Gästebuch » . It hasnt gotten any worse, Thomas said. Today I

NEW YORK -- It was on a US Open practice court where, if you were especially intuitive, there were signs last year that Serena Williams was headed for an unhappy ending to her quest of completing the seventh calendar-year Grand Slam in the history of the game.It wasnt necessarily what she did that day, tossing and serving for well over an hour -- first from the deuce court, then from the ad and over to a different court for more of the same.It was more of what drove her there and the purposefulness with which she marched over directly after her match. Williams would later admit to being nervous during her eventual second-round victory against the 110th-ranked player in the world, a match in which she would squeak out a first-set tiebreaker 7-5, after committing eight double faults and 26 unforced errors in the opening set.She would close the match out 6-3 in the second; the match point was not accompanied by anything close to the shrieks heard that afternoon but rather utter silence, a disgusted look and an eye roll. She later characterized it as not one of my happiest moments.At that point, Williams was already tired of the questions and seemingly tired of the grind. Tired of being tired. She even all but demanded that any inquiries with the words Grand Slam in them cease. And when she lost in a semifinal shocker to Roberta Vinci, the 43rd-ranked player in the world playing her first career Slam semi, Serena blew through a four-minute news conference and left the grounds.You could hardly blame her. But back in the second round here Thursday against 27-year-old American Vania King, Williams mood was decidedly different.I think Im more relaxed, for sure, Williams said this earlier this week.While not exactly operating under the proverbial radar, Serena is trying to win just her second Slam in a row after prevailing at Wimbledon and only trying to surpass Steffi Grafs record of 22 career majors.And while King is an 87th-ranked wildcard who succumbed to Serena in their only previous meeting, 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes in the 2014 US Open, you suspect Williams opponent, as always, has very little to do with the outcome.While Serena is still dealing with a shoulder issue that had her going for placement rather than speed on her serves in her 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Ekaterina Makarova, there is considerably less emotional weight on both shoulders this year.In 2015, Williams played 17 three-setters going into the Open in 10 tournaments, plus two rounds of Fed Cup; she won 16 of those three-set matches. This year, there have been five three-setters in seven tournaments, including the Olympics. She lost that third-round encounter to 20th-ranked Elina Svitolina in straight sets on Aug. 9, her last match before New York.Even with the shoulder concerns, Williams was asked, is this US Open already a more pleasant experience?I was going for something that no one has done in a really long time, she said of last year. Yeah, it didnt end wonderful for me or the way I wanted it to end. But it was all I could do. Thats all I could do.While the three-set victories were a testament to her competitive toughness, the off-court battle turned out to be a considerably tougher one. After the 2015 Open, she cited a broken heart from her loss to Vinci in addition to other injuries and subsequently announced she was withdrawing from three tournaments, including the WTA Finals.Williams coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said the motivation just wasnt there, and it was the only sensible decision. And this year, while Serena, who is weeks short of her 35th birthday, said she would have preferred to play more coming into the final Grand Slam of the year, she is trying to be optimistic.There is nothing we can do about it, she said. You just have to make the best of every single opportunity. Thats all I can do now.Usually, thats more than enough. Adidas Nmd XR1 Schweiz . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Nmd Schweiz Kaufen . Each of Houstons starters scored in double figures as the Rockets improved to 2-0 against the Spurs this season, with both victories coming on the road. They also moved within 3 1/2 games of San Antonio (22-7) for the lead the Southwest Division. http://www.nmdschweizkaufen.ch/lite-racer-outlet.html . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Adidas Eqt Schweiz . 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. Ultra Boost Schweiz . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. BOSTON -- Not too many teams have been able to outshoot the Raptors this season. The Celtics were the latest to try and fail.Kyle Lowry scored 21 of his season-high 34 points in the second half to help Toronto hold on for a 101-94 victory over Boston on Friday night.Toronto erased an eight-point halftime deficit and led by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter. The Celtics pulled within four in the final minute, but Al Horford fouled Lowry on a 3-point attempt with 30 seconds to play. Lowry made all three free throws to help close out the victory.DeMar DeRozan added 24 points, and Norman Powell had 20. The Raptors have won eight of their last nine.I dont think weve had a tough game in that sense of having to come back and fight, Lowry said. But weve done it before so I think our team is equipped to handle the pressure situations thats going on. We just kept going at it.Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas sat out his second straight game with a strained right groin. Marcus Smart started in his place, but struggled to keep up with Lowry down the stretch.Horford and Avery Bradley each had 19 points to lead Boston.Boston had nine 3-pointers in the first half and used a 13-0 run in the second quarter to take a 14-point lead. The Raptors crawled out of that hole with 21-3 run in the third. Lowry had 14 points in the quarter.The Celtics kept firing 3s in the second half, but cooled off and finished 17 for 42 for the game.They just werent falling tonight, Bradley said. We got some really good looks in the second half. We just werent making shots.DeRozan said the Raptors defense in the third quarter, limiting Boston to just five field goals while forcing five turnovers, is something to build on.It shows a lot about how resilient we are, he said. No matter if things arent going well for us, wwe can always play extremely hard defensively and try to figure out a way to win.ddddddddddddIP-INSRaptors: Powell started in place of DeMarre Carroll, who was given the night off to rest and was not with the team. F Bruno Caboclo (sore right knee) also did not travel.Celtics: Tied a franchise high with 17 made 3-pointers. ... Shot just 12 of 42 from the field in the second half. ... Were outscored 33-18 in the third quarter.MAKING PROGRESSThe closest Thomas came to basketball Friday was matching up against some kids in a pregame video game challenge on NBA 2K, which was played on the TD Garden jumbotron. He said that hes making progress in rehabbing from his groin strain and is hoping to return Wednesday when the Celtics play at San Antonio.Its getting better. It hasnt gotten any worse, Thomas said. Today I feel a lot better than I have since Ive gotten the injury. So well see.MINUTES WATCHAs much production as the Raptors have gotten out of Lowry this season, coach Dwane Casey said the coaching staff is mindful of the number of minutes hes playing. Lowry entered the night averaging 37.4 minutes per game, which was second in the NBA behind only New Orleans Anthony Davis (38.1). He played 36 minutes Friday.Its a big concern, Casey said. We watch it. We try to keep it down as much as we can. But at the same time were trying to win games. Because if we dont win as many games as we did last year worried about resting players, then we dont get home court advantage last year.UP NEXTRaptors: Host Milwaukee on Monday night.Celtics: Begin a two-game trip at Oklahoma City on Sunday night.---Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightower ' ' '