Talk » were definitely getting Brees off of his spot, so that

Parity has struck the NBA playoffs, where the conference semifinals are all fit to be tied. The four current series are all knotted at one game apiece -- the first time thats happened in the second round of the NBA playoffs since the league went to its current format more than a quarter-century ago. For favourites like Miami, New York, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, home-court advantage has disappeared, and now its the underdogs who can control their own fates simply by taking care of business on their home floors. A wild weekend is ahead, without question. The Heat, Knicks, Spurs and Thunder are four of the leagues top five winningest road teams this season. That probably isnt being received as great news for Chicago, Indiana, Golden State and Memphis, the lower-seeded clubs who will be hosting pivotal Game 3s when NBA playoff action resumes on Friday and Saturday. "Pretty cool. The NBAs loving it," Heat forward LeBron James said. "When it comes to the playoffs, I always continue to say no matter how many games you win or lose in the regular season, once you get to the playoffs everybodys record is 0-0. So I think its great. I think its great for our fans, I think its great for the competition that every series is tied 1-1." After a first round with only two sweeps -- by Miami and San Antonio, the top seeds in the Eastern and Western Conferences -- the tone for the second round was set pretty quickly around the league. Miami lost Game 1 at home to a wounded and weary team from Chicago. San Antonio needed a huge comeback to beat Golden State in Game 1 of their series, then saw the Warriors simply come back and take Game 2. The Knicks lost Game 1 to Indiana before evening up their matchup, and the Thunder are likely feeling lucky that theyre not in an 0-2 hole after Memphis had plenty of chances to take the opening game of their series. "When you get this deep into the playoffs, theyre all good teams, theyre all very good teams more than capable of winning at home or on the road," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. "So Im not surprised at all. Good coaching, good playing, you make adjustments and win games. Theyve all been great games." Big fourth-quarter comebacks, first by Oklahoma City and then by Memphis, decided the outcomes of the first two games of that series, where the cumulative score right now is Grizzlies 190, Thunder 186. The first two Spurs-Warriors games were pure theatre, with San Antonio winning a double-overtime thriller in Game 1 after rallying from 16 points down late in regulation. Road teams took Game 1s in the East semifinals, with Indiana and Chicago both winning by seven. And the home teams imposed their wills in Game 2 of both matchups, New York using a huge late run to beat the Pacers by 26, and the Heat outscoring the Bulls by an unbelievable 62-20 margin over a 19-minute stretch on the way to evening that matchup with a 115-78 romp. "Anybody can beat you on a given night and playoff basketball is no different," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "I mean, everybody at this particular time is hungry even more. Nobody wants to go home so it becomes crazy basketball. Everybody is pumped up and ready to play." Then again, if you checked out how these teams fared against each other in the regular season, maybe you could have seen something as uncanny as this coming. There wasnt any real separation between the clubs then, either. The Bulls and Heat split four games against one another, as did the Knicks and Pacers, and Spurs and Warriors. The only exception was Memphis beating Oklahoma City in two of the three games they played this year -- and if they met four times, there would figure to be a chance that it could have been a 2-2 split as well. "Each team is working hard, trying to get wins," said Memphis guard Tony Allen, who was part of Bostons title-winning team in 2008. "They got the trophy on their mind so I believe that each series is probably going to go all the way to the end. You look at the eight teams that are left, all the teams have a shot." The Heat entered the playoffs as the overwhelming favourites to win their second straight title, and they remain that way in the eyes of oddsmakers even though theyll need to win one game in Chicago to reclaim the home-court advantage. Heat coach Erik Spoelstras eyes widened a bit Thursday when told that no second round in the NBA playoffs had ever opened quite this way. "Is that right? First time ever? Really? Wow," Spoelstra said. "Makes for great theatre. I know Im enjoying the other games, probably like other fans are enjoying ours. It shows how much parity there is and how little margin for error with the teams that are left. ... We had always felt there was up to six or seven legitimate, title-contending teams." The way things look, maybe theres eight now. "It looks like its the best eight teams in the NBA right now," James said. "So well see what happens." ------ AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York, and AP Sports Writers Antonio Gonzalez in Oakland, Calif., and Teresa M. Walker in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report.Henry Ellenson Jersey . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. Rodions Kurucs Jersey . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. https://www.cheapnetsonline.com/705g-darryl-dawkins-jersey-nets.html . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. Cheap Nets Jerseys . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Buck Williams Jersey . In the response filed Wednesday to the complaint by 30-year-old Alexander Bradley, attorneys say the former University of Florida player is invoking his Fifth Amendment right that protects people from incriminating themselves.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When the New Orleans Saints are limited to 13 points, its easy to point a finger at No. 9 and say its Drew Brees fault.Well guess what? The 37-year-old quarterback wasnt all that bad Sunday in a 16-13 loss to the New York Giants.Brees didnt throw any interceptions and the Saints didnt turn the ball over. The offense just could not get it going against a revamped Giants defense.Big bucks went a long way in fixing a unit that allowed 52 points and surrendered seven touchdown passes to Brees and the Saints last year in a 52-49 win by New Orleans.And just maybe, the Giants defense is that good this year after spending $100 million in the offseason to sign sack threat Olivier Vernon, run stopper Damon Harrison and shutdown cornerback Janoris Jenkins. Add in cornerback Eli Apple and safety Darian Thompson in the draft, and this unit held its own against Brees.Both teams went out and made improvements on the defensive side of the ball, said Brees, who completed 29 of 44 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown. Both sides came in with a great game plan and so we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. We thought our output would be better offensively than it was today.The Saints had chances, but they did not capitalize. They were 3 of 13 on third down and that was a major factor in the game. The Saints only had the ball for 59 plays and just under 26 minutes in time of possession, gaining 288 yards.In last years game, New Orleans had a combined 79 runs and passes and 35 minutes of possession. They gained 614 net yards.Thats 20 extra plays and Brees can do a lot with that.It wasnt pretty, but we got the job done as a defense. Im happy, and its going to get better, Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul said. Were still trying to get chemistry with each other. As a unit, we still have a lot of work to do. The vibe is totally different. We know what it takes and its not an individual goal but to correct the mistakes that we made.Brees was frustrated, especially wasting a great effort by his own defense, which forced three turnoovers and did not allow a touchdown.dddddddddddd New Yorks TD came on Jenkins return of a blocked field goal.If you told me prior to the game that we would get three takeaways defensively and not allow an offensive touchdown, Id say our chances today are pretty good, Brees said. The unfortunate thing is that the blocked field goal that gets returned for a touchdown is a 10-point swing. So thats pretty devastating when you look at the way the game unfolded and then the way it finished.The Giants did an outstanding job of keeping the Saints receivers in front of them. In last years game, Brees three longest touchdowns were 53, 34 and 26 yards. His longest completion on Sunday was 23 yards.New York also made the Saints one-dimensional, limiting their running game to 41 yards on 13 carries. The Saints had 103 on 26 carries last season.We stopped the run and we were definitely getting Brees off of his spot, so that he doesnt see those open receivers if he has any and just make a play when he throws the ball, said safety Landon Collins, who had one of the Giants two sacks.Giants coach Ben McAdoo said the key for the Giants was keeping the ball away from Brees.They played fantastic, whistle-to-snap, McAdoo said of his defense. We got lined up quickly. We made sure we had our eyes where they needed to be. They played the call and they played with confidence.Brees had a couple of chances against the defense, but he did not come through.I think that I didnt do a great job of handling some of their third-down pressure stuff to sustain drives, Brees said. We got into some third-and-long situations, or third-and-longer than probably we should have. So first- and second-down efficiency can be better and then, obviously, just the ability to sustain drives and keep them on the field and keep our defense off the field and get points at the end of it.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '