Mitglied werden » Pitino said Sunday at his induction. "

SAN ANTONIO -- Early Sunday evening, LeBron James will gather his Miami Heat teammates around him and offer a few final words of wisdom before they try to extend their reign as NBA champions. James never rehearses the speech, but already knows what the gist will be. "It would be in the range of, Why not us?" James said Saturday. "Why not us? History is broken all the time. And obviously we know were against the greatest of odds." Against the greatest of odds, against maybe the greatest of San Antonio Spurs teams, too. Both are very much against the Heat now, and both are winning. The Spurs are a victory away from their fifth championship, and will go for it at home Sunday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Spurs are the 32nd team in NBA history to hold a 3-1 lead in the finals. All 31 of the previous teams have won the title. "History is made to be broken, and why not me be a part of it? That would be great," James said. "That would be a great story line, right? But well see what happens. Ive got to live in the moment, though, before we even get to that point." The Spurs have the same way of thinking. They took command of the finals in stunning fashion by not just winning in Miami, but winning twice -- and winning big. San Antonio won Games 3 and 4 on the road by a combined 40 points, never trailing by more than two in either contest and running out to 25-point leads in each. "Weve got to act like were coming into it like its a road game," Spurs guard Danny Green said. "Its a mentality thing. We have to come up with the same mentality we do on the road and try to protect home court and play with desperation." There was no talk from the Spurs on Saturday about closing in on a title, or anything remotely close to that topic. They thought they had it wrapped up with 28 seconds left in Game 6 last season against Miami and saw it slip away -- so even with a 3-1 lead and being at home instead the road for this potential clinching situation, its pretty clear that San Antonio isnt willing to leave anything to chance. "Theyre going to come out and give us their best punch possible," Spurs star Tim Duncan said. "We know that theyre back-to-back champs and theyve been in this situation before and they have all the confidence in the world that they can win these games. So we have to do just the same. Come out there and say, hey, were going to take it little by little, quarter by quarter, and see what happens." That all sounds good, and he meant every word. Thing is, the Heat -- these Heat, anyway -- havent been in this situation before. Since James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh teamed up, the Heat have never trailed 3-1 in a series. Until now. "Were not so entitled or jaded that were above having to fight for it, and thats what it is right now," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Its competition. So weve got to find a way to fight and get this next game, and thats what its all about." Miami took a day off Friday. Mario Chalmers played with his son, James watched some film and rested at home, Udonis Haslem tried to relax with family. Wade, who missed nine of his first 10 shots -- raising questions about his health -- went a different way. He went into the gym, by himself, looking for answers. "I have very good reason that everything could change," Wade said. "As I continue to say throughout the season, its a game-to-game thing." Wade was down 2-0 in the 2006 finals, and trailed by 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of that series against Dallas. The Heat won that championship in six games. "You have to pull from your experiences," Wade said, "and know where you came from to know where youre trying to go." That also applies to the Spurs. Losing the last two games of the finals last year still stings San Antonio. That series was portrayed widely as the Spurs last hurrah -- an aging team with old stars, theres no way they could come back from something as devastating as letting the 2013 championship slip away, right? Wrong. The Spurs finished with the best record in the regular season, and are one win shy of just being the best team, period. "Whatever success anyone has is due to a lot of factors," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Some of it is not even your doing. Sometimes things just happen. So success is a pretty complicated thing." So are comebacks. But James is eager for the chance. "For me, its like you either dont make the playoffs or you win a championship," James said. "Theres no in-between." Cheap Clearance Shoes Online . -- Slugger Jose Abreu, All-Star left-hander Chris Sale and closer Matt Lindstrom are on the disabled list. Cheap Clearance Shoes . About seven hours before facing Washington in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference second round series, team officials said the oft-injured Bynum would miss the rest of the playoffs and would not even be with the team for the rest of the post-season. http://www.cheapshoesclearance.com/. On July 27 cyclings best-known race will host "La Course by Le Tour de France" -- a one-day womens competition staged hours before Tour riders race on the same circuit to finish the three-week event on Paris Champs-Elysees. Discount Shoes Online Free Shipping . Off-Season Game Plan looks at what the Blue Jackets may do to build upon last seasons success to return to the playoffs again next year. Authentic Shoes Wholesale . -- Desperate to stop Tom Bradys latest comeback bid, the Miami Dolphins sought help from a reserve safety making his NFL debut after being signed Tuesday off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Rick Pitino remembers the training meals at the pizza place where his Boston University teams ate more than 30 years ago. Even Hall of Famers have to start somewhere. That obscure beginning provided a foundation for a coaching career that took him to two NBA teams and three other colleges, all reaching the Final Four and two winning NCAA championships. "Coaches dont get in the Hall of Fame," Pitino said Sunday at his induction. "Players put them in the Hall of Fame and Ive had a great journey along the way." It started for him as a head coach in 1978 just 90 miles east of Springfield Symphony Hall, where the ceremony was held for him and 11 other honorees. He had to "learn the trade from the bottom" at Boston University, Pitino said. There were those "training meals," he said, and the time when champagne was served at Midnight Madness. "Nine drunks showed up," he said, "and no one else." He spent five years with the Terriers, then two as an assistant with the New York Knicks before spending the next two as head coach at Providence, leading the Friars to a surprising berth in the Final Four. He kept moving -- two years as head coach with the Knicks, eight with Kentucky, four with the Boston Celtics and the past 12 with Louisville. Just five months ago, he led the Cardinals to the championship. "At BU, you learn how to build the right way. At Providence, I learned how to dream. I always thought anything is possible after coaching that team," Pitino said during his 20-minute speech, the last of the day. "At Kentucky, I learned all about pressure every single day. It was unbelievable pressure and it was very difficult and that pressure brought out the best in everybody." Two former college coaches were inducted as part of the second straight 12-member class, the largest in the Halls history -- Jerry Tarkanian, 83, who led UNLV to the 1990 NCAA championship, and Guy Lewis, 91, who took Houston to five Final Fours. Tarkanian, who had heart surgery less than two months ago, came on stage with a walker. Lewis was in a wheelchair. Both smiled as they received standing ovations. Also inducted Sunday into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame were Gary Payton, the only NBA player with 20,000 points, 8,000 assists, 5,000 rebounds and 2,000 steals; Bernard King, who averaged 22.5 points in 15 NBA seasons with five teams; North Carolina womens coach Sylvia Hatchell; five-time WNBA All-Star Dawn Staley; formmer Knicks guard Richie Guerin; former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik; and Oscar Schmidt, who played in five Olympics for Brazil.dddddddddddd E.B. Henderson, who learned basketball at Harvard in 1904 then introduced it to African-American students in Washington, D.C., and four-time ABA All-Star Roger Brown of the Indiana Pacers were enshrined posthumously. Henderson "laid the foundation" for the progress of African-Americans "from exclusion to domination" of basketball, Nikki Graves Henderson, wife of Hendersons grandson, said in a recorded message. Payton was known for his defensive prowess, aggressiveness and trash-talking. "I played hard because I wanted to win every time," he said of his 17-year career, nearly 13 of them with the Seattle SuperSonics. "It was all for my crazy love for the game." For King, playing basketball as a kid involved sometimes clearing snow from a playground court in Brooklyn. "I fell in love with basketball the first time I made a basket," he said. Ten days before his 61st birthday, Pitino stood on stage with Hubie Brown, head coach of the Knicks when he was an assistant, and Dick Vitale, the pair he chose to present him for induction. Pitino never came close in the pros to the success he had in college. He had losing records in five of his six NBA seasons. After a loss to Toronto on March 1, 2000, an agitated Pitino urged people to focus on the future, saying, "Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, theyre going to be grey and old." On Sunday, while Pitino posed for photos before the ceremony, a blonde-haired Bird showed up. "He finally walks through the door, and I said, What took you so long to walk through that door? And he said to me, You dont want me now," Pitino said, grinning. Bird had his turn on stage as the presenter of Schmidt, a prolific scorer who said he chose not to play in the NBA because that would have barred him from playing for his national team. "Its too easy to have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant as an idol, a guy (who) flies around and does whatever he wants. Its easy," Schmidt said. "My guy doesnt run, doesnt jump and played the best of everybody else." Bird was enshrined in 1998. On Sunday, he was joined by 12 others. "There is nothing better than this," Schmidt said. ' ' '