Another huge weekend of sport has come and gone, but let’s start with the NBA where our 2014 Finalists have now been determined. Defending Champions Miami proved too strong for Indiana, coming from a game down to take their Eastern Conference playoff series in six games as they look to make it three Championships in a row.
They’ll face the vastly experienced San Antonio, who also saw off Oklahoma City in six games. The Spurs looked on their way to an easy Western Conference win when they took a 2-0 lead, but Oklahoma City leveled the series 2-2. San Antonio then rallied to take a 3-2 lead before sealing victory away from home to book their date with the Heat.
It was a big weekend of football friendlies as the world warms up for the World Cup. And it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the big guns. Germany could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to Cameroon, France drew 1-1 with Paraguay, Italy was held 0-0 by Northern Ireland and Colombia drew 2-2 with Senegal.
Germany and Cameroon drew 2-2
There were better times though for England, who beat Peru 3-0, and Spain who cruised past Bolivia 2-0. Also in the winners’ circle was Chile, Uruguay, Switzerland, Croatia, the Netherlands, Belgium and the USA.
The MotoGP produced the best race of 2014 so far in Italy, but it wasn’t enough to stop Marc Marquez making it six wins from six starts this season. Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo swapped the lead several times over the final laps in a thrilling battle before the world champion finally won out on the last lap. Valentino Rossi finished third in his 300th grand prix.
There have been more big name casualties in the French Open, with Roger Federer dumped out overnight at the hands of clay courter Ernest Gulbis, Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga crushed by Novak Djokovic, Samantha Stosur beaten by Maria Sharapova and Richard Gasquet beaten by Fernando Verdasco.
And the Kolkata Knight Riders are the new champions of the Indian Premier League cricket after defeating Kings XI Punjab by three wickets in a thrilling final. Punjab scored a handy 4/199 from their 20 overs thanks to 115 by Wriddiham Saha and 67 by Manan Vohra, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Knight Riders who chased down the target with three balls to spare. Manish Pandey was the hero with 94 from 50 balls.
