Diana Taurasi and the surging Phoenix Mercury started the post-Olympic break in impressive fashion. The Mercury backed up a blowout of the Dallas Wings on Friday with an upset of the first-place Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday.Taurasi scored 26 points and the Mercury defense forced 21 turnovers in the win over the Sparks. Phoenix has won four of five heading into Tuesdays road test against the Indiana Fever.Unlike the Mercury, the Fever did not get off to the start they were hoping for after returning from the monthlong Olympic break. Indiana was blown out by the Washington Mystics 92-69 on Friday at home. The loss snapped the Fevers three-game winning streak.Im disappointed in our effort, Indiana coach Stephanie White told the Indianapolis Star after the loss to the Mystics. For whatever reason, we lost our energy and intensity in the second half.Indiana (12-13) is in sixth place in the league standings. The top eight teams, regardless of conference, qualify for the postseason. White said her team still needs to generate a playoff effort in the final 10 games of the season.We have to put that energy, that effort, that urgency out there, White told reporters. We cant turn that on when the lights turn on. We have to do that day in and day out.Phoenix (12-14) is in seventh place entering Tuesdays game, a half-game behind the Fever.Taurasi is fourth in the WNBA in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game. She was held to 13 points in an ugly loss to the Fever in July.Indiana has won the two previous meetings with the Mercury this season, including a 78-60 rout on July 8 in Phoenix. The Fever turned 27 Mercury turnovers into 38 points and outscored them 30-10 in the third quarter to pull away.The Fever have won the last four meetings with Phoenix. The Mercurys last victory in the series came in August 2014.Tuesdays game marks the beginning of the final 10 games of Indiana standout Tamika Catchings career. The future Hall of Famer has announced she is retiring after the season. White is also leaving after the season to become the coach at Vanderbilt. Authentic Custom Hurricanes Jersey . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. Cheap Hurricanes Jerseys . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. http://www.customhurricanesjersey.com/ .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Custom Hurricanes Jerseys . 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. Glen Wesley Jersey Large . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. MEXICO CITY -- Keke Rosberg was a teenager when he swaggered into a Swedish go-kart shop as an apprentice in the early 1960s. By the time he left motorsports, his reputation for bravery, speed and muscular driving had firmly taken root.People were in awe of him even then, how brave he was, what a crazy fast driver this guy from Finland was, said Stefan Johansson, who became friends with Rosberg at that shop and would grow up to race against him in Formula One in the 1980s.Rosberg would end his career regarded as a one of F1s great swashbucklers, a hard-charging, speed-seeking thrill master who won the 1982 championship. Now his son Nico is on the verge of matching his fathers title, but with none of his flair. Even as he piles up wins, the younger Rosberg has been called boring, bland and even bad for F1s efforts to attract new fans.Nico Rosberg doesnt care, so long as his critics call him champion after this season.Im here to win races and not to please everybody thats out there, Nico Rosberg said ahead of Sundays Mexican Grand Prix, where he leads Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 26 points with three races left.With his bushy mustache and bruising driving, Keke Rosberg was a crowd pleaser in an era when the Formula One was far more dangerous. Over the course of his F1 career from 1978 to 1986, five drivers were killed, including two in 1982 when Rosberg won his championship. His qualifying laps at the 1985 British Grand Prix at Silverstone remain stuff of legend. He was already secure in in the pole position and returned to the track after a spell of rain to go even faster, averaging more than 160 mph, a previously unattainable speed.I got carried away, and that shouldnt be the case if you want to survive, Rosberg later said . It was probably one of the few occasions when I felt I had lost my self-control ... I should have stayed in the garage but sheer enjoyment overtook professionalism.Johansson, who raced against him for five years, said Keke Rosberg epitomized what auto racing was all about at a time it was more bravery than technique. In the rain, he was spectacularly fast.Comparing father and son as drivers is difficult.Nico Rosberg drives in an era when safety has been dramatically improved and tracks have been tamed with chicanes designed to slow cars into turns deemed too dangerous. When Formula One returned to Mexico Citys Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2015 after 23 years, designerrs had eliminated the notorious Peraltada corner, long regarded as one of the most fearsome in the sport.ddddddddddddA lot of those elements arent essential anymore. Nico is clearly one of the top drivers in the world. I think maybe he doesnt project the same bravado and the same sort of gutsy approach as his father, Johansson said.The past three seasons of the V6-turbo hybrid engines saw Formula One turn its back the screeching engines of the past for the quieter, low growl of modern technology. Mercedes has so dominated the series with those engines that more often than not, Rosberg is essentially just racing Hamilton as those two are so far out in front. Keke Rosberg won his title in a year a handful of drivers, including Alain Prost and Niki Lauda, could have won it.And unlike his father, Nico Rosberg leads a quieter family life. He even grows and eats his own vegetables.(Keke) enjoyed a very good drink, and also a good cigarette, former world champion driver Jackie Stewart said. Nico is much more disciplined with his regime of fitness and so forth. Hes a modern man.To some, that equals boring.Last week in Texas, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, bemoaned a potential Rosberg title.If Nico won the title, it would be good for him and good for Mercedes, but it wouldnt necessarily help the sport because there is nothing to write about him, said Ecclestone, who has been known to jab at past champions as well.Rosberg has lived in Hamiltons considerable social media shadow the last two years, but his drive toward a championship has been clinical. Perhaps most important has been his mental approach in not letting the bickering rivalry with his teammate frustrate him on the track.Rosberg is one victory shy of becoming just the fourth driver to win 10 races in a single season. Hes been so methodical in piling up points that he can win the title with two second-place finishes and a third over the final three races.That wouldnt be exciting, but it would be good enough to match his father and in some ways surpass him. Keke Rosberg won only one grand prix in his championship season.(Nico) has won many more grand prix but has not won the world championship yet, Stewart said. It would be a nice thing to have. I would like to see him win it.---More AP auto racing: www.racing.ap.org ' ' '
