all before the bullpens shut down the opposition. Harvey said a blister on his right index finger has been bothering him his last two starts but he doesnt con

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 US 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 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 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.---Online:AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org/---Follow Doug on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg Jordan 12 For Sale Uk . 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The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes.SAN FRANCISCO -- As the stragglers stumbled into the visitors clubhouse, some New York Mets players hollered and high-fived teammates as they passed through the door. This was just the kind of celebration that had escaped them before. Eric Young Jr. scored on shortstop Brandon Crawfords fielding error with two outs in the 16th inning, and the Mets outlasted the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in a game that ended early Tuesday morning. The Mets already had played three games of at least 15 innings this season -- and lost each one. "Ive never heard of anything like this. Its unbelievable," manager Terry Collins said. "At least were used to it." Young singled with one out and stole second to start the final rally. After he advanced to third on Daniel Murphys groundout, lefty Javier Lopez entered and intentionally walked David Wright. Crawford couldnt handle pinch-hitter Anthony Reckers grounder, allowing Young to score and handing New York the victory. The game lasted 5 hours, 26 minutes. "Weve played in some long games and we havent always come out on the winning side," Recker said. "As soon as the 10th inning started, we were like, Are we really going to do this again?" It was the longest game in time and innings the Giants had played since losing 1-0 to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 18 innings on May 9, 2001. Marco Scutaro walked leading off the bottom of the 16th inning, and Buster Posey hit a one-out single for the first five-hit game of his career. But Bobby Parnell regrouped to strike out Pablo Sandoval and retire pinch-hitter Guillermo Quiroz on a grounder for his 16th save. Posey went 5 for 8, including a two-run homer and two doubles. San Francisco has lost 12 of 14 and is a season-high eight games below .500. The Giants went 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 18 overall -- 13 in the last six innings. "Thats as frustrating a game as weve had," manager Bruce Bochy said. Tim Lincecum and Matt Harvey each threw seven innings of three-run ball before the bullpens shut down the opposition. Harvey said a blister on his right index finger has been bothering him his last two starts but he doesnt consider it an issue. "Im just glad we won," he said. Josh Edgin (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. George Kontos (2-2) allowed the one unearned run in 2 2-3 otherwise solid innings. It was the 18th major league game to go 14 innings or more this season, two shy of last years total, according to STATS. The Mets improved to 1-3 in games of at least 15 innings. The last team to play that many in one season was the 2004 Minnesota Twins, who went 2-2, according to STATS. By the time the final out was recorded at 12:42 a.m. local time, only a few thousand fans remained from an announced sellout crowd of 41,497. The ferry back to Oakland-Alameda had blown its departing horn at 11:30 p.m., and the final BART trains left about midnight. The Giants even held a 14th-inning stretch for those who stayed. So many seagulls started to hover above the stands that the scoreboard operator asked fans to clap to try and scare them away. Both teams hadd chances to end the game earlier.dddddddddddd With runners on second and third in the 11th, Crawford made a diving stop on Marlon Byrds grounder at shortstop and recovered for a perfect throw from the outfield grass. In the 12th, Sandoval snagged Omar Quintanillas liner at third and threw to first to get Kirk Nieuwenhuis for a double play. The Giants blew a gift-wrapped opportunity when Posey doubled after his fly ball bounced off the glove of Murphy backpedaling from second while Byrd tried to make a sliding catch coming in from right. Sandoval was intentionally walked before Byrd caught Hunter Pences slicing liner and Crawford flied out. Brandon Belt, batting in the third spot for the first time in his career, was 0 for 8 with five strikeouts, including the final out of the 12th inning with two runners on base. Bochy said he expects to keep Belt in that spot Tuesday night. Cole Gillespie broke his bat grounding out in the 13th with runners on second and third, and Gregor Blanco grounded out with the bases loaded in the 15th. Poseys 13th homer put the Giants ahead 2-0 in the first. Byrd singled leading off the fifth for the first hit off Lincecum, and John Bucks double sliced San Franciscos lead to 2-1. Young tripled leading off the sixth, and Murphy followed with the tying single. Murphy advanced to third on Scutaros throwing error at second base and scored when Ike Davis grounded into a double play to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. Lincecum had a season-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings. He gave up three runs, six hits and one walk. It was the 33rd time Lincecum has had at least 10 strikeouts in a game and the first time this year. But the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner was nowhere to be found in the Giants clubhouse after the game. A team spokesman said he had already left to recover -- as did many of his teammates. Other than Posey, Harvey had his way with San Franciscos lineup until late. He allowed three runs and six hits, striking out six and walking one. Pence, who made a pair of diving catches in right field, tripled leading off the seventh. The ball hit the cement near the top of the right-field wall and ricocheted back onto the field. Umpires reviewed the play and ruled that the triple stood, though the decision turned out to be an afterthought. Crawford immediately singled home Pence for the tying run. "Theres frustration," Pence said. "We want to stay as positive as we can right now. Weve got to get it done. Weve got to keep pushing to find a way to turn it around." NOTES: Posey will get Tuesday nights game off after catching 16 innings, Bochy said. ... Mets LHP Jonathon Niese (shoulder inflammation) has been cleared to start throwing again. The team expects him back at some point this season. ... Mets RHP Shaun Marcum had his right hand examined by a specialist in St. Louis. With an off day Thursday, Harvey is slated to take Marcums spot in the rotation Saturday at Pittsburgh. ... Barry Zito (4-6, 4.44 ERA) starts for the Giants against Dillon Gee (6-7, 4.45) on Tuesday. Zito began warming up in the bullpen in the bottom of the 16th in case the Giants tied it. ' ' '