kker out for the starting job in 2008 at Oregon State. Allen eventually t

(Sports Network) - Two of the NBAs most successful franchises, not just during this regular season, but over the past 15 years, will square off in the NBA Finals, starting Thursday night. The Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, who also double as the defending NBA champion, will have home-court advantage over the Western Conference winners, the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat finished with the NBAs best regular-season mark, a staggering 66-16, which featured a 27-game winning streak, the second-longest in the history of the league. The Spurs had the third-best record in the NBA at 58-24. If not for a Tony Parker ankle injury late in the season, San Antonio might have well earned the next-best record behind the Heat. But one season hardly makes for a successful franchise. The measure of greatness in professional basketball can be counted by the number of Larry OBrien Trophies in team headquarters. Since 1997, the Spurs have the best postseason winning percentage in the league. The Heat are third. The Heat won last seasons title and lost in the Finals the previous year. The Spurs have four championships since 1999, with the last coming in 2007. That year, San Antonio knocked off a young Cleveland Cavaliers team led by LeBron James. Fast-forward to June of 2013 and James is already staking claim to the title of one of the best players in NBA history. Hes won four MVPs, including the last two, and is a much more-seasoned force. "My Cleveland team, we were very young, and we went up against a very experienced team, well-coached team. And they took advantage of everything that we did," James said after the Heats Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Mondays Eastern Conference Finals. "I think for this team, this is our third year advancing to The Finals. So were very experienced as well. Were not young, were not inexperienced. We understand the opportunity that we have. "And Im a much better player. Im 20, 40, 50 times better than I was in the 07 Finals." James had to be that much better a player to get by the Pacers. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the other members of Miamis Big Three, which is slowly becoming the Big One, had dreadful series against Indiana. Wade came alive in Game 7 with 21 points, but hes battling a balky knee. The Spurs have been sitting home since a week ago Monday. They swept the Memphis Grizzlies in four games in the Western Conference Finals. The rest is a good thing for an older Spurs squad, led by their own Big Three. Tim Duncan, a three-time Finals MVP, enjoyed a career Renaissance this season. After shedding 25 pounds in the offseason, Duncan averaged 17.8 ppg, 9.9 rpg and 2.7 bpg. He returned to the All-NBA First Team for the first time since the 2006-07 season and was Second-Team All-Defensive. Parker emerged as an MVP candidate until an ankle injury sidelined him during the second half. And Manu Ginobili, while struggling with his shot during the postseason, is still a huge piece. When it comes to sizing up Big Threes, San Antonios is historic. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili have combined for 98 playoff victories. That total is second all-time to the Los Angeles Lakers trio of Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Michael Cooper. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili have played 150 playoff games together. That is 72 more than the next highest trio of active players - Bostons Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo. (Wade, Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers are third with 69.) And while James at times took games over, hell need Wade, Bosh and everyone in a Heat uniform to play at a high level. "Obviously were a much better team when we have everyone clicking at the same time. Thats obvious," James said after the Game 7 win. "And weve had more games where everyone was clicking than not so. It just happened that this series guys were just not in the rhythm, not feeling like themselves." These teams are both so strong and sadly, the head-to-head regular-season matchups offer little insight. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who can join Pat Riley and John Kundla in third place in NBA titles as a coach, famously sent Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Danny Green home the day of the first regular-season matchup in Miami. The NBA fined the Spurs $250,000 for the action, but the Heat barely squeaked out the victory In the second regular-season meeting, this time in Alamo City, the Heat clinched the best record in the league and sat James and Wade. Miami still prevailed. "Theyre still the defending champs. Theyre still the best in the regular season," Duncan said. And the respect goes both ways. "Theyve got a bunch of Hall-of-Famers, so I look forward to the challenge," James said.Andre Reed Womens Jersey . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. Tremaine Edmunds Youth Jersey . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. http://www.authenticbillsfanaticfootball.com/authentic-andre-reed-bills-jersey/ . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Doug Flutie Youth Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Josh Allen Youth Jersey . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- For all the difficulties the Los Angeles Rams have had over the past two months , punting the ball hasnt been one of them.And thats exactly one of the things that concerns Patriots coach Bill Belichick as they prepare to host the struggling NFC West team on Sunday.Los Angeles (4-7) will arrive in New England having lost six of its last seven games, including a 49-21 drubbing at New Orleans last week. But two of its four wins have come in low scoring punt fests: a 9-3 win over Seattle back in September, and a 9-6 victory on the road against the Jets earlier this month.The common denominator in both wins was the tremendous weapon Belichick says they have in punter Johnny Hekker.In his fifth season out of Oregon State, Hekker has been one of the NFLs most accurate punters since signing with the Rams in 2012. The 26-year-old has not only has arguably the leagues best leg when it comes to yardage, but also marksman-like precision on directional punts, plus an accurate arm when throwing the ball on fakes.Yeah, hes dangerous, Belichick said. I mean, hes like a quarterback. He can throw, he can run. Youve got to defend him like youd defend one of those guys.This season, Hekker has put a NFL-best 35 punts inside the 20-yard line, with just one touchback. In addition, Hekker has limited teams to a 4.5 yards average per return, while ranking second in the league with a 44.9 net yards per punt average.In Los Angeles win over Seattle, Hekkers six punts limited the Seahawks to an average starting position on their own 17.Then in the win over the Jets, he became the first NFL punter ssince 1984 to record a punt of 75 of yards or more in back-to-back weeks since 1984 when he had a career-best 78-yard boot.ddddddddddddHis 51.7 yards per punt average in that game limited New York to an average starting position on its own 18.This guy is as good a player as Ive ever seen at that position, said Belichick, who placed Hekker among his list of great NFL punters, which includes Ray Guy, Thomas Morstead, Dave Jennings and Sean Landeta.Patriots punter Ryan Allen beat Hekker out for the starting job in 2008 at Oregon State. Allen eventually transferred to Louisiana State and went on to win the Ray Guy Award, given to the best collegiate punter, in 2011 and 2012.At the end of the day, hes an athlete, Allen said of Hekker. You kind of have to respect multiple aspects of his athleticism.If the Rams have any chance to stun the Patriots, it will likely come via Hekkers ability to flip the field. The Patriots have been held to single-digits only once this season, in their 16-0 loss to Buffalo . In that game, the Bills held New England to an average starting position of their own 23.Still, if Allen is on the field a lot on Sunday, it will mean the Patriots are doing something right.Weve just got to make sure we get the ball, thats all, Belichick said with a chuckle. I hope (Hekker) gets a good workout; yeah.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL.---Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightower ' ' '