MINNEAPOLIS -- Candace Parker and the Sparks jumped with joy on the court, joined in celebration by a guy named Magic Johnson who once made basketball championships a habit in Los Angeles.Parkers old college coach, the late Pat Summitt, was there in spirit, too.Nneka Ogwumikes short jumper with 3.1 seconds left, off the rebound of her blocked shot, gave the Sparks a 77-76 victory over the defending champion Minnesota Lynx in the deciding Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Thursday night for the franchises first title in 14 years.Parker had 28 points and 12 rebounds to earn MVP honors of the Finals and her first WNBA title, capping a trying year marked by the death of the beloved Summitt, with whom she won two NCAA championships at Tennessee. Parker also was left off the U.S. Olympic team after helping them to a gold medal in the previous two Games.The journey to get here, I wouldnt have wanted to do it with anybody else, Parker said. Its amazing, when you surround yourself with good people, how fun it is.Sparks coach Brian Agler started his postgame news conference by playing a recording of the Tennessee fight song, Rocky Top, from a phone in front of him at the podium. Parker cried as she leaned over to hug her coach.Ive never been around somebody that has been critiqued so hard, Agler said, and Ive never been around anyone Im happy for than Candace.Said Ogwumike: Shes been through so much. Shes probably the most misunderstood person in the league. I told her I wanted her to get one.Parker said she heard Summitts voice in her head, recalling the time-worn advice to focus on defense and rebounding.You cant control if shots go in or shots dont, but what you can control is defense and rebounding, Parker said.Rebekkah Brunson made one of two free throws with 23.4 seconds left to give the Lynx a 74-73 lead. Parker answered with a layup on the other end that Maya Moore countered with a jumper. Then Ogwumike hustled her way over to the loose ball after Sylvia Fowles blocked her first attempt. She coolly swished it.Lindsay Whalens heave from just inside halfcourt bounced high off the backboard, setting off the celebration for the Sparks and silencing the sellout crowd of 19,423.Moore had 23 points and 11 assists for the Lynx, who fell short of matching the WNBA record of four championships. The Houston Comets won four straight titles from 1997-2000. The Lynx played in the finals for the fifth time in the last six years. They won three.The team that won this game deserved to win the game, Moore said, so its just hard to have it come that close.Chelsea Gray reeled off 11 consecutive points for the Sparks, capping that run with a smooth up-and-under layup to put them in front 60-59 early in the fourth quarter. Parkers putback with 3:06 left gave L.A. a 71-63 lead.But Moore seized the moment with a 3-pointer that brought Minnesota within four points, and Parker forced an off-balance 3 on the other end. Whalen stole the ball from Kristi Toliver and finished the fast break with a layup to tie the game at 71, setting up the final flurry.On the next play, Ogwumike hit a jumper that appeared to come after the shot clock expired. The officials signaled for a review but never looked at the basket. Los Angeles led 73-71 with just over a minute left. Seimone Augustus answered with a jumper, but those points proved to be critical.Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve, making sure to credit the Sparks for their performance, was livid about the non-call afterward.Its not enough just to apologize and send out a memo that they got something wrong, OK? These players are so invested, and something must be done about the officiating in this league. Because it is not fair to these great players that we have, Reeve said.The WNBAs new postseason seeding format based on overall record regardless of conference worked well, leading to this classic matchup between the two teams that fought all summer for the top seed and featuring several of the leagues biggest stars.I hope that we gained a lot of fans from around the world and around this country, Augustus said.The game was remarkably close, with 24 lead changes, 11 ties and no team ever leading by double digits.CHAMPIONSHIP ATMOSPHEREThe sea of green T-shirts donned by almost everyone in the crowd produced a deafening soundtrack from start to finish, befitting a game for the WNBA trophy.Johnson, a part-owner of the Sparks, wore all black while sitting courtside to root for his team. The Hall of Famer gave the players a pep talk after their loss at home in Game 4 on Sunday. His presence was all the more impressive considering the Dodgers, the other pro club hes invested in, also played Thursday night in Los Angeles in Game 5 of their National League championship series.They had to believe they could do it on a tough home court. This team Minnesota is tremendous, Johnson said. We just beat the champions, so I give them a lot of credit, too.WOLF TRACKSThe Lynx had celebrity backing, too. Timberwolves players at the game included Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Ricky Rubio, Cole Aldrich and Nemanja Belica.---This story has corrected spelling to Fowles in 11th paragraph. Cheap Nike LeBron James Basketball Shoes China . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. Cheap Nike Kobe Bryant Basketball Shoes China . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. http://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.net/ . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Cheap Nike Chris Paul Basketball Shoes China . -- Cam Newton pranced into the end zone, placed his hands over his chest and did his familiar Superman pose. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In a show of unity after sharp divisions caused by the Russian doping scandal, Olympic leaders gave the World Anti-Doping Agency increased powers Saturday to lead the fight against drug cheats and pushed ahead with plans for a separate independent body to carry out global drug-testing.A summit of top global sports officials backed WADA to continue to oversee worldwide anti-doping efforts, upholding the agencys central role following months of strained relations caused by its call to ban Russia from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics over state-sponsored cheating.The leaders called for WADA to lead a more robust, more efficient, more transparent, and more harmonized anti-doping system, and promised more funding for the cash-strapped agency if it enacts reforms.This is a clear commitment by the entire Olympic movement to an independent and harmonized worldwide fight by a stronger anti-doping agency, IOC President Thomas Bach said in a conference call after the closed-door, four-hour meeting at a Lausanne hotel.The summit also supported previously announced plans for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to take over the role of imposing sanctions on doping cheats, removing the responsibility from sports federations in order to make the system more independent. CAS handled doping sanctions during the Rio Games for the first time.But the over-arching thrust of the meeting was to give support to a reinforced WADA, which was set up by the IOC in 1999. The leaders said WADA would hold the regulatory role in the worldwide anti-doping fight.Im very happy with it, WADA President Craig Reedie said after the meeting. We now have a clear set of principles established by the IOC. We are to be given substantial additional authority and substantial additional powers. I am perfectly happy with that.The meeting came following a spate of public attacks on WADA by several IOC members, who believed the agency was slow to respond to doping in Russia and then overstepped its remit by pushing for the countrys exclusion from the Rio Games.The IOC rejected WADAs recommendation -- which followed a report by investigator Richard McLaren that detailed systematic doping and cover-ups -- and let international sports federations decide which individual Russian athletes could compete in Rio.A three-page statement issued after the summit made no mention of Russia or the scandal.Bach, however, said giving WADA more authority over national anti-doping agencies could help prevent further cases of non-compliance, citing Russia and Kenya specifically.The summit also supported the plan, first announced a year ago, for creation of a new anti-doping testing body within the frameworkk of WADA, that would also have intelligence gathering and investigative powers.dddddddddddd The intention is to have the body operating in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.It is quite a complex area, Reedie said. Theres questions of who will use it and questions of finance.WADA was asked to discuss the proposals at board meetings on Nov. 19-20 in Glasgow, Scotland.The summit also called for strengthening WADAs governance structure, and approval of a policy to encourage and protect whistleblowers.Russian runner Yulia Stepanova and her husband helped expose the widespread doping in their homeland, and are living in hiding in the United States. The IOC rejected Stepanovas bid to run as an independent athlete in Rio.Still to be determined is who has the power to sanction countries for non-compliance with WADAs rules, an issue brought to light by the Russian crisis. Bach said the issue was not discussed in detail at the summit because governments also need to be involved, again citing Russia.The general rule is that you do not want to see the prosecutor also being the judge, Bach said, indicating that WADA should not be handling both roles.Reedie said he believed WADA would have the power to sanction federations and national anti-doping bodies.I hope so, he said. We have been given powers on compliance. We are going to produce a whole range of potential sanctions for different degrees of non-compliance. That is in our hands and we will do that.If we are granted these powers ... I can assure you they will be used properly and well.Bach reiterated that the IOC has two commissions looking into the Russian case, including one dealing with possible sanctions resulting from alleged manipulation of Russian doping samples during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.Bach said the IOC would not rely on McLarens report on its own, saying the Canadian had not given the Russians the chance to respond.You have to give a fair hearing to everybody, Bach, a German lawyer, said. You have to make the difference between the prosecutor and the judge in order to have a legally sustainable and judicial procedure.The summit also pledged to offer increased funding to WADA, which has an annual budget of about $30 million. The budget is covered 50-50 by contributions from the Olympic movement and national governments.The increase in financing depends on the implementation of the reforms by WADA, and is based on the results provided by WADA after the review of the anti-doping system, the IOC statement said.---Wilson reported from London. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '