 2014 world championship by 13.Its going to be the same old dance, Diana Taurasi said. They have world-class players. ... This is going to be a great game between great teams and great players alike.Taurasi scored 18 points and Maya Moore added 15 against France in what was the closest game of the Olympics for the Americans. It was a rematch of the 2012 London Games gold-medal contest. The U.S. won that one by 36 points, but it had a much harder time in this one without Bird.The point guard sprained her right knee capsule in the quarterfinals and has been listed as day-to-day. She had started every game for the U.S. the past three Olympics and been a calming influence on offense for the Americans. Brid said she plans to practice Friday.Im not going to be stupid about this, Bird said. Its your body, you have to listen to it, you dont want to put yourself in danger, but if I can play Im definitely playing.The U.S. had cruised through its first six games, winning by nearly 42 points a game and scoring at a record pace. Without Bird, the Americans looked discombobulated at times on offense against France. The team that was averaging 105 points and 30 assists was held to just 40 points in the opening 20 minutes and just four assists.Dressed in a blue sweatsuit, Bird was anxious on the bench. It was the first time in 31 Olympic contests she wasnt on the court.During the game, pretty hard. Pretty hard, she said of not being on the court. We were just a little out of sorts, and I feel like I can help in that department. So it was difficult. But they did a great job.The U.S. held a slim 40-36 at the break, the closest any team had been to the Americans at the half since Australia led them in the semifinals of the 2012 Olympics.But the Americans (7-0) started playing a better on both ends of the court in the decisive third quarter. As the starters were about to take the court for the start of the second half, Bird huddled them up and could be seen offering words of encouragement and instructions.The team seemed to get the message, going on a 14-5 run to start the period, including two 3-pointers by Taurasi that gave the Americans some breathing room. Those shots gave Taurasi a record 28 3-pointers in the Olympics -- the most ever in the tournament.Though the U.S. outscored France 25-8 in the period, it had two 24-second shot clock violations. It was rare in the first six games if the shot clock ever got under five seconds.I think they decided to play basketball, and when they decide its hard to stop them, at least in one-on-one, French center Isabelle Yacoubou said. Its really hard. Theyre very talented. We know that.The Americans led by 21 at the end of the third quarter, but France (4-3) didnt quit. The French cut the lead to 11 in the fourth but could get no closer.It was only the second time in Rio that the U.S. didnt reach 100 points in a game. But it did get the win and now has 48 consecutive Olympic victories.Marianne Johannes scored 13 to lead France, which will play Serbia for the bronze medal on Saturday. Wholesale Air Max Plus . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Cheap Air Max Plus For Sale .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. http://www.discountairmaxplus.com/ . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. Cheap Air Max Plus Authentic . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. Nike Air Max Plus Outlet . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. TOKYO -- Tokyo held a groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday for a $1.5 billion National Stadium to host the 2020 Olympic Games.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and other dignitaries launched the construction at the site of the demolished National Stadium, which was used during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, by putting their hands on a glass sphere that rotated through pastels of the colors of the Olympic logo.The ceremony ended with a video replete with computer graphics showing how the stadium is expected to look and function once completed by November 2019.Work on the stadium in the center of the city fell behind schedule because the government abandoned the original design amid spiraling costs and complaints over its scale and appearance.Koike, Tokyos first female governor, took office in July pledging to use her platform to host a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly 2020 Olympics. She has lambasted organizers of the 2020 games for failing to keep ccosts under control.ddddddddddddAn expert panel she appointed put the price tag of the 2020 Games at over $30 billion, barring drastic cost-cutting measures, a more than a four-fold increase from the initial estimate when the city was awarded the games in 2013.Fans of the old stadium, built in the late 1950s, had lobbied to keep and renovate it. But in the end the government opted to replace it with a more modern facility.Kengo Kuma, the architect of the new, open-air stadium, chose a wooden lattice design that echoes traditional styles seen in Japanese shrines and pagodas. It is intended to blend in with surrounding parkland and will be structured to minimize costs for heating and cooling.The structure will use Japanese-grown larch in its wood and steel composite roof and prefabricated panels to help speed the work along and contain costs. ' ' '