Back in the NBA finals, back to trying to beat the Miami Heat. Pretty wild how things have worked out for the Dallas Mavericks, isn't it? "It doesn't really matter that much to me," Dirk Nowitzki said Friday. "No thought whatsoever," echoed Jason Terry. Oh, well. So much for the story line of the 2011 Mavs seeking redemption for 2006.

Although Gisela Dulko missed the birth of her brother's twins because of the French Open, her sacrifice was rewarded Friday. The 51st-ranked Argentine upset 2010 French Open finalist Sam Stosur 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 on center court to reach the fourth round and match her best result at the clay-court Grand Slam.

Derrick Rose vowed to learn from this, to get better, and insisted the Chicago Bulls would come back hungrier after the Miami Heat knocked them out in the Eastern Conference finals. Clearly, the standards are soaring now. As good as they were this season, the Bulls came up short. They blew a late 12-point lead and bowed out with a 83-80 loss to the Heat in Game 5 on Thursday.

The Miami Heat won the series and plenty of television viewers in the Eastern Conference finals. The five-game series between the Heat and Chicago Bulls averaged 10.4 million viewers on TNT. That's up 46 percent from last year's Celtics-Magic matchup in the East, and up 33 percent from Lakers-Suns on TNT in 2010.

As if the Bulls losing to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals wasn't enough, Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen has added to Chicago's pain by suggesting that LeBron James could be better than Michael Jordan. Pippen stirred the pot in an interview with ESPN radio on Friday morning, saying Jordan "is probably the greatest scorer to play the game" but James "may be the greatest...

Novak Djokovic's match against Juan Martin del Potro in the French Open's third round was suspended because of darkness Friday night with the players tied at a set apiece. Djokovic won the first set 6-3, and del Potro took the second 6-3. As they went to the sideline, the chair umpire announced play would stop for the day.