See that beautiful platinum-blond princess across the way? Thats Daenerys Targaryen. Stay away from her. Everyone she loves dies or gets taken away not ideal for those of you who value your lives.

Honestly, as much as Im loving this season, Im not happy with where Game of Thrones is taking Dany. Im an avid fan of George RR Martins source material but not a stickler or purist who believes his novels must be adapted to the letter. Still, the liberties taken with Dany in Qarth, this week in particular, feel needless and damaging to who the character is.

Well get deeper into that later in our recap. Keep reading for more updates from Westeros, most of them blood-soaked and reeking of death with one lovely exception.

Posted: 08:53 PM ET May 06, 2012

That may have been the most incredible game ever

By Danny Knobler | Baseball Insider

LOS ANGELES Point to the tripping penalty by Chris Stewart or the turnover by Roman Polak, leading to a quick Los Angeles goal. There was evidence early in Sundays Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals that the Blues would continue fighting themselves while attempting to bring the series back to St. Louis.

A 3-1 loss to Los Angeles may have been the Blues best performance against the Kings, but with five offensive-zone penalties, worrisome defense and goaltending and a lack of offense all around, it wasnt difficult to understand how the club was swept despite marked improvement in Game 4.

In knocking off the top two seeds in the West, No. 1 Vancouver and the No. 2 Blues, LA earned the right to advance to the Western Conference finals and garnered praise from Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who said: Theyre the best team weve played against. But afterward, the Blues couldnt help but realize that the team that put up 109 points in the regular season failed to show up against the Kings.

RA Dickey pitched into the ninth inning and the Mets supported the knuckleball specialist with clutch two-out hitting in Sundays 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Dickey (4-1) was vying for his third career shutout but issued a leadoff walk to Gerardo Parra and a run- scoring double to Justin Upton. Tim Byrdak relieved Dickey and retired Jason Kubel on a deep fly ball to left field. Frank Francisco then entered from the bullpen and struck out Paul Goldschmidt swinging before Miguel Montero flied out to the warning track in right. The first-year Met recorded his seventh save in eight opportunities this season. New York took two of three from the visiting Diamondbacks, who lost four of five to conclude their road trip with a 5-5 mark.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: Cincinnati 5, Pittsburgh 0lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) – Drew Stubbs belted a two-run homer, Mat Latos overcame a sluggish start to pitch six strong innings and the Cincinnati Reds blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-0, in the rubber match of a three-game series at PNC Park. Stubbs finished 3-for-4 and scored three runs for the Reds, who have won five of their last seven games. Latos (2-2) limited the Pirates to two singles and struck out a career-high 11 batters. Three relievers combined to complete the three-hit shutout. Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton (1-3) was tagged for five runs — four earned — on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six frames. The Pirates were trying to win back-to-back games for the first time since April 17-18.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: St. Louis 8, Houston 1lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Houston, TX (Sports Network) – Tyler Greene recorded his first career multi- home run game and drove in four runs, powering the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-1 win over the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park. Allen Craig also homered and finished with three RBI for St. Louis, which snapped its three-game losing streak. Adam Wainwright (2-3) continued his dominance of the Astros, tossing seven strong innings on Sunday. The right-hander scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out seven to improve to 10-1 in his career against Houston. JA Happ (2-2) allowed six runs on six hits and four walks in five frames for the Astros, who had their winning streak snapped at five games.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: Chicago 4, Los Angeles 3 (11 innings)lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Chicago, IL (Sports Network) – David DeJesus was tagged out trying to score the winning run in the ninth, but his patience produced the game-winning walk two innings later. DeJesus walked in the winning run with the bases loaded in the 11th to push the Chicago Cubs past the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3, in the finale of a three- game set at Wrigley Field. Rafael Dolis (2-2) pitched the final two of five scoreless frames for the Cubs bullpen to record the victory. Jamey Wright (1-2) pitched the 10th without incident but did not record an out in the 11th in defeat, while Javy Guerra blew a save for the third time this season in the ninth. Juan Rivera hit a two-run homer for Los Angeles.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: Atlanta 7, Colorado 2lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Denver, CO (Sports Network) – Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer, Brandon Beachy pitched into the seventh inning and the Braves earned a three-game sweep of the Rockies with a 7-2 win on Sunday. Beachy (3-1) gave up two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out five over 6 1/3 frames. Dan Uggla added a solo home run and drove in a pair for Atlanta, which recorded its first road sweep of the Rockies since 2003. Michael Cuddyer and Tyler Colvin had an RBI apiece for Colorado, which fell to 12-15 on the season. Juan Nicasio (2-1) allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks over five- plus innings to suffer the loss.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: San Francisco 4, Milwaukee 3 (11 innings)lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) – Hector Sanchez knocked in the game- winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning and the San Francisco Giants edged the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3, in the finale of a three-game set at ATamp;T Park on Sunday. Facing Tim Dillard (0-1), Buster Posey started the frame with a single up the middle before Angel Pagan dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move pinch- runner Emmanuel Burriss to second. Brandon Belt was intentionally walked and Ryan Theriot also walked to load the bases. Sanchez got ahead in the count 3-0 before slicing a 3-2 sinker into left to plate Burriss. Javier Lopez (3-0) recorded the final out of the top of the 11th to earn the win. Conor Gillaspie, Angel Pagan and Theriot all knocked in runs for the Giants, who took the last two games of this series after dropping four straight.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: Miami 6, San Diego 3lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;San Diego, CA (Sports Network) – Ricky Nolasco tossed seven innings of two-run ball as the Miami Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 6-3 victory at Petco Park. Nolasco (4-0) scattered five hits and a walk while striking out three batters to earn his 68th career win with the Marlins, tying Dontrelle Willis franchise record. Jose Reyes and Emilio Bonifacio each had two hits and a run scored for Miami, which completed its second straight three-game series sweep. Andrew Cashner (2-2) allowed four runs — three earned — on three hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning to suffer the loss for the Padres, who had won two straight before dropping each game of this series.lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Final Score: Philadelphia 9, Washington 3lt;/pgt;lt;pgt;Washington, DC (Sports Network) – Hunter Pence blasted a pair of two-run homers and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a three-game sweep with a convincing 9-3 victory over the Washington Nationals in Sundays series finale at Nationals Park. Placido Polanco finished 3-for-5 with an RBI single, Freddy Galvis smacked a two-run single, while Shane Victorino had an RBI triple and Juan Pierre knocked in a run for the Phils, who snapped a seven-game losing streak against Washington. Cole Hamels (4-1) was fantastic on the mound, giving up one run on five hits and a walk while fanning eight in eight innings. He also added a hit at the plate. Roger Bernadina ripped an RBI double, Ian Desmond beat out an infield single for an RBI and Bryce Harper produced a run by stealing home in the first inning for the Nats, who had their four-game winning streak snapped. Jordan Zimmermann (1-3), who had walked only three batters in five previous starts this season, issued four free passes and gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out one in six-plus innings.

Just once, Jazz fans deserve a good ending.

While there’s not much hope of the Jazz’s extending this series beyond a Game 5 in San Antonio, winning Monday’s Game 4 at EnergySolutions Arena would be meaningful.

Apr 29, 2012 

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — This was not another early playoff letdown by the San Antonio Spurs. For the first time in four years, they won a series opener.

But more important to them was Tony Parker looking like his old postseason self.

Putting together his best playoff game since 2009, Parker scored 28 points and the top-seeded Spurs erased four years of putting themselves in 0-1 holes to start the playoffs, beating the Utah Jazz 106-91 in Game 1 of their first-round series Sunday.

It marked the 11th straight win for the Spurs dating to the regular season, and kept the Spurs from being hounded by the same doubts that emerged this time last year when they also entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, only to be ousted by Memphis.

“I think everybody knows what happened last year,” Parker said. “Everybody’s motivated this year, but we don’t even talk about it.”

What Parker — and coach Gregg Popovich– have talked about is the All-Star’s unremarkable series against the Grizzlies a year ago. Popovich told Parker that he thought his star point guard tried harder with the French national team last summer than in the playoffs, and Parker vowed to return with a different attitude.

He’s making good on it so far.

The Jazz, meanwhile, hung close for three quarters in the franchise’s first playoff game without Jerry Sloan since 1988. Paul Millsap led Utah with 20 points, but the Jazz couldn’t keep up when the NBA’s top 3-point shooting team began burying them with three in a two-minute burst to finish the third.

“The biggest thing we’re going to learn is the different ways to guard the pick and roll, and what worked and what didn’t,” Jazz guard Gordon Haywood said. “We can’t let them get to the paint as easily, because it’s kick out 3′s and dump down’s and whatever. So we have to do better at that.”

Game 2 is Wednesday in San Antonio.

Hayward scored 17 points and Al Jefferson had 16 for the Jazz, who present the Spurs problems with a bigger frontcourt but contributed to their own doom with 16 turnovers.

“But we are a young team,” Millsap said. “Things like that happen.”

Tim Duncan added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who despite boasting the No. 1 seed for a second straight year hadn’t won a Game 1 in its last six postseason series. The last one was a double-overtime win over Phoenix in 2008, which was also round the last time that the Spurs entered the playoffs as healthy as they are now.

But they didn’t leave this game entirely scot-free.

Center Tiago Splitter sprained his left wrist and didn’t return after scoring four points in 8 minutes. The severity of the injury wasn’t immediately known, but even with arguably the deepest Spurs team in the Duncan era, San Antonio would sorely miss their 7-footer.

Parker shook off a slow start to shoot 10 of 19 from the floor. He also had eight assists in his best playoff game since scoring 43 against Dallas in 2009.

“We needed this one. We played a pretty good game. It wasn’t brilliant,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who had seven points. “But it was steady and we kept fighting. It took us awhile, but we broke it in the fourth quarter.”

The Jazz may be bigger, but are well short on playoff experience compared to the Spurs. To that end, Utah coach Tyrone Corbin put Josh Howard back in the starting lineup for Game 1, even though the Jazz rolled into the postseason winners of five in a row with DeMare Carroll at small forward.

Howard had knee surgery in March and returned Tuesday against Phoenix. Whatever concerns Corbin harbored of Howard disrupting Utah’s recent chemistry were allayed by his six playoff stints in Dallas, including his starting role in the Mavericks’ run to the 2006 NBA Finals.

“There was no apprehension,” Corbin said. “We know who he is. We’re going to need all the experience we can get.”

Yet Howard didn’t deliver any instant veteran dividend. He was 0 for 4 and played 16 minutes, sitting out much of the second half.

The Spurs made their own lineup tweak. Boris Diaw started alongside Duncan in the frontcourt, making for a pairing that undersized San Antonio could stick with for the playoffs. Diaw arrived in San Antonio in March with a dismal defensive reputation, but coach Gregg Popovich said before the game that his newest big man has turned out to be a better than first thought.

Not that Diaw’s scoring touch wasn’t needed. While Duncan labored through a rough first half — scoring 7 points on 3 of 8 shooting, including Derrick Favors eliciting more than few “oohs” for swatting one of Duncan’s would-be dunks — Diaw also scored 7 in the half while missing just one shot.

Duncan, who turned 36 this week, finally found his groove in the second half. He was 7 of 14 from the floor in his first game in nearly a week after Popovich gave his Big Three an extended rest to ensure their health for the playoffs.

Notes: The Jazz fell to 1-4 against the Spurs this year, with their only win coming in Salt Lake City when Duncan, Ginobili and Parker didn’t play. …The Jazz shot 4 of 13 from behind the 3-point line.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Nashville Predators will try to even the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals when they visit the third-seeded Phoenix Coyotes for Game 2 at Jobing.com Arena.

The Coyotes opened this series with a thrilling overtime victory in Game 1.
Ray Whitney scored the winner at the 14:04 mark of the extra session to lift
the Pacific Division champions to a 4-3 victory.

A right-circle faceoff saw Martin Hanzal win the draw and push it forward. He
then swiped the puck over to the front where Whitney kicked it to his stick
and poked it past Vezina Trophy finalist Pekka Rinne.

I held for a moment and then thought Id just go to the net, said Whitney
about the goal. Then Marty (Hanzal) got it over and I just stabbed it at the
net. It wasnt a thing of beauty, but it worked.

Rostislav Klesla had a goal and an assist while Radim Vrbata and Mikkel
Boedker each had a goal for the Coyotes, who defeated Chicago in six games in
the opening round to win a playoff series for the first time since moving to
Phoenix prior to the start of the 1996-97 season.

Mike Smith made 39 saves in the win for Phoenix, which is looking to advance
to the conference finals for the first time in club history.

The fourth-seeded Predators are in the second round for the second time in
their history and are also aiming for the franchises first-ever trip to the
conference finals.

Martin Erat, Brandon Yip and Andrei Kostitsyn all had goals for the Predators,
who took down the Detroit Red Wings in five games in the first round. Rinne
gave up the four goals on 24 shots.

We know were going to get better as this series goes on, said Nashville
head coach Barry Trotz. We have another level in our game. I thought the
first half of this game we werent as good as we could be and the second half
I thought we played a lot better.

Nashville trailed Fridays game by a 3-2 score heading into the third period
and tied the contest on Erats power-play goal with 4:42 left in regulation.

Skill and compete are imperative in this game, especially in the playoffs,
and our skill and compete in the third period was non-existent, said Phoenix
head coach Dave Tippett. That is unacceptable and were lucky to have won it
in overtime.

Phoenix has yielded game-tying goals in the final five minutes of the third
period in four games this postseason. The Coyotes have won three of those
tests in overtime with the lone setback coming in Game 2 of the first-round
series against Chicago.

The Predators were 22-16-3 as the guest in 2011-12 and was 2-0 at Detroit in
the conference quarterfinals. Nashville would like to avoid being down 2-0 in
the series when the matchup shifts to Music City for Games 3 and 4.

Nashville will host Game 3 of this series on Wednesday.

The Coyotes went 2-1-1 against Nashville during the season series and this is
the first-ever postseason meeting between these clubs.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks wasnt buying counterpart Rick Carlisles claims after Saturdays Game 1 of their first-round series that Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki was being held and grabbed without consequence.

After Oklahoma Citys 99-98 comeback victory in which Nowitzki was twice stripped by a swarming Thunder defense in the final 90 seconds and Kevin Durant made an off-balance game-winner with 1.4 seconds to go, Carlisle said Thunder defenders grab and hold Nowitzki without being whistled.

Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka and center Kendrick Perkins combined for the majority of minutes on Nowitzki. Carlisle specified a play at the end of the first half when Nowitzki was called for an offensive foul as he tangled for position with Ibaka on the perimeter early in the shot clock. After a timeout, Ibaka made just the third 3-pointer of his three-year career to cut OKCs deficit in half, to 51-48 heading to the locker room.

Might as well just go back to your quotes in 2011, he said the same thing.

– Thunder coach Scott Brooks
on Rick Carlisles complaining about refs

Might as well just go back to your quotes in 2011, he said the same thing, Brooks said Sunday, referring to last seasons matchup in the Western Conference finals that Dallas won in five games. They average 20 free throws a game and they shot (25). We average 27, we shot 20. If youre going to get into that I think youre taking away what NBA basketball is about. You play your game, you do it as hard as you can and you live with the results.

You guys, Brooks said, directing his comments to the media, cant be sucked into that. Thats what he does.

Asked if hes concerned that the officiating crew in Monday nights Game 2 will pay more attention to physical defense being played on Nowitzki, Brooks said he is not.

If anything, Brooks said, I should be complaining. We only shot 20 free throws.

Perkins, who said he has the green light from Brooks to switch defensive assignments with Ibaka during the course of a game, defended Nowitzki in the closing minutes of Game 1. On two isolation plays in which Nowitzki tried to drive from the top of the circle, the Thunders guards swarmed him as he put the ball on the floor, helping to create two critical turnovers as Oklahoma City rallied from a 94-87 deficit in the final 2:31.

Nowitzki still led the Mavs with 25 points, but on just 8-of-18 shooting after starting 2-of-9. He went to the free throw line 10 times, which was tied for the most in the game with Oklahoma City guard James Harden and was twice as many as afforded to Durant.

I mean they average 20 free throws for the season and they shot (25) last night, so they shot (five) more free throws than us so it aint really nothing to complain about, Perkins said. We just tried to make him play in a crowd and be physical with him a little.

In last years West finals, Nowitzki torched the 6-foot-10 Ibaka, as well as Nick Collison, averaging 32.2 points and 12.2 free throw attempts a game. The Thunder believe they are better equipped this season to put more defensive pressure on Nowitzki because Ibaka is an improved defender and Perkins is healthy and slimmed down, giving Brooks the confidence in his lateral movement to occasionally switch up and give Nowitzki a different look.

Every game he was making tough shots, drawing fouls, getting to the line 15 times, 14 times, 24 times, come on, thats who he is, thats who they are, Brooks said. Theyre a good team. Were a good team. Were going to fight each other and were going to try to win the series the way we know how to play. Theres nothing else to be said.

PHILADELPHIA — Danny Briere scored his second goal of the game 4:36 into overtime to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series Sunday.

Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk also scored for Philadelphia.

Petr Sykora, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac had New Jerseys goals.

Minutes after he had a goal reversed because he kicked it in, Briere fired a slap shot past Martin Brodeur for his seventh goal of the playoffs.

Brodeur, who presumably is headed to the Hall of Fame whenever he retires, is winless in his last 11 starts at the Wells Fargo Center.

Game 2 is Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves for the Flyers.

The Devils tied it at 3 on Sykoras breakaway goal with 8:18 left. Sykora took a long pass from David Clarkson, outraced two defenders and broke in on Bryzgalov. He faked a slap shot, held the puck and then flipped it between Bryzgalovs legs.

Moments later, Brodeur made a sliding save on van Riemsdyks breakaway shot. Brodeur stoned van Riemsdyk again on a breakaway with just over three minutes left.

Coming off an outstanding opening-round series, Giroux continued to show why hes arguably the best player in the league. He fired a one-timer from the left faceoff circle past Brodeur on the power play to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead early in the third.

Giroux won the faceoff and skated over to the right wing. The puck went down low to Scott Hartnell, who passed it back out to the point to Kimmo Timonen. He slid it over to Giroux, who blasted it in for his seventh goal of the playoffs.

The sixth-seeded Devils rallied from a 3-2 series deficit to beat Florida in consecutive overtime games. They barely had any rest time after advancing early Friday morning when rookie Adam Henrique scored the winner in the second overtime.

Meanwhile, the Flyers played their first game in a week after knocking off the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.

Known for their slow starts, the Flyers showed plenty of rust from their long layoff. They didnt even manage a shot on net until midway through the first period.

The Flyers finally got going in the second period, scoring two goals 37 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead.

First, Briere slipped behind the defense, took an outlet pass from Jake Voracek, broke in and beat Brodeur.

Then, van Riemsdyk ripped a slap shot into an open net after Brodeur made a sliding save on a shot by Erik Gustafsson. Voracek checked Brodeur behind the net, setting up an errant clearing attempt that went to Gustafsson.

Brodeur had robbed Max Talbot on a one-timer from in front a few minutes earlier to preserve the 1-0 lead.

A power-play goal by Zajac tied it at 2 with 6:07 left in the second. Parise made a perfect centering pass to Zajac, who redirected the puck under Bryzgalov for his fourth playoff goal.

Parise gave the Devils a 1-0 lead 3:16 into the game. The Devils took advantage of a turnover behind the net by Matt Read. Patrik Elias made a nifty move to get the puck to Parise, who wristed it past Bryzgalov for his third goal of the playoffs.

Devils coach Peter DeBoer shuffled his top two lines to split up Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk, his two best scorers. Parise moved from the right wing on the top line to left wing on the second line.

The move paid off quickly.

Bryzgalov won all three starts against the Devils in the regular season, including two shutouts. He allowed just one goal on 76 shots in four appearances, posting a 0.29 goals-against average and .987 save percentage.

Notes: The Flyers and Devils have split their four previous playoff meetings. New Jersey won in the conference finals en route to Stanley Cup championships in 1995 and 2000. The Flyers won in the first round in 2004 and 2010. … Brodeur ranks second all-time in playoff history with 103 playoff victories. … The Flyers are 23-8 when they win Game 1. … Brodeur is just 10-14, and has lost nine of his last 11 playoff games against Philadelphia. … Briere has 106 points (49 goals, 57 assists) in 105 career playoff games. … This was the 18th overtime already this postseason.

MIAMI — One day after cutting and moving laterally on his surgically repaired left knee, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin says he hopes to return to the court during New Yorks first-round series with the Miami Heat, possibly as soon as Game 4 on May 6.

I think Im gonna evaluate it at the end of the week and see, Lin said after the Knicks practice on Sunday. Hopefully Ill feel good by then … the main thing is to be able to play without thinking about (the injury).

Lin has already ruled himself out for Games 2 and 3.