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The Finals Word
This week, SI.com has complete coverage of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers. After each game, check out Marty Burns's news-and-notes Fast Breaks as well as his Report Card on all the players and both coaches. Plus ...
• In-game live blog by Arash Markazi
• Postgame analysis of the newsmakers, from Ian Thomsen
• Photo galleries of alltime Boston and L.A. teams
BREAKING NEWS, SCORES AND FAN PHOTO GALLERIES AT SI.COM/NBA.
HARDEST THINGS IN SPORTS
Ultimate Challenge
What's hardest? Finishing with a .400 average? Winning golf's Grand Slam? Scoring 80 goals in a hockey season? Guarding Kobe Bryant? Throwing back-to-back no-hitters? Or setting the world pole vault record? SI.com gets the inside take from experts in each sport, including golfer Nick Price, NBA vet Robert Horry and former NHL star Steve Yzerman. Also post your own nominations in our comments section.
> Photo gallery of the toughest things in sports at SI.com/photos.
EURO 2008
F√∫tbol Forum
Follow all the action at Euro 2008 and stay abreast of how the Continent's top players (like Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo) are doing with SI writer Grant Wahl's blog. In addition, read analysis of the matches from U.S. Under-20 soccer coach Thomas Rongen, plus dispatches from Gabriele Marcotti, who is reporting from host countries Austria and Switzerland.
> Daily soccer news and scores at SI.com/soccer.
FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED JUNE 4, 1990
During Secretariat's run to the Triple Crown in 1973, writer William Nack had a daily front-row seat as the horse became a cultural phenomenon. Seventeen years later, Nack recounted his unforgettable experience.
ALL YOU had to do was watch the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. I was at the races that August afternoon with Arthur Kennedy, an old-time racetracker who had been around horses since the 1920s, and even he had never seen anything quite like it. Dropping back to dead last out of the gate, Secretariat trailed eight horses into the far turn, where jockey Ron Turcotte swung him to the outside. Three jumps past the half-mile pole the colt exploded. "Now he's runnin'!" Kennedy exclaimed.
You could see the blue-and-white silks as they disappeared behind one horse, reappeared in a gap between horses, dropped out of sight again and finally emerged as Secretariat powered to the lead off the turn. He dashed from last to first in 290 yards, blazing through a quarter mile in 22 seconds, and galloped home in a laugher to win by six. It was a performance with style, touched by art.
> Check out the latest classic SI story at SI.com/classic, and for your favorite stories and covers, go to SI.com/vault.
Cover
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BOB ROSATO (NBA); DAVID E. KLUTHO (RED WINGS) INSET PHOTOS: Bob Rosato (Chipper Jones, NBA); David E. Klutho (Red Wings)
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SI Extra
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BOB ROSATO (GASOL)
DOUBLE DOWN Pau Gasol takes on the Celtics' D.
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BOB MARTIN (PRICE)
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PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (RONALDO)
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