dwight howard says faith i got.says we know we can even this series and it starts with this game tonight. >> very deep. court in theley had a good look at the end of regulation in game two at the bucket. how is he dealing with that miss? >> you know, it's interesting. he says he actually went home and he watched tv as much as possible to see as many replays as possible. a lot of guys would just turn the tv off. he said he wanted it to sink in and wanted to get past it. when he got to practice, a lot of players were saying, look, dude, it's okay, it's not your fault. if we played well we would have won the game. so they're trying to take the pressure off him and see how hi does tonight. >> we heard stan van gundy, they didn't lose on that specific play. rachel, magic need a whip. what are the things the coaches are telling the players? >> the biggest thing is turnovers. they turned the ball over a playoff high 20 times in the last game. 20 chances to score. so they're looking to cut that number in half. if you don't

my number one option is dwight howard. hedo turkoglu, and i'm the third option and i'm still getting the job done. at the end of the dave if we win i don't care if i score five points. as long as we win i'm happy with that. >> can you talk about five players for the magic had 18 or more. two guys with 18, three with 20 or more how about the balance for the magic? >> we had a balanced attack and we have been doing it all season long. that's another reason i don't have to average 20 or more points on the team because we have other guys thattening light it up. pietrus played well for us. skip to my lou got it started early in the first quarter. so we hauled a like 18 or 20 points and we have a balanced attack with the starters and guys off the bench. >> you got hammered in game one. you lost a close one in l.a. this was a must-win situation. i asked rafer. can you talk about the locker room and the importance on the next game? >> i mean, most definitely was a must-win situation. we didn't want to be down 3-0, playing on our h

dwight howard is supposed to be the leader. outside of rafer alston in game three, a lot of guys have not been able to elevate their game. someone please get rashard lewis off the milk carton. outside of game two that's where he's been. kobe hasn't had a great series, but others players have elevated, one of the reason the lakers up are 3-1. >> let's move to our next topic. michael vick officially released by the falcons today. he's still officially suspended from the nfl. in regards to football, what should the next move be? >> well, the next move is allowing mike vick to go to a training camp with someone. mike vick, no time like the present. i understand he's not been out of jail long, but he's lost years off his career, years off of his life. as soon as he's available to go to a training camp, i say go for it. let tony dungy advice him. let him get his life back together. his life thus far has been all about football. that's all this guy knows. maybe he can turn it around off the field by going back ontd the field and playi

but the number one thing they have to do is find the way to get dwight howard the ball, especially in transition before the lakers set their defense and the half court, talk to the shooters, hey, guys, we only made 27% of our two-point shots. it would be nice if you guys can make a few shots. on the defensive end, that's where they're really in trouble because they didn't do a good job of guarding the post-ups, especially gasol, luke walton posted up, lee, kobe bryant, bynum, odom. they got outscored severely in the paint. so they didn't do a good job with their post-ups and they got to do a good job on kobe bryant, especially when he's running pick-and-rolls. >> how do you stop bryant? what would your game plan be? >> well, acouple of adjustments here. first of all, they got to do a better job of denying kobe the basketball are instead of allowing him to catch the basketball so easily. on his penetration, get some help, help and recover. they were recovering pretty slow. maybe give kobe a hard foul. this is the finals. i'm from the old school. >> do you want to make kobe mad, though?

>> dwight howard, first and foremost his activity, he normally gets going because he's rebounding, because he's running the floor, because he's blocking shots, getting steals. normally that fuels his offense. to have one field goal that's totally unacceptable. that means his activity level wasn't high. and as he got the ball near the basket, a lot of times he wasn't in position to make the shot because the lakers did a good job of keeping his post catches out of the paint. jameer nelson, however, he is a guy that can get to the paint. that's why it's going to be imperative if he's going to be effective in this series to be able to penetrate and drop it off to dwight so dwight can get high-percentage shots but also, the lakers did a tremendous job of crowding dwight, forcing the orlando magic to become a jump-shooting team, but pick and choose who is shooting those shots, like i say a lot of times when i'm playing ball, -- when i'm playing ball, sometimes you're open for a reason. right there rafer alston was open for a reason. >> they forced dwight howard to become a free throw shooter sen

kobe bryant, dwight howard and as well as the coaches. as soon as the game is done.ive news conferences here on "espnews." >> st. jude the patron saint of desperate cases. he believed the faithful should persevere in the face of difficult circumstances. three weeks after announcing his wife, amy, has breast cancer, phil mickelson makes his return to the tour this week, the saipt jude classic in memphis. and amy will not be there with her husband, she will not be at next week's u.s. open but never far from her husband's mind. >> i never felt this emotional. i never have been this emotional where i am driving alone or something i will start crying, it is kind of a weird thing. i am looking forward to having a four or five hour mental break, if you will, where i force myself to focus on something else and i am looking forward to that. i am not playing just to play. i think that the golf course that suits my game and i love playing on that course and in the new york area, and i am playing here because i believe i can win next week. i don't know when i'll be able to -- wh

later, defense by dwight howard. turning into offense the other way. alston throws it up. and it goes. he wanted the foul as well. second quarter, magic up 7. rashard lewis off the pick and roll. can't leave that guy open. why would you go to nelson when rashard lewis is wide open? maybe that's why the lakers are trailing at halftime. then, j.j. redick. slips, no problem, turk alieu, and right now, the lakers have managed only 37 in the first half. turkoglu pacing the magic with 15 points. >> as soon as this is over, right now, right now, dwight howard, is standing by at the half. >> you did not get your first couple of field goals until late in the second period. yet you had a major influence on the first half. what were you looking to do early? >> trying to be the first one on the defensive end. block shots, rebound, and make it toughe for those guys to score. but we've got two more quarters, so we've got to keep it up. >> your defense solid in the first half. lakers under 40%. what are you doing to influence them on the defensive end? >> we're moving our feet. we're not

how he and the lakers have left the door wide open for dwight howard and the magic. captioning by captionmax ♪ >> we are keeping you ♪ ♪ >> we are keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlights, this is espnews available in high definition, along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you, and sports fans love streaks but the yankees not a fan of this one. >> yammer, dating back to last year, the red sox have beaten the yankees seven in a row, tied for their second longest win streak against their archrivals. johnny damon says, "hopefully, we'll beat them sometime soon." bottom two, dustin pedroia off chien-ming wang, nick swisher giving chase, but it's into the seats for a ground-rule double. george kotteras scores. red sox up 3-1. seventh, mark teixeira, after johnny damon homered the yanks go back-to-back, tex's a.l. leading 19th of the year. yanks within one. top nine. jonathan papelbon on to close it out. yanks have the tying run on second. jorge posada to left. a >> the w.t.p., kids, "warning track power." red sox lead the a.l. east by one game, chie

dwight howard and the magic. ♪ >> we are keeping you current with the latest news, scores and highlightsthis is "espnews" available in high definition. along with j.w. stewart, mike yam with you. and j.w., sport fans love streaks. the yankees not a favorite of this one. >> the red sox beat the yankees sneven a row, tied for the second longest streak against them. and dustin pedroia off wang, and nick swisher is giving chase. but it is into the seats for a ground rule double and they score. and the yanks within one and the top nine, jonathan papelbon on to close it out and the yanks with the tying run on second. and jorge posada to left. and the warning track power and the red sox win 6-5 and lead the a.l. heat by one game. and wang with the loss, and his 21.61 e.r.a. is the highest in major league history for any starter through his first five starts of the season. >> tonight was not a good night for him. i thought the other starter threw more strikes and was ahead in other counts, but tobt was not good. >> the balls were way out of the zone and the strikes were middle of the plate. you

kobe bryant, dwight howard, and the other key players from game 4 of the nba finals. >> >> baseball, it is now tied in boston. francisco with the r.b.i. double in the 7th. david ortiz homer in the bottom of the second. great pitching back to c.c. sabathia, and brad penny who is now out. highlights in this game when it goes final. >> he was the hottest and most impressive pitcher in the first couple of months. the royals back, greinke just a little bit. 1.40 all the way up to 1.55. he has a 3-1 lead. bottom of the eighth. still in the ballgame. gone 7 and 1/3. wearing the royals in back-to-back games for the first time in weeks. >> tigers and white sox wrapping up a five-game set. curtis granderson, excuse me while i kiss the sky. ties the game at 3. a little controversy. watch this. watch the fan, left field, reach, reach, and gets the ball. great k567, dude. except the tigers are saying fan interference. hustling out. doing his usain bolt. is it? did he reach into it? looked like he reached over the wall. but, all stands, no interferen interference. scores brian anderson, and the wh

center opens down the road in 2010 the amway arena hosts the finals for the second time after dwight howarderoics. a great 40-point game to eliminate the cavaliers. has not come as easy here in the finals, 6-16 from the field in the first two games. he hit his free-throws as a higher percentage than the regular season. that has been a positive. he also has been turning the ball over a significant amount. >> the free-throw shooting shows an evolution. the way the lakers played him defensively shows how much work he has to do in the low post. if you take away the middle and jump on the left shoulder and force him back on the baseline, with a second defender meeting him. he looks lost and confused. he is not comfortable going back to his left hand on that particular area of the floor and he continues to get the ball on that block. they have come at it with two games, sometimes with single coverage. he hasn't been effective in that situation. if you're a great big man in in low post, single coverage, get a shot, double-coverage, find somebody else to make the shot. >> he is going to face more s

kobe bryant, dwight howard, and the key players involved. >> you might have heard the red sox are looking for a three-game sweep of the yankees. well, it's not looking like it's going to happen yet. boston was up 1-0 early on david ortiz homer. then r.b.i. doubles, and alex rodriguez scored two. highlights coming up. >> well, the royals and indians are all tied up at 3. zach greinke started this game. gave up three runs, all earned. he gave up six hits and six strikeouts. threw 116 pitches. right now greinke came in with a 1.55era. this one is highlights when this one is over. >> detroit and chicago trying to wrap up a five-game set. that a is a lot of numbers. here'sin another. 14th homer of the season for granderson. ties the game at 3. bottom of the ninth. bases loaded. scott podsednik, slices it foul. this could be an out unless the fan interferes. did he? the tigers think so. he's got to get into the field of play. does he cross that invisible line? depends if our a white sox or tigers fan. so same at bat, podsednik chops it to the right side. that brings home a run, and that is the

dwight howard and company have trailed in the series three times and each time they've responded by winningo even their series. kobe bryant now answering questions on what he expects from orlando in game two. >> you expect them to bounce back pretty strongly tomorrow? >> absolutely. absolutely. you know, we'll have to face many games in this series when they shoot lights out. this is a team that made 23 for 34 from the three-point line against sacramento in one game. they can get blistering hot. we understand and know that and we have to be ready for them. >> howard is always that threat inside, which is -- that's a 60% conversion. he gets the ball inside. he's going to shoot 60%. he's close enough he can finish. he leads the league in dunks. those things are devastating to defense. >> we could have done what we did a lot harder and a lot better. and so i think we've got to be careful and we're certainly not going to make wholesale changes. i think there are things we can adjust or be prepared to adjust. the main thing is we have to compete at a much higher level. >> in every series it seem

held dwight howard to just one field goal in game one.do had no answer for kobe bryant who had 40. >> no, feel like i'm a much better player now than i was last year. i feel like i've improved a lot, areas of my game i needed to work on, i worked on those and i think i'm better because of it. >> right now, my plan would be to play in the same rotation but again, like i said yesterday, i thought it was a mistake to play in his first game back -- to play jameer 12 straight minutes. i thought he played extremely well and that's what kept him out there, but i think we should have kept him at six or seven minutes. >> after sunday's game two and after superman and kobe are done doing work, you can hear what they have to say here on espnews. we'll bring you all the post-game news conferences live following the game. >> soccer, u.s.-honduras, first world cup qualifier ever played at soldier field, americans change four starters after being embarrassed by costa rica. early on, clint dempsey work are for the u.s. at midfield, bad turnover, honduras

. >> yao ming, dwight howard, lebron james, derek rose. >> it's every cavaliers fan's worst nightmare and a dream come true for every new yorker from lynn brook to little fallses. lebron in a knicks uniform. the franchise has made no bones about shedding cap room on the 2010 free agent class of which lebron is valedictorian. with a preview of the entire atlantic division, here's mat winer, avery rose and jalen. >> the celtics couldn't deliver on another world championship thanks to kevin garnett's injury in part. the knicks will select eighth in the draft. what are they looking for in >> the new york knicks need a lot of help in all positions but mainly at the point guard spot. the knicks are definitely looking for a quarterback in this draft to start moving forward. also they need help at the five spot. you know, they need help with a big guy that can post up, get some points in the paint for him. the knicks are looking at the point guard spot and the five position. >> the raptors will select one spot after the knicks. what's on their to do list? >> shooting guard. you want a player

dwight howard's team knows how to fight back. it's game two of the nba finals.erage begins sunday at 7:30 eastern on abc. i well and that's what kept him out there, but i think we should have kept him at six or seven minutes. >> after sunday's game two and after superman and kobe are done doing work, you can hear what they have to say here on espnews. we'll bring you all the post-game news conferences live following the game. >> soccer, u.s.-honduras, first world cup qualifier ever played at soldier field, americans change four starters after being embarrassed by costa rica. clint dempsey, bad turnover there. honduras on the break. u.s. down 1-0 very quickly. u.s. ties it at 1-1 on a donovan penalty kick. chip pass to dempsey, he blows it. still tied at 1-1. 68th minute. donovan taking the corner kick. carlos boca negra using his head -- 11th international goal for him. u.s. wins 2-1. >> raining rubles in paris, all-russian final in the french open, dinara safina, number one top ranked player in the world. svetlana kuznetsova, third time they've met in a clay co

how kobe describes the lakers in game 2 and why the magic say dwight howard is not to blame. >> the vikingse brett favre a deadline about a comeback. ♪ ♪

how kobe describes the lakers in game 2 and why the magic say dwight howard is not to blame. >> the vikingse brett favre a deadline about a comeback. ♪ ♪ >> espnews. kev connors and ryan burr. we start off week with the latest on brett favre. >> another chapter in the brett favre saga. >> a lot of chapters. >> it could be the final pages here. >> hopefully. >> it is brett favre who was reportedly given a deadline by the vikings head coach brad childress to make a decision or we will move on. indications are he wants to play. he had arthroscopic shoulder surgery last month to remedy a torn biceps tendon. the vikings have 4 ota's this week. chris mortensen joins us now. why impose the deadline this week? >> well, first of all, favre has had this surgery simply snipping the tendon. it's 3 to 6 weeks to rehab. i don't think they want this hanging over their organization's head or their own quarterbacks sage rosenfels or john david booty.