such as athlete rights and whether

(Sports Network) - The Western Conference Finals shift to Memphis on Saturday as the Grizzlies try to get back into the series against the San Antonio Spurs. Its been three days since the teams last took the court on Tuesday, when San Antonio emerged with a 2-0 series advantage after a 93-89 overtime win. "Im sure if you get a break you want to take advantage of it and maybe take a little bit of a mental as well as a physical break," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich about the extended layoff. "But, at the same time do something to make sure you maintain at least your base conditioning, do some film and keep everybody focused on what were trying to do, but not beat anybody over the head and then just pick it up toward game time." The Grizzlies needed the break to try and get their offense going, especially the spectacular big-man combo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Their scoring is way down through the first two games and Randolph, in particular, has been disappointing with an average of 8.5 ppg. "It was frustrating," admitted Randolph. "When you miss shots that you usually make, its frustrating." Another problem offensively has been Tayshaun Prince. The starting forward has eight points in this series, but head coach Lionel Hollins wont change the starting lineup. Although, he did admit to thinking about it. "Its something Ive thought about. Its not something Im ready to do," said Hollins. "Theres no need at this point to change the starting lineup. We lost an overtime game and we got blown out in a game. Weve got to play better earlier, and weve got to play better later." The Grizzlies put the clamps on the Spurs in the fourth quarter of Game 2. After getting demolished in Game 1 and down double-digits at the start of the final frame Tuesday, Memphis held San Antonio to nine points to force overtime. The Grizz didnt get it done in the extra session, but there were encouraging signs. "Yeah, the way we came back, the way we put pressure on them in the game," said Randolph when asked about gaining confidence from the comeback in Game 2. "In overtime we missed some shots, they made some shots, just little mistakes here and there kept us out of the game." The Grizzlies may be down 0-2, but they know they arent out of it if recent history is any kind of barometer. They fell down 0-2 to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, then won four straight to advance. "We went on the road in every series and we lost, we had to come back," explained Hollins. "Were at home, and we want to come out and play much more aggressive, much more confident, which teams usually do at home, and as I told our team, being home is not going to win anything for us, we have to go out and play much better." The Spurs received steady contributions from everyone in Game 2. All five starters scored in double figures, and all five bench players who got into the game managed at least three points. San Antonio was led in scoring by the venerable Tim Duncan, who was named to the All-NBA First Team on Thursday. "I know that he was touched when he found out," Popovich said on Thursday. "All-NBA anything is pretty special if you think about it. Its something we really respect and feel great about, and then well forget about it." Duncan was not the only Spurs player to make one of the leagues three teams. Tony Parker made the All-NBA Second Team, but the elite guard underwent an MRI exam on his ailing calf and theres no real change. "Everything is fine," said Parker, who had 15 points and 18 assists in Game 2. "I feel like Im turning the corner and I feel like Ill be fine for Saturday. It feels better." Game 4 will be Monday night in Memphis.Ernie Banks Jersey . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Ferguson Jenkins Jersey . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. https://www.cheapcubs.com/610t-shawon-dunston-jersey-cubs.html . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Kosuke Fukudome Cubs Jersey . The 18-year-old American had five birdies in her bogey-free round for a 17-under total of 196. Lee held the overnight lead but mixed three birdies with two bogeys for a 70. Ron Santo Jersey .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season.The buzz from the just-concluded Rio Olympics had barely begun to fade when NCAA president Mark Emmert made headlines at a think-tank appearance in early September by suggesting that everyone in the NCAA was talking about revisiting -- perhaps even rolling back -- the decision to allow college athletes to collect Olympic performance bonuses for medal wins or outstanding results.But why did Emmert revisit a rule now thats been on the books for American NCAA athletes since 2001 but was amended just last year to finally include non-American NCAA athletes? And why did he specifically cite University of Texas swimmer Joseph Schooling, a native of Singapore who received a $740,000 bonus from his government after beating American legend Michael Phelps for the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly in Rio?To be perfectly honest, its caused everybody to say, Oh, well, that [high an amount] is not really what we were thinking about, Emmert said during a Q&A session at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 8. So I dont know where the members will go on that. Thats a little different than 15 grand for the silver medal for swimming for the US of A. So I think its going to stimulate a very interesting conversation.Emmert declined last week through a spokesperson to be interviewed for this column to elaborate on his remarks. The contentious issue of if -- or how much -- college athletes should be paid at all took another twist Monday when the Supreme Court declined to hear arguments about whether the NCAA is violating federal antitrust laws by restricting what college athletes can earn. Last year, the federal appeals court in California issued a decision that ruled against the NCAA, saying its amateurism rule violated antitrust laws. But the court went on to say that the association may restrict colleges from compensating athletes beyond offering scholarships and a few thousand dollars for the cost of attendance.The case was brought by Ed OBannon, a former UCLA basketball star, and other current and former college football and basketball players who are seeking compensation for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses.Olympic performance bonuses, which are usually paid out by national Olympic committees, sometimes with supplements from each sports national governing body, are one of the few ways college athletes can get paid while retaining their eligibility.Emmerts decision to spotlight Schooling -- and ignore, say, the reported $355,000 that American-born swimming sensation Katie Ledecky banked before heading to swim collegiately for Cal, or the $250,000 that wrestler Kyle Sanders pocketed though he still competes for Ohio State -- was one of those arbitrary lines in the sand that rightfully drives people crazy about the NCAAs labyrinthine policies on athlete compensation.If the NCAA is fine with the bonuses in principle, then the amount shouldnt matter. And the amount shouldnt be capped.The NCAA gets a lot of mileage out of constantly referring to its athletes as student-athletes, no matter how loosely the term fits. But why take aim now at patriot student athletes who compete for their countries, not just the glory of State U.?As it turns out, conversations with other sports officials in the past two weeks reveal that no rollback movement on Olympic bonuses is actually going on in the NCAA -- contrary to Emmerts characterization. Nor does such an effort seem imminent. Hopefully the Supreme Courts decision to pass on the OBannon matter wont embolden Emmert to give it a shot.For now, NCAA spokesperson Meghan Durham confirmed to ESPN.com via email that there hasnt been a single proposal made to put Olympic performance bonuses on the agenda for the January NCAA convention, let alone vote on it.Tom McMillen, the former basketball star and U.S. congressman who is now executive director of the NCAA Division 1A Athletic Directors Association, said in a phone interview last week that his group just held its annual meeting and the performance bonus issue was barely discussed -- and even then only informally among maybe a few people.McMillen added that he doesnt see Olympic bonuses being an agenda item until 2018, if then.Similarly, Chris Plonsky, president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics as well as the womens athletic director at Texas, where Schooling still competes, echoed McMillens assessment. Plonsky said she isnt sure why Emmert questioned the performance bonus system.Do you really think Mark Emmert wants to roll back Olympic bonuses for collegians, or was he just semantically responding to the optics? Plonsky asked. Because his everybody and your and my everybody may be different things. I dont think were seriously talking about rolling it back at all.I know we havent had a single media call here questioning Schoolings situation, and I know the student-athletes arent questioning the bonuses. They think its great. The athletic directors arent questioning it, Plonsky continued. Theyre not opposed to nations paying to reward greeat Olympic performances of their athletes or seeing athletes get help to defray things like training costs.dddddddddddd So [Emmerts] everybody might be the optics for the public and everyone thats relating to sport and the related question of, How can someone thats awarded $750,000 for a great athletic performance at the Olympics still be considered an amateur?Plonsky laughed a little and added that what constitutes amateurism is a 50-year-old question in college sports, and the nuances of that will probably be debated another 50 years.Plonsky is right. But its precisely the existence of that long-running debate that gets to one of the flaws about Emmerts leadership approach as NCAA president.There are inequities and injustices everywhere you look in college sports. There is no denying Emmert has a thankless, maybe impossible job wrangling all the intricacies. Head-scratching contradictions from sport to sport are unavoidable in some cases. Adding to the difficulty is that NCAA member institutions differ wildly on remedies.But Emmerts habit of clinging to some hackneyed, unsustainable view of what constitutes amateurism rather than progressively attacking the modern realities of his job and todays sports world dates back years. The same goes for his insistence of painting doomsday scenarios if the status quo is changed.Thats not effective leadership.And its not going to work.The NCAAs challenge where college sports intersect with the Olympics is a perfect example.The International Olympic Committee truly did create complications for the NCAA when it decided to dump its own pure amateurism model first and allow pro and amateur athletes to compete side by side. But Emmert and the NCAA are mistaken if they refuse to accept that the IOCs model is the one that will prevail.That genie cant be put back in the bottle.American-born NCAA athletes have been free to take Olympic performance bonuses since 2001. But contrary to Emmerts warnings, college sports havent fallen asunder by that half-step dilution of amateurism. And the size of Schoolings bonus wont make it happen, either. The presence of world-class athletes at the college level like Schooling, Missy Franklin or, now, Ledecky and Sanders and two-sport Oregon star Devon Allen has lifted college sports and campus life. Someone just calculated that the Pac-12 alone had more than 400 college athletes competing at the Rio Games from 47 different nations, and if the conference had entered the Games as a country, it would have ranked fourth in the overall medal count and fifth in gold medals. Thats extraordinary.So rather than talk about arbitrarily capping or rolling back the NCAAs tolerance of such programs, Emmert would be smarter to examine how the Olympic bonus model could be expanded or applied to other areas where the NCAA might elect or even be forced to pay athletes in the future.He needs to be more progressive, not regressive.McMillen, a former Rhodes scholar who was a member of the 1972 Olympic mens basketball team that famously refused its silver medals after a controversial ending to the gold-medal game against Russia, says he favors keeping Olympic performance bonuses but is willing to examine whether more standards are needed. He also supports getting creative and perhaps expanding on the idea.I have to give the specifics more thought, McMillen says, but instead of, say, paying athletes for on-field performances alone, why dont we look at paying student-athletes bonuses for great classroom performances, too?The NCAA has already increased cost-of-attendance stipends for athletes to help cover their costs beyond what their scholarships provide for books, meals and housing, though critics say the amounts arent nearly enough. Refusing to share broadcast revenues with athletes remains contentious, especially since the superconferences split off and started their own lucrative TV networks.Congress has already hauled in Emmert in the past to discuss topics such as athlete rights and whether the NCAAs student-athlete policies violate antitrust regulations. But when Emmert appeared at hearings before the Senate Commerce Committee in 2014, The Associated Press reported that he did such a good job of casting himself as a powerless figurehead, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri finally, and sharply, told him: I cant tell whether youre in charge or whether youre a minion.The Olympic bonus system should not be scuttled. If anything, its a model that NCAA schools should look at in the future to grapple with player compensation issues.Going forward, athletes and colleges are going to have to work more closely together on pay-for-play scenarios. Thats an inescapable reality. And Emmert is likely to find that an NCAA president who sits on high -- arbitrarily talking about rollbacks, bonus caps and reform movements that dont exist -- risks being lampooned more and listened to far less than he already is. ' ' '