Nearly two months after it started innocently, the Cavaliers stopped their NBA-record skid at 26 games Friday night with a 126-119 win in overtime against the Los Angeles Clippers, who did all they could to extend Cleveland's winter misery.

The Cavs, who had become a national joke as the losses piled up, won for the first time since Dec. 18 and just the second time in 38 games. They had to go an extra five minutes to ensure they didn't set the mark for the longest skid in pro sports history.

They'll gladly settle with tying the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the worst streak among the four major sports.

It's one they didn't want to own, and they played like it.

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"They're in there jumping around and having a good time," Cleveland coach Byron Scott said. "I told them to enjoy it but let's not take a big breath and think OK we got a win, great. We have to think that we are supposed to win games."

As the Los Angeles Lakers prepared to defend their NBA championship against the Boston Celtics, their gifted leader confessed he has plagiarized almost everything in his patented basketball portfolio.

"I seriously have stolen all my moves from the greatest players," he admitted.

Watch a highlight reel of Kobe and you will witness Hall of Fame hints of influence sprinkled throughout: the way he freezes defenders and creates space in the mold of Oscar Robertson, or the explosive pull-up jumper he copied from Jerry West, or the post-up shake-and-go he took from Hakeem Olajuwon.

Bryant incorporated the skills of these legends into his game by breaking down their finest moments on film.

It's an obsession that began when Kobe was 10 years old and living with his family in Italy, where his father, Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, played pro basketball after an eight-year NBA career. Kobe's grandfather routinely sent over tapes of NBA broadcasts, which had just begun airing on TNT, and the young boy devoured them.

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Bryant sat down recently with ESPN to break down film of West, Robertson, Olajuwon, Elgin Baylor, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and revealed which part of their games he pilfered.

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Bryant's belief in film study has extended beyond his own locker. After he views halftime clips prepared for him by the Lakers' video staff, he occasionally waves coach Phil Jackson over to discuss a rotation he's identified. He often corrals teammates, fires up the laptop, and shows them precisely how they can carve out easier shots for themselves.

"He mentions stuff to them before it happens," said video coordinator Patrick O'Keefe. "They say, 'How did you know that?' It's because he's studied it. He's better-prepared than anyone."

The studio is betting money that documenting the cyclist's comeback bid at Tour de France will capture audiences, with 'Taxi to the Dark Side's' Alex Gibney at the wheel.


Hollywood loves beat-the-odds stories, and Sony hopes that Armstrong's return to racing after a 3 1/2 -year absence could prove as enthralling as any make-believe film. The studio, best known for its "Spider-Man" franchise and a stranger to nonfiction filmmaking, is currently financing a feature documentary chronicling Armstrong's attempt to win the world's most prestigious bike race.


"What interested me was the story of his comeback -- his will," said the documentary's director, Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" and the Oscar-winning "Taxi to the Dark Side." "I wanted to understand Lance and what makes him tick. And the more I know, the more compelling the story gets."


Sony and Armstrong have a long relationship. For years, the studio has been developing a movie based on the cyclist's 2000 memoir, "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," which chronicles Armstrong's recovery from metastasized testicular cancer to his first Tour de France victory in 1999. The feature film, which Marshall is also producing, is now in the hands of writer-director Gary Ross ("Seabiscuit," "Pleasantville"), but has no start date or cast attached.


Columbia Pictures President Matt Tolmach is one of the industry's most avid cyclists (he has raced locally for Velo Club La Grange) and a friend of Armstrong's. When Tolmach learned in August that Armstrong was planning to return to racing -- largely to promote cancer awareness and push for increased research funding -- he saw the possibility for a captivating documentary, even if the studio wasn't in the nonfiction business.

"It's about cancer. It's about getting old. It's about proving all the naysayers wrong," Tolmach said. "It's about a comeback. It unfolds in an isolated period of time. It's all the ingredients for a documentary."

He was able to persuade his bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton that a well-made movie could reach audiences far beyond the road-racing intelligentsia. "As a small movie, it struck me as having enormous commercial potential," Tolmach said of the $3.5-million production.

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In shooting so much racing and the physical preparation for it, Gibney hopes to educate audiences (just as he has learned, in making the movie) on what athletes at Armstrong's level must obsess over -- critical decisions about nutrition or team politics, for example. "I think I have a peculiar ability," Gibney said, "to make complicated things understandable."


While the filmmakers and studio obviously hope Armstrong wins, they don't believe the movie's success depends on it. "The end of the movie is going to be great no matter what happens," Tolmach said. "It's about the journey."

PARIS -- Roger Federer beat Robin Soderling, tied Pete Sampras and won the French Open at last.

Undeterred by an on-court intruder, Federer defeated surprise finalist Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Sunday to complete a career Grand Slam and win his 14th major title, matching Sampras' record.

"It's maybe my greatest victory, or certainly the one that removes the most pressure off my shoulders," Federer said. "I think that now and until the end of my career, I can really play with my mind at peace, and no longer hear that I've never won Roland Garros."

On his fourth try in a Paris final, Federer became the sixth man to win all four Grand Slam championships.

Sampras said Federer deserves to be at the top of the all-time list.

"I'm obviously happy for Roger," Sampras told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he lives. "Now that he has won in Paris, I think it just more solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game, in my opinion."

The supportive crowd included Andre Agassi, the most recent man to complete a career Grand Slam when he won at Roland Garros 10 years ago. Agassi presented Federer with the trophy.

"I'm so happy for you, man," Agassi said.

"You're the last man to win all four Grand Slams," Federer said. "Now I can relate to what it really feels like. ... It feels good to be for once on the podium as the winner. It's a magical moment."

Tears ran down Federer's cheeks as the Swiss national anthem played.

"Roger, really, congrats to you," Soderling said.

Federer owed Soderling a thank-you for easing his path by upsetting four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round.

"I kind of was relieved, because he was going to be the hardest one to beat," Federer said.

Nadal defeated Federer at Roland Garros the past four years, including three consecutive times in the final.

Besides Federer and Agassi, the other men to win all four Grand Slams tournaments were Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson.

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Q. We would like to know if you felt more suspense than we felt? You won the first set, second set in the tiebreaker, third, set break immediately. So for you it was easier than you expected,or...

ROGER FEDERER: I mean, sure, I expected a tough match today obviously because Robin's been playing well and it's a final of Paris, one thatI've never been able to win yet.

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I was very nervous at the beginning of the third set because I realized how close I was. The last game, obviously you can imagine how difficult that game was. It was almost unplayable for me because I was just hoping to serve some good serves and hoping that he was going to make four errors. It was that bad.

So, yeah,it was an emotional roller coaster for me.

Q. McEnroe never won here, and Edberg never won here and Pete never won here. Are you aware there were a lot people thinking you sort of fit into that category and it would have been shame if you didn't do it?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I always tended to disagree with those. I had the feeling I gave myself too many opportunity over the years at the French Open. I think Pete was maybe once in the semis. Other players were maybe once in the finals. I was in the final three times, one semis before, and I was able to win Hamburg four times and be in the finals of Monaco and Rome, of all those tournaments.

I knew the day Rafa won't be in the finals, I will be there and I will win. I always knew and that I believed in it. That's exactly what happened. It's funny. I didn't hope for it,but I believed in it.

Q. When Nadal lost, you didn't make many comments about it because you had to remain focused on your next opponents. You had to be focused on that rather than on Nadal that was no longer there. But now it's over, so can you tell us if you thought, okay, this is gonna be a good year for me? Did it come to your mind?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I knew I had bigger opportunities than the years before, because, you know, records against Nadal are tough for me. Even I had defeated him in Madrid, I knew that if he was no longer in the draw, things would be easier for me. I was not happy he lost. That's not the type of guy I am.

This is also why I had to keep my feelings to myself. The press wanted to hear me and listen to what I had to say. When the time came for the press conference, they wanted me to say something about it. But to me, it's important to have respect for Rafa for everything he's accomplished over the last four years. He never lost here. That's an exceptional record, and it shows how difficult it is to win a tournament five times in a row.

That's something. I know. I've done it in Wimbledon and US Open. He tried to achieve it here, and it shows it's not easy to achieve. Of course, I was disappointed for him, but I also knew that it was a big opportunity for me. But it also increased pressure on me.

Didn't make much difference right at that time, but for the final it did because I was not playing Nadal but Soderling.

Q. Since last Sunday and the elimination of Nadal, there were great expectations on you. Was it the longest week of your life?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, these were two long weeks, but especially the last one, because it was as if I had to play four finals against Haas, Del Potro, Monfils, and Soderling. The pressure is so big. People really wanted my to win.

It was very difficult to manage all this. This is why I'm very tired right now. I think it's going to take me a bit of time to sort of accept this victory. It came as a surprise in the end because I've never won here, but the feelings were great, absolutely great.

This is why I think it might take me a bit more time to realize that I made it.

Q. Soderling played beautiful matches all along the tournament. Today he was almost absent during the first set. What happened? Was it the pressure of the final? How do you analyze this?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, no, I don't think so. He probably didn't have the beginning of the match he was expecting, because I was playing well. But when I analyze the matches he played and when I saw how he won, I said, yes, he won against guys who were playing very far from the baseline.

So this gave him time to organize and he used his big shots. I never had many problems returning his shots. I knew that there would be rallies, and it was important for me to be close to him, to play hard against him, and use the advantages I have on clay.

This is exactly what I wanted to do, and it worked out. This is how I beat him the last nine times. I have the feeling that the other opponents let him play too much. This is what I tried not to let him do.

Q. I asked you the question on Friday, and you said, Ask me the question on Sunday. I can't remember what it was,though. Well, it was about did you have signs that it really was your year.

ROGER FEDERER: Yes. Well, the way I won the match against Acasuso and Tommy Haas gave me that feeling that this could be a good year. Then Rafa lost, and Djokovic had lost before that, so it didn't make much difference. But it allowed me to have greater hopes.

But there were moments when I was so close to losing. I feel it's just like Agassi when he won in his days. It's not that we're lucky, but we need to use luck when it's there. When I look at how I practice so hard,thinking I'm doing all this for Paris, for Roland Garros, everything came in at the right time.

Winning tight matches  showed me that, yes, maybe this is the good year.

****

After she lost in Rome, Kuznetsova left for Moscow, which disappointed her coaches at the Sanchez-Casals Tennis Academy. She told them she didn't want to train; furthermore, she didn't want to return to Spain. She was discontented, and so deeply that over the following months there were times when she wanted to quit tennis. "I never felt it," she remembered, "But I said it."

One of the people she said that to was her friend and confidant, Marat Safin. "I said, 'Marat,' I don't know, maybe I should not play. He said, 'Okay, are you crazy or what? You have unbelievable opportunities. You just have to play.'"

She really felt the urge to move back to Russia, to Moscow, a longing that panicked some of her acquaintances and advisers. "I had so many people telling me, you won't be able to play here (Moscow), you won't be able to train here, because it's too much information; it's too much destruction, too much night life, or whatever."

Kuznetsova lost in the first round at the Olympic Games in Beijing; given her deeply-felt and oft-expressed patriotism, it was a devastating blow. She lingered at the Olympics, and one day took a gaggle of Russian female basketball players to see the tennis. At the facility, they saw Roger Federer and appealed to Sveta to get Federer to pose for a picture with them.

Sveta rolled her eyes, just remembering the incident. "You know how I love Roger," she said, "and I never came to him myself to ask for a picture. But it's easier to do something like that for other people so I did go to him. And I was looking at him and he was looking at me and he said, 'What do you want?' "

When Sveta told him, he said, 'Sure, no problem,' and posed with the girls. He also had a 10-minute talk with Kuznetsova - the first conversation she'd ever had with the icon. She told him about the terrible time she was having making a decision about where to live, and she says he told her: "Look, it's up to you. You can only depend on yourself. You can control it. If you can live in Moscow and concentrate, do this. If you cannot. . .  only you can judge, you know."

Kuznetsova made her final decision to re-locate for good at the end of the year. She returned to Moscow and began to work hard; soon she hired a new coach; fittingly enough, it was the Billie Jean King of women's pro tennis in Russia, Olga Morozova. Although the relationship did not last (Morozova has since been replaced by former doubles specialist Larissa Savchenko), Kuznetsova gave Morozova, along with Savchenko, significant credit for her win today.


Me and Marat, we're similar - we hang out a lot, we talk about serious stuff. We go to places - I don't even want to get into what kind of places. . .  Marat and I, we still friends. He help me a lot last year, with agents and stuff. And he texted me after the match, 'Congratulations.'"

Now owner of a career Grand Slam at age 24, champion at three consecutive major tournaments and nine overall, the No. 1-ranked Nadal is suddenly chasing something else: recognition as the greatest tennis player in history.

Approaching perfection for stretches -- the guy played more than 40 points in a row without making an unforced error -- Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in a match filled with fantastic shotmaking by both men and interrupted by a thunderstorm a day after it was postponed by rain.

Nadal was asked about his ability to summon supreme concentration in break-point situations. He referenced the weekly ATP World Tour statistics package.

"I am No. 1 on break points saved," he said, laughing. "Specialist."

At precisely 5:54 p.m. local time, history was made at Roland Garros. For the first time here, the 22-year-old Spaniard lost a match.

Nadal did seem uncharacteristically laconic at times and displayed negative body language throughout, but just as much, Soderling won it.

Playing the match of his 24-year-old life, Soderling prevailed 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2), which, considering the context, was one of the most staggering upsets in recent Grand Slam history. Nadal had won all 31 of his previous matches here and seemed destined to become the first man or woman to win five consecutive titles.

Coming into this fourth-round match, Nadal had won all 48 of his best-of-five matches on clay.

Afterward, he was still flushed, but composed.

Mats Wilander, a three-time champion at Roland Garros, analyzed the match for Eurosport.

"All the players are in a state of shock," Wilander said afterward. "At some point, Nadal was going to lose, but nobody expected it to happen today, or maybe even next year. Now there's a tournament to be won by a bunch of players.

"I think they're all having a beer tonight."

Only one month ago, Nadal strafed Soderling 6-1, 6-0 in Rome -- one of the worst losses in the Swede's career. But for 3½ hours at Roland Garros, Soderling consistently out-willed and out-stroked Nadal. And against all odds, he showed more heart when the points mattered most.

So what changed? Perhaps it was Madrid.

The blueprint for the victory was provided by Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer two weeks ago in Spain. Although Djokovic lost, he played an artful, passive-aggressive game that extended Nadal to more than four hours. Federer finished him off in a straight-sets final, but showed a different approach against Nadal than he has taken in the past.

He stepped into the court, making it a smaller playing field. He made a deliberate attempt to keep rallies short, going for shots that were sometimes beyond safe. He took huge cuts with his forehand, running around his backhand whenever feasible. He jumped on anything short and teed off on second serves. He mixed it up with slices and even a few drop shots.

This is precisely what Soderling did. What was so astonishing was that he was able to maintain that unconscious level for four sets.

Last week, Darren Cahill was asked for a game plan to beat Nadal. Cahill, who worked briefly with Federer earlier this year, had three words: High-risk tennis.

"You have to attempt as best as you can, to take Rafa out of his comfort zone," Cahill said. "The best way to do that is to be aggressive, very aggressive."

"I never was calm -- that's the truth," Nadal admitted. "The match started off very badly for me. I mean, the second set, I should have won it 6-4. Then there was wind, and that wasn't good.

"Then not being calm enough to face the important points, so I had to fight. But sometimes it's not enough fighting. You have to play a good level of tennis. Sometimes people think I win because I'm physically fit, but, no. When I win, it's because I play well, and that wasn't the case today."

The King, it must be said, is still only 22 -- three days from 23rd birthday.

"Unfortunately, it's the first time I'm not going to celebrate my birthday in Roland Garros," Nadal said. "I hope I'll be able to celebrate more here and be back next year and try and win."

Hard to imagine, that Federer now has a sterling chance to win his first French Open and complete his set of Grand Slam trophies.

Soderling, for his part, plays Nikolay Davydenko in a surprise quarterfinal.

In his postmatch news conference, Nadal was asked the obligatory question about his preparation for Wimbledon.

"Right now, my preparation is for the swimming pool of my house," Nadal said, smiling at his own joke. "Yeah, give me three more days to think about preparation for Wimbledon."

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PARIS -- Bjorn Borg's historical place here is safe, thanks to a feisty fellow Swede who froze out the hottest clay-court player of his generation.

"I'm expecting at least an SMS [text message] from him,'' Robin Soderling said, smiling under cocked eyebrows, after ending Rafael Nadal's quest for a fifth straight French Open title, which would have broken the record held jointly by Nadal and Borg.

"Robin, we know, has the capacity to beat anyone,'' Wilander said. "It's just that three out of five sets, mentally he hasn't been strong enough. He hits unbelievably hard from above his shoulders, so obviously Nadal was late and didn't put as much spin on the ball, but it was all caused by the opponent. It's monumental, it's been coming for a long time.''

"He thinks he can beat anyone on any surface,'' Wilander said. "I have to say finally it's nice to see someone stand up to Nadal mentally, and not be bothered by anything and let Nadal take his time, don't worry about it, and be in Rafa's face a little more than the other guys are doing.

"Robin is like that against everybody. He was like that against Nalbandian and 12,000 Argentines in Davis Cup. He really doesn't give a s---, basically. It's a throwback.''

Wilander said he didn't think there was anything Nadal could have done tactically to turn the tide, and Stubbs agreed, saying Soderling's 6-foot-4 height, albatross reach, frequently disguised forehand and flat, penetrating groundstrokes proved too much for Nadal to overcome.

"He's got those long levers to go running for Nadal's long, spinning balls,'' Stubbs said. "The reach helped him on the wide balls, and his height helped him on the high balls.

"Rafa looked shell-shocked today. It looked to me like he knew he didn't have it.''

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Q. Do you think you maybe played too many tournaments lately?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, when you lose, always everybody starts to analyze if I play too much. If I'm tired. The true, I won four years in arow playing the same. That's the true. This year I play the same and I lost. What happen? I lost. That's it.

That what happened. I lost another opportunity to win a big tournament here. Always is a big loss for me. But in the end is one more match, yeah.

Q. You had to know this day would come. Are you surprised it came so quickly?

RAFAEL NADAL: What? (Through translation.)

I don't know. If you think it's soon after four years? (laughter.) Why do you think, no? A lot of players won four years here in a row? Is only another one, no?

Q. Was it the wonderful game level of Soderling on this surface, or because you were on a bad day or any other phenomenon, like you played in Barcelona then in Madrid? Maybe you played too many tournaments.

RAFAEL NADAL: Stop it. Stop it. Had I played my best level against Soderling, maybe the results would have been different. But he played a very good level of tennis and I didn't play well, so the results are what they are.

I didn't play at my best level. I have days like this, and this was one of those days. I had someone playing very well in front of me.

I'm not going to modify the way I prepare,because I've always prepared in the same way for the last four years. So that wouldn't make sense.

Q. A minute ago you were saying that, well, this day had to happen one day. So were you prepared, or are you surprised by this defeat?

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, all of us athletes, we know that when we walk on the court we can either win or lose. I know it for a fact anything can happen, and I have to accept them both in the same way.

You cannot collapse either because you've won a match or because you've lost it. This is sport, and you can have victories or defeats. No one remembers defeats on the long run. People remember victories.

So I have to move forward. Well, I have little time left to prepare for Wimbledon, but I have to move forward and try and prepare the best I can.

Q. If there were no one from Spain, would you like Federer to win?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, that would be great. He's tried to win it for many years, and he was very unfortunate losing three finals and one semifinal. If one guy deserves it, that's him.

Congrats to Lakers!

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