Critics Take Swings At Venus Williams’ Wimbledon Outfit

Venus Williams’ outfits seem to be garnering more attention than her stellar game play at the annual Wimbledon, England tournament.

During her victory over Akgul Amanmuradova, Williams wore a self-designed outfit that has the web and tennis commentators debating on whether it was a poncho, or a jumper.

“It’s a jumper,” Venus told reporters who questioned the outfit. “Jumpers are very now, kind of trendy. The back is kind of, I don’t know, like a cutout or a peek-a-boo. I’m always trying to do something different and fun.”

England-Sri Lanka third Test day two delayed by rain

Rain has delayed the start of the second day of the third Test match between England and Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl - with a forecast suggesting a possible wash-out for Friday.

The Southampton weather allowed only 38 overs to be bowled on day one.

In that time, England pace bowlers James Anderson and Chris Tremlett made use of bowler-friendly conditions to reduce the tourists to 81-4.

The home side lead the three-match series, blighted by bad weather, 1-0.

Best fielding side I have been part of in 5 years: Raina

Fielding has never been Indian cricket's strong point but stand-in skipperSuresh Raina says the side competing against the West Indies right now is the best fielding unit he has been part of in the past five years.

"In my view, it is the best Indian fielding side I have been part of in the last five years."

The team's new fielding coach Trevor Penny said the current side has four-five players who are excellent.

"There are at least four or five boys in the team who are excellent," remarked Penny, who was recommended to the job by coach Duncan Fletcher.

The cricketers, who have given an edge to India in the field clearly have been Manoj Tiwary, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath and skipper Suresh Raina himself.

The Indian practice sessions on the present Caribbean tour are exceptionally sharp and a few catches Rohit Sharma, Raina and Badrinath took in the slips at Sabina Park on Wednesday took the breath away of a smattering of onlookers.

The long flight from Antigua and rather cramped conditions in their present stay in Kingston has done little to dilute the enthusiasm of the young team.

Penny is particularly impressed that despite the long season during which India toured South Africa and played in the World Cup and the IPL without a break, the players are still attacking the ball and are looking to enjoy their fielding stints.

"They have had a long season already but their enthusiasm for fielding is pretty high."

Penny is looking forward to learning from his association with Fletcher who engaged him as a substitute fielder during the 2005 Ashes in England.

Penny, who played for Warwickshire before retiring, was termed by The Guardian as "one of the best fielders to have graced the county game."

After his retirement, Penny joined the Sri Lankan team as assistant coach under Tom Moody.

"I worked for three years under Tom and now there is this opportunity with Duncan."

The association between Penny and Moody extended to IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab where the former worked as a fielding coach for three years.

Penny was serving Queensland Cricket in Australia before the call from BCCI came.

Gayle could stop playing for Windies

Kingston, June 16: If you thought West Indian opener Chris Gayle was in a mood for reconciliation with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), here is some shocking news. The tall Jamaican's role as part of the Windies' team is in peril after his camp engaged in a heated exchange with board officials on Wednesday.

A big-wig of the WICB indicated that Gayle's career could well morph into that of a free-lancer, akin to the status of Australia's Andrew Symonds. Thus, Gayle could be relegated to a player who merely takes part in Twenty20 tournaments around the globe, but does not play with the team from the Caribbean any more.

The crux of the tension was that the board was hell-bent on continuing negotiations with Gayle only after he retracted disparaging statements that he made against it in a radio interview in April.

In the three-hour meeting, emotions ran high and the tension was palpable, with a WICB source claiming that Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), actually raised his chair and threatened to assault the board CEO Ernest Hilaire.

The camp representing Gayle brushed aside the claim, merely admitting that there were verbal disagreements and that Ramnarine had got out from his chair at one point.

Gayle was joined at the meeting by Ramnarine and the WIPA vice-president Wavell Hinds, while the WICB was represented by Hilaire, the coach Ottis Gibson, the team manager Richie Richardson and the director of cricket Tony Howard.

A WIPA source said the meeting ended inconclusively with Hilaire saying he would have to speak with the WICB management and the selectors before any more action was taken.

During Gayle's infamous interview two months ago, he claimed the board had mismanaged his injury, that the coach Ottis Gibson had ruined Ramnaresh Sarwan's confidence, and the board mishandled his contract talks in Oct 2010.

Now with no resolution in sight, a large shadow of doubt has fallen on Gayle. The man who holds the record of scoring 333 in a Test against Sri Lanka earlier this year could be chucked out of the side.

Cleveland's Struggles Continue, Lose To The Yankees

NEW YORK (AP) — Derek Jeter admits reaching 3,000 hits is constantly on his mind. It's unavoidable with everyone talking about it. And he also knows there are only four games left on the Yankees' current homestand before they head out for a six-game road trip.

The race is on to do it at home.

Jeter had a pair of RBI singles to get within seven of the milestone Sunday, and New York pounded out a season-high 18 hits while beating the slumping Cleveland Indians 9-1.

"I'd be lying to you if I told you I haven't been thinking about it," said Jeter, who singled during a five-run fifth inning and again during a three-run eighth, while also hitting a pair of long fly balls to the warning track.

"It's impossible for that not to be in your head, because I'm around that all the time," Jeter continued. "Yeah, I'd love to do it at home."

It's obvious looking around the clubhouse that he's getting close.

Curtis Granderson went 4 for 4 and drove in a pair of runs, and he dressed in peace as reporters huddle around the Yankees shortstop. Brett Gardner did the same at the other end of the room after two doubles, a triple and scoring three runs.

"It's all over the place," Gardner said. "It's still a few days away, but everyone's pulling for him every single at-bat."

Alex Rodriguez added three RBIs and scored a run for New York, closing within two of Hall of Famer Ted Williams for 16th place on the major league scoring list. Freddy Garcia (5-5) wiggled out of enough trouble over 6 2-3 innings to win for the third time in four starts.

The Indians have lost nine of their last 10, though they held onto first place in the AL Central by a sliver after Detroit also lost Sunday. Cleveland will try to avoid a four-game sweep when the teams meet Monday night.

"We're going to have to tinker with the lineup and do whatever we can to try to get better," manager Manny Acta said. "We were 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position today. You can't expect to win when you do that."

Orlando Cabrera reached 2,000 career hits with a single in the second inning, a hard shot at Jeter that hopped over his shoulder and into left field.

That was the biggest highlight of the afternoon for Indians, who stole five bases and kept getting guys into scoring position but repeatedly failed to score.

Josh Tomlin (7-4) did his best to keep the Indians in the game, but his defense failed him in the fifth inning and New York pushed five runs across.

Gardner led off with a double that right fielder Shin-Soo Choo appeared to lose in the flat, gray sky. Jeter followed with his RBI single and Granderson singled before A-Rod hit a fly ball that left fielder Austin Kearns woefully misjudged for a two-run double.

Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher followed with RBI singles, the second of which it appeared first baseman Matt LaPorta could have fielded. Jorge Posada's sacrifice fly made it 6-0.

"We've been swinging the bats well up and down the lineup," Jeter said.

That hasn't been the case for the Indians, who were 0 for 17 with runners on base. They've managed just five combined runs off opposing starters in their last five games.

It's not as if they didn't have chances.

Cabrera was stranded on second in the second inning, and Asdrubal Cabrera left standing on third base in the third. Choo reached third the following inning, and the Indians put runners on second in the fifth and sixth innings without getting them home.

They finally coaxed a run across in the seventh, and loaded the bases against reliever Boone Logan, before Choo lined out to shortstop to end the inning.

"It's very frustrating," Orlando Cabrera said. "If I tell you that we're not trying or we're not working hard, I'd be lying to you."

There appeared to be no lingering animosity a day after Rodriguez was hit in the thigh by a pitch, and two days after Mark Teixeira was hit and the benches cleared.

New York batters had been hit eight times over the first five games of the homestand, including once each of the previous five contests. That streak was one shy of the franchise's longest since 1920, set in May 2006 and matched last August and September.

NOTES: The Yankees put RHP Bartolo Colon (strained right hamstring) and RHP Amauri Sanit (sore right elbow) on the DL before the game. OF Chris Dickerson and RHP Hector Noesi joined the Yankees from Triple-A. ... Indians DH Travis Hafner (strained right oblique) took BP before the game. ... Jets coach Rex Ryan attended the game wearing a pinstripe jersey. ... New York is a major league-best 17-3 in day games. ... Tomlin allowed six runs in five innings.

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Congratulations Dallas Mavericks

Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, 105-95 winners of Game 6 of the NBA Finals and the 2011 NBA Champions. Dallas overcame early foul trouble in this game, ridicule throughout the series, and most of the things that other teams succumb to in order to leave no doubt about their title. I suppose this also shows that if something is good, sticking with it can pay off.

Standing ovation for the Mavs. Be sure to check out Mavs Moneyball and offer your congratulations as well.

Raina asks Arnab to launch campaign supporting India in West Indies

Suresh Raina, the Indian cricket team captain for the West Indies tour, is understood to have written a mail to Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, pleading the news channel to launch a “sustained campaign” to help the Indian team get some support and television viewership.

India has won one Twenty20 match and two ODIs in West Indies, but Indian cricket fans have shown no interest in following the series yet.

“Nothing but pointed and direct questions from Arnab could force viewers to watch cricket now,” Raina is reported to have argued in his mail to Boria Majumdar, the sports editor of Times Now, “Please have a Newshour debate of six hours and help us survive here. We badly need your support.”

Virat Kohli reported that he could see the ball clearly as there were no men waving flags behind it in the stands

Sources at Times Now reveal that Boria wrote back to Raina expressing his inability to help as the editorial policy of Times Now was to “report, and not support”, as has been reiterated many times by Arnab Goswami in the recent debates.

Undeterred by this negative response, Raina then wrote a “direct and pointed” letter to Arnab himself, making a strong case of why the channel must support the Indian team, which was thinking of pulling out of the remaining matches owing to lack of interest among the fans back home.

“Your team is the World Champion, you remember?! And your team were the original heroes before Anna Hazare came into picture,” Raina’s passionate letter to Arnab read, referring to the Indian cricket team as “your team” repeatedly to strike a chord with Arnab.

“While we don’t grudge Anna, it’s painful to see someone like Suhel Seth getting more airtime for his howzzats than Harbhajan Singh,” the letter argued, “Harbhajan is actually agitated for god’s sake!”

“Please take note that even BCCI is not replying to our mails, if you don’t support us, we might be forced to pull out of the series,” the Indian captain is believed to have pleaded in the letter.

While Arnab’s final decision was not known to anyone and could be known only during the Newshour tonight, BCCI is believed to be working on a “Team C” that they will send to West Indies in case current players decide to boycott the remaining series.

Clenbuterol strikes again: Guillermo Ochoa and four others suspended

Five members of Mexico's Gold Cup squad have been suspended after they tested positive for the banned substance Clenbuterol. They are goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (Club America), defenders Francisco Javier Rodriguez (PSV) and Edgar Duenas (Toluca), midfielders Antonio Naelson (Toluca) and Christian Bermudez (Atlanta).

The general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation, Decio de Maria said that the five players were suspended with immediate effect. They could also potentially face a two year ban from the sport if the investigations turned up any wrongdoing. However, he also added that tainted chicken or beef could be the cause of the banned substance appearing in their urine samples.

"We know there is a health alert throughout the country because of food contaminated with Clenbuterol and that will be taken into account for the investigation."

2nd ODI: India trash West Indies by 7 wickets

Indian batsmen did well to chase the new target and won by seven wickets, doing in brisk fashion due to the D/L system after a deluge reduced the game.

Virat Kohli was the star (81) of the day, forging a solid partnership with Parthiv Patel (56) that set up the platform to chase the total as skipper Raina stayed till the end to help India take a 2-0 lead in the five match ODI series.

A constant downpour resulted in India chasing a revised target of 183 runs in 37 overs.

Scorecard: India Vs West Indies»

Shikhar Dhawan (3) who was claimed by Ravi Rampaul, could not do justice to the opportunity awarded to him after his last match’s good performance.

This came in after West Indies posted a competitive 240/9 for India to chase in the second ODI, much due to the efforts of the tail-enders and some wayward bowling at death.

Amit Mishra (4-31) and Munaf Patel (3-35) were the wreckers-in-charge for the visitors as they stamped their authority on the much appreciative spectators.

Lendl Simmons (53) and Ramnaresh Sarwan’s (56) fifties helped the hosts reach a decent total as Yusuf Pathan helped himself to two wickets despite being expensive in the run-rate department.

Pathan claimed Simmons and Marlon Samuels (36) while the batsmen were trying to slog him over the fence.

With the 2-0 lead in the series, India would dig even deeper to test the bench strength in the next tie, hoping to seal the series while the home team have a steep task at their hands.

India (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina(c), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar

West Indies (Playing XI): Lendl Simmons, Kirk Edwards, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh(w), Darren Sammy(c), Devendra Bishoo, Ravi Rampaul, Anthony Martin

College baseball: UCLA stays alive with 4-1 victory over San Francisco – Los Angeles Times

It didn't really matter what UCLA batters did Sunday afternoon. Bruins pitcher Adam Plutko saw to that. Plutko, a freshman, gave up one hit in 7 2/3 innings and the Bruins avoided elimination with a 4-1 victory over San Francisco in the NCAA tournament

Every time UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole went into his motion, the speed guns went up. Each pitch was charted and discussed by more than a dozen major league scouts Friday.

It's doubtful San Francisco's Kyle Zimmer was even on their radar.

By the end of the evening, Zimmer was center stage. His four-hit shutout gave the Dons a 3-0 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium, putting Cole one loss closer to the draft that he has tried to ignore. San Francisco (32-23) will play UC Irvine (40-16) Saturday at 6 p.m. UCLA (33-23) plays Fresno State (40-15), with the loser calling it a season.

Cole was the drawing card for scouts, who more or less shouldered their speed guns when Zimmer was on the mound. UCLA players pretty much did the same with their bats.

Zimmer retired 26 of the first 28 batters before UCLA loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth. Dons Coach Nino Giarratano went to the mound, but said later, "It was Kyle's game to win or lose." Zimmer then caught Cody Regis looking — his 11th strikeout. He was the fifth Bruin that Zimmer struck out looking.

"When you're going against the best pitcher in the country, you have to keep things simple and attack hitters," said Zimmer, who gave up four hits and did not walk a batter.

For the record: An earlier version of this report had a photo caption that incorrectly identified San Francisco's Kyle Zimmer making a throw to first base. It was Jason Mahood making the throw.

This was nothing new for Zimmer (6-4), whose has walked the razor's edge in his last three games. San Francisco and Gonzaga went into the last weekend tied with Gonzaga atop the West Coast Conference. Zimmer beat Gonzaga on Friday and came back Sunday to pitch a scoreless ninth to save the title-clinching victory.

"I have tried not to think about how big the games are right now," Zimmer said. "I'm just going pitch by pitch."

He saved his best for Friday, getting his first career shutout.

"Zimmer was the best we have seen this year," UCLA Coach John Savage said.

This was Cole's last audition before the Major League Baseball draft on Monday. He performed as he has much of the season. He was unhittable, except for the times the Dons hit him. Cole (6-8) had 11 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. He also gave up 11 hits of him.

Nik Balog had four singles, driving in runs in the third and fifth innings. Pinch hitter Adam Clear had a run-scoring single in the eighth.

UC Irvine 12, Fresno State 6: Jordan Leyland drove in five runs, three with a first-inning home run. Irvine scored five runs in the first inning off Fresno State starter Greg Gonzalez, who was 11-0 record with a 1.43 earned-run average going into the game.

Irvine's Matt Summers (11-2), who threw a no-hitter against Long Beach State in his last game, went seven innings, giving up only one earned run.

Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer: French Open final live

14.04 They're out on court. Nadal bounces around feverishly for a while then takes his customary posture, setting his towel just so across his thighs, arranging his water bottles with the labels all aligned. Federer, as usual, looks about as fussed as a businessman gathering his belongings before getting off a train.

14.02 BBC have paired their pre-game hype reel with this sweet little ditty by Carla Bruni. Well worth a listen, though not a song particularly suited to building an impression of warring egos and tidal rushes of testosterone.

14.00 No sign of the players yet, but it's dry in Paris and there's even a little bit of sun. Play should be under way before too long. How long it will take... that's another question.

E-mail 13.56 A couple of predictions: "Nadal in four," says Sarah Williamson. "Federer's been in phenomenal form but Nadal has a hold over him in the Grand Slams. That run of defeats will be difficult to shake off." Paul Lewis is even more down on the Swiss great: "This will be his last final," he predicts confidently, predicting a straight-sets win for Nadal and no doubt stroking his crystal ball.

13.50 If Federer's to win he needs to end points quickly and pick up lots of cheap points on his serve. His form against Djokovic is encouraging in that regard: he served 18 aces in that match. He can't have served better on clay than he has during this tournament. The switch to faster Babolat balls from the usual Dunlops has helped him out. Ironically, Nadal is the face of Babolat.

Another number from Federer's semi-final is less encouraging: he broke Djokovic's serve just twice in 18 attempts. He will need to take his chances this afternoon, and that kind of hit-rate probably won't cut it against Nadal.

13.40 While we're waiting for the players to emerge, why not relive the greatest 4 hours and 48 minutes of tennis's greatest rivalry? That match was memorably broken up by the weather, as today's game promises to be.

13.20 Afternoon. After all that, it's these two again. Roger Federer, 16 months without a major final, showed Novak Djokovic exactly how much a long unbeaten streak counts for when it comes to the crunch, and Rafael Nadal recovered from some shaky form at the beginning of the tournament and looked his old remorseless self against Andy Murray.

Federer has never beaten Nadal at Roland Garros, losing three finals to the Mallorcan. The worst moment came in 2008, when he apologised to the crowd after winning just four games. If he manages to beat his old foe today it will be the first time he's beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam since winning Wimbledon in 2007.

The skies are overcast and brooding over Paris, and interruptions are predicted for the afternoon and evening. Play's scheduled to start at 2.

Quote RAFAEL NADAL...

On the prospect of equalling Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open title: "For me, seriously, I don't think about that. I have a lot of respect for the great Bjorn but I am focused on trying to play well. For me, it's much more important to win Roland Garros than equal Bjorn."

Could gloomy conditions play a role? "I don't have the power to control the weather. So if it rains, I'm going to think it's an advantage for me; if the sun shines, I'm going to think it's an advantage for me. I have to think positive all the time because I cannot control that."

His form through the tournament: "If you compare now to one week ago, it is completely different. Seriously, being in the final of Roland Garros you can't have problems, you cannot have doubts. I had to forget about the anxiety or the fears I had something like two weeks ago, and now I have gained more confidence."

His opponent: "After the victory [against Djokovic] he must feel very confident. I had a lot of fun watching that match. There's nothing new against Roger, I know what's going to happen. I know he's going to play aggressive, for sure. I have to try to play long, to play consistent all the time, and try to be aggressive when I have the chance."

Quote ROGER FEDERER...

Back to his best? "Honestly, I feel very well. I think I move very well, I'm never stressed. If there is a ball that you miss, it's just because the other one played it very well, and not because I made a mistake or I played bad tennis on the return, or on my serve. That's why I'm very happy at the moment with my game. Is it my best? I don't know."

On his "decline" - did he ever worry he had had played his last final? "No, not really. I was very close in the US Open [semi-finals] and then I'm playing a final here against Rafa. Last year maybe I had a hard time here and in Wimbledon, but sometimes it's hard to play the perfect match. So that's why you have to accept it and continue to work... I have not disappeared anywhere."

On the rivalry: "We had a lot of fantastic matches. Final of Miami, 2005, final of Rome, 2006 [over five sets], for sure the 2007 final of Wimbledon, 2008 final of Wimbledon, Australia... a lot of important matches, a lot of emotions. That makes this match very special."

F1 spectacular hits Melbourne in March

MELBOURNE will host the second round of the Formula One World Championship in March.

F1's governing body, the FIA has confirmed the Australian Grand Prix will be staged at Albert Park, March 14-18.

The Australian event will be the second race on the 2012 F1 calendar following Bahrain on 11 March.

The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) has also confirmed that the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix has been rescheduled to take place on 30 October.

The original March date for the event was delayed due to political unrest leaving Australia as the first race on this year’s calendar.

The inaugural Indian Grand Prix will now become the final round of the 2011 World Championship, combined with the FIA Annual General Assembly and Prize-Giving Gala.



2012 FIA Formula One World Championship

Bahrain, March 11
Australia, March 18
Malaysia, April 1
China, April 8
Korea, April 22
Turkey*, May 6
Spain, May 20
Monaco, May 27
Canada, June 10
United States, June 17
Spain, July 1
Great Britain, July 15
Germany, July 29
Hungary, August 5
Belgium, September 2
Italy, September 9
Singapore, September 30
Japan, October 14
India, October 28
Abu Dhabi, November 11
Brazil, November 25

Strain all on Novak Djokovic: Roger Federer

ROGER Federer has warned that Novak Djokovic faces all the pressure in their French Open semi-final on Friday night.

Swiss Federer, yet to drop a set at Roland Garros, said the expectations on his Serbian opponent are high, with the No.1 ranking Djokovic's for the taking and pressure to continue his winning streak, which stands at 43 matches, 41 of them this year.

"I think there's less at stake for me than for him," Federer said.

"He's got a lot of things going on. Sure, I'd love to be again in a Grand Slam final because I haven't achieved that in a few slams.

"But nothing major for me as long as I keep on giving myself chances. I think I'm playing really well again. Even I thought during the clay court season I wasn't playing poorly. I had some tough losses.



"But now I can really play the way I was hoping to play here at the French Open."

Federer cruised into the semi-finals with a 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-3) win against French No.9 seed Gael Monfils.

Djokovic had an even easier path to the semis, when his quarter-final opponent, Fabio Fognini pulled out with a leg injury, handing the world No.2 four days off.

No.3 seed Federer, also no stranger to winning streaks, said: "Obviously a big question remains, 'How long can you keep it up?'.

"You would just like to, you know, not talk about it. Just go out there and do it over and over again.

"I'm sure it's been tricky for him, but he's been doing a great job. Now maybe the streak is less at stake in some ways, because it's more of a big match against me so it's easier to focus just on playing me instead of the whole situation.

"I think the No.1 situation is the big one right now for him and not so much the streak. But it all goes hand in hand. It's going to be an interesting day."

Djokovic has only to make the final to take over as No.1 from Rafael Nadal.

ANDY Murray secured a stirring fourth-round victory against Viktor Troicki of Serbia yesterday, resuming at two-sets-all after their match was suspended by fading light the previous evening.

The fourth-seeded Scot, who partially tore a tendon in his ankle during the third round, won 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5.

Sania-Vesnina storm into French Open semis

India's Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina upset top seeds Gisela Dulko of Brazil and Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-0, 7-5 to qualify for the women's doubles semifinals of the French Open on Monday.

French Open 2011


Earlier in the day, Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi advanced to the French Open men's doubles quarterfinals with a straight-set win over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.

On Sunday, Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina defeated the Spanish pair of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-4 to enter the quarters.

Heat stars turn visions of a Bulls breeze into a mirage

Idon’t want to say Bulls fans were overly wound up Wednesday night, but when Miami’s Chris Bosh dunked, the guy behind me at the United Center screamed angrily, “Guard him!’’ The score was 2-0.

On the other hand, maybe he saw a future of dunks, layups and LeBron James dominance unfolding before him.

Let’s call what happened Wednesday a market correction. Miami tied the Eastern Conference finals 1-1 with an 85-75 victory. No matter what Game 1 might have said, the Bulls are not 21 points better than the Heat. James and Dwyane Wade are not the bystanders they appeared to be in Game 1. They’re two of the top 10 basketball players on the planet. Chicago and its suburbs might have lost sight of that after Game 1’s blowout victory.

No matter what you might have heard or seen this season, Derrick Rose is human. Humans shoot 7-for-23 from the floor. MVPs bounce back from bad performances. We’ll see how he and the Bulls respond Sunday in Game 3 in Miami.

The excitement around town after Game 1 was more than a little out of proportion. Maybe people will calm down a bit now, and by that I mean maybe people will start thinking that getting “Bench Mob’’ shoulder tattoos might not be such a good idea.

When the Bulls looked flat against the Pacers and the Hawks in the two previous playoff series, lots of people tsked-tsked those of us who called the team on it. We didn’t understand the NBA, we were told. The playoffs were long and difficult, we were told, a marathon, not a sprint. Bad games were bound to crop up.

But when the Bulls beat the Heat 103-82 in Game 1, all that NBA wisdom sprinted out the window, as did sobriety. And so we started to hear that there was no way the Heat could keep up with a Bulls team with so much depth.

Now we’re back to reality, and that’s not such a bad thing. Two very good teams are going at it with ferocity, as it should be in the conference finals. And now the Bulls know that this isn’t going to be easy.

Heat’s adjustment pays off

Three thoughts:

Any time the Bulls want to get up on Miami’s Udonis Haslem would be fine.

Carlos Boozer still can’t jump.

Taj Gibson still deserves most of Boozer’s minutes.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra chose to go small again Wednesday by making 7-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas and 6-11 Erick Dampier inactive. That decision looked crazy until tipoff, when the Heat played hard immediately.

“I thought they had a lot of fight to them,’’ Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Miami was well aware that it didn’t look all there in Game 1, that the team nickname could have been Lukewarm instead of Heat. Players were determined to change that.

The Heat finally got smart in Game 2. Wade drove to the basket more often. James backed in on Luol Deng more often. Common sense says that Mario Chalmers and Mike Bibby have to shoot to keep the Bulls honest, but James seemed to decide he’d prefer to lose on his own failures, not Bibby’s and Chalmers’.

At halftime, Wade had 17 points and James had 14 points. Both were 6-for-9 from the floor. The Heat shot 51.5 percent.

What, you thought this was going to be a breeze? You were thinking sweep?

8 unanswered points swung game

The Bulls were 0-for-9 until Keith Bogans hit a three-pointer about four minutes into the game.

The Heat did to Rose in Game 2 what the Bulls did to James in Game 1: They walled up the driving lanes. It’s why Rose’s stats at one point in the third quarter (5-for-17 from the floor) were eerily similar to James’ Game 1 stats (5-for-15).

The Heat scored eight unanswered points on three layups and a dunk to take a 65-56 lead with four minutes left in the third. That led to a Thibodeau timeout and probably several players being put in timeout.

When play resumed, Haslem almost immediately threw down a dunk. He finished with 13 points in 23 minutes.

In the fourth quarter, the Heat had James, Wade and Bosh on the floor. In addition to Rose and Deng, the Bulls had Bench Mobbers Gibson, Kyle Korver and Omer Asik. Give Thibodeau credit for sticking to a meritocracy in the playoffs.

It’s why Asik was on the court when Wade drove to the hoop. And it’s why Asik was able to reject Wade’s dunk attempt.

But James took over at the end of the game, scoring almost at will.

“These playoff games, the last five minutes at home, you’ve got to find a way to win,’’ Deng said.

Look, the Bulls remain a hustling pain in the butt. That’s not much of a marketing campaign. It’s just the truth. And it will help them again and again in this series. But the Heat hustles a little bit too.

Oh, and it has a ton of talent. Somehow, a certain Midwestern city lost sight of that.