SAN ANTONIO -- Tony Parker plans to play in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs open their rematch with the Miami Heat on Thursday, and their star point guard is nursing a balky left ankle. "Hes getting better every day, and I expect him to play," coach Gregg Popovich said Tuesday. Parker aggravated the injury Saturday, missing the second half of San Antonios series-clinching victory over Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals. Parker didnt practice Tuesday, but said he expects to be back Wednesday. Parker is averaging a team-leading 17.2 points and 4.9 assists this post-season but has been bothered by injuries the past two rounds. "I always try to be honest with Pop," Parker said. "He knows, but if Im 50 per cent Ill try to play. If Im under 50 per cent, we can argue." Parker conceded the ankle has bothered him since San Antonios second-round series against Portland, although he did not divulge it at the time. "I dont like to talk about when Im hurt," he said. "I played on it for the whole series against Portland. Thats why I think my hamstring got hurt because I was playing on a bad ankle." Parker had tightness in his left hamstring midway through the second quarter of Game 5 against the Trail Blazers, forcing him to miss the rest of the Spurs series-clinching victory. He did not miss any of the Western Conference finals because of his hamstring. But he aggravated the ankle injury in Game 4 against Oklahoma City. "I twisted it again, but didnt say anything," Parker said. "Played on it, and then Game 6 I think my body is like, Thats enough. Its perfect timing to get five days and to get better and to be ready for Game 1." San Antonio was still able to clinch the series without Parker, holding off Oklahoma City for a 112-107 overtime victory to advance to its sixth finals appearance. Parker said he wanted to return for the second half, but was overruled by Popovich and the teams medical staff. "I wanted to play. I wanted to play," Parker said. "Pop was like, No, we never know for Game 7. So I understand where he was coming from, but it was hard to watch from the locker room. At the same time, I was very proud of my teammates. They stepped up big. It was huge for us because I think those five days (off) are big for us to prepare for the finals." Asked whether he would possibly hold Parker out if he was less than 50 per cent, Popovich smirked and alluded to the calf injury that was supposed to keep the Thunders Serge Ibaka out of the Western Conference finals -- but didnt. "Its too early -- hes either 50 per cent or out for the rest of the playoffs," Popovich said. "One of the two . I had to do it. Ill never do it again, I promise. Were done with that joke." New York Islanders Jerseys . Playing in his 19th career final, the second-seeded Tsonga was favourite to win the Open 13 for the third time and to secure an 11th career title, but he struggled with Gulbis attacking approach. Anthony Beauvillier Islanders Jersey . Both sides came closest to scoring in the first half, when Roma had a goal from Mattia Destro waved off for offside and Inters Rodrigo Palacio headed high. "A draw was a fair result. Neither squad had many chances," Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic said. http://www.islanderssale.com/authentic-r...landers-jersey/. Louis Blues are reportedly taking restricted free agent forward Vladimir Sobotka to arbitration. Jordan Eberle Jersey .J. -- After getting permission from his 7-year-old daughter, New York Giants offensive lineman David Diehl has retired after an 11-year career that included two Super Bowl championships. Scott Mayfield Jersey . Mika Zibanejad and Jason Spezza scored in the shootout to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 2-1 victory over Nashville on Saturday night.TORONTO -- Mark Buehrle did his thing on Saturday, allowing only one run in seven innings as he tried for a major-league leading 11th win. Unfortunately for Buehrle, Shelby Miller did even better. The Cardinals starter pitched his first shutout of the season, and the second of his career, as St. Louis snapped the Toronto Blue Jays six-game winning streak with a 5-0 victory. "He was tremendous," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Miller. "But theyve got a good pitching staff over there, as good as anybodys in baseball, top to bottom. He was on his game. We hit a couple of balls we thought had a chance but they flagged them down." Buehrle (10-2) wasnt at his best Saturday, but the left-hander pitched around five hits and five walks with his usual understated velocity that would not endanger fine china on impact. The only run he allowed in the game was Randal Grichuks first major-league homer on a first-pitch change-up in the fifth inning. It was enough to snap Buehrles streak of six consecutive winning decisions and give him his first loss since April 25 against the Boston Red Sox. "Buehrle was great," Gibbons said. "His command was off a little bit but he gutted it out for seven innings. He did what he does, he keeps you off the scoreboard but the story of the game was Miller. Hes got that sneaky fastball. He threw a lot of fastballs located it up, threw it in and out. He carved us up pretty good." Miller (7-5) held the Blue Jays to three hits and one walk while striking out five to snap a string of three losses in a row. "The biggest thing was getting ahead in the counts and mixing it up," Miller said. "Warming up in the bullpen I didnt feel good at all. Its crazy how the game works. Im a little speechless still. It was a lot of fun doing that." The Cardinals, who had lost their two previous games, scored four runs against Toronto relievers Aaron Loup and Steve Delabar in the eighth as they evened the three-game series against the Blue Jays with the rubber match on Sunday. Grichuk picked up his second RBI of the game when Delabar walked him with the bases loaded. While Miller was retiring his first 13 batters, the Cardinals (32-31) were threatening Buehrle. They loaded the bases with two out in the fourth on a one-out double by Jhonny Peralta, a walk to Oscar Taveras and a two-out infield that bounced off Buehrle. But Buehrle worked out of the jam when Tony Cruzs bouncer to third resulted in a force play at second. The Cardinals did score with one out in the fifth when Grichuk took homered to centre field. "It was changeup away, it was on the outside of plate, it may have been up a tad," Buehrle said. "I knew he hit it pretty good but I thought when hhe hit it that it was more of a pop fly so it kind of surprised me.dddddddddddd It seems like we hit a few balls today that I thought were going to go out of there and they caught them at the warning track. He obviously hit it a little bit better than I thought he did at first." "He hammered that ball," Matheny said. "Thats the kind of power that excites you about him. Not many guys have that kind of juice to the centre of the field. The ball just absolutely jumps off his bat no matter what he does." The Blue Jays (38-25) did not have a runner on base until Adam Lind walked with one out in the fifth. Lind took second on a high chop by Brett Lawrie that first baseman Allen Craig snared adeptly before throwing to Miller covering first for the first out on a close play. Juan Francisco made the final out with a towering fly out to the wall in centre field. "The way we have been swinging the bats, for him to go out there and shut us out like that, its one of those things, tip your hat to that guy," said Buehrle, who threw a season-high 118 pitches. "He had it going today and kept us off the board." Jose Reyes lined a single to right with two out in the sixth for the Blue Jays first hit of the game and their second base runner. Melky Cabrera followed with a double that deflected off Craigs glove to put runners at second and third. But Jose Bautista struck out on a 97-mile-an hour fastball. Bautista, who hit a fly out to the centre-field warning track in the first, was 0-for-4 to snap a 12-game hitting streak. "He turned it up, no question," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Millers sixth-inning strikeout of Bautista. "Thats a huge part of the game right there, obviously, with one of the best hitters youre going to see." Left-hander Loup replaced Buehrle in the eighth and he was charged with four runs to snap his string of 15 1/3 scoreless innings. He walked Mark Ellis with the bases loaded to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and allowed a two-run single by Cruz for a 4-0 lead before right-hander Delabar took over and walked his first two batters to force in another run. The rally started with Craigs one-out double to right that was followed by an intentional walk to Peralta and a single by Taveras that filled the bases. NOTES: Attendance was announced as 42,981. ...The Blue Jays have been alone in first in the AL East for 16 consecutive days, the longest since 1993 when they were first from June 24 until the end of the season. They won the World Series that year. a The interleague series ends Sunday with the Cardinals starting left-hander Jaime Garcia (1-0, 5.47 earned-run average) facing Blue Jays right-hander Drew Hutchison (4-3, 3.50 ERA). ' ' '