When LeBron James sprinted the length of the Oracle Arena floor and soared to meet Andre Iguodalas breakaway layup attempt at the glass in Game 7 of last seasons NBA Finals, he was playing in only his 23rd game over a span of 75 days.The Block has been immortalized as one of the signature plays in NBA history, but it wasnt the first glimpse of vintage LeBron the world witnessed during Clevelands run to the title. James 43 dunks during the postseason eclipsed his previous high of 30. At age 31, he consistently appeared to be the spryest player on the floor against younger opponents on Golden State, Toronto and Detroit.Theres little mystery as to why a transcendent superstar subjected to playing as many as five games in a week during the regular season would enjoy a spring revival: In the postseason, that workload was reduced to fewer than a single game every three days. Under the current playoff format, a team never plays on consecutive days, and that format is an admission by the league that at the moment when all eyes are on the NBA and its best talent, the more rest, the better.The poor methodology tolerated in crafting the regular-season schedule -- the lockout-shortened 2011 postseason notwithstanding -- doesnt fly when the world is watching.Now the league seems ready to take action in the new collective bargaining agreement with players. Sources told ESPN that going forward, NBA teams will play two or three fewer preseason games. In turn, the regular season will begin a week to 10 days earlier, which will allow NBA teams to stretch 82 games over a more generous span of time.This measure could eliminate blocks of four games in five nights and drastically reduce the number of back-to-back sets. In implementing these reforms, the NBA has come closer than ever to codifying what modern science, the leagues players and coaches, and commissioner Adam Silver have all publicly acknowledged in recent years:Playing 82 regular-season games over a period of 170 days is an impediment to optimal athletic performance and world-class basketball on a nightly basis.Playing a four-in-five or a five-in-seven is a different kind of feeling, says Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum. Its mentally draining. Its physically draining. Youre not getting a lot of sleep. Youre exhausted and the other team knows it.McCollum made a point to mention a dreaded upcoming trip when the Trail Blazers will play in nine different cities in four different time zones over a 15-day span. The trip includes a five-games-in-seven-days bundle that concludes with a jaunt to Portland for a single game after playing the previous night in Los Angeles. After that, the Trail Blazers head right back out on the road for three more away games. The reform should ameliorate some of the madness.Players will be sharper, McCollum says. Execution will be better. There will be fewer DNP-Rests and scheduling losses. Fans want to see opponents when both teams are fresh. Players want that too. Its better basketball.The fact that scheduling loss is a term of art in the NBA underscores how necessary a schedule overhaul is. Though much of the attention in executive suites around the league will focus on the new CBAs more aggressive revenue sharing and the cap implication of its revised salary structure, the stipulations for the schedule are a nontrivial concession by the league. Dozens of preseason dates that generate revenue for ownership -- to the chagrin of season-ticket holders who have to fork over their money for tasteless aperitifs -- will be wiped away.But in exchange, the league and its owners are investing in the health and well-being of the athletes who drive the value of the NBA. As Silver told McCollum in an interview for The Players Tribune last summer, The science is [telling us] that the No. 1 correlation between play and injuries is fatigue.The San Antonio Spurs have been incorporating this science into their workflow for years, with Tim Duncan as basketballs ultimate case study. Consulting with top performance specialists, breaking down the data, and collaborating across the basketball operations staff, the Spurs created best practices that included routinely sitting their best players when the schedule demanded it -- even if it meant eliciting the ire of the league office.Less than four years after hitting the Spurs with a $250,000 fine for resting their players at optimal times, the NBA is implementing the Spurs philosophy as official league policy.Back-to-backs are the scourge of an NBA teams calendar. Not only do consecutive games deny world-class athletes prime recovery time, but in the vast majority of instances, players are required to board flights late and arrive at their destinations at ungodly hours. Rarely a week goes by in the NBA without a play-by-play announcer noting that a team arrived at the hotel at 3 a.m. the morning of the game.When you hear that announced, youve already sort of resigned yourself to feel like, Well, this isnt what I paid for, says W. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep specialist who has consulted numerous teams across professional sports, including the Thunder and Wizards.A team wouldnt play wearing uniforms that were too restrictive to shoot the basketball or a with a rim whose height wasnt adjusted properly. No one would stand for any of that. Yet having players get into their hotel rooms after 3 oclock in the morning has become a strange accepted part of the sport. We all but guarantee that these athletes arent playing at an elite level.Winter noted that he attended a recent NHL game featuring the New York Rangers, a team he works with, who were playing their fifth game in eight days. From the start, you kind of got the impression watching them play, Yeeeeah, probably not the best were going to see them play this year, Winter says.The Rangers were blanked by Ottawa 2-0, the first time all season theyd been shut out.The drive to reduce the load for NBA players has never been a gesture of sympathy. A more sparing schedule isnt coddling an NBA player any more than a driver not riding the clutch is coddling a manual transmission. The objective isnt altruism -- its performance. Thats always been the NBAs strongest selling point. The NFL revels in its ritual Sundays and pageantry, while baseball offers nostalgia and mythology.But the NBA is where the athletes rule, and the league will ascend only as high as its superstars can soar.Theyd soar higher if the NBA reduced the overall docket of 82 games in addition to the back-to-backs, but the nature of progress is incremental, especially when money is at stake. And after two decades of contentious CBA negotiations that produced a couple of work stoppages and perpetual grumbling, NBA players and owners are in the process of assembling a new contract that, for the first time, considers empirical scientific evidence when formulating its schedule.Next season, the choice between putting the best product on the floor in January and playing to win in June wont stand in such stark contrast. Cheap KD Shoes Wholesale . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Cheap KD Shoes Online . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. http://www.wholesalekdshoes.com/ . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Wholesale KD Shoes .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Discount KD Shoes . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. OMAHA, Neb. -- Michael Phelps wasnt about to lose his last race in the United States.With his gangly arms cutting through the water, Phelps dazzled the home fans one last time.Phelps made it three-for-three at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, rallying on the return lap to win the 100-meter butterfly Saturday night.In what was billed as the farewell race in his home country, Phelps competed in lane seven after a sluggish swim in the semifinals. As usual, it took him a lap to really get going, making the turn in fourth place.But Phelps powered to the front, as hes done so many times.Even with a long glide to the wall, he finished in 51.00 seconds.When Phelps saw the 1 beside his name, he pounded the water and pointed toward his family -- including 7-week-old son Boomer -- up in the stands. Hell now get a chance to win his fourth straight gold in the 100 fly at Rio.When his longtime coach, Bob Bowman, asked for a game plan before the race, Phelps kept it simple.I dont want to lose my last race on American soil, he said.Katie Ledecky and Maya DiRado also won their third individual events on the next-to-last night of the trials, while Nathan Adrian made up for the disappointment of four years ago by winning the 50 freestyle.For Ledecky, its been the dominating performance everyone expected, this one a nearly 10-second victory in the 800 freestyle.For DiRado, its been a huge surprise, the first-time Olympian setting herself up to make quite a splash before she retires at age 23.A late bloomer who already lined up a job as a business analyst in Atlanta, she followed her victories in the 200 and 400 individual medley by knocking off defending Olympic champion Missy Franklin in the 200 backstroke.Franklin finished second to at least ensure shell get a chance to go for another gold in Rio.Phelps, of course, is also planning to retire -- for the second time -- as soon as his fifth Olympics are over. At age 31, he cruised through Omaha with victories in both butterfly races as well as the 200 individual medley.Assuming he is on all three mens relays in Rio, a virtual lock, hell get a chance to add six more medals to his already massive collection of 18 golds and 22 medals overall.The second Olympic spot in the 100 fly went to Tom Shields, who touched in 51.20 to barely beat out Seth Stubblefield (51.24).We did everything that we wanted to do, Phelps said.Well, not quite. Hell need to go even faster in Rio.A 51.0 is OK, he said, but its going to take more than that to win a gold medal.One night after competing in the 100 free, the 19-year-old Ledecky didnt have quite enough in the tank to challenge her own world record. She finished in 8 minutes, 10.32 seconds, far off the mark of 8:06.68 she set in January at a meet in Austin, Texas.ddddddddddddThe swimmer who surprisingly captured gold in the 800 free four years ago will go into Rio as one of the biggest favorites in any sport. Leah Smith took the second Olympics spot in 8:20.18 -- nearly half a lap behind Ledecky.Ledecky also posted Omaha wins in the 200 and 400 free, which means shell have three individual events and a relay at the Olympics. The only thing that didnt go her way: a seventh-place finish in the 100 free, an event she only recently started focusing on in hopes of landing a second relay race.Ledecky will be busy enough as it is.Shes going to tear it up, Phelps predicted. She always does.DiRado was nearly a body length ahead of Franklin in the 200 back with a winning time of 2:06.90.This is a dream, DiRado said.Franklin, a big disappointment at the trials but still set to swim three events in Rio, finished in 2:07.89 to hold off Lisa Bratton for the second berth.I got a spot and thats all that I needed to do, Franklin said. Theres so much room for improvement.Franklin claimed her second individual event in Rio, having also taken the runner-up spot in the 200 freestyle. Shell also swim the 4x200 free relay, a far cry from her grueling seven-event program at London four years ago.One of the things Ive been trying to do this whole year is not compare myself to where I was in 2012, she said. Im here to be the best of who I am right now.Adrian surprisingly failed to qualify in the 50 free at the 2012 trials, though he did go on to capture Olympic gold in the 100 free at London.This time, Adrian swept the sprint events. In a furious dash from one end of the pool to the other, he touched ahead of Anthony Ervin in 21.51 seconds. Ervin claimed the second spot for Rio -- one-hundredth of a second behind the winner.Its an honor to come out of that field on top, Adrian said. Looking ahead to his Rio double, he added, Its not going to be easy.Two-time Olympian Cullen Jones wont be heading to Rio. The silver medalist from London finished third at 21.75, missing a spot on the U.S. team.At age 32, it mightve been Jones last realistic shot at the Olympics. He was the final man to climb out of the pool, soaking up the moment for as long as possible.Then again, age hasnt been a hindrance to Ervin.The 35-year-old is the oldest swimmer at the trials, but hes heading to the Olympics for the third time.Im enjoying it more than 2000, Ervin said, remembering his first Olympics as a 19-year-old. That seems so long ago.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '